Bloomberg Headlines Summit

Mayors and government officials from Dusseldorf to Beijing gathered Thursday morning at Low Library to kick off a two-day-long summit on the challenges of urban diversity with Mayor Michael Bloomberg as key-note speaker.

The city chose Columbia to host the inaugural event of its new Global Partners program, "Governing a Diverse City in a Democratic Society," which looks to connect Bloomberg's office with counterpart offices in cities around the world. Attendees traveled from nearly 20 countries representing over 30 city governments worldwide to take part in discussions with Columbia professors and top officials in the Bloomberg administration about public health issues, law enforcement, crime, terrorism, education, and public schools.

Sticking to the summit's theme, Bloomberg focused on what his administration has done to reach out to the city's immigrant populations. He emphasized the growing diversity of the police force and the public school system, which boasts students from 198 of the 202 countries involved in the 2004 Olympics.

"What's good for New York's immigrants is good for New York," he said. "We have to have a constant stirring of the pot," he added, referring to city initiatives like translation services and classes for non-English speakers, all aimed at helping the 36 percent of New Yorkers who are foreign born and their families.

But Bloomberg's presence at Columbia yesterday also reinforced his support for University President Lee Bollinger and the University's expansion plans-a message of support he has sent many times over the last few years through his attendance at events unveiling plans for Columbia's secondary math and science school and neurology center, both slated to be built in Manhattanville.

"There is no administration that any mayor has put together that is better," Bollinger said.

Bloomberg returned the compliment at a press conference after his address. "Lee Bollinger really does run a really international school and I think it's one of the jewels in the crown of New York City's educational establishment."

Bloomberg also pronounced a similar message loud and clear on Wednesday when he said he would "promote projects such as the development of Columbia University's new campus in a way that also meets the needs of its host West Harlem community," during his annual State of the City Address.

Panels and workshops for the public and the visiting dignitaries continued throughout the day with a panel discussion about immigrant students in public schools, and a forum on making health care accessible to immigrants. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly spoke about the NYPD's diversity initiatives at a luncheon for the visitors at Casa Italiana. Panels will continue into Friday.

Health Care in Global Cities

Challenges of and solutions to providing health care for a diverse urban population was on the agenda at one of the summit's panels.

School of International and Public Affairs Professor Ester Fuchs moderated a discussion between commissioners Verna Eggleston of Bloomberg's Human Resources Administration and Thomas Frieden of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Eggleston, New York City's longest-serving commissioner, said she has learned that dealing with diverse populations means "you have to make services simple, not complex." The administration color codes, she said, and offers its services in 180 languages.

She must resist approaching her job based on what she knows and feels, and instead seeks to understand the cultures of those she serves. "The community will tell you what it needs," Eggleston said.

Commissioner Frieden focused on how New York City has revolutionized public health policy by shifting to preventative measures-like ushering in "the smoke free era"-instead of focusing solely on treatment.

While immigrants are "generally healthier than native-born New Yorkers," Frieden said, immigrants may, over time, adopt American eating habits.

"The challenge is informing [immigrants of city health services]," Frieden said. "The messages that resonate with them are different than those with the natives."

Anne Siegler, a first-year student at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health, said she felt that the commissioners did not explain where cultural relativism ends and rights begin, and was unsure of what they meant by "cultural barriers."

"I was hoping for more of how not just translating but transforming the messages [to the immigrant population] is needed in order to reach the community," Siegler said.

Ray Kelly Addresses Dignitaries

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly touted New York City's plummeting crime rates and law enforcement strategies at a luncheon for international visitors at the summit, many of them police officials in their home countries.

After listing the statistics-crime down 70 percent from two decades ago despite there being 4,000 fewer cops on the streets-Kelly asked the crowd, "Are we just lucky?" After a pause, he noted with a chuckle, "Of course, no." He went on to detail how the NYPD, under his leadership, introduced more cops into "impact zones," small areas of high crime neighborhoods.

"Equal deployment makes politicians happy," Kelly said. "But with the support of the mayor, we put officers where the crime was the highest."

He stressed initiatives to deal with the city's diversity-including hiring cops who can speak the 170 languages that New Yorkers speak. "We tapped into the remarkable diversity of the police department itself," he said, adding that native speakers of languages are also useful in the department's counter-terrorism units. "They know the language of the back streets of Karachi because they grew up on the back streets of Karachi," he said

Kelly responded to questions from police officials representing Calgary, London, and Tokyo who wondered how New York combats cyber crime, and how it strikes the balance between being tough on crime and understanding diverse communities.

"The New York alloy is made up of all immigrants," Kelly said. "The NYPD is here to protect those [American] dreams."