Going for its goal

The Gotham Gazette recently interviewed Lawrence Aber, a member of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Commission for Economic Opportunity, regarding the Commission, shortcomings of its methods used to measure poverty, and to answer questions whether the city’s new anti-poverty efforts are succeeding. In the interview, Aber states that he believes poverty is much worse than the numbers suggest, many people live below the Economic Opportunity Index. Aber does however believe that the commission is going to meet its goals. Joel Berg, Executive Director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, responded to the commissions report in late September. He also stated that the Coalition is glad the mayor and the commision are doing someting, but it would like to see them do more.