‘Control the Comptroller’

In an oped dated December 27, 2006, Herb London stated that “Guzman & Co., a small investment house, manages $50 million with a $310,032 commission and contributed $5,000 in 2006 and $5,000 in 2004 to Hevesi” [Oped, “Control the Comptroller,” December 27, 2006].

This statement is factually wrong. Guzman & Company or any affiliate, does not manage, and has never managed any account in any amount for New York State or any of its instrumentalities, including, without limitation, the Office of the State Comptroller or any of the pension funds controlled by that office.

LEOPOLDO GUZMAN
President
Guzman & Company
Coral Gables, Fla

Mr. London replies:

The sum listed for Guzman & Co. relates to bonds that were bought and sold by whoever managed the pension funds at that time. It did not mean that Guzman & Co. managed any portion of the pension funds, as Mr. Guzman’s letter indicates.

‘A Night With the “Homeless Decoys”‘

I was disappointed by the cynical tone of Matthew Chayes’ article about the Homeless Count project that was recently conducted jointly by New York City’s Department of Homeless Services and researchers at Columbia University [New York, “A Night With the ‘Homeless Decoys,'” January 31, 2007].

While it is true that the decoys were paid $75 to spend up to four hours sitting in the street between midnight and 4 a.m., many of them were willing to do it for nothing. Although he states in the article that most of the other dozen students interviewed before deployment said they’d volunteered to be decoys to do their small part to make a difference, he focuses the story on a few who did it for the cash, and appears to mock this choice.

This is unfortunate for two reasons. First, many of the decoy participants were formerly homeless people, for whom $75 is a substantial sum of money.

Second, even for students, getting paid $75 to ensure the validity of the homeless count is hardly a choice worthy of mockery.

Finally, I found especially offensive his final comment, disparaging the decoys for failing to give money to a person begging for change on the subway.

This practice is discouraged by the police and MTA (panhandling is illegal), and by homeless advocates, who encourage people to give to charity organizations instead of to individuals on the street. I wonder if Mr. Chayes chose to give money to this man while observing the decoys going out to their assignments in the streets.

LENNA NEPOMNYASCHY
Director of operations
Shadowcount 2007
School of Social Work
Columbia University
New York, N.Y.

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