Atlantic Monthly Contributors's Blog, page 968

The 'Two Bloombergs' of New York's Three-Term Mayor

The New York Times took a deep dive into Mayor Michael Bloomberg's legacy on Saturday, after a week of scrutiny over the city's "stop-and-frisk" law enforcement policies. And it looks like there's something for everyone there: even as a (totally great) infographic from the paper sweeps through the impressive physical changes to the city in the mayor's three terms, the paper also took a critical look at the Mayor's relationship to Wall Street. 

Jim Dwyer summed up the Mayor's time in New York as a time of "two Bloombergs," one impossibly unreconcilable with the other, digging into one of the words that will likely stay pinned to Bloomberg's time as mayor for awhile: "transformative." He gives the case for the mayor's legacy in the broadest context: 

Elected to lead a city that was the grieving, wounded site of an atrocity, he will depart as mayor of a city where artists have been able to decorate a mighty park with thousands of sheets of saffron, for no reason other than the simple joy of it; where engineers figured out how to turn sewage gas into electricity; where people are safer from violent crime than at any time in modern history.

[image error]But if you really want to see transformative, go straight to the infographic. In 12 years, the city has 40,000 more buildings, 170,000 more housing units, totally changed skylines, and a new basketball team in Brooklyn. New bike lanes cover the city, while places like Times Square have new areas for pedestrian and bike traffic that seemed unimaginable before.

 

And a third (!) of the city was rezoned: 

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But the paper also spent time dissecting why many in the city feel that the very things that made the Mayor's tenure so transformative also helped to hurt the city. Anyone even half following the Occupy Wall Street protests in the fall of 2011 would have picked up on the Mayor's opposition to the protests. His criticism, at the time, was that "this isn’t an occupation of Wall Street, it’s an occupation of a growing, vibrant residential neighborhood in lower Manhattan," a dismissal symbolic intent of a protest staged in a park surrounded by the city's most powerful financial institutions — or, that to the mayor, that symbolism didn't speak as loudly as the narrative of another rising, affluent, residential community cropping up in his city. The Times, however, goes further: "Mr. Bloomberg seems to imagine that any impulse short of adulation will shoo Wall Street away," adding: 

Several weeks ago he publicly denounced Eliot Spitzer, not for his domestic failings but for his wish to curtail the worst instincts of the banks and to maximize their utilitarian value. (“This is our industry,” the mayor said. “We’d appreciate it if someone recognized that this is our tax base.”) Presumably, in Mayor Bloomberg’s most terrified imagination, the true agenda of someone like Mr. Spitzer is to bundle up Wall Street in Bubble Wrap and send it to Connecticut, leaving in its place only a bottomless container of Pepsi.  

On that note, let's look at what's happened to the 1 percent over the mayor's tenure, via the Times: 

— In 1985, the top 1 percent of city residents made 15 percent of the city income, which the Times notes is more or less in line with the national figures. 

— In 2002, the beginning of Bloomberg's term, the top 1 percent of city residents made 27 percent of the income. 

— In 2013, the income share for the top one percent is 40 percent. And while income inequality is a national problem, the Times notes that New York's figures are almost twice the national average.

— In the city's most affluent neighborhoods, including the financial district, family incomes rose by 55 percent on average over the past decade, the real median income less remained the same. Meanwhile, the poverty rate in the city reached a 10-year high in 2011. 

In a poll, published as part of the Times's package, just 3 percent of the city population thought the mayor's policies favored poor people. Most said that the mayor favored the rich, while 70 percent thought he spent too much time worrying about Manhattan, as opposed to the other four boroughs of the city. There's also the matter of his $13,000 custom bathtub. 

It's not quite clear exactly how much credit or demerits the mayor should get for any of the two Bloombergs outlined here — he neither built the 2013 New York singlehanded, nor catalyzed the income inequality endemic in the city, but the Times is convincingly making that case that, no matter what, Bloomberg's name is branded onto much of what changed in the city over the past decade. 

       

Egypt Considers Outlawing the Muslim Brotherhood

The military crackdown on pro-Morsi protests in the country continued on Saturday as exchanges of gunfire erupted around the Fateh mosque in Cairo. And as loyalists to deposed (former) president Mohamed Morsi — the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and more hard-line groups who also supported the former president — become more isolated in Egypt, the Prime Minister has proposed dissolving the party altogether. 

On Saturday, Egyptian Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi sent a proposal to the government that would remove the group's NGO status, essentially dissolving the organization in the country. The Muslim Brotherhood was last dissolved in the '50's, and only just registered legally as an NGO in March, according to Reuters. The group's political party, the Freedom and Justice Party, was registered in 2011. Meanwhile, the Egyptian presidency has started referring to pro-Morsi protesters as the "enemy," with the insinuation that the protests are instigated or influenced by foreigners. 

Presidency (in translation frm English 2 Arabic 2 English): Now Egyptians r mor united than before...We r dedicated 2 victory over the enemy

— Abigail Hauslohner (@ahauslohner) August 17, 2013

The presidency, in a press conference held in English, also referred to a "war by the forces of extremism", and vowed to fight "extremism and terrorism through security measures."

State TV feed of gov't press conference is labeled "Egypt Fights Terrorism." via AJE. http://t.co/gZCxoHr6pT pic.twitter.com/svrsqjkQfA

— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) August 17, 2013

According to the latest official figures from Saturday, 173 people died in Egypt yesterday, in addition to the over 600 killed in the first 24 hours of a brutal crackdown against pro-Morsi supporters in the country, who have staged sit-ins around Cairo since the July uprising that led to the military deposition of Egypt's most recent democratically-elected leader. As many have noted, Saturday's presidential press conference seemed aimed right at the international community, who have protested (to some extent) the military crackdown on supporters of former president Morsi on humanitarian grounds.

Egyptians, state & ppl, now know their allies.. & know who's giving international, financial, moral cover (to MB) - #Egypt presidency

— Rawya Rageh (@RawyaRageh) August 17, 2013

egypt gov. statement condemns alleged pro-Muslim Brotherhood bias of Western journalists while violence/detention of foreign press surges

— David D. Kirkpatrick (@ddknyt) August 17, 2013

 

But in Egypt, the Brotherhood does not see popular support. 

Gov't supporters cheer as Army takes position around #Fateh Mosque. @Reuters liveblog: http://t.co/sRInGZuBI5 pic.twitter.com/6M8AIPCyPG

— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) August 17, 2013

As Egypt announced a deeper crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood — they've arrested over 1,000 leaders of the group so far — the military exchanged heavy gunfire with pro-Morsi protesters holed up in the Fateh mosque. According to Al Jazeera, many of the protesters had been there since Friday, and were worried that the anti-Morsi crowds outside of the mosque wouldn't let the leave safely. One witness, speaking from inside, told the station that she believes the military fired at the mosque after a sniper in the minaret fired on security forces.  

Reuters has a more detailed account (though, caveat, it relies on a single witness) of what allegedly happened outside the mosque before the gunfire erupted: 

Tensions started to run high when a woman wearing a niqab - the full head to toe black veil - tried to walk out of the mosque, said a Reuters witness.

A group of about 10 soldiers had been telling people to leave the mosque and that they would be in no danger.

When the woman approached them, people in the mosque could be overheard saying she was the wife of a Brotherhood leader and was in danger of being arrested. She walked back into the mosque, looked up and said something to a group of pro-Mursi gunmen armed with AK-47 assault rifles.

That is when the shooting started.

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Photo: Reuters, inside the mosque.

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Photo: Reuters, security forces inside the mosque. 

A number of reporters were on the scene of the siege at the mosque. After the crowds began to turn on them, it looks like the military detained them for a period of time.

RT @SherineT The security forces are detaining journalists at the Fateh mosque. At least two are being held right now #egypt

— betsy hiel (@betsy_hiel) August 17, 2013

Thanks to all! @Alastair_Beach and I are safe and sound thanks to the military and timely intervention by journalist/hero @sharifkouddous.

— Matt Bradley (@MattMcBradley) August 17, 2013

Guardian correspondent Patrick Kingsley is currently detained in al Daher police stations after a citizens' arrest. @petersbeaumont

— Louisa Loveluck (@leloveluck) August 17, 2013

While there are no indications of the casualty toll from the shootings yet, reports indicate that the situation at the mosque has since calmed down now that the military has 'cleared' the mosque. But it's not clear how long that calm will last: the Muslim Brotherhood has called for daily protests against the military crackdown, and the ouster of Morsi. 

       

Vice Media is Now Valued at $1.4 Billion

Vice Media, the Williamsburg-based magazine-turned-publishing group known for its obsessive hipsterdom and recent expansion into online video, has sold a five percent stake to 21st Century Fox, Financial Times is reporting.

The deal values the share at $70 million, meaning the company in full amounts to $1.4 billion. For a sense of scale: John Henry paid $70 million for the Boston Globe two weeks ago, and Amazon's Jeff Bezos paid $250 for The Washington Post several days later. To buy Vice, which was founded as a Canadian music magazine in 1994, you'd have to pony up more than triple the cost of both newspapers combined.

These days, chief executive Shane sees the company as more of a global network—while preserving independent integrity:

“I want us to be the next MTV, ESPN and CNN rolled into one—and everyone always rolls their eyes,” said Shane Smith, Vice’s co-founder and chief executive.

“The reality is that MTV was bought by Viacom and CNN went to Time Warner. We have set ourselves up to build a global platform but we have maintained control.”

But the media world is gawking at the figure and wondering how if the company's gonzo-spirited brand has finally reached its corporate culmination:

Hipsters liked them before they sold out: Vice valued at $1.5 billion after selling 5% stake to 21st Century Fox. http://t.co/3sVzbNQiHJ

— Tom Gara (@tomgara) August 16, 2013

We are apporaching peak Hipster: Vice sells %5 stake to 21st Cent. Fox valued at $1.4 billion http://t.co/g7kTO3TC3G

— David Cohn (@Digidave) August 16, 2013

Cannot believe this was once just a "punk zine." Vice Media now valued at $1.4 billion http://t.co/XNSqSoKSsq (via @FT)

— Zoe Galland (@zoegalland) August 16, 2013

But should we really be surprised? It's news to no one that new media is expanding and newspapers nearly worthless, and journalists have been blasting Vice as sell-outs for longer than anyone can remember. (Only several months ago, the brand's mission to bring Dennis Rodman to North Korea won a profile in The New Yorker, as if Vice is any stranger to the media elite it once railed against.)

Plus, speculation regarding Rupert Murdoch's interest in Vice was sparked in 2012, when the media mogul politely asked his Twitter followers if they'd heard of the brand:

Who's heard of VICE media? Wild, interesting effort to interest millenials who don't read or watch established media. Global success.

— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) October 13, 2012

Indeed, they had. And they'll probably keep hearing about it for years to come.

       

Vice Is Now Worth $1.4 Billion

A deal that gives 21st Century Fox a 5 percent stake in Vice Media effectively values the company at $1.4 billion. The deal, scheduled for a Monday announcement, means that Fox just spent $70 million to get a little piece of the company that (maybe!) has an interview with North Korea's Kim Jong Un hidden somewhere in its archives, and managed to get unfriended by John McAfee.

While that valuation is kind of bonkers, the deal isn't completely out of the blue. Rumors started over Fox's interest in Vice when it became public knowledge that News Corp's Rupert Murdoch (the CEO and majority shareholder in the recently spun-off 21st Century Fox) digs them: 

Who's heard of VICE media? Wild, interesting effort to interest millenials who don't read or watch established media. Global success.

— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) October 13, 2012

Financial Times has the details on the deal. Vice was apparently advised by Tom Freston, the former chief executive of Viacom, who is also a minority shareholder in the company: 

Mr Freston advised Vice on the transaction. “The idea was to raise capital to help fund a lot of the initiatives we want to undertake more aggressively outside the US – but also have some strategic alliances with a company that has robust distribution,” he said.

Minority shareholders own a quarter, total, of Vice Media, with the founders and senior management holding on to the rest. But Fox, apparently, has something that Vice could really use right now as they try to expand into India and Europe, following their television move via HBO. According to FT, Vice will jump aboard 21st Century Fox’s Star in India to try and grab up that market. Or here's the more Vice-y way to put it, from CEO Shane Smith speaking to Deadline: 

We get to make all the content we want? With the best platforms in the world? Grow our brand exponentially? Become the next global media brand? And all the while own the vast majority of the company and vote 95% of the board? Where-do-we-fucking-sign?!

Vice started off as a Montreal-based alt-weekly, which eventually moved to Brooklyn. 

       

Neil Gaiman Honored by British Town with...a Bus Lane?

The hometown of acclaimed British writer Neil Gaiman will name a bus lane in honor of the hometown hero's newest novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane. What, the sidewalk was already taken?

Gaiman, a winner of the Newbery Medal, is perhaps best known for his dark fantasies about children, such as in his graphic novel-turned-Oscar nominated movie Coraline, as well as his most recent novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane fits.

But for the residents of Portsmouth, at the southern tip of England, most crucial is the fact that The Ocean at the End of the Lane "is set in the landscapes in which Gaiman grew up," as The Guardian notes. Between Portsmouth's centrality in Gaiman's new book and the "Lane" part of the novel's title, it's easy enough to see why the Portsmouth City Council plans to name a road after the book in a ceremony to take place this Sunday.

But that road will not be a central avenue but, rather, what appears to be a thin bus lane next to Canoe Lake, which Google Maps estimates to be about 350 feet long. True, we might be mistaken about the bus lane in question, as there are several in the vicinity. But, as Gertrude Stein might have said, a bus lane is a bus lane is a bus lane. 

[image error]

To be fair, the bus lane will look out toward the Atlantic Ocean, but it won't seemingly reach the road closest to the beach. Strange for a book titled The Ocean at the End of the Lane, no? We're not talking about The Ocean Several Hundred Feet From the End of the Lane, after all.

The Canoe Lake location is pretty, however:

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So, yeah, getting an eponymous bus lane will probably rank pretty low on Gaiman's list of accomplishments. Nevertheless, the author was upbeat and excited about the naming ceremony, saying he was "gobsmacked, befuddled, delighted and baffled" at the honor. "I was even Barmitzvahed in the Portsmouth Synagogue," Gaiman says of his time growing up there.

Don't let us get you down, Mr. Gaiman. Mazal tov! May your future be full of many more blessings — and, perhaps, a bike lane, too.

       

Notes from the Unpaid Intern Underground

The current and former interns who straggled into Brad's, an all-purpose "beers and burgers and booze and bites" joint in Greenwich Village, for an Intern Happy Hour had begun comparing notes on how grim the landscape of unpaid labor has become. 

"It's pretty crazy the things that are going as internships these days," said Blythe Riley, who served as an intern in the art world in the 1990s. "Recently I saw a listing for a security intern for a gallery. A security guard! That should be paid."

Greg Riestenberg, a graphic designer, discussed his own experience coming from the University of Cincinnati, where his co-op program required design architecture and engineering internships to be paid, to New York.

"I came to New York for grad school and I saw people even at the grad school level taking unpaid internships and I was like, 'This is really messed up,'" he shared. "In Cincinnati, we had jobs for sophomore undergrads that were paid."

"The fact that I see these patterns—I feel like it's an increasing story where countries are doing that," he said. "They're replacing entry-level employees with unpaid interns. It's destroying jobs for people that had them previously."

[image error]

Most weeks the members of Intern Labor Rights meet at Think Coffee, near Washington Square Park, to talk about strategies and plan actions. In February, they produced hundreds of "PAY YOUR INTERNS" bags to be given out at Fashion Week events, targeting an industry notorious for its labor policies. They've also developed an ongoing "WTF?!" campaign, in which they scour job boards and Craigslist for particularly egregious internship listings, then shame the companies responsible on their web site and contact them to let them know they're breaking the law. And they joined forces with an NYU student who petitioned the university's Wasserman Career Center to stop including unpaid internships in its job database.

Adam Rotstein, an aspiring comedy writer who graduated from Wesleyan in December, was upset at working without pay, as well as the sham of granting college credit—something many employers require of their unpaid interns as a legal defense. "I got an unpaid internship at the Colbert Report last semester and most of the kids were juniors and sophomores in college, so they had to show [their schools] a syllabus of the work they were going to do, which was bullshit—we did all clerical work," Rotstein said. "We had to mislead our colleges, because no institution wants to grant us credit for getting coffee and sorting boxes for five-and-a-half months." 

But because they weren't being paid, Viacom required them to get credit. When he contacted Wesleyan, the school offered to grant him one post-graduation credit to show to the Colbert Report—if he paid $1,200 in tuition. "I was like, wow, not only am I working for free for five-and-a-half months, financing my own apartment, but now I'm also paying an extra $1,200 to get a credit that I don't need, because I already graduated, to do clerical work for an unpaid internship that's going to offer me literally nothing in terms of empirical experience," he said.

So he completed the internship, which was roughly 30 hours a week, and never followed up with the school to pay for or receive the credit. As long as Viacom had files verifying that he was receiving it, they were satisfied.

But he's not sure the internship was much more than a resume booster. "Literally all I got out of my Colbert Report internship was getting one of the writers to follow me on Twitter," he said. "And he favorites instead of retweeting, which was a crushing disappointment."

Photos by Rachel Pincus.

       

CBS Is Planning a Drama About a Female Secretary of State

A network television channel planning a program about a female secretary of state? Sounds familiar. Well, it's not that secretary of state. 

As NBC and CNN get shunned by the RNC because of their Hillary Clinton projects in the works (a minseries and documentary, respectively), Deadline's Nellie Andreeva reports that CBS is finding a subtler way to capitalize on the 2016 Hillary frenzy. The network is developing a drama series about a fictional female secretary of state called Madame Secretary written by Joan of Arcadia creator Barbara Hall and co-executive produced by one-time fictional president Morgan Freeman. The show, per Andreeva, "explores the personal and professional life of a maverick female Secretary of State as she drives international diplomacy, wrangles office politics and balances a complex family life." Ha. Complex. Heard that, Bill? 

So this will presumably be about Hillary Clinton in the way The Good Wife is about Silda Spitzer or, well, Hillary Clinton. It will make headlines for the implicit connection, but won't actually elicit any ire from the GOP. Very clever, CBS.

       

Hugh Jackman Didn't Just Make $100 Million

Today in show business news: Hugh Jackman shoots down a rumor, Lauren Graham is adapting her own book for television, and Spike Lee has won your money.

There was a rumor running around recently that singin', dancin' grizzled superhero Hugh Jackman signed a $100 million deal to make a whopping four more Wolverine movies. Yeah! Four more of those things. Making Hugh Jackman an instant hundred-millionaire. What a story! Only, the thing is, it's not true. Entertainment Weekly asked the actor if there was any truth to the rumors and he was all, "Hellll no, gurl!" Well, no, he said, "I would never do that. I’ve never done that mainly because, for the fans and for me, each time I’ve gone around there’s been a really good reason to do it and I don’t know what that reason is from here." So, a noble reason. Which isn't surprising, because Hugh Jackman seems like a standup guy. Y'know, he's just good ol' Jackman, doing his Jackman thing, wanting nothing more than to entertain a few folks by putting on a show. That's all. He just slaps on a muscle shirt or some gold lamé and goes to town. He'd never make a Wolverine movie for cynical reasons. No sir. Not our guy. [Entertainment Weekly]

Hey, did you know that Lauren Graham wrote a book? Lauren Graham the actress from Parenthood and, of course, Gilmore Girls. Yeah, she wrote a novel called Someday, Someday, Maybe based on her experiences as a struggling young actor in early '90s New York City, and it was a New York Times bestseller. Good for her! And now even better for her: She's signed a deal to adapt the book for The CW. It might become a series! Meaning Lauren Graham returns to work for The CW and crazed Gilmore Girls fans the nation over (and hoo boy are there are a lot of them) leave a lot of Gilmore Girls-shaped holes in their walls as they run screaming into the afternoon. Which is nice for them. Enjoy your Fridays, guys. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Joseph Kosinski, the guy who made the sleek but ultimately empty Tron: Legacy and Oblivion, is set to direct a new Twilight Zone movie. We know nothing about the plot details, partly because a new script is being written for Kosinski, but this just doesn't sound like a good idea in general, does it? I don't think it does. Oh well. Nothing to be done about it. What are we going to do? Maybe Hugh Jackman could talk everyone out of it. If anyone can, it's Jackman. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Oh good. Spike Lee has reached his Kickstarter funding goal! Lee, owner of a $30 million house, raised $1.25 million from strangers who will never see a bit of profit. Oh well. Whatever. Let's not have the Kickstarter conversation again, yeah? It's Friday afternoon. Let's just get the heck outta here. Congrats, Spike. [Deadline]

Here is a trailer for Vampire Academy, the first movie based on the book series about... You know what? No. I'm not going to tell you what Vampire Academy is about, because it is called Vampire Academy, so it should be very obvious what it is about. I mean would you ask what a movie called Werewolf Nursing Home was about? No, I don't think you would. Because you would know. And we know what Vampire Academy is. So, have a look.

       

The Pauls and the Leakers Are All Fond of Each Other

With his declaration on Friday that he is "a big fan" of Ron and Rand Paul, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has completed the square of mutual admiration between himself, the Pauls, and Edward Snowden.

Assange's affection for the libertarian duo, reported by the Huffington Post, comes as little surprise. His comments came during a Google chat with the group Campus Progress. As HuffPo transcribed:

"[I] am a big admirer of Ron Paul and Rand Paul for their very principled positions in the U.S. Congress on a number of issues. … They have been the strongest supporters of the fight against the U.S. attack on WikiLeaks and on me in the U.S. Congress. Similarly, they have been the strongest opponents of drone warfare and extrajudicial executions."

That fills in two additional arrows on our brand-new graph.

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As for each of those arrows:

Ron Paul admires Assange. The then-congressman praised Assange and Wikileaks from the floor of the House in 2010. Assange admires Ron Paul. As he revealed today. Assange admires Rand Paul. See above. Ron and Rand Paul admire each other. We're just sort of assuming on this one. Assange admires Snowden. Before Wikileaks began assisting Snowden's flight from Hong Kong, Assange offered his praise. Rand Paul admires Snowden. He compared Snowden's civil disobediance to Martin Luther King. Snowden admires Ron Paul. When the elder Paul was running for president, Snowden gave to his campaign. Ron Paul admires Snowden. Paul called the whistleblower's actions "heroic."

We will obviously update this chart once Rand and Snowden start showing their feelings more.

       

Bill Clinton Disputes Report of Turmoil at the Clinton Foundation

Bill Clinton posted an open letter on Friday disputing a recent New York Times article detailing staff and financial problems at the Clinton Foundation, and while Clinton's defense of the charity's money situation seems fairly solid, his defense of its office politics is less so. Hillary Clinton is transitioning to the foundation — recently renamed the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation — to have a platform to address political issues ahead of the 2016 presidential campaign.

The Clinton Foundation "ran multimillion-dollar deficits for several years, despite vast amounts of money flowing in," the Times' Nicholas Confessore and Amy Chozick reported on August 13. "The foundation piled up a $40 million deficit during [2007 and 2008], according to tax returns. Last year, it ran more than $8 million in the red."

Clinton said that's misleading. "The reporting requirements on our tax forms, called 990s, can be misleading as to what is actually going on," he writes. When someone pledges a sum of money to be given to the foundation over several years, the foundation has to report the whole sum the year the pledge is made, even though not all the money is in the bank.

In 2005 and 2006 as a result of multi-year commitments, the Foundation reported a surplus of $102,8000,000 though we collected nowhere near that. In later years, as the money came in to cover our budgets, we were required to report the spending but not the cash inflow.

It's incorrect today the foundation ran an $8 million deficit for last year, Clinton says, because that figure is "based on unaudited numbers included in our 2012 annual report." The audited numbers will put the foundation in the black, he says.

[image error]The Times places the deficits Clinton disputes in the context of spending "that raised eyebrows." There was the time the foundation bought a first-class plane ticket for Natalie Portman, who brought along "her beloved Yorkie," to an event in Austin. Clinton does not address the ticket nor the Yorkie.

As for the controversies over staff that the Times reported, Clinton does not fully address those claims. Many at the foundation were frustrated by Doug Band, a longtime Clinton aide with an outside consulting business some at the foundation worried created conflicts of interest. Band urged Clinton to fire Ira Magaziner, who worked with Hillary Clinton on health care in the 90s, and whom Clinton defended as someone who might have "managerial weaknesses," the Times said, but "was a visionary with good intentions." Clinton defends Magaziner at length but does not mention Band. Most interestingly, Clinton does not counter the Times' report that there was tension between Band and Chelsea Clinton, who joined the foundation's board in 2011. Chelsea was the one who suggest the chief executive job go to Eric Braverman. Clinton says Braverman and chairman Bruce Lindsey "have established a good working relationship and are proceeding with the rest of our planned changes, including consolidating the Foundation's separate New York City offices in one location in midtown to maximize collaboration and efficiency."