As UN Budget Grows, Big Space on Madison Avenue Is
Eyed, Security In Question
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at
the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, February 26 -- They ask us for more
and more money, Japan's deputy permanent representative to the UN Takahiro
Shinyo told Inner City Press last week. He predicted the UN asking for up to $1
billion in add-ons, including some related to the already-funded Capital Master
Plan. Japan has already paid $285 million, he said.
A question submitted in writing on Monday
to the office of Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson about these budget add-on was not,
at end of Tuesday, answered. UN Controller Warren Sach, absent for some time,
was spotted in the lobby on Tuesday. Budget committee meetings are just around
the corner. Even the briefings, on security and by the Department of
Management's Alicia Barcena, will be closed to the press and public. Will
supposed freedom of information be discussed behind closed doors?
Mad Men: Capital Master Plan circa
2005, whose next?
When the UN goes into exile from its
iconic 40 story tower, most will probably head to 380 Madison Avenue. A recent
visit found the building without sufficient security, a matter to be addressed
with New York's Mayor Mike Bloomberg, it is said. Given the bombing in Algeria,
the panel on which has still not been named, improvements to the UN's so-called
swing space will be needed. But was this unforeseen?
* * *
These reports are
usually also available through
Google News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here for a
Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army.
Click
here
for an earlier
Reuters AlertNet
piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's
$200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.
Video
Analysis here
Because a number of Inner City Press' UN sources go
out of their way to express commitment to serving the poor, and while it should
be unnecessary, Inner City Press is compelled to conclude this installment in a
necessarily-ongoing series by saluting the stated goals of the UN agencies and
many of their staff. Keep those cards, letters and emails coming, and phone
calls too, we apologize for any phone tag, but please continue trying, and keep
the information flowing.
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