"With smoke and tar from faulty light fixtures leaking into New York City public school classrooms at alarming rates, the Bloomberg administration said on Tuesday that it would cut in half the time it needed to replace them."

"The agreement to complete the cleanup by the end of 2016, rather than by 2021, was struck with plaintiffs who sued the city in federal court two years ago to force a speedier timetable than the 10 years the city had called for.

It represents a turnabout for the Bloomberg administration, which tried and failed to have the lawsuit dismissed. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg had called President Obama's chief of staff and the head of the Environmental Protection Agency two years ago to plead for more time."

Al Baker reports for the New York Times May 21, 2013. [2]