New York Today: De Blasio’s Diversity

Todd Heisler/The New York TimesWelcome, Health Commissioner.

Updated 10:23 a.m.

Good Thursday morning. It’s 25 degrees.

Moving on.

When Bill de Blasio was elected mayor, he said one of his goals was an administration that “looks like New York City” in its ethnic and gender mix.

How’s he doing?

We examined all the de Blasio appointees we could find â€" more than 60.

Most have been women â€" 54 percent. And most have been members of minority groups â€" 55 percent.

Under Michael Bloomberg, the holders of those offices were mostly male (52 percent) and mostly white (72 percent).

Mr. de Blasio “has done what he said he would do,” Kate Taylor, a City Hall reporter for The Times, told us.

“It’s an administration that looks more like New York City than Bloomberg’s did.”

She added, “Bloomberg certainly had some women in powerful positions, but de Blasio has actually appointed a majority of women.”

Mr. de Blasio’s hires have been more than a quarter black, about 15 percent Hispanic and about 10 percent Asian.

(The city itself is mostly black, Hispanic and Asian, with non-Hispanic whites making up only about a third of the population.)

This diversity, of course, has its limits.

“There’s lots of racial diversity,” Ms. Taylor said, “but there is maybe not ideological diversity.”

Here’s what else you need to know.

WEATHER

Cruel cold, soon to be disguised by sun.

(We narrowly escaped breaking the record-low temperature for this date: it was 20 degrees, set in 1894.)

It gets better today, though; the mercury may rise to 43 degrees.

Tomorrow looks warmer, and wet.

COMMUTE

Subways: Check latest status.

Rails: Check L.I.R.R., Metro-North or N.J. Transit status.

Roads: Check traffic map or radio report on the 1s or the 8s.

Alternate-side parking is in effect all week.

COMING UP TODAY

- A crescent moon hangs on the horizon. Predawn. [Free, look up]

- Will he try to say something in every language? Mayor de Blasio meets with the ethnic and foreign language media at City Hall. 12:15 p.m.

- Transportation advocates call for improvements to Brooklyn’s Atlantic Avenue to protect pedestrians. Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn. 5:45 p.m.

- The four-day “National Black Writers Conference,” featuring Derek Walcott, kicks off (also) at Medgar Evers College. 3 p.m. [$80, $45 for students and seniors]

- Everything you ever wanted to know about tunnel boring but were afraid to ask, at the M.T.A.’s information center on the Upper East Side. 6 p.m. [Free, R.S.V.P.]

- An Alzheimer’s prevention seminar focused on nutrition at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. 6:15 p.m. [Free]

- Peer through the ventricles of a heart-shaped sculpture to glimpse your “four most ideal astrological mates.” Archway under the Manhattan Bridge in Dumbo. [Free]

- The “Around-the-Globe Chain Play” returns to the city, 15 playwrights later, for its first reading at The Lark in Midtown. 7 p.m. [Free, with livestream]

- The String Orchestra of Brooklyn performs new works by young composers at Roulette in Boerum Hill. 8 p.m. [$20]

- For more events, see The New York Times Arts & Entertainment guide.

IN THE NEWS

- Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law was convicted of conspiring to kill Americans in his role as Al Qaeda’s spokesman. [New York Times]

- The creative ways in which some state legislators economize to stretch their per diem. [New York Times]

- The City Council passed a bill granting interns the same protections as paid employees. [Daily News]

- New York State has the most segregated public schools in the nation, according to a report. [NY1]

- A look back at Citi Bike’s first, wobbly year. [New York Times]

- Rudolph W. Giuliani broke his silence on the subject of the new mayor, admitting to “real disagreements” with his policies. [CBS]

- A visually impaired guard was fired from One World Trade Center after recent trespassing incidents. [New York Post]

- A man fell face-first into a garbage chute in Yonkers and got stuck. He’s fine. [NBC New York]

- “Dirty Old New York, a.k.a. Fun City” is a mash-up of films from the 1960s-1980s. [EV Grieve]

- Scoreboard: Bobcats shred Nets, 116-111. Knicks oust Kings, 107-99. Rangers ground Flyers, 3-1.

AND FINALLY …

Brush off your syllable-counting fingers.

For National Poetry Month, City Room is hosting the New York City Haiku Challenge.

We’re looking for original haiku about New York City.

The poems must be on one of these topics:

Island, strangers, solitude, commute, 6 a.m., kindness.

For example:

Then the woman turned
into a tornado of
fury and brown stain.

That one, about a hot-beverage-covered stranger on the subway, comes from Times Haiku, our collection of serendipitous haiku that appear in Times stories.

Sandra E. Garcia contributed reporting.

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