Michael Benjamin
The Archive
The city needs more Gifted & Talented programs like the one that worked for me
When I read that Mayor Bill de Blasio’s diversity-advisory committee recommended dismantling gifted-and-talented education and screened schools entirely, I saw it as a defenestration. I grabbed my phone and tweeted...
The real way to fix NYC's endless Election Day horrors
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, the fact that last Tuesday’s massive voter turnout became a stress test for the city’s Board of Elections shouldn’t have been a surprise....
Something must be done about the city's school bus system
My 3-year-old son, Max, was among the thousands of city kids stuck on school buses for hours last week. In my frustration, I tweeted, “You can make it 4,000 and...
Where Cuomo stands in wake of progressive wave
The jaw-dropping outcomes in many of Thursday’s primary elections has political pros and journalists trying to interpret the message voters sent in sweeping out six of the eight ex-members of...
NYCHA was my family’s lifeline — but now it needs to go
It pains me to see the New York City Housing Authority, which was a lifeline for my family 54 years ago, become a shadow of its former self. As an...
Why New Yorkers should vote for a constitutional convention
I’m voting “Yes” on the Nov. 7 ballot proposal to hold a state constitutional convention (or con-con) in 2019, and I urge you to do so as well. Appearing like...
Bronx Democrats promote boys' club — not women
For Democrats, this year was supposed to be the Year of the Woman. The Women’s March in January — which brought 400,000 protesters to a dreary Washington, DC — was...
Team Cuomo's latest casino fiasco
From the time of the Dutch purchase of Manhattan, Native Americans have gotten one raw deal after another. So imagine the delight of the Seneca Nation of Indians’ tribal leaders...
Is the city sneaking bad teachers from the 'rubber rooms' back into the schools?
It turns out plenty of bad teachers are making their way from the so-called “rubber rooms” back into New York City classrooms without ever changing their ways. Five months ago,...
The Bronx is furious over city's slow response to Legionnaire's
Twice in recent years, my South Bronx neighborhood has been shaken by public health crises. A year ago, Ebola was the concern as my community is home to a large...
New York children's hope: Will pols fight for tax credit?
As Edward Cardinal Egan was laid to rest Tuesday, I recalled working with him back in 2006 in advancing an education tax credit to assist families with children in parochial...
The scoop on Heastie: Background from The Bronx
I’ve known Carl Heastie, the new Assembly speaker, for years from our work in Bronx politics and in Albany. But I didn’t know he had a daughter ’til we became...
Preet remains New York's only hope
As I’ve said before, Preet Bharara remains New York’s best and only hope for uprooting corruption in politics and business. So the news of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s arrest on...
Council's craven 'diversity' drive
On Wednesday, high-minded members of the City Council introduced a package of legislation calling attention to what they described as a lack of diversity in the city’s public schools. The...
New York needs Preet Bharara to stay as US attorney and keep fighting corruption
Preet Bharara remains New York’s best and only hope for uprooting corruption in politics and business. Yet he’s being touted as a successor to Attorney General Eric Holder. At the...
An injustice the Rev can't bother to fight
On Saturday and again on Monday, TV personality and civil-rights activist The Rev. Al Sharpton spoke of the need to separate bad apples from the bag of good cops. But...
The speaker's lesson: Mark-Viverito, HPV and GYN care
So far, so good: City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito should be applauded for turning a personal difficulty — testing positive for the Human Papillomavirus, which can cause cervical cancer —...
A state assembly candidate's 'ragged' efforts for 'hope and change'
Michael Blake’s run for a corruption-plagued South Bronx seat in the state Assembly may be turning out to be “historic” for the wrong reasons. A former top operative for Barack...
Forgotten ethnic factor helped Rangel win
Charlie Rangel won re-election Tuesday, despite the ethical cloud still shrouding him, because all politics is local. Rangel’s censure by Congress in 2012 has been all but forgotten by his...
Charlie Rangel's last hurrah? Don't count the old warrior out
Rep. Charlie Rangel, a Korean War veteran, has first-hand knowledge of a broken army in retreat. And in the early weeks of his 22nd re-election campaign, Rangel’s forces appeared to...