If You Think the FDNY is Ethnically Imbalanced, Take a Look at These OTHER New York City Agencies

TODAY, the ONLY ethnic group that is overrepresented in the New York City Municipal workforce by MORE than 10% of their numbers in the citys population is non-Latino blacks, who are 23% of NYCs population and 36% of the citys Municipal workforce! Thats an overrepresentation on the order of appx. 56% ABOVE their numbers in New York Citys population. Merit Matters believes that people gravitate to the jobs they have an interest and aptitude for. The fact that until 2007 and over $20 MILLION spent on targeted recruitment non-Latino blacks accounted for LESS than 10% of all FDNY applicants seems to attest to that fact. BUT IF proportionalism (NYCs workforce should mirror/look like NYCs population) is going to be the standard, than it MUST BE the standard for ALL...for ALL ethnic groups and for ALL city agencies! By that measure the Garaufis-CCR-Vulcan Society view INSISTS on reducing the non-Latino black portion of the NYC workforce FROM its current 36% down to appx. 25%! That is what Making NYCs workforce look like NYC would actually

mean. While we'd rather see people gravitate to the jobs they have an interest and aptitude for, we also insist that proportionalism can't just be targeted to one agency, when the city's entire workforce is so ethnically imbalanced! Consider that the FDNYs uniformed firefighting force (excluding EMS and clerical/administrative staff) is 89% white, which is about 2.5X more whites than there are in NYCs population. Overall (including EMS and clerical/administrative staff) its 77% white or about 2.2X as many whites as in NYCs population. BUT if you think that demographic is badly imbalanced, wait until you get a look at these! There are at least 7 city agencies in which a given ethnic group is over-represented by MORE than 2.5X times their numbers in NYCs population. The Corrections Department is 65% non-Latino black, 2.9X the number of non-Latino blacks as in the population of NYC, making it even MORE ethnically imbalanced than the FDNY is right now. Six other New York City agencies are over 60% non-Latino black, meaning OVER 2.5X as many nonLatino blacks as there are in New York Citys population! These are;

(*) Human Resources Administration (61% nonLatino black) (*) Equal Employment Practices Commission (63% non-Latino black) (*) The Department of Probation (64% non-Latino black) (*) The Department of Homeless Services (64% non-Latino black) (*) Administration for Children Services (67% non-Latino black) (*) The Department of Juvenile Justice (78% nonLatino black), which holds 3.4X as many nonLatino black workers as are in New York Citys population, taking the prize as the MOST ethnically imbalanced agency in New York City! There are at least FOUR other new York City agencies in which non-Latino blacks are 2X or TWICE their numbers in New York Citys population, including the Dept of Health and Hygiene (45%), Dept of Finance (46%), the Dept of Housing, Preservation and Development (47%) and the Parks Dept (49%). SEE: http://www.citylimits.org/multimedia/257/newyork-city-s-agencies-by-race-ethnic-breakdown

It would certainly be much more neat and orderly IF every group were proportionally represented within each and every New York City agency, but lowering standards and barring the hiring of some groups until the numbers of others can be brought up, smacks of a kind of Stalinist authoritarianism that only the likes of Nicholas Garaufis could embrace. STILL, that is the charge that the GaraufisVulcan Society decision makes clear within the zero-sum game that is municipal Employment, the primary reason for the dirth of Asians and Hispanic workers relative to their numbers in New York Citys population, is the singular and significant OVER-representation of non-Latino blacks within the New York City workforce. Again, there are ONLY two ethnic groups that are over-represented in the NYC Municipal workforce, non-Latino blacks and non-Latino whites. ONLY non-Latino blacks are over-represented by more than 10% of their numbers within New York Citys population! Non-Latino whites are 35% of New York Citys population and 38% of its workforce (about 9% ABOVE their numbers in the citys population), while non-Latino blacks are 23% of citys the population and 36% (appx. 56% ABOVE their numbers in NYCs population) of its Municipal workforce! Both Asians and Hispanics are UNDER-represented in New York Citys Municipal workforce. The

sizable over-representation of one ethnic group (non-Latino blacks) is the primary reason for that. Without diminishing the existing number of non-Latino blacks in New York City's Municipal workforce, there is simply no way to balance out that workforce and allow it to closely mirror New York City's population. It certainly appears that there are a lot of New York City agencies that need monitoring, targeted recruitment and demographic scrutiny...BUT only IF proportionalism (New York Citys workforce should mirror/look like New York City) is to be the standard we adopt.

The truth is the entire case hinges on the concept of disparate impact which as Holman Jenkins describes it.... "the essence of "disparate impact" is racist output without racist input." It is an assumption that all city agencies should generally reflect the population that they are drawn from. (forget for the moment that the FDNY is open to ANY and ALL Legal Citizens of the USA not just the 5 boroughs) It is assumed without proof that since the FDNY varies from this by more than 1 standard deviation in terms of its black membership that it must be the doing of institutional racism. All NYC race-blind Competitive civil service exams are developed and administered by DCAS (the former Dept of Personnel.) What is interesting is that these exams, which allow for equal opportunity but not equal outcomes, have resulted in whites becoming members of the FDNY at a ratio of 2 to 1 to their respective proportion in the general populace. But what is more notable is that few if any City Agencies closely match the demographics of the city and there are no less than 6 city agencies that have a greater disparity of blacks to their representation in the general population than the FDNY has in regards to whites. Probation, Corrections, Housing, ACS, Juvenile Justice and oddly enough the Equal Employment Opportunities commission have 2 to even 3 times as many blacks as are in the NYC population figures.. I found the most informative source for info on

this subject was the blog site Merit Matters who through many thoroughly researched entries, details how the facts simply don't support the conclusion of this one particular judge.

The FDNY has long been a target because it is largely white, which YES, smacks of a blatantly "racial agenda." The cry from the other side has long been "The FDNY (NYC workforce) should look like NYC," and ironically enough, non-Latino blacks are the ONLY group within NYC's Municipal workforce OVER-represented by more than 10% their numbers in NYC's population. There are 7 city agency's MORE ethnically imbalanced than the FDNY is, including the Dept of Corrections. There are 4 other agencies in which non-Latino blacks are over-represented by at least 2X/TWICE their numbers in NYC's population! Proportionalism ("NYC's workforce must look like NYC") for ONE group or agency is NOT an option....if that standard is to be accepted, every group MUST BE held to that SAME standard.