ogogog - i am currently an air traffic controller in N90.
The tower does adjust airspeed on the final. Technically they are required to advise the final controller that the aircraft's speed has been adjusted, but that is rarely the case. On the other side of the coin, the final controller should not be dumping on the local controller and giving him a crappy feed. I've seen terrible handling of aircraft on both sides. Meaning that the final controller is jamming the local controller and the local controller adjusting speeds unnecessarily.
ogogog - LRAC - Limited Radar Approach Control. That is the radar position in the tower cab that tags up the VFR aircraft that transition the class bravo airspace. This makes the LRAC a different entity than the local controller working the arrival final/departure runway. When JFK is fed IFR arrivals, we don't hand the IFR arrivals off to the tower. Those aircraft are not 'flashed'. They are just switched over before the FAF. There is no LOA between N90 and JFK that dictates a specific point for transfer of control. That could possibly be in the works so that the adjustment of speeds can be minimized.
I have worked in a tower as well as N90. From having previous tower experience, it is easy to tell when the tower is getting jammed. However, I can also tell when as an approach controller, i'm getting the shitty end of the stick. I have a total of 20 years experience and i'm not trying to be judgemental between facilities.
I cannot say anything about C90's operation because I have never seen it nor am I familiar with it. I just have an issue when comments are made about operations that the individual has no idea of what they are talking about. I will just stick with the facts that I know about regarding facilities that I have worked or are familiar with.
Not trying to get into a pissing contest. I'm just trying to clear some things up.