Ready, Willing & Able | The Doe Fund

But New York is in better shape today than it was during the budget crisis of the 1970's, and it has the benefit of some hard-won lessons over the past three decades. In fact, these lean times could be good for the city in some ways. Amid the doom and gloom, here are three reasons for optimism:

Our standards are higher. During the 70's, crime and grime were considered inevitable aspects of city life; the word "ungovernable" was used a lot in connection with New York. As the crime rate rose and the city's streets were compared to Calcutta's, public officials absolved themselves of responsibility. How could the city police fight crime until its "root causes" were addressed by the federal government? How could a city with budgetary woes be expected to keep the streets clean and orderly?

Today, though, New Yorkers expect more from public officials, and they have the tools to monitor performance. If crime goes up, it will be obvious immediately, thanks to the new computerized tracking of crime. And even if their budgets are cut, public officials are under pressure to keep up their performance by improving productivity.

It used to be said that in the pre-Giuliani era, only 25 percent of police officers worked, and that the great achievement of the Giuliani police commissioners was to raise that percentage to 50 percent. If Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly wants to keep the crime rate low with fewer officers, he may want to get the working-police ratio up to 75 percent.

The city doesn't have to do it all anymore. The city may have fewer workers in the streets and parks, but some of the slack will be picked up by the private groups that have been gradually taking over some city responsibilities since the 70's. Security officers will keep working for business improvement districts; litter will be picked up by workers employed by the BID's as well as by The Doe Fund program, Ready, Willing and Able. Private groups will continue providing funds and volunteers to take care of parks.

A budget crisis is the right time to do the right thing. For decades, traffic engineers have been calling for tolls for the East River bridges, and economists have been advocating rush-hour surcharges on drivers and bus riders. These fees would help commuters by easing congestion and paying for better bridge maintenance, but politicians have been loath to even discuss anything so unpopular as a toll.

Now, however, the city is so desperate for money that public officials are imagining tolls on the East River bridges -- and also imagining schemes for exempting city residents while raking in money from commuters. By using E-ZPass technology, the tolls could be collected selectively from drivers depending on where they live, and without causing traffic jams.

Another potential budget cut mentioned this week by Mr. Bloomberg was the closing of eight fire companies. This is a reform that usually makes sense only to those who consider historical statistics instead of the next election.

Fires used to be one of the great urban scourges -- entire cities would burn down with some frequency -- but they've become rarer thanks to better building materials, fireproofing techniques and safety measures, like sprinklers and smoke detectors. Last year there were only about half as many fires in New York City as there were a quarter-century ago.

"The emergency needs of the city have changed, but fire companies are still located in the same places where they always were," said Douglas Offerman, a senior research associate at the Citizens Budget Commission. "In some places there are more fire companies than are needed, and the city is right to look at ways of consolidating underused fire companies."

No matter how much sense it makes to fiscal analysts, eliminating a fire company is usually anathema to politicians, and after Sept. 11 they're especially leery of offending firefighters.

But with a $5 billion deficit looming, Mr. Bloomberg is willing to think the unthinkable, and in the long run the city could be better for it.