|
UN Security and Capital
Master Plan Slammed for Bloat, Retaliation
Starts, Flooding
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, March 5 -- The
UN's Department of Safety and Security, already embroiled in a scandal
about
pre-decided promotions, was slammed was wasteful in a recent report
on the Capital
Master Plan. Urging that the 108 new security jobs requested for the
UN's
renovation be scaled back, the UN's Advisory Committee on
Administrative and
Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) said that "their number could be
reduced....the resources requested for training could be further
reduced [by]
forty percent." A/63/736.
As Inner City Press has exclusively
reported, the current head of
security for UN Headquarters, of whom the Staff Union has adopted a
resolution
of no-confidence, is said to be trying to shift to the Capital Master
Plan. His
ally Albert Lyttle, the author of the pre-selected promotion memo which
Inner
City Press obtained and put online last month, has lashed out at Staff
Union
representatives, in a letter which Inner City Press is putting online
here. Inner City Press held off
publishing this letter, but in light of reports of retaliation against
whistleblowers, silence seems the wrong approach.
The letter concerns
the meetings
at which the vote of no-confidence was
taken. Its claim of defamation seems tenuous at best. As one
observer put it,
if your own document defames you, the only one you have to sue is
yourself.
Inner City Press asked the Capital Master Plan
spokesman if the head of
SSS was trying for a post with the CMP.
He answered, "there are no posts." But there are
many posts
proposed, to the UN's Fifth Committee. While ACABQ has proposed to
scale back
by 40%, several posts will still exist. Watch this site.
As CMP builds on North Lawn, nowhere to hide for DSS?
In other responses to Inner City Press' questions,
the CMP's spokesman
tersely replied
Q1.
-- Mayor Bloomberg has issued a report on climate change which predicts
rising
temperatures and sea levels for New York City (see e.g.,
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29257373/).
NYC is taking steps to prepare for a rise in the sea
level between 7 and
23 inches, by among other things, raising water treatment equipment to
higher
ground. Has the UN seen this report, and
is the UN taking any steps in its CMP to mitigate against the threat of
rising
seas?
A1.
-- The Climate Risk Information by the New York City Panel on Climate
Change,
released on 17 February 2009, identifies some of the potential risks to
the
critical infrastructure of New York City posed by climate change. The
Office of
the CMP has seen this report, and will review it to determine if design
changes
are needed.
Q2.
-- Doesn't the UNHQ sometimes flood now?
A2.
-- There is no flooding in the UNHQ caused by the proximity of the
complex to
the East River.
Q3.
-- What changes have you made to your plans to accommodate this?
A3.
- See answer to Q1.
Q4.
-- Also if you could describe why the staff assistance area in the 42nd
Street
library was demolished yesterday? What else should be expected in the
lobbies?
A4.
-- The Volunteers Desk was moved from the Secretariat Lobby to the
Visitors
Lobby in the General Assembly Building, since the Secretariat Building
will
begin undergoing renovation later in the year.
Q5.
-- Which UN functions are slated to move not to Madison Avenue or the
Albano
building, but to the building on the corner of 2nd and 42nd with
Innovation
Luggage (and a liquor store) on the ground floor? The Medical Service?
What
else?
A5.
-- Although all our plans are subject to adjustments until the move
occurs, at
this time the Medical Service, staff from DGACM and DPI (Radio Section)
are
scheduled to move to 300 East 42nd Street.
Q6.
-- Please provide an update on the status of the idea of charging the
press
rent or costs, in the swing space or upon return.
A6.
-- The issue is presently under review within the Secretariat.
Q7.
-- Are there positions within the CMP which the current head of DSS's
SSS and
his deputy are applying for? What would those positions be?
A7.
-- There are currently no vacant positions within the CMP.
Q8.
-- Has the CMP (or wider UN if you can comment on that) had any money
in the
financial institutions which have either been merged or received over
$5
billion in TARP funds during this financial melt-down?
A8.
-- This question should be directed to the UN Treasury.
But the head of the office overseeing the UN
Treasury, Angela Kane of
the Department of Management, has since said she has no time to answer
answers,
and just to ask at the UN's noon briefing. Watch this site.
Click here for Inner City
Press' Feb 26 UN debate esp. here
on Darfur
Click
here
for Feb.
12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56
Click here for Inner City Press' Jan.
16, 2009 debate about Gaza
Click here for Inner City Press'
review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
Click here for Inner
City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger
Click here from Inner City Press'
December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
Click here for Inner City
Press Nov. 7 debate on the war in Congo
Watch this site, and this Oct. 2 debate, on
UN, bailout, MDGs
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
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
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
UN Office: S-453A, UN, NY 10017
USA
Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's mobile (and
weekends):
718-716-3540
Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available
in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright
2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com -
|
