March 31st - April 6th, 2006

President Selected to Head GIPEC

Friday, March 31st: Leslie Koch, CEO of the Fund for Public Schools, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the New York City Department of Education, was named on April 4th by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor George Pataki to serve as president of the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC). For more on this story, click here.

Trash Can Initiative Targets a Cleaner Chinatown

Monday, April 3rd: On Friday, March 31^st, the Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corporation (CPLDC), working together with the City of New York, placed 48 high-end refuse receptacles along Canal Street, Bayard Street, and East Broadway as part of a long-term, fully funded sanitation program called "Clean Streets." The initiative is the result of a survey of more than 3,000 Chinatown residents and businesses that identified improving cleanliness, reducing odors, and removing graffiti as top priorities for the neighborhood. For more on this story, click here.

Tuesdays Children Charity Fraud Uncovered

Monday, April 3rd: Chris Burke, who established the "Tuesday's Children" charity to help families like his brother's who lost parents in the 9/11 attacks, was recently discovered to have diverted as much as $311,000 into a personal account to pay his mortgage and credit card bills, the New York Times reported. According to Newsday, Burke's parents contributed $500,000 in restitution on his behalf after the charity discovered the missing funds. The expanding budget of the charity grew from $673,000 to $2.01 million over the past four years, but at the same time, Burke's personal finances began to unravel, the Times continued, and employees became suspicious after they spotted $16,750 missing from a charity gala. The charity assured donors and recipients that financial safeguards, such as requiring two signatures on every deposited donation, have been put in effect, Newsday added.

World Trade Center Memorial Update

Wednesday, April 05: Officials of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation held their quarterly board meeting on Tuesday, April 4^th, to further discuss the progress of the World Trade Center Memorial and Museum. Alice Greenwald, who will assume the position of museum director next week, told reporters that the museum "will be about people and what it means to live in a world that was forever changed by 9/11." For more on this story, click here.