The fight against hunger inched forward last week, with new legislation passed in the Council and the launch of a new body to combat the problem itself. The changes come at a time when the Bloomberg Administration has proposed a $670,000 cut to emergency food programs in the city, and refused to seek a waiver that would allow unemployed adults seeking work claim the federal food benefit, even as 2 million New Yorkers are at risk of hunger, according to the Food Bank of New York City. The new legislation, now sitting on the mayor’s desk, will create an online food stamp application and distribute paper applications for the federal program at food pantries and soup kitchen, as well as make it easier to apply via fax and obtain exemptions from face-to-face interviews if disabled. Mayoral support for the bills is uncertain; calls to the city’s Human Resources Agency were not returned by press time. Meanwhile, earlier in the week, city officials and hunger advocates officially unveiled five, borough-wide hunger task forces. More than 500 people crowded into Cooper Union’s Great Hall to kick off the new groups, which organizers say will bring a neighborhood focus to anti-hunger organizing. [06/27/05]