ENEMIES: A MISUNDERSTANDING II

Did I make DCD the focus of the following story? Maybe I should have headlined it, “DCD Speaks—A Q_____ L_____ Exclusive!”

Big Brother Watching Little Kids

By Phil X

This past week, City Councilman (hereby “CC”) announced that $250,000 in city capital funds had been earmarked to improve the security of I.S. ___, which was the victim of theft last summer.

The money will be spent on cameras, to be installed inside and outside the campus by a third party yet-to-be-determined. The Councilman expects these enhanced measures to prevent what occurred last June, when thieves made off with more than $25,000 in brand new computer equipment.

While the amount appropriated for the cameras equals ten times the value of last June's stolen computers, a representative from CC's office said that the figure was carefully arrived at by multiple city agencies.

"[We] worked with the school construction authority and the city finance department to determine the appropriate number of dollars," said DCD, the Deputy Communications Director for CC's office.

DCD also acknowledged that any money needed to replace the $25,000 in stolen computer equipment would not come from the $250,000. However, he said that alternate means of acquiring those funds had been found.

"Specific monies will be secured in this year's budget to replace the $25,000 in computer equipment," he said.

Last Tuesday, while standing next to JLM, the principal for I.S. ___, CC talked about the importance of his initiative, which not only protects public property, but students as well.

"Our children are our most precious resource, and we need to do everything we can to keep them safe and secure," CC said. "This investment does just that-it helps keep our children safe, aids in deterring crime, and helps keep future investments out of the hands of petty criminals."

JLM thanked CC for his concern regarding the school and her students. A former student at I.S. ___ himself, the Councilman pledged to secure funding for the cameras, and replace the stolen equipment, shortly after hearing about their theft.

"CC is such a good friend to the students and the I.S. ___ community," said JLM. "He's always there for us. He not only makes promises, but he keeps them."

However, it remains to be seen whether CC can bring other kinds of relief to I.S. ___, which set up the burgled trailers to offset overcrowding. According to DCD, that problem is not easily solved, so the cameras represent the best solution next to building new school buildings.

"Those trailers are now secure, and everything that was broken has now been fixed," he said. "Overcrowding is a huge issue, and one of the things the city has done is create these little annexes that look like trailers. It would be great to have unlimited space to build unlimited numbers of schools, but we live in the real world, and that's our situation now."