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Even the schoolchildren of New Rochelle, N.Y., have been enlisted in the crusade to woo the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund. In an inter-national letter-writing campaign, they told diplomats in Chad, China and Cameroon why UNICEF should relocate to the Westchester County suburb.
At the same time, the wine tasters of the Rhineland-Palatinate have joined the battle to lure the United Nations Development Program to Germany from New York. At a fete in Goethe House on Fifth Avenue, the German government plied UNDP's employees and their families with libations as they touted the virtues of Bonn.
Pressures to plunder New York agencies by nearby suburbs or distant countries continue to mount. Crucial decisions in the next few months could cost the city more than 2,600 jobs, and hundreds mole in the missions may be at risk. But one of New York's best connected political insiders is organizing a spirited defense of the city's interests.
"We can't just do it piecemeal," say's Victor Marrero, who is uniquely positioned to help as the new U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Economic and Social Council. "We have to look at it holistically, just as New Rochelle did in proposing its mini-U.N. city."
Mr. Marrero, a former law partner at Brown & Wood and veteran of the biggest development battles of the 1980s, left the private sector just last week. He's orchestrating U.N. retention strategies-and crafting a city-state-federal partnership with the full weight of the U.S. State Department behind him.
He'll need it. The fate of seven U.N. agencies that pump more than $250 million into the city's economy hang in the balance. Fears of a domino effect abound as Vienna and Geneva eye other U.N. jewels. The Secretariat will be expanding, but it's by no means clear where And the clock is ticking fast.
On June 10, the 48 nation UNDP governing council will debate the German offer though a final vote isn't expected Also...