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Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Tri-State Transportation Campaign’s Statement on Governor Hochul’s Overnight Policing Initiative on NYC Transit
Governor Hochul’s decision to deploy police officers on every train from 9 PM to 5 AM is a misguided approach to transit safety. Ensuring safety for all transit riders is critical, but increasing police presence is not the solution our system or communities deserve.
Our transit system needs proactive investments in infrastructure, staff, and social supports—not hundreds of millions of dollars funneled into policing, which cannot resolve the wide range of challenges riders face daily. Safety must come through ensuring fairness for everyone, making the system work for all users, and focusing on preventing problems before they arise, instead of continually relying on police to respond, which isn’t always effective.
Policing has repeatedly proven to be reactive rather than preventive, addressing harm after it occurs– if at all. Just months ago, a tragic subway incident resulted in four people being shot, including an officer, showing the limitations of relying on police enforcement to create more equitable and safe spaces. This approach also risks further criminalizing poverty and vulnerable riders rather than tending to the root causes of crime, such as housing, inadequate mental health, and social services.
The timing of this decision is also troubling. President Trump’s comments about “giving NYPD their authority back” and his withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accords, again, serve as stark reminders of the dangers of regressive policies that undermine justice and climate progress. New York must lead with solutions rooted in equity, sustainability, and community care, not reactionary measures that perpetuate more harm.
Safe, equitable, and sustainable transit is possible. Governor Hochul’s plan is not the solution.
Laura Waxman
Communications Associate
Tri-State Transportation Campaign
laura@tstc.org, @Tri_State
Posted February 3, 2025
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
A Budget That Helps New Yorkers a Little Bit Isn’t Good Enough
While Gov. Hochul’s proposed changes to Foundation Aid would drive bigger-than-expected increases to many high need school districts, NYC schools would get $400 million less
In response to Governor Hochul’s executive budget announcement, the public education advocacy organization Alliance for Quality Education released the following statement:
“In her addresses today and last week, Governor Hochul indicated her willingness to support policy changes that can make the lives of families and children a little better, including some positive proposals, such as universal school meals and expanding the child tax credit.
“We need to invest in measures in the state budget that will transform people’s lives, not just make them a little bit better,” said Marina Marcou-O’Malley and Zakiyah Shaakir-Ansari, Co-Executive Directors, Alliance for Quality Education. “By the Governor’s own acknowledgement, New York’s tax revenues and economy are by all metrics thriving, and there is no excuse. But the impact of the changes she is proposing, and how they’re enacted, matters tremendously. Instead of taking a bold stance to protect New Yorkers from any potential threat from the new administration in DC, the Governor chose to do very little, prompting New Yorkers to address their issues to the feds.
Foundation Aid
“The Governor’s proposed changes to Foundation Aid have mixed impact on different school districts. Shifting the poverty measures to those that more accurately capture students’ realities is one we welcome, though that change cannot be made in a vacuum. If Governor Hochul’s changes are enacted, New York City schools will see their expected Foundation Aid increase cut almost in half, a loss that is unacceptable and is sure to have an impact on students. At the same time, many other high need school districts in other parts of the state would receive a higher-than-expected increase under the Governor’s proposed formula update, a very welcome adjustment. We cannot allow the budget to jeopardize the well being of some students. We must find a way to make changes to the Foundation Aid formula in a way that captures the complex reality of each school district without negatively impacting any district.
Child Care
“Governor Hochul has misread the nature of the child care crisis: solving it simply starts with investments in the workforce to create more access for families. Without investments in the workforce, there will not be enough staff for the centers she wants to build. She will not be able to create a substitute pool without paying our existing educators a living wage. More programs will close and more families will be left out.
“Until the Governor is ready to seriously transform compensation for child care educators, greater access for families and affordability will continue to be out of reach. The enacted budget must include $1.2 billion investment in raising the wages of child care educators.
Revenues
“Extending the Millionaires Tax without asking the ultra wealthy and corporations — those who have profited tremendously since the pandemic — to pay what they owe, will leave the state vulnerable to the inequitable whims of the federal government. We can and should be raising more revenue for the state budget to invest in programs that benefit our communities.
“Offering tax cuts that will make minimal individual difference when spread across the millions of families that would receive them is not going to have the impact needed. That revenue would do more if we invested it in public schools, child care workers, and other community needs.”
Alliance for Quality Education
January 21, 2025
Posted January 27, 2025
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Drought Management in NYC
New York City is not often associated with the kind of drought we see in other areas of the country, but this fall has been a stunning exception. This past October saw the second-longest rainless streak in city records, dating back 155 years, to 1869. With November continuing to be warmer and drier as well, we have issued a citywide drought watch and are urging New Yorkers to conserve water wherever possible.
Every New Yorker can help by taking shorter showers and doing fewer loads of laundry, but there are many other simple and effective ways to conserve water in our city.
- An open faucet uses two to three gallons of water per minute, so there’s no need to run the faucet while you’re shaving, washing your hands, or brushing your teeth.
- A leaky faucet that drips at the rate of one drip per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons per year, so fix those leaks, if possible. You can also save even more water by installing water-saving fixtures like low-flow toilets and showerheads, as well as faucet aerators.
- Run the dishwasher and washing machine only when full. Use short cycles if available. Turn off the water while washing dishes.
- Don't flush the toilet unnecessarily. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, toilets are, by far, the main source of water use in a home, accounting for nearly 30 percent of an average home's indoor water consumption. Each flush can use 1.6 gallons, with older models using as much as 6 gallons.
- Sweep driveways and sidewalks clean rather than washing them down with a hose.
- Report any open fire hydrants and street leaks to 311. An open hydrant can release more than 1,000 gallons per minute, which wastes 1.4 million gallons of drinking water in a 24-hour cycle.
- For even more ideas, visit the DEP's Water Savings Tips website
New York City is justifiably proud of our water system, and we are determined to protect one of our most precious resources. All of us who rely on the city’s water supply, including 8.3 million consumers in the city and another 1.5 million upstate, must make concerted efforts to conserve water, especially during these extended dry periods.
We’re going to do our part as a city as well, requiring our city agencies to update their water conservation plans and implement them as quickly as possible.
By pulling together and saving water, we can do even better by our city — slowing the depletion rate of city reservoirs and avoiding a more serious drought that would require further restrictions in the future.
Let’s work together to save water, and when the rain does return, try to remember where you left your umbrella.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
November 8, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Our Schools Deserve Better: It’s Time for Mayor Adams to Resign!
In light of tonight’s announcement of Mayor Eric Adams’ federal indictment, Co-Executive Directors Marina Marcou-O’Malley and Zakiyah Shaakir-Ansari of the public education advocacy organization the Alliance for Quality Education released the following statement:
"Tonight’s federal indictment of Mayor Eric Adams highlights the crisis he has created, directly affecting New York City’s public schools and the families they serve. His administration’s missteps and misplaced priorities continue to sideline the needs of students, parents, and educators, leaving our students without the support they urgently need. This leadership crisis has become too much of a distraction for our city. It is time for Mayor Adams to resign!
"We believe Public Advocate Jumaane Williams is the right leader to provide the stable direction our city desperately needs. His commitment to education justice and deep understanding of the challenges facing working families make him the ideal advocate for our city during this time. Having collaborated closely with Jumaane for years, we are confident that his vision for equity and justice can guide us through this turmoil and ensure that every child has the resources necessary to learn, grow, and thrive.
"The implications of this indictment are serious, casting a shadow over an administration that has repeatedly cut the budgets of our public schools and libraries since he has been in office. Families and students need a mayor focused on their needs, not one ensnared in scandals. This is especially clear with Props 2-6, a sneaky move by the mayor to change the city’s constitution, granting himself more power and eroding essential checks and balances. New Yorkers must vote no on Props 2-6. Empowering Adams in this way would not only undermine democracy but also jeopardize the protections we have in place that keep our communities strong."
Alliance for Quality Education
September 25, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Mayor Adams’ ‘City of Yes’ is a doubling down on the failed housing policies of the past, and a giant giveaway to developers with little in it for average New Yorkers
The entire plan is premised on the notion that building more unaffordable housing will somehow make our city more affordable, as the plan seeks to gin up even more luxury condo development in neighborhoods where it has only resulted in gentrification and escalation of housing prices. Instead of preserving and creating affordable housing, the Mayor continues to focus on how he can grease the wheels for his developer friends, claiming the benefits of lining the pockets of real estate interests will eventually trickle down to all New Yorkers. We’re not fooled. It’s no surprise the City Planning Commission has now approved its own plan, as we knew it would. The real fight will now go to the City Council, which will have to decide if it wants to rubber-stamp the Mayor’s developer-enrichment plan, or stand up for real New Yorkers and real solutions to the challenges our city faces.”
Read Village Preservation’s specific objections to the City of Yes plan here - https://media.villagepreservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/13114314/City-of-Yes-for-Housing-Opportunity-let.-5.13.24.pdf
Village Preservation has generated 70,000 letters from New Yorkers to city officials in opposition to “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity.” https://p2a.co/wg0x0lz
Read Village Preservation’s report debunking the contention underlying “City of Yes” that a housing shortage is the cause of New York City’s housing affordability problem, as opposed to the city building housing which most New Yorkers can’t afford, here - https://media.villagepreservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/04141548/Report-Is-Housing-Shortage-Really-Cause-of-Unaffordability.pdf
Read Village Preservation’s report showing how wildly inaccurate the Department of City Planning’s projections about the impacts of its rezonings (like “City of Yes”) have been here - https://media.villagepreservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/09080719/City-Planning-Less-Reliable-Than-Flipping-A-Coin.pdf
For more information on “City of Yes” and opposition to it, see here - https://www.villagepreservation.org/campaign/city-of-yes/
Andrew Berman
Executive Director Village Preservation
September 25, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
First-Of-Its-Kind Report Analyzes NYC Landmark Designations 1965 to Present, Finds Dramatic
Drop in Recent Years
Study Finds Mayor Adams Much More Resistant to Designations than His Predecessors in Office; Fewer Landmarks Named Since Law Favored by Real Estate Industry Passed; Every Part of City Seeing Designations Drop Dramatically and Threatened Historic Buildings Ignored.
Nonprofit Village Preservation today released a first-of-its-kind study analyzing all 38,000 properties landmarked in New York City since the establishment of the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission. The scrupulous review of city data, Analyzing New York City Landmark Designations: A Review of Mayoral Influence and Policy, 1965 to the Present, found:
While landmark designations have waxed and waned over the nearly 60 years since NYC began the practice, under Mayor Adams they have been curtailed to a degree vastly exceeding any of his peers. Though Mayors Beame and Giuliani join Adams at the bottom of the list of Mayors to extend landmark designations, Adams far exceeds them, with two-thirds fewer designations than his predecessors, and three-quarters fewer buildings protected.
Since the passage of the controversial Intro. 775-A in 2016 at the behest of the real estate industry, limiting the time the Landmarks Preservation Commission can consider landmark status, the number and breadth of landmark designations have dropped dramatically, with landmark designations and the number of buildings protected down by about 60%, and the size of average historic district designations slashed by more than half. Preservationists and community groups that opposed the measure had predicted it having just such a chilling effect.
In spite of the promises of the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s “Equity Framework,” adopted in early 2021, to ensure a more diverse array of landmark designations, designations are down by 50% in the Outer Boroughs, 45% in Upper Manhattan, and by a stunning 85% in what the city calls the “Manhattan Core” (Manhattan below 110th Street on the West Side and below 96th Street on the East Side).
As the rate of landmark designations has dropped dramatically in recent years, the city has increasingly forgone consideration of imminently endangered historic sites, which have been lost or compromised as a result. Instead, for the small number of designations approved each year, the city has increasingly leaned upon sites that are already landmarked, or that due to other existing regulatory regimes are already wholly or in part insulated from the threat of loss.
The report comes on the eve of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) in 2025, which is expected to spark retrospection and appraisal of the legacy of landmark designations in New York City. The LPC was established in part in response to the loss of great NYC landmarks such as Pennsylvania Station, and has helped prevent the loss of sites ranging from Grand Central Terminal to the African Burial Ground, Radio City Music Hall to the 19th-century Free Black community of Weeksville, Brooklyn. Neighborhoods that have been preserved as a result of landmark designation include Jackson Heights, Queens; Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn; St. George, Staten Island; the Grand Concourse in the Bronx; and Sugar Hill, Manhattan.
“It’s critically important that we be able to take a 30,000-foot view of what’s happening with the process of protecting our history in New York City, even if what we find is deeply concerning,” said Andrew Berman, Executive Director of Village Preservation, which conducted the analysis. “The shockingly dramatic drop-off in activity to protect our city’s historic sites under Mayor Adams as well as since the passage of Intro. 775-A is extremely troubling, and points to a train that has gone off its tracks. The decrease in landmark designations over the last several years has been across the board, affecting every borough and neighborhood, in spite of the promise from the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s ‘Equity Framework’ to ensure overlooked areas, communities, and histories are given their due. The long list of buildings and neighborhoods that represent those overlooked and underrepresented histories that the Commission has recently ignored is cause for alarm, as is the growing practice of focusing on sites that face no immediate or foreseeable threat while those that do are passed over. It’s clear that a combination of Mayoral directive and legislative handcuffing has resulted in a dramatically less comprehensive approach to preserving our city’s history, and one that too often is determined by avoiding opposition from powerful forces, especially real estate interests.”
Andrew Berman
Executive Director Village Preservation
September 3, 2024
Read other Village Preservation reports here - https://www.villagepreservation.org/resources/advocacy-reports/
About Village Preservation
Founded in 1980, Village Preservation works to document, celebrate, and preserve the special architectural and cultural heritage of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo. Village Preservation has successfully advocated for the landmark designation of more than 1,250 buildings in our neighborhoods, and has helped secure zoning protections for nearly 100 blocks. Each day we monitor more than 6,500 building lots in our neighborhood for demolition, alteration, or new construction permits, to notify the public and respond if necessary.
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Protecting Our Children and Our Streets from Illegal Smoke Shops
Every day, this administration is improving the quality of life of the 8.3 million New Yorkers who call this city home. From keeping New Yorkers safe on the subways and streets, to getting black garbage bags off our sidewalks, to building more green and clean public spaces, we are making our city safer and more livable for all New Yorkers.
But for too long, illegal cannabis shops have contributed to a feeling that anything goes on our streets, while targeting our most vulnerable, including children, with dangerous, counterfeit products marketed as candy. These stores threaten the health and safety of New Yorkers by selling dangerous and untested products. We will not sit idly by as these illegal cannabis shops continue to harm our kids and we will not let them undermine our quality of life, especially around our schools, houses of worship, and youth facilities.
That is why this administration is making good on our promise to shut down these illegal storefronts. We are making our streets and our children safer. Thanks to Governor Kathy Hochul and our partners in the state Legislature, New York City has been able to use the full force of the law to go after these illegal storefronts through “Operation Padlock to Protect.”
In just three months, “Operation Padlock to Protect” has closed and locked 843 illegal smoke shops, seized over $45 million in illegal product, and issued over $72 million in penalties.
And just last month, in the Bronx, we conducted operations against two-major illegal distributors, taking a combined $8 million of illegal product off city streets. These operations have made a huge difference in our streetscape while improving the quality of life for countless New Yorkers in record time.
Illegal smoke and cannabis shops also stand in the way of the legal cannabis market, taking money out of the registers of small business owners trying to earn a living, many of whom are formerly justice-involved Black and Brown neighbors who were disproportionately affected by the so-called ‘War on Drugs.’ We are making sure that justice-involved New Yorkers get their fair shot and fair share, and we will not let the economic opportunities that legal cannabis offers go up in smoke because of these illegal operators.
Legalization is about following the law, not a free pass to sell unregulated and unsafe products. Through “Operation Padlock to Protect,” we are making it clear that any operator acting illegally will face swift consequences as we protect our city’s children, improve quality of life, and facilitate a safe and thriving legal cannabis market.
We hear from New Yorkers in every corner of the five boroughs that they are seeing illegal cannabis stores in their neighborhoods close down and stay closed once-and-for-all. This is what it looks like to execute on a vision for improving public safety and to work side-by-side with communities in achieving lasting results. We are going to continue to shutter these illegal stores and protect our young people, our families, and our communities.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
August 5, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Protecting New Yorkers from Unsafe Batteries
New York is the safest big city in America, and we are working hard every day to keep New Yorkers safe from all kinds of dangers — including those posed by lithium-ion battery fires.
While the rise of battery-powered mobility devices has had many positive effects, too many of these devices contain uncertified lithium-ion batteries that do not meet safety standards. Many people are storing these faulty batteries in their homes and in some cases, businesses are charging hundreds of batteries at once, leading to explosions, fires, and death.
Since 2019, these batteries have started more than 700 fires, killing 29 of our fellow New Yorkers, injuring nearly 450 more, and causing tens of millions of dollars in damage. In addition, these fires are increasing the risks faced by our brave FDNY members, who often have to battle dangerous conditions and toxic gases when they respond to these fires.
Unsafe lithium-ion batteries are a clear and present danger to our city, and our administration is doing everything we can to address this crisis. Working with the FDNY and Commissioner Laura Kavanagh, we have supercharged our safety efforts, stepping up enforcement against high-risk charging "hot spots" and banning the sale of uncertified e-vehicles and refurbished batteries. Governor Hochul has been a great partner as well, signing key legislation that will protect New Yorkers from the dangers of unsafe batteries.
The result? A significant drop in lithium-ion battery related deaths this year. In 2023, there were 18 deaths related to lithium-ion battery fires; this year, there has been only one so far — still one too many, but an important step in the right direction and proof that our education and prevention efforts are working.
Now, we are taking another leap forward with the launch of the New York City Safe Charging Accelerator, a groundbreaking new effort to help make safe charging accessible to all New Yorkers.
We’re going to make it easier — and faster — for property owners to install public battery charging stations on our city’s sidewalks. These stations will allow for safe battery charging and swapping, increasing compliance with safety regulations, and protecting the lives of New Yorkers.
These charging stations will provide an alternative to risky charging sites that block exits, and every one of them will be thoroughly inspected and approved by the FDNY, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Buildings.
The Department of Transportation will also be launching America’s first municipal trade-in pilot program, which will help get unsafe e-bikes, e-scooters, and batteries off our streets and replace them with certified, high-quality devices and batteries.
In addition, we are working to create the Department of Sustainable Delivery, a first-in-the-nation entity which will regulate new forms of delivery transit and ensure their safety.
Finally, we are continuing our public awareness campaign to inform New Yorkers about the dangers of unsafe batteries by investing an additional $1 million in the FDNY’s public education campaign. We must underscore the danger posed by these devices, even if they are just being stored improperly. We need all New Yorkers to know that uncertified means unsafe, no matter what.
Approximately 59 percent of last year’s fires started without these faulty batteries even being plugged in — every New Yorker should be aware of this danger. Just as you wouldn’t store gasoline in your home or bedroom, no one should be keeping these devices in their living spaces, either.
E-bikes and e-scooters are here to stay, and there are clear benefits to using these low-cost, low-carbon forms of micromobility. But these benefits must go hand-in-hand with updated safety efforts and aggressive enforcement. Working together, we will ensure New York City is again leading the way and getting battery safety done right as we protect New Yorkers’ lives.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
July 22, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
The Mayor's " City of Yes" is A City of Mess
(What's wrong with the Fox Guarding the Henhouse, and what you can do about it.....)
Among the many real estate battles taking place across the city, the Mayor’s policy proposals flying under the banner of “The City of Yes” are the most misleading. The proposals are 1500 pages of zoning and regulatory changes. Some changes are huge, some are trivial. It’s so big that I suspect that its size is a City Planning Department strategy - toss out a lot of pretty public goals and then torture us with 1500 pages of indecipherable text that hides the sins and giveaways that are so awful to read we go away and give up.
Fronting the “City of Yes” reforms are the usual public purpose goals that are now used to hide all sins. City Planning promises affordable housing for somebody, a reduction in carbon emissions somewhere else, and a break here and there for noble small businesses like bakeries and hair salons.
Digging into the immense on-line documents at City Planning is no small task, but thanks to the work of public-spirited people, we at Humanscale NYC got plenty of help in figuring things out. Two of those people are George Janes (a city planner at GeorgeJanes.com whose presentations on this topic have circulated in community boards and are sadly not available on line), and Alicia Boyd, a Brooklyn activist whose excellent work on this topic you can see at https://mtopp.org/index.php/category/city-of-yes-text-amendments/.
The news is that the City of Yes proposals are so broad-brushed and massive that The City Yes will just create a City of Mess. It's firehose strategy to reform hands out favors to big commercial property owners and big real estate in general and gives both the Mayor and the libertarian-infected Department of City Planning way too much discretionary power. It further weakens and eliminates the already marginalized role of the citizenry via fewer and less important public hearings and frequently taking out community boards from the equation.
The roots of the problem are the faulty premises upon which City Planners built the proposals for the foolishly dubbed "City of Yes". One premise is that New York City has supposedly been The City of No for real estate developers and that idiotic NIMBY’s have been running the city here by stopping everything from getting built. In that imaginary city where the planners live, tax-paying citizens and home-owners are just irritating NIMBY’s who are “exclusionary” zoning freaks intent on stopping “change”. The sadder reality is that here in NYC, citizen objections, however valid to anything a Mayor or Real Estate Developer wants to do in NYC, matter so rarely that it is headline news when they do. For example, during the De Blasio administration, over 90% of all rezoning projects went through without modification by the City Council, regardless of what the community board, non-profits, or City Councilmembers said about them. Of the few zoning proposals hat got outright rejected, nearly all came back to the Council and sailed through with only trivial, lipstick-on-pig modifications.
A second faulty premise of the City of Mess is this: the planners in charge (and the Mayor) seem to think that government regulations are the source of all evil and must be eliminated. Supposedly liberal democrats think that when it comes to real estate, Capitalism Is All Perfect All the Time. It’s a libertarian premise with the policy implication that we should hack away at regulations and free up the real estate industry to do more, and that anything government might do in a market would be overreach and incompetence. Fans of this Ronald Reagan-Ayn Rand-Milton-Friedman-Friedrich Hayek mish-mash swear on the memory of their mothers that if we chuck enough regulations, maybe we’ll get the real estate industry to build enough housing to make housing prices fall. Libertarians don’t admit that such a price fall might not happen at all, that it hasn’t happened anywhere to any significant amount to affect anyone.
To be fair, these libertarian fantasies about regulations have a real appeal. Everyone hates government regulation, right? Even a third grader can dig around and find a stupid regulation. And who doesn’t love to complain about government, especially Big Government? Moreover, kudos to the libertarians because their simplistic argument takes our eyes and minds off the far more insidious problem of Dark Money and Big Corporations pulling the levers of power in City Government with money and lobbyists behind the scene.
Another problem with libertarian theorizing behind the City of Yes is the advocate's refusal to admit that markets are never perfect. In the real world, markets are messy and never settle into an “optimal” outcome that the believers in the fairy tale of the invisible hand think will happen. As Nobel-Prize winner economist Joseph Stiglitz has said, somewhat sarcastically, “the invisible hand is invisible because it isn’t there.” Therefore, putting one’s faith in a mythical, magical, fairy-tale is sheer folly, if not just plain stupid from a policy point of view.
Libertarian theorizers of housing also ignore that “market outcomes” - in real estate or any other market – are filled with horrible things the cost of which we citizens have to bear, not the corporations that produced them. I'm talking about things like global warming, smokestack pollution, too-tall toxic buildings, monopolies, excessive demolition of historic assets, Dark Money, dystopic unlivable places, Big Pharma’s grip on prescription prices, noise, stink, burning rivers, and spectacular level of unfairness, ugliness, inequality, not to mention cruelty within the social order, like slavery and child labor. Non-libertarian economists have long agreed that to manage these negative “side effects” of markets, we as a society have no choice but to regulate. Regulation has a purpose.
The tricky part is this: regulating any market is an art, not a science. Regulators must have a gimlet-eyed vision as to the purpose of regulation, an understanding of the market players, knowledge of the social costs they are trying to minimize, and support from the society at large to manage those social costs. Regulating well also requires oversight by third parties so that the regulator doesn’t end up captured by the regulated industry. Finally, it requires a regulator’s willingness to experiment with the rules on an on-going basis to get them right. Rule tinkering is a necessary and never ending task of competent regulation.
This brings us to the two-fold problem with the City of Mess. First, our Department of City Planning looks in every sense to be captured by the real estate industry. Their innumerable policy documents show them to be in grip of libertarian notions and a bad attitude that whatever is good for the Governors of the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) is good for the rest of us. But should captured regulators be the ones holding the scalpel of careful regulatory reform? Second, no matter the public good at hand, NYC is so complicated a real estate market that we should not be - as the City of Mess does - dropping a delicately-wielded scalpel in favor of a sledgehammer in one hand and a fire hose in the other.
The upshot is that the City of Yes throws out the good with the bad, the baby with the bathwater, all in 1500 or so pages of indecipherable text packaged with mere endless promises of vague good deeds. Trust us, they say. But can we? I don’t think the fox should reform the hen house. To be sure, remove parking requirements for developers in the outer Boroughs and zone-in granny flats in the world of single and two-family districts. Help noble bakeries, and of course encourage the return of SROs and boarding houses, resources that used to be a normal part of our housing ecosystem. But there just are so many bad ideas mixed in with the good that the City of Yes will only make a mess.
Among the problems, it will:
- Massage, redefine, or more realistically, eliminate, “use” districts so that casinos, nightclubs, strip clubs (cabarets) and factories can be nearly anywhere.
- Allow businesses to be anywhere in a mixed-use building.
- Eliminate the already weak and marginalized community boards in the land use process.
- Double what is allowed on top of existing buildings, ostensibly in the name of putting up 15-foot scaffolds for solar panels, anywhere and everywhere.
- Give all developers an as-of right extra 5% bonus of buildable space (so they can make toxic glass buildings thicker and supposedly energy efficient).
- Give City Planning more discretionary powers to approve things without going through the current land use process
If you got this far, call your Council member and tell them to reject the City of Yes Mess. Ask them to rescue our captured City Planning agency from the demonic grip of libertarianism and real estate interests, for only then will planners be able to come up with the proper approach to zoning reforms in the broader public interest.
To Take Action.
- Write In: Written testimony can be submitted via this form:
- Comments are requested on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement "DEIS" and will be accepted through 5:00 pm, Monday, July 22, 2024. They can be submitted via email to 24DCP033Y_DL@planning.nyc.govor mailed to Stephanie Shellooe, AICP, Director, Environmental Assessment and Review Division, New York City Department of City Planning, 120 Broadway, 31st Floor, New York, New York 10271.
Lynn Ellsworth
Humanscale NYC
https://www.humanscale.nyc/
July 9, 2024 / Published July 17, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
City of Yes: A Little More Housing in Every Neighborhood
Our city is facing a generational housing crisis with a vacancy rate at 1.4 percent, and half of all New York renters are paying more than 30 percent of their income in rent. The only way to solve this crisis is simple: build more. That requires all of us to say ‘yes’ to a little more housing in every neighborhood and ‘yes’ to ‘City of Yes for Housing Opportunity’ plan — the most pro-housing zoning proposal in New York City’s history.
There is a growing chorus of voices all across the city saying ‘yes’ to our City of Yes proposal. Last week, the New York City Planning Commission held an all-day hearing on the proposal with over 200 New Yorkers testifying — the majority of which voicing their support. And they weren’t alone. Last week, the borough presidents in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan, as well as LGBTQ+ advocates and AARP also stood up to proudly say ‘yes’ as well.
If passed, City of Yes would allow us to finally address the longstanding housing shortage that has made life difficult and unaffordable for far too many hardworking New Yorkers. Everybody has a story: The would-be homeowners outbid by cash buyers or a private equity firm, the firefighter who cannot afford to live in the neighborhood he serves, the older New Yorker who has spent a lifetime in the family business only to find herself unable to pay rent on a fixed income, and the new parents who cannot afford a big enough apartment to raise their family. These are the everyday New Yorkers impacted by this housing crisis.
The crisis reached its peak because for too long, New York City has been at the mercy at folks who have said 'no.' In our administration, we continue to proudly say 'yes' — ‘yes’ to a little more housing in every neighborhood.
The changes we are proposing will do more than just add new buildings. The Department of City Planning estimates that our City of Yes plan could produce as many as 108,850 new homes over the next 15 years. These are not just numbers, they are homes that will allow New Yorkers to stay in the city they love, retire in the communities they grew up in, and welcome new generations of young people, families, and immigrants.
We know that New Yorkers feel strongly about the character of their neighborhoods, and we respect that. That’s why the Department of City Planning held extensive outreach and engagement with New Yorkers, including holding 10 public information sessions and two years of meetings with impacted stakeholders to make sure we did this right. We want to build more and protect what New Yorkers love about their neighborhood, and we can do just that. City of Yes allows us to meet this crisis head on and ensure that no one neighborhood has to carry the responsibility of delivering all the housing the city needs.
From the very start of this administration, we have been advocating for bold, forward-thinking solutions to deliver the housing that New Yorkers need and make our city more affordable. We have already notched important victories, including creating the second-most new affordable homes in one year, producing the most new supportive homes and homes for formerly homeless New Yorkers ever, and connecting more New Yorkers than ever before to permanent homes with CityFHEPS housing vouchers.
Together, with the City Council, we recently delivered an adopted budget that invests $2 billion more in capital funds across Fiscal Year 2025 and 2026 to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the New York City Housing Authority’s capital budgets. In total, our administration has committed a record $26 billion in housing capital in the current 10-year plan, ensuring that our dollars go towards solving this housing crisis.
It is time for a powerful new housing agenda — one that acknowledges the need to build more housing is more important than preserving the old ways of doing things. By building a little more housing in every neighborhood, we can set our city on course for a more equitable and affordable future. Our administration is saying ‘yes’ and we are calling on the City Council this fall to stand with us and vote ‘yes’ for the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
July 15, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Say No to the City of Yes This Week - Final Public Meeting Wednesday 7/10/24
Dear New Yorkers,
Each year, the same scenario unfolds. July rolls in and you think you can take a break, slow down, chill. Carpe Diem. But not quite yet. As always, the most significant and existential land use decisions are made over the summer. As Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, the French critic and journalist wrote: "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose." "The more things change, the more they stay the same." Remember last year with Madison Square Garden.
Well, the 2024 vintage is City of Yes for Housing Opportunity.
The City of Yes for Housing Opportunity is the most consequential zoning action since the 1961 zoning text overall. The ambitious citywide, one size fits all proposal aims to solve NYC housing crisis by removing many land use regulations which in turn would result in more supply.
Editor's Note - The following links were provided to enable you to view the original source documents.
https://www.nyc.gov/site/planning/plans/city-of-yes/city-of-yes-housing-opportunity.page
https://www.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/plans-studies/city-of-yes/housing-opportunity/annotated-zoning-text.pdf#r=1
After trudging through six weeks of community board deliberations, it seemed we were finally on the brink of seizing the day at the beach. But hold off on the beach umbrella and the sunscreen. The City Planning Commission will hold their only public hearing on the matter on Wednesday, July 10.
I am not going to lie: this hearing may be gruesome. But the City Of Yes will grew-some-more.
As of now, the city predicts that the hearing may be a 12-hour marathon or more. No carpe on that diem! Yet, we shall remain mobilized.
Whether you are already vacationing in Bar Harbor, Bend, Boulder or Boca, or still strolling the sidewalks of Bay Ridge, Battery Park City, Bushwick or Broadway, I urge you to testify on zoom or in person [see links below].
Remember: Advocacy Works
The City of Yes for Housing Opportunity aims to address the housing affordability crisis with a main focus on increasing supply. Supply is undoubtedly critical. But supply of what exactly? Will the multimillion-dollar penthouses on Billionaires' Row solve the housing shortage? They will only exacerbate the affordability crisis. Compulsory affordable housing, public housing, and Mitchell-Lama programs are tried-and-tested remedies that demand prioritization, yet tragically remain absent from the proposal.
One major critique is that City of Yes relies on market forces to achieve its goals. Alas, the market is not in the business of brewing up equitable policies. Abundant housing is a mirage. The market tends to favor luxury housing developments in already prosperous neighborhoods. And the market has a love-affair with scarcity.
Joyce Matz, a longtime member of Manhattan Community Board 5 was one of the most influential New Yorkers of her time. She always told me: "When you say no, [to a zoning proposal] they will come with a better plan".
Say No to the City of Yes. Say No, so that our friends at the Department of City Planning are compelled to go back to the drawing board and improve their ambitious proposal. Say No so that we can all get a better plan: a plan that will serve the middle-class. It is not a punishing No. Rather, it is a civic and responsible No. A Warren Buffet kind of No, a Tony Blair kind of No.
Warren Buffet: "The difference between successful people and really successful people is that the really successful people say no to almost everything."
Tony Blair: "The art of leadership is saying no, not saying yes. It is very easy to say yes."
CITY OF YES TALKING POINTS
Here are six talking points that summarize my concerns. These worries are held by many, and are shaped by the multitude of public hearings I've attended and comments I've gathered.
- Lack of Mandatory Affordable Housing: The initiative does not include mandatory affordable housing provisions, which means affluent neighborhoods are likely to see very little affordable housing development. This exacerbates economic segregation and limits housing options for low- and middle- income residents.
- Lowering Housing Quality: The proposal allows for reduced standards in housing quality, including less air and light (smaller windows, smaller setbacks), and no minimum unit sizes. This could lead to the construction of substandard living conditions, affecting residents' health and well-being.
- Reduction of Council Members' Powers: By converting many Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) actions into discretionary certifications, the initiative reduces the power of elected council members. This diminishes local oversight and accountability in land use decisions.
- No Community Impact Assessment: The initiative fails to assess the impact of new housing on communities, including the need for additional infrastructure like hospital beds, school seats, and other essential services. This oversight can lead to strained resources and diminished quality of life.
- TDR from Landmarks: The transfer of development rights (TDR) from landmarks could result in the creation of disproportionately large towers, which may disrupt the character of neighborhoods, creating "Frankenstein" buildings that overshadow their surroundings.
- Campus Infill: The initiative allows for infill development on public land, which would take away much-needed open space. Moreover, there is no requirement for this new housing to be 100% affordable, which undermines efforts to support low-income residents.
WHAT: Public Hearing for City of Yes Housing Opportunity
WHEN: Wednesday, July 10, 10AM
HOW TO ATTEND: In Person or via Zoom
- In-Person - City Planning Commission Hearing Room, Lower Concourse 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271
Map Link - https://www.google.com/maps/place/Equitable+Life+Building,+120+Broadway,+New+York,+NY+10271/@40.7084773,-74.0105984,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x89c25a17137b6b13:0x133a7a83e17bb1cc!8m2!3d40.7084773!4d-74.0105984!16s%2Fm%2F02x8s_g?entry=ttu
- On Zoom: REGISTER 1 HOUR PRIOR TO THE MEETING by copying & pasting this link.
https://www.nyc.gov/site/nycengage/events/city-planning-commission-public-meeting/461618/1
Layla Law-Gisiko
Community Activist / Manhattan District Leader
July 8, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Fighting for Safer, Cleaner Streets
Last week, we celebrated Independence Day — an opportunity to reflect on the values that make the American Dream possible in our city. Public safety and livability are two such foundational commitments — allowing every New Yorker to pursue their dreams without fear for their safety and with a better quality of life.
I am proud to say that New York remains the safest big city in America — and continues to get safer every day.
As a result of our administration’s successful public safety strategy, New York City has seen six straight months of crime reduction. Overall crime continues to trend downward and is down year to date. Homicides are down double digits for the year, as well as for this quarter and for last month. Grand Larceny Auto is also down double digits. Shootings are down. And burglaries are down, too.
Our public transit system is the lifeblood of our city, so keeping New Yorkers safe on the subway is key to ensuring that New York remains the safest big city in America. That is why we surged more than 1,000 additional officers in the subway system in February and introduced additional technology, including cameras and data driven officer deployment. As a result, transit crime remains down for the year, and if you take out one of the pandemic years, we have reached the lowest level of transit crime in 14 years.
We know that community input is critical to improving public safety. That is why we are bringing partners from across the city together to find innovative approaches to reducing crime and improving quality of life. Last week, we announced the creation of our fifth quality of life improvement hub, located in Midtown Manhattan. These hubs bring together law enforcement, elected officials, and community and business leaders to address retail theft, substance use, the mental health crisis, beautification, illegal scaffolding, unlicensed cannabis shops, and more.
The coalition deploys teams to conduct regular walk throughs where they observe issues in real time and speak with local community members and businesses on the ground. They also identify specific individuals in the area who may need connections to services, such as housing or medical care, and make referrals to the appropriate city agency or service provider.
Similar coalitions across the city are already at work making our neighborhoods safer and our streets cleaner. Our administration is committed to supporting their work and leading the way in the fight for cleaner streets and against rats. I have long been clear: I hate rats. And so do New Yorkers. That is why our administration has been ready to do whatever it takes to cut them off from their all-you-can-eat buffet. We have made enormous progress replacing black trash bags that have long cluttered our streets and fed rats.
This week, we announced the next step in our ‘Trash Revolution’ to get bags off our streets. Starting November 12th, buildings with one to nine residential units will be required to put their trash into wheelie trash bins for easy removal. And to make sure that cost is not a barrier for building owners, we had our own bins made. These bins are high-quality and affordable, with the most common size costing less than $50 — approximately three times cheaper than what you could expect to spend at a store.
For half a century, New York City’s most valuable and limited resource — our public space — has been hijacked by 14 billion pounds of stinky, leaking black trash bags every year. Together, we are changing that. Thanks to our administration’s efforts, as of November 12th, we will have containerized 70 percent of our city’s trash in just two years; that’s nearly 10 billion pounds of trash off our streets.
As part of the ‘Trash Revolution,’ we have changed set-out times for residential and commercial waste, so trash doesn’t sit on our streets for hours on end. We have designed a brand-new model of garbage truck years ahead of schedule. And we have a plan to get containerization done for every building and every business in New York City.
We came into office with the clear goal of improving public safety, rebuilding our economy, and making New York City more livable for all New Yorkers. We are making improvements that New Yorkers feel every day. And every step we take — whether it’s driving down crime or improving quality of life — is in service of creating a safer, more livable city for everyone.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
July 8, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Ensuring Integrity: A Call for Heightened Independence of Advisory Bodies
Dear Editor,
Mayor Adams recently appointed a Charter Revision Commission. This commission, chaired by Carlo Scissura, faces an exceptionally tight timeline, emphasizing the urgency of our involvement. The deadline for submitting comments is July 12th, making it imperative for us to act swiftly.
The City Club of New York has chosen to prioritize a single recommendation, aligned with our mission to promote good governance: registered lobbyists should be restricted from appointment to city-sponsored official task forces, working groups, and boards. Lobbyists’ appointment to these roles raises significant concerns about undue special interest influence.
Our recommendation is clear and necessary. This step is essential to ensure transparency and to eliminate conflicts of interest in our decision-making processes.
Please take action now by endorsing the City Club's recommendation. Use the following instructions to send an email directly to the Charter Revision Commission in support of our recommendation. Send Your Comments or copy & Paste the Recommendation Below into an email addressed to charterinfo@citycharter.nyc.gov & then send.
The next public hearing on the Charter revision is scheduled for July 8th from 5pm to 8pm, and the deadline for submitting comments is July 12th at 5pm. Your active participation is crucial.
Best regards,
Layla Law-Gisiko, President
The City Club of New York
July 3, 2024
Recommendation to the Charter Revision Commission:
Registered lobbyists should be restricted from appointment to official task forces, working groups, and boards. Their participation in these roles raises significant concerns about conflicts of interest. To maintain the highest standards of impartiality and integrity in our community decision-making processes, it is crucial that these bodies remain free from undue influence. Allowing registered lobbyists to occupy positions within these entities could potentially skew decisions towards special interest groups rather than the public good and risks undermining public trust . This poses a serious threat to the integrity of our decision-making processes and could erode confidence in the fairness and transparency of our governance structures.
By implementing this restriction, we aim to ensure that task forces, working groups, and boards are dedicated solely to serving the public interest. This measure will help limit bias, reduce external pressures, and safeguard against undue influence, thereby maintaining the integrity and trustworthiness of our community's decision-making processes.
Restrictions on Appointment of Registered Lobbyists
(a) Prohibition on Appointment: No individual who is a registered lobbyist shall be appointed to any official task force, working group, or board established by the City.
(b) Definition of Registered Lobbyist: For the purposes of this section, a "registered lobbyist" is defined as any individual who is required to register as a lobbyist under federal, state or local law due to their engagement in lobbying activities.
(c) Definitions of Task Force, Working Group, and Board:
- Task Force: A task force is a temporary committee established by the City to address specific issues, provide recommendations, or solve particular problems within a defined timeframe.
- Working Group: A working group is an assembly of individuals appointed by the City to focus on ongoing issues or projects, often requiring collaborative efforts and specialized expertise.
- Board: A board is a permanent or semi-permanent body created by the City to oversee, manage, or advise on particular functions, services, or policies, and includes community boards.
(d) Conflict of Interest and Impartiality: This prohibition is established to prevent conflicts of interest and to maintain the highest standards of independence, impartiality and integrity in the decision-making processes of the City.
(e) Public Interest: The City reaffirms its commitment to ensuring that the actions and decisions of its task forces, working groups, and boards are focused on the public interest and are free from undue influence by special interest groups.
New York, NY, July 2nd, 2024
Send Your Comments or copy & Paste this Recommendation into an email addressed to charterinfo@citycharter.nyc.gov & then send.
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
A Budget That Prioritizes Working-Class New Yorkers and Seeks to Make Our City More Affordable
New Yorkers deserve a city budget that delivers for them and tackles our affordability crisis head-on. Alongside Speaker Adams and our City Council partners, we are proud to announce the passage of a $112.4 billion Adopted Budget that invests in the future of our city and the people who make New York the greatest city in the world.
Thanks to our strong fiscal management, as well as better-than-expected revenue growth, we have passed a collaborative budget that addresses the three things that cost New Yorkers the most: childcare, health care, and housing. What’s more is, this was done despite facing unprecedented challenges, including a $7.1 billion budget gap, an international humanitarian crisis that has already cost our city $4.9 billion and is expected to cost billions more, and hundreds of millions of short-term stimulus dollars previously used to fund crucial long-term programs — a major feat.
So, what does the city’s budget deliver for you?
We are investing $100 million in early childhood education to reimagine the outdated 3-K system that was no longer working for working-class families. With a $20 million investment for up to 1,700 new seats this school year, we will make sure the seats are filled and children and families are served immediately. We’re also going further to ensure 3-K is more equitable than ever, with additional investments totaling $80 million for extended day seats and to serve undocumented families and students with disabilities.
Additionally, we are deepening our commitment to our public education system with over $600 million to protect programs previously funded with short-term federal stimulus dollars like teacher recruitment, restorative justice, computer science and arts programming, and more. And, because we want our children to start out ahead in the coming school year, we are investing $75 million to ensure schools do not lose funding even if they face declining enrollment.
We know that our investments in young people don’t end when the school day runs out. That is why we are restoring extended days for Summer Rising, Friday programming for middle school Summer Rising participants, and supporting community schools. This allows young people to learn and grow during the summer, and families to work without worrying about their kids. For older students, we are funding essential programs like CUNY ACE, CUNY STEM, and Brooklyn Recovery Corps at Medgar Evers College.
Our cultural institutions and our libraries are also a critical part of our city’s social fabric, and with the City Council, we are investing $53 million in our cultural institutions. And we know that our libraries provide a lifeline to countless communities, so we are putting over $58 million back into their operations, so they can keep their doors open seven days a week and provide the services New Yorkers rely on.
Public safety has been our top priority from the start, and one of the ways we’re protecting New Yorkers is by stopping illegal cannabis sales. This budget allows us to continue our crackdown on illegal cannabis sales while supporting legal outlets.
We are also continuing to support our efforts to make our streets safer by providing funds for staff positions at our new 116th Precinct in Queens, which is due to open this fall, and by funding security at 55 New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) buildings to protect our senior residents.
New Yorkers love their parks, and we are taking care of our green spaces by funding additional park rangers, Green Thumb programs, and tree stump removals.
We are committed to improving the physical, emotional, and mental health of all New Yorkers. That is why our administration previously launched "HealthyNYC," an ambitious plan to extend the lifespan of all New Yorkers. We have also released a sweeping mental health agenda with $20 million in commitments to invest in the mental health of children and families and canceled $2 billion in medical debt that New Yorkers owe. This year’s Adopted Budget further invests in programs to help keep New Yorkers healthy by expanding the Office of Health Care Accountability to bring rising health care costs down and ensure hospitals and health care providers are not gouging New Yorkers, as well as by investing in key services, such as HIV related programs.
Finally, affordable housing is critical to making our city more affordable and more livable. With this in mind, we have added $2 billion in capital funds to NYCHA and the Department of Housing Preservation & Development to develop more affordable housing. This will support our administration’s moonshot goal of building 500,000 new homes by 2032, as well as our commitment to transforming NYCHA so every New Yorker has a clean, safe place to live. This $2 billion investment will bring our investment in affordable housing over our current 10-year capital plan to more than $26 billion — a new record level.
Early in our administration, we made it clear that our mission is to support working-class New Yorkers by protecting public safety, investing in our economy, and making the city more livable. The budget we just passed delivers on that mission, as it helps us continue to build a city that is safer, cleaner, and more affordable for all New Yorkers.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
July 1, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Education that Lifts Up All of Our Students
As New York City’s first openly dyslexic mayor, I know what it is like to not have the support I needed in school growing up. School was often difficult for me. I was scared of being called on by the teacher and my fellow students made fun of me. I know how important it is that our children have a bright start and the support they need for a bold future.
That is why this administration is investing in upstream solutions in our education system, creating conditions that improve outcomes for all our students. We don’t want our children to fall behind because they learn differently, we want them to start out ahead. And this week we are taking another big step forward with two major initiatives: a new vision for special education and a new math curriculum, “NYC Solves.”
“NYC Solves,” is a major citywide initiative to make mathematics more accessible for all students — no matter where they go to school or what language they speak at home. This new program will revolutionize how algebra is taught in schools and ensure that all our students have foundational math skills and are being encouraged to excel in mathematics at every level.
We are also creating the Division of Inclusive and Accessible Learning (DIAL), which will be led by a new Deputy Chancellor for Inclusive and Accessible Learning Christina Foti. This new division will utilize a $750 million budget and 1,300 staff to focus on supporting multilingual learners and students with disabilities, so that every student can be prepared for a rewarding career and long-term economic security — no matter their background or ability.
The work of DIAL will be guided by external voices through a new advisory council charged with helping shape support systems for immigrant students and their families, so that we can improve educational opportunities and outcomes for every student.
These two new initiatives build on the generational investments we have already made in public education.
In just two years, our administration has implemented a major initiative, “NYC Reads,” to fundamentally change how students learn to read literacy as the core focus and priority of New York City’s public schools. We have also invested over $600 million to protect critical programs that were funded with temporary stimulus dollars, including arts funding, teacher recruitment efforts, restorative justice programming, computer science programs, “Civics for All,” school social workers and psychologists, and much more. Our mandated universal dyslexia screening
for all students are helping us get students the support they need early on, and we have created the first-ever public school dedicated to supporting students with dyslexia and related learning disabilities.
We have also provided over 42,000 students with offers for a 3-K seat — an increase of 300 percent in the last five years, and we are continuing to work to ensure that every child who wants an early childhood education seat will have access to one. We have also added 57 Gifted and Talented programs citywide and added over 26,000 classroom seats through major construction and modernization projects. I am also pleased to report that nine new schools will open in the coming school year, including a new high school focused on health care.
And because we know that learning doesn’t only take place in the classroom and during the school year, we have expanded popular programs like Summer Rising to bring 110,000 students summer programming. We are committed to helping students enter the workforce with programs like FutureReadyNYC that connect our students to apprenticeships that lead to good-paying careers. This work has resulted in students earning a cumulative $8.2 million from paid work experiences at top companies over the past two years alone.
Our New York City Public Schools chancellor, David Banks, and I are both graduates of the New York City school system, and we are committed to continuing our city’s legacy of excellence in public education. We are not going to allow another Eric to sit in the classroom, hoping not to be called on. We are making sure that every student has access to the support and resources they need. We are lifting up our young people and putting them on a pathway to a bright future and making sure that our education system remains unmatched anywhere in this nation.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
June 24, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Celebrating Juneteenth with a New Heritage Walk, Landmark, and Progress
As the second Black mayor of New York City, I am proud to celebrate Juneteenth, a day that commemorates June 19, 1865, when every enslaved Black American was finally free. This is a day of importance not just for Black Americans, but for all Americans. It is a day when the promise of freedom finally matched Black Americans’ lived reality. It is a day when the freedom for which America is known for around the world finally became available to a wider group of citizens.
However, as we all know, that was only the start of a longer struggle — a struggle for equal access from housing and health care to the ballot box and boardrooms that continues to the present day. In honor of Juneteenth and the progress we have made over the past centuries and decades, our administration wants to play its part in using the present to reckon with our past so we can build a better future.
New Yorkers walk through neighborhoods like Brooklyn every day, unaware of the history right under their feet and surrounding them. To tell that history, we launched “More Than a Brook: Brooklyn Abolitionist Heritage Walk" an interactive audio tour that explores Brooklyn’s history as a critical neighborhood for the National Abolitionist Movement and the Underground Railroad. The 4.5-mile walkable path incorporates 19 stops highlighting the many landmark sites that capture the borough’s rich abolitionist history. Along the way, in addition to seeing famous abolitionist sites, you can learn about important local historic figures, including businesswoman Elizabeth Gloucester, pioneering sisters Dr. Susan Smith McKinney-Steward and educator Sarah J. Tompkins Garnet, and Plymouth Church preacher Henry Ward Beecher. The tour can be accessed on your smartphone, tablet, or other device through the Landmark Preservation Commission’s website. With this interactive tour, our city can celebrate the heroes who stood up against injustice, risked their lives, and fought for the freedom they deserved.
TO VIEW HYPERLINK for - More Than a Brook: Brooklyn Abolitionist Heritage Walk - COPY & PASTE - https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/787cf87e6c52439bad2dde32d19775d1/page/HOME/
TO VIEW HYPERLINK for - Brooklyn’s history as a critical neighborhood - COPY & PASTE - https://app.box.com/s/y854vxrd6t7lerholbzub4nha347sygt
TO VIEW HYPERLINK for - Landmark Preservation Commission’s website - COPY & PASTE - https://www.nyc.gov/site/lpc/index.page
The city’s abolitionist history lives across all five boroughs. In Staten Island’s Oakwood Heights, we are commemorating our shared history by designating the Frederick Douglass Memorial Park as a landmark. The Frederick Douglass Memorial Park is the only non-sectarian cemetery founded by — and specifically for — New York City’s Black community. The memorial park opened in 1935, offering a dignified cemetery for Black New Yorkers at a time when discrimination and segregation excluded them from other burial sites and limited them to substandard facilities and services. In a time when others turned their backs on Black New Yorkers, this park chose to open its doors. The 14.88-acre burial site memorializes Black heritage and honors the generations of Black Americans who are buried there. Frederick Douglass Memorial Park offered a dignified and dedicated space for the Black community to honor those who transitioned. But, our remembrance of Juneteenth cannot be just symbolic, but substantive.
TO VIEW HYPERLINK for - Frederick Douglass Memorial Park - COPY & PASTE - https://app.box.com/s/2rkvmk1iq736zvz15o10e5s1jyywxoyv
As recently as last January, Black New Yorkers were four times more likely to be unemployed than white New Yorkers, but, thanks to our efforts, we have been able to narrow this gap, and now the unemployment rate for Black New Yorkers is at its lowest point in half a decade. This marks the first time since 2019 that the Black unemployment rate in New York City has been below 8 percent. And between January 1, 2022, and April 1, 2024, the Black unemployment rate in the five boroughs decreased from 10.7 percent to 7.9 percent — a 26 percent decrease. While our work is never done, our city is making real progress in delivering economic equity.
TO VIEW HYPERLINK for - unemployment rate for Black New Yorkers is at its lowest point in half a decade - COPY & PASTE - https://edc.nyc/sites/default/files/2024-04/NYCEDC-NYC-Economic-Snapshot-April-2024.pdf
This Juneteenth, I call on all New Yorkers to learn about and honor our city and nation’s inspiring and troubled past and continue to build on the progress we have made. Let us celebrate American ideals, American freedoms, and American potential, together. And let us start right here, in the most diverse city on the globe, a place where those from all walks of life live side by side, proud to call themselves by one name: New Yorkers.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
June 16, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Last Week of the Legislative Session - Take Action!
As you may know, the 2024 State Legislative Session is coming to a close in New York. That means, the State Assembly and State Senate have until this Thursday, June 6th, to pass any legislation on to the Governor's desk.
Now is the time to take action and tell your legislators that you want them to take environmental action!
At NYLCV, we have a long list of environmental priorities we would like to see passed into law, but we believe that with enough advocacy from our members like you, we can guarantee that the The Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act is passed.
The Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act:
- aims to reduce waste and put consumers first by shifting the responsibility of reducing waste and increasing recycling to large producers
- requiring producing companies to not only reduce the amount of packaging they use, but also to invest in recycling infrastructure
Take Action to Reduce Packaging Waste Product packaging and paper products (PPP) waste has grown dramatically in volume with the rise of e-commerce. Municipal governments and taxpayers are responsible for recycling this waste, and the cost of doing so has increased in recent years due to changes in the global recycling market.
The Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act would shift the burden of recycling products back to the producer, similar to product stewardship programs that are already in use in New York for electronic waste, paint, pharmaceutical drugs, and carpets.
Successful waste reduction programs create financial incentives for producers to minimize the amount of waste they produce in the first place and use more readily recyclable materials in production.
The bill would also incentivize the reduction of packaging by producers by 30% over the next 12 years. This would improve New York’s recycling rate, divert materials from landfills, and ease financial burdens on municipal recycling programs.
Thank you for your support, we will keep you updated on the status of this important piece of environmental legislation.
Sincerely,
Patrick McClellan
Policy Director, NYLCV
June 4, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
NYC Summer Safety: Enjoy NYC More This Summer Thanks to Additional Lifeguards and New Cooling Centers
Last weekend, we unofficially kicked off the summer in New York City during Memorial Day weekend. Our beaches are open for the season, and our public pools will open June 27. New York City has so much to see and do that people forget that this is a beach town, with two of the best beaches in the entire country just a subway ride away!
We want to make sure summer in the city is fun and safe, no matter what the weather conditions. That’s why we are hitting the ground running this season, with good news about lifeguard staffing and expanded plans to protect New Yorkers from extreme heat and other emergencies.
Let’s start with lifeguards. As many New Yorkers are aware, there is a national lifeguard shortage. It’s not just an issue in the greatest city in the world. But lifeguard shortages mean fewer places to swim. That’s why the city has been working to change some of the rules in the contract with the union representing city lifeguards to allow us to hire more New Yorkers to keep more of our beaches open longer.
Last week, we announced commonsense changes that will modernize our lifeguard requirements and align them with state regulations and industry standards. It will allow us to hire more fully qualified lifeguards, keep our beaches and pools open, and improve overall safety for our swimmers, especially our children and young people.
Remember: Swimming and bathing are allowed ONLY when a lifeguard is on duty. Lifeguards are on duty 7 days a week, from 10:00 AM until 6:00 PM through September 8. They are looking out for your safety, but everyone needs to do their part. Be aware of surf conditions, especially riptide warnings, which can sweep even experienced swimmers out to sea with little warning.
While a perfect day at the beach is one of the best things about summer, extreme heat can be dangerous and even deadly.
Summers are different than they used to be. With climate change leading to more frequent and intense heat, a heat wave can be more than just uncomfortable — it can be dangerous or even life threatening. That is why New York City is getting ready in advance — and we want all New Yorkers to be ready, too.
Having a working air conditioner or a fan in your home is one of the most effective ways to guard against heat emergencies. If you need help purchasing an air conditioner or fan, you may be able to get help from the Home Energy Assistance Program. Dial 311 or visit nyc.gov/311 for more information and to learn about eligibility.
Editor's Note. Links which may be copy & pasted into your browser are listed at the end of the Mayor's OpEd.
Our city has also expanded the number of cooling centers available this year, and our new “Cool Options” map will now be available 24/7 online, starting this week. This map will show a broad variety of cooling center options available in our city. These include many of our public libraries, older adult centers, and museums, in addition to official New York City Cooling centers.
It’s not too early to plan for an extreme heat event. Just like you locate the emergency exit on an airplane ahead of time, it’s a good idea to locate a nearby cooling option before you need it. Make sure your family, friends, and neighbors have cooling plans, too — especially those who are vulnerable to extreme heat, including older folks, families with young children, and people who need to bring their pets with them. While service animals are welcome at all centers, there are also designated pet-friendly cooling centers in every borough, so plan ahead to make sure everyone is safe.
In addition to opening cooling centers citywide, we are also expanding our city’s natural cooling system — our tree canopy. Our Parks Department has planted over 15,000 new trees in 2024, and we are on pace to plant more than 18,000 trees this year — the highest total in eight years.
Prolonged heat is not our only concern. Our city must be prepared for other extreme weather events like hurricanes, flash floods, and wildfire smoke. Last year, we saw how quickly dangerous wildfire smoke could blanket our city, even from fires thousands of miles away.
This year, we have updated our air quality emergency guidelines with new protocols and monitoring. We are doing more outreach to vulnerable populations, and expanding protections for critical services and infrastructure, such as public transportation and hospitals. If there are serious air quality concerns, we can modify school operations and outdoor events, and distribute high-quality masks to the public.
New Yorkers are encouraged to sign up for Notify NYC, the city’s free emergency notification system, which keeps everyone updated about weather, air quality, and other emergency issues. Notify NYC is available in 14 languages, including American Sign Language. Visit nyc.gov/notify to sign up or call 3-1-1. You can also visit airnow.gov for up-to-date information on air quality in your area.
As we saw during Superstorm Sandy, a hurricane heading towards New York City is one of the biggest threats we face, and the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season is expected to be worse than usual because of near-record warm ocean temperatures, among other factors.
New Yorkers can find out if they live in one of the six hurricane evacuation zones by visiting NYC.gov/knowyourzone or by calling 3-1-1. Make a plan to evacuate by knowing where you will go and how you will get there.
Flash flooding is also a concern for our city. If you live in a below grade, low-lying or low drainage area, make sure you have a plan for extreme flash flooding. As with every other emergency, make sure you are prepared in advance. There are great resources online at nyc.gov/readynewyork.
This administration has made public safety the center of everything we do, and that includes preparing for weather emergencies and protecting people at our pools and beaches. Let’s work together to make the summer of 2024 our safest summer ever.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
June 3, 2024
LINKS
Home Energy Assistance Program
https://portal.311.nyc.gov/article/?kanumber=KA-02552
nyc.gov/311
same as above
“Cool Options” map will now be available 24/7 online
https://finder-test.nyc.aws.esri-ps.com/coolingcenters
nyc.gov/notify
https://a858-nycnotify.nyc.gov/notifynyc/
airnow.gov
https://www.airnow.gov
NYC.gov/knowyourzone
https://www.nyc.gov/site/em/ready/coastal-storms-hurricanes.page
nyc.gov/readynewyork
https://www.nyc.gov/site/em/ready/ready-new-york.page
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Mayor Adams - Memorial Day
Every year, we are proud to welcome our nation’s sea servicemembers to New York City for Fleet Week, a celebration of the courage and commitment of all those who serve our nation — and those who have given their lives to protect it.
As a patriotic American and proud mayor, I want to extend my personal welcome to each and every servicemember joining us for the longstanding Memorial Day Weekend tradition.
Fleet Week is much more than just the official start of summer in New York. It is our city’s way of saying thank you to members of the Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard for their courage and commitment to serving our nation. It is because of your work and your sacrifices that we are able to enjoy the beauty and bounty of this nation, free to live our lives and uphold our values.
New York City is proud to be the first municipality in the country with a stand-alone agency dedicated to serving veterans and their families. We cannot thank them enough, and for those who have left us, we can never forget.
As a major port city and a symbol of freedom around the globe, New York City will always stand up and salute those who defend our nation and our values. And as a city that was attacked by foreign enemies on 9/11, we bear a special responsibility to honor those who gave their lives in the conflicts that followed.
That is why we are proud to announce plans to build a new memorial honoring the 99 fallen post-9/11 servicemembers from New York City. The memorial will be built on the waterfront in the Whitestone neighborhood of Queens, the borough home to the largest number of post-9/11 servicemembers who were killed in action. The memorial will honor a new generation of souls who lost their lives in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and will pay tribute to the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who have served our country in these wars.
I often think about servicemembers like my Uncle Joe, who lost his life in Vietnam at the age of 19. He was a patriot, a young man who was willing to serve his country, no matter who was president because he cared about our country. And it breaks my heart when I see a poll that says 52 percent of Americans would not defend this country if it was attacked by foreign enemies.
I want every New Yorker to know: I'm one of the 48 percenters. And I know that when it comes down to it, New Yorkers would give their all for this city and their fellow New Yorkers. I saw it on 9/11, when strangers rushed to help each other, and I see it now, when people stand together against hate and division.
This Memorial Day, let us remember all the Uncle Joes in our families, the ones that lived their values and served proudly. Let us re-ignite the American spirit in ourselves and each other — and share those values with the next generation. Patriotism is more than just love of country. It is an act of defiant optimism, a commitment to building a more just and equitable future together.
This is the greatest city in the greatest country in the world, and we should be proud to uphold the values of democracy and freedom.
Once again, my deepest thanks to all those who serve.
I want every single servicemember here for Fleet Week to enjoy their time with us, and I hope all New Yorkers will join me in welcoming you to our city and saluting your service.
Thank you for all you do for our country, and may God continue to bless New York and the United States of America.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
May 24, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Is a Housing “Shortage” Really the Cause of Unaffordability?
With the recent conditional repeal of the state’s cap on the allowable density of new residential construction in New York City, and the Mayor’s “City of Yes” proposal making its way through the public approval process, it’s an opportune time to look at the arguments behind this ever-growing push to increase the permitted size and amount of new residential development in New York City. Undergirding all of these is the contention that housing prices are up in New York City because we’re not building enough market-rate housing, and that certain parts of the city, like most of Manhattan south of Harlem, aren’t doing their fair share to address New York City’s housing needs. Let’s look at how well these claims line up with the facts.
Some data points often cited include the large increase in New York City’s population, which according to the census rose from 8.175 million in 2010 to 8.804 million in 2020, or a 7.7% increase. Figures from this same period say housing prices in New York City also rose dramatically, and the recent NYC housing vacancy survey shows record low housing vacancy rates in the city. Taken alone, this would seem to present a compelling argument that housing construction in New York City is not keeping up with population growth, leading to insufficient supply and rising prices.
But the complete picture tells a very different story.
We took these same figures and superimposed the rate of housing growth in New York City over the last 60 years with the population growth. Based upon what our city and state leaders, and other advocates for loosening rules to increase the size and density of new housing have been saying, you’d expect to see a higher rate of growth in our city’s population than in its housing supply, resulting in a tighter market and therefore inflated prices.
Source: 2023 NYC Housing and Vacancy Survey and U.S. Census
In fact, as you can see, housing growth has not only kept up with population growth, even during the recent population boomlet of the 2010s, it’s actually exceeded it — particularly in the last three years. It should be noted that according to the census, New York City’s population has decreased by nearly 600,000 people in the last three years — across every borough and every income group — nearly wiping out the entire population gain of the 2010s. But while the population gain was nearly wiped out, the additional housing built during that time period has remained, and more has been added — leaving New York City with its highest ratio of housing units to people in the last sixty-plus years.
And lest one think (as the NYC Department of City Planning claims) the issue is that household sizes in New York City are shrinking, thus requiring more housing units for the same population, think again: according to the city’s own figures, New York City household sizes have remained remarkably steady since 1980, and are actually slightly larger than they were forty years ago.
So if anything, the need for the number of housing units relative to the population of NYC has gone down slightly over the last forty years (each 1,000 people only require 392 units of housing when the average household size is 2.55, as it was in 2020; they required 402 units of housing, or about 2.5% more, when the average household size was 2.49, as it was forty years ago in New York City).
So the cost of housing in New York City seems to have little if anything to do with the amount housing we have relative to our population or number of households. Nevertheless, housing prices have continued to rise in New York City, placing good, affordable homes farther and farther out of reach of more and more New Yorkers.
Why? Well the answer to that question may be complex, but it seems pretty clear it’s not because we’re just not building enough housing, or that housing construction is not keeping up with population growth — in fact, it’s surpassing it. Perhaps it’s because we’re building mostly expensive housing which many New Yorkers can’t afford, and losing existing affordable housing, including the nearly 120,000 units of rent regulated housing lost in NYC in just the three years between 2019 and 2022. Perhaps it’s because we have among the highest housing construction costs in the world. Perhaps housing prices are rising for a multitude of other reasons unrelated to a simple supply vs. demand relationship, which should, according to those who claim this is the cause of our housing woes, have shown prices holding steady in the 2010s and dropping noticeably in the last three years.
Problem is, they haven’t. And more of the same — merely expecting an increase in supply to bring prices down — is unlikely to change that.
Part and parcel of this theory that proponents of increasing housing production put forward is that certain parts of the city aren’t doing enough to provide housing. This is again based on the notion that just having more housing, of any kind, helps bring down prices for everyone — the classic “trickle down” approach to economics.
Let’s just say for the sake of argument that simply building more housing, no matter what kind or how expensive, brings prices down for everyone. It’s worth considering then which parts of the city are in fact providing more, or less, than their fair share of housing for New Yorkers.
The maps below show this quite clearly:
As you can see, multiple Community Boards in Manhattan provide housing units at a density of three or more times the citywide average for all Community Boards, at 40,000 units/sq. mi. and above. Behind them, multiple Community Boards in Manhattan and inner Brooklyn and the Bronx provide housing at two to three times the citywide community board average, typically at 25,000 to 40,000 units/sq. mi., and so on.
Bringing up the rear? Several community boards in the more suburban parts of Staten Island, Queens, Brooklyn and even the Bronx, where housing densities can be as low as nearly 90% below the citywide average for community boards, and under 3,000 units/sq. mi.
Looked at another way, if all of New York City were as dense with residents as Community Board 2, Manhattan (Greenwich Village, SoHo, NoHo, Hudson Square, Little Italy), it would house about 20 million people, or about 12 million more than it does now. If it were as dense with residents as Community Board 3, Manhattan (East Village, Lower East Side), it would house nearly 29 million people, or nearly 21 million more than it does now.
None of this is to say that every neighborhood should have the exact same housing density. Each neighborhood is different and contributes to what makes New York special and unique in different ways, and a city of neighborhoods that were all the same density would be mind-numbingly boring. And given the direct evidence that merely increasing housing doesn’t bring down housing prices for everyone, it would be no more affordable than the existing, much more varied city.
But it is worth noting just how densely built up with housing some parts of the city are compared to others, and even compared to the citywide average. The city’s densest community board in terms of housing, Manhattan’s Community Board 6 in East Midtown, is about thirty times as dense as Community Board 2 in central Staten Island, for example, and about five and a half times as dense as the average NYC community board. But it’s often within those parts of the city that are already contributing the most in terms of housing that those seeking to change zoning and land use rules are most obsessed with spurring more development.
This of course merely compares density among New York neighborhoods. A perhaps more telling comparison is just how dense some parts of New York — particularly those areas where policymakers are demanding ever denser and larger construction — are compared to cities around the globe. While we don’t have figures for the number of housing units in cities worldwide (as the above maps show for NYC community boards), we do have population densities for cities around the globe, shown below in comparison to Community Board 2 (Greenwich Village, SoHo, NoHo, Hudson Square, and Little Italy) and Community Board 3 (the East Village and Lower East Side, incl. parts of Chinatown) in Manhattan, the two Community Boards in which Village Preservation works:
As you can see, compared to some of the densest urban environments in the world, our neighborhoods are even more tightly packed with people — and that’s only counting the residents (daily visitors, workers, students, etc., of which there are many in each of these areas, are not included). In fact, Community Board 3 is denser than any of them, and even Community Board 2 is denser than all but India’s Kolkata (Calcutta) and Bangladesh’s Dhaka — and it’s only slightly less tightly packed with residents than those. Other cities that epitomize urban density, such as Tokyo, Mexico City, Lagos, Nigeria, Singapore, Hong Kong, Sao Paolo, and Shanghai, all fall well below the density of our neighborhoods — in some cases 60 to 90% below.
And it should be noted that Community Board 2 includes considerable space taken up by non-residential uses, such as educational institutions (NYU, for example), offices (which occupy the majority of land in Hudson Square, SoHo, and NoHo), and industrial/manufacturing space and transportation/utilities, like the massive Pier 40 or the four-block-long UPS facility on Washington Street. Fully 42% of Community Board 2’s land area is dedicated to non-residential uses, attesting to just how dense the residential development here truly is, while Community Board 3 gives over 37% of its land area to non-residential uses — meaning if those offices, manufacturing facilities, educational institutions, and other non-residential spaces were used for housing rather than their existing uses, the density of these neighborhoods would be more than a third greater than they are now — well surpassing, or (in the case of Community Board 3) nearly doubling Kolkata-levels of density.
Community Boards 2 (top) and 3 (bottom), Manhattan land use allocation. Source: NYC Deptartment of City Planning
For those who would like to see even more residential development in these parts of town (in spite of the current undeniably high level of density) and question why so much of the area is given over to non-residential uses, look no further than the same city government and upzoning advocates who decry the current conditions. Hudson Square in Community Board 2 was rezoned in 2013, ostensibly in large part to allow and encourage residential development. And while some such development has taken place there as a result, that rezoning — like so many initiated by the city — didn’t produce the results it was supposed to, with a much higher percentage of office development taking place than the public was told would occur. These false projections were made by the same city government and agencies that want you to believe that just building more housing, no matter how expensive, will bring housing prices down for everyone.
While some residential development has taken place in Hudson Square since the 2013 rezoning, such as 570 Broome Street (l.), it’s only been about half what the city predicted, whereas office development in the neighborhood, like the Disney Headquarters (r.), has been three times the predicted levels.
Look a few blocks east and you’ll see the same phenomenon repeated. The controversial SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown Upzoning adopted by the city in 2021 is yet to produce a single unit of housing, much less the affordable ones promised. Some new housing is ostensibly in the pipeline, including a project of the sort the city said would not be possible under the rezoning — an all-luxury condo project with no affordable units, but in-unit swimming pools for the lucky (and very rich) residents. And other developers have chosen to build the commercial (non-residential) developments the rezoning allows, on sites where the city predicted housing (including affordable housing) would be built, much as we warned was likely to happen.
In the East Village, in 2017 Village Preservation pressed hard for a rezoning of the Third and Fourth Avenue corridors — one of the few areas in the neighborhood that encouraged commercial (i.e. hotel and office) development over residential development. Our rezoning would have reduced the possibilities for commercial development in order to encourage residential uses instead. The city refused, and the same advocates pushing for greater density of residential development in these neighborhoods opposed it as well — more evidence that they’re not actually motivated by a desire to see housing built to bring down prices, but to promote real estate interests and remove as many restrictions on development of any sort as possible.
Five walk ups at 112-120 East 11th Street (l.) containing over a hundred units of housing, incl. many affordable rent-regulated units, were demolished to make way for the Moxy Hotel (r.). The same city agencies decrying a housing shortage refused to rezone this area as we proposed to prevent more of the same, and the same advocates for upzonings to allow larger and denser housing opposed our efforts.
It should be noted that in 2008, Village Preservation was part of a coalition that successfully secured a rezoning of the rest of the East Village which put an end to the proliferation of private university dorms in the neighborhood and encouraged new residential development instead, albeit at a scale contextual with the surrounding neighborhood — anathema to many of these upzoning advocates.
None of this should be taken to mean that we believe that new housing shouldn’t be developed in New York City. In fact, current rules in New York City already allow an additional 1.8 billion square feet of residential development to take place, which is enough to comfortably house 3.6 million additional New Yorkers, at a time when we’re actually losing population. And according to published reports, New York saw a “record-setting” filing of building permits for just shy of 20,000 residential and hotel units in the first quarter of 2024, under the existing rules which the city says aren’t allowing enough housing to be built in New York City.
Which leads one to question why politicians in Albany and City Hall, and advocates who claim to care about housing prices, are so obsessed with changing rules to allow bigger, denser housing than the current rules allow.
There’s clearly a lack of affordable housing in New York City now. So what’s the solution? Well, creating more affordable housing for one, and making sure that existing affordable housing stays affordable and available to those who need it. Some steps have been taken towards the latter by elected officials, but other actions by those same officials undermine it.
The types of upzonings being promoted by policy-makers and advocates give great financial incentives for developers to destroy existing affordable housing and force out current, less-well-off residents. We’ve seen affordable rent regulated apartments in our neighborhoods destroyed to make way for exactly the kind of developments the city has promoted, which not only don’t have any affordable housing, but sometimes have less housing than the smaller, older, and significantly more affordable buildings they destroyed.
14-16 Fifth Avene (l.) contained 20 units of housing, half of them rent-regulated and affordable. The city approved its demolition over our objections to allow construction of a new luxury high-rise more than four times its height but with fewer housing units, none of which are affordable.
Other cities around the world have bought up existing housing stock to turn it into affordable housing. In our own neighborhood, in the past, government agencies came together with non-profits to turn disused industrial buildings like the massive former Bell Telephone Labs into the permanent affordable housing now known as Westbeth, which it remains today. We would welcome such efforts in our neighborhoods, and have lauded and awarded projects turning empty buildings into housing for the formerly homeless. So far, the city has not chosen to go down this path.
TO HELP
Learn more about Village Preservation’s campaigns to protect affordability and promote new affordable housing in our neighborhoods here, and prevent the construction of supersized buildings here.
Andrew Berman
Executive Director
Village Preservation
May 15, 2024
Editor's Note. Click here to learn more about the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
“Operation Padlock to Protect” — How New York City is Taking Action to Shut Down Illegal Smoke and Cannabis Shops
When we came to office two years ago, we had a clear vision: protect public safety, rebuild our economy, and make this city more livable for hardworking New Yorkers. But the increase of unlicensed smoke and cannabis shops across the five boroughs is one of the biggest quality-of-life issues facing our city. That’s why now that we have been granted the authority, we’re taking action against unlicensed smoke and cannabis shops, while still supporting those that have played by the rules.
Illegal businesses prey on and target our most vulnerable, including children, selling dangerous, counterfeit products, and creating eyesores across our city. Illegal smoke and cannabis shops stand in the way of the legal cannabis market, taking money out of the registers of small business owners trying to earn a living, many of whom are formerly justice-involved. To help the emerging legal cannabis economy and protect our streets, we must permanently shut down these illegal storefronts and their unlawful business practices.
That’s exactly what “Operation Padlock to Protect” will do. The multi-agency operation is the start of a five-borough strategic plan — that will accelerate in the coming weeks — to shut down even more unlicensed smoke and cannabis shops in the City of New York. Thanks to Governor Kathy Hochul and our partners in the state Legislature, New York City can now use the full force of the law to padlock and protect our streets. With these new enforcement powers and legal authority granted by the state, we are making it clear that any operator acting illegally will face swift consequences as we protect our city’s children, improve quality of life, and facilitate a safe and thriving legal cannabis market.
Operation Padlock to Protect is bringing together the New York City Sheriff’s Office, the New York City Police Department, and the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection in partnership as the agencies padlock these illegal and unlicensed shops. Businesses that operate near a church or school, sell to minors, or have gotten customers sick in the past can now see their doors sealed and padlocked that very same day.
Prior to securing these powers from the state, we could only use the limited tools available to us to protect children and crack down on these illegal stores. Our interagency Sheriff’s Joint Compliance Task Force was able to conduct limited enforcement against unlicensed establishments, but we were still able to conduct over 46,000 inspections, collect over $18 million dollars in fines, issue 17,000 summonses, and close down 160 illegal businesses. Real numbers showing the real impact of our interagency efforts.
The legal cannabis industry offers a once-in-a-generation chance for those disproportionately impacted by the so-called ‘War on Drugs’ to build wealth, especially in our Black and Brown communities. For too long, these communities faced high rates of drug-related incarceration and were denied economic opportunities. But thanks to the equitable, legal cannabis industry, they have the chance to get in on the industry from the ground up and our administration wants to ensure that this emerging economy has a chance to burn bright in our city.
Those who flout the cannabis laws and regulations are robbing the very communities that are finally on the cusp of benefiting from a just and equitable system. These new enforcement powers make it clear: if you operate an illegal smoke shop, you will be shut down.
We are going to continue to protect our city’s children, improve quality of life, and facilitate a safe and thriving legal cannabis market in New York City.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
May 13, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Ineffective Tax Break for Wealthy, Gets More Generous, & Gets New Name
Dear Editor,
A hot minute ago, in a galaxy not that far, far away that we call Albany, the state just passed a budget. There, the real estate tax break 421-a is better known than R2D2, but not as cute. Discontinued in 2022 because it was deemed ineffective, it is now revived under a new code name. Please let me introduce you to 485-x. More or less the same as the old tax incentive, only more generous.
The program will offer a lavish tax abatement to NYC developers who chose to set aside 20 to 30 % of their rental units for low-income renters. The units would be set aside for 30 years. It is unclear how many units of housing it will produce, or what exact level of affordability it will contain, as most of it remains at the discretion of developers. The M-Word (Mandatory) is not to be uttered in this Empire State!
Housing has been the talk of the town lately, with a narrative strongly anchored in the theory that housing abundance is the only serious solution. The housing crisis is pinned to the lack of supply, a discourse pushed by both state and city legislators. The theory, and the solution being offered, lack nuance: increase supply, problem solved. It’s Econ 101, the theory goes. Data tells a different story. In NYC, population has increased by 18% since. The number of dwelling units have increased by 64% in the same time span. The theory falls short. The economic mechanisms that rule housing markets are much more complex than the simplistic supply/demand dichotomy. Interest rates, land valuation are critical factors to name a few. It's also crucial to acknowledge that the housing market isn't a monolith; rather, it comprises various submarkets, each influenced by its own unique dynamics.To those who claim that housing supply and demand theory is Econ 101, I urge them to take Econ 102.
A couple of months ago, I sat down with Mary Brosnahan. Mary, the former President and CEO of the Coalition for the Homeless, is one of the sharpest minds when it comes to discussing housing.Take a listen to our lively conversation, as Mary has Carte Blanche to talk about housing, homelessness and proven solutions to vexingly complicated problems.
About Carte Blanche
Carte Blanche isn't just another talk show; it's a platform for long-format, in-depth interviews that give our guests Carte Blanche to share their views. I'm passionate about sparking thought-provoking conversations that offer a deeper understanding of issues relevant to our lives as New Yorkers.
Watch the replays on-demand.
- Channel: MNN, Spectrum Channel 1993, MNNHD, and Carte Blanche YouTube Channel
For more information and to catch the latest episodes, be sure to tune in to the Carte Blanche website and our social media channels.
About MNN: Established in 1992, Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN) is a media learning, production, and distribution hub that promotes creative expression, independent voices, and community engagement. Operating two state-of-the-art media production facilities in Manhattan, MNN reaches 400,000 cable subscribers in the borough and is available in various states and countries through live streams and online archives.
Layla Law-Gisiko
Executive Producer & Host Carte Blanche
April 22, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
An Update on QueensLink Funding
After months of hard work, the New York State budget is completed, and we are disappointed to announce that it did NOT include any funding for QueensLink. While this is certainly not the outcome for which we hoped, the QueensLink team is profoundly thankful for the incredible outpouring of support throughout the budget process. We made tremendous progress over these last few months, with over 14,000 letters and countless phone calls made to state leadership. Doubters have often claimed that neighborhoods in central Queens never wanted rail restoration, but we have shown that this is demonstrably false. QueensLink has only grown stronger with all of your support.
We were able to make some small victories along the way. In the preliminary negotiations, the NY State Senate One-House Budget did include QueensLink funding. We also gained ground on the federal level, with a recommendation for federal funding from Congresswoman Grace Meng’s office.
The demand for better transit in Queens will only intensify in the coming years. With new developments like Innovation QNS, the Resorts World casino expansion, JFK Airport expansion, and new housing from Queens Blvd to the Rockaways, only a project like QueensLink can solve the transportation problems we face today and into the future. We are working with our allies in the City Council to secure funding for an economic study that will show what Queens and New York City have to gain from an investment like the QueensLink. Some of our leaders have truly taken this challenge head-on, and we would like to thank the following elected officials for their dedicated work:
NY Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer Amato
NY Assemblymember Khaleel Anderson
NY Assemblymember Ron Kim
NY Assemblymember Jessica Gonzales-Rojas
NY Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani
NY Assemblymember Juan Ardila
NY Assemblymember Andrew Hevesi
NY State Senator James Sanders Jr
NY State Senator Joseph Addabbo
NY State Senator Leroy Comrie
NY State Senator Kristen Gonzalez
NY State Senator Julia Salazar
NY State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal
NY State Senator Jessica Ramos
Going forward, we’re still focused on other opportunities to acquire funding for an Environmental Impact Statement. We’ll also be fighting Mayor Adams’ Queensway park so that it does not block future rail reactivation. In Parks Dept. meetings, residents have spoken up to make sure that the city knows how important transit is on this corridor. We look forward to the day when the Rockaway Beach Branch will support all forms of sustainable transportation; walking, biking, and rail.
To get involved and help us pursue this agenda, please copy & paste this link - https://thequeenslink.org/get-involved/
The QueensLink Team
April 22, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
New York City’s Accomplishments
Halfway through our first term, it is time to look back on and celebrate all we have accomplished together.
Four years after COVID-19 forced our city to a standstill, New York is back. With crime down, jobs up, a historic boom in tourism, and an economy firing on all cylinders, we are having one of our best years ever.
Even for a city as resilient as New York, recovering from the pandemic was no simple task. But with strategic thinking and supportive programs, we created the right conditions for the economy to flourish and for New Yorkers to succeed.
Over the past two years, we not only recovered all of the private-sector jobs lost during the pandemic but set the all-time record for the highest number of total jobs in our city’s history. We have raised wages for working people — including our municipal workers, delivery workers, for-hire drivers, and non-profit workers. We have negotiated contracts with 95 percent of the unionized city workforce, including 100 percent of the city’s uniformed workforce, to give our public servants the pay and benefits they deserve. And we are not stopping there — we are bringing jobs directly to the people with our “Jobs NYC” initiative, connecting New Yorkers with well-paying job opportunities in both the public and private sectors at hiring halls across the five boroughs.
In addition to the robust economic growth we are seeing, we are helping more New Yorkers connect with affordable housing. Thanks to our partners in Albany, the state budget this year delivers EVERY single piece of the housing agenda we have been fighting for, giving us the tools to build the affordable housing New Yorkers need and deserve. These new programs and incentives will get us closer to our moonshot goal of building 500,000new units of housing in the next 10 years.
We have also launched major legacy projects, including the city’s largest all-affordable housing project in Willets Point, Queens. This project will transform an entire neighborhood by building 2,500 units of housing and the city’s first-ever soccer stadium, so 25,000 fans can go crazy when the New York City Football Club brings home another trophy.
And just last week, I was proud to announce another dramatic new addition to our city’s skyline— a new 62-story office tower in Midtown. This building, alone, will house 6,000 workers, and it will be the New York City headquarters of one of our leading financial firms, Citadel and Citadel Securities.
There is much more to come in Midtown Manhattan, including our “Broadway Vision” plan to create new public spaces and make streets safer between Madison and Herald Squares, as well as a $10 billion expansion of the Midtown Bus Terminal.
We are also re-imagining our city’s most famous retail mecca for the first time in over century, with plans to create a pedestrian-focused boulevard that will welcome more New Yorkers and visitors to Fifth Avenue. This plan will create more green space for our city and burnish the glamour of the midtown district as the world’s ultimate shopping destination.
These are big, visionary public projects that will define our city for generations to come. We’re investing in our city, our future, and every hardworking New Yorker who loves this town.
We achieved all this by focusing on the fundamentals, especially when it comes to protecting public safety. This year, crime is down across the five boroughs, with month after month decreases. In the past year, homicides and shootings have plummeted by double digits — that’s after they dropped by double digits last year and after they dropped by double digits in 2022.
Transit crime was down 15 percent in February, and nearly 24 percent in March — bringing transit crime down through the end of the first quarter of this year.
But it is not just about the numbers. It is also about making sure that New Yorkers feel safe in our city and are confident that we are moving in the right direction. That is why our administration intends to invest even more in upstream solutions, creating conditions that improve outcomes for all New Yorkers — especially our young people.
We’re investing in our Fair Futures program to support kids in foster care, which has boosted college enrollment by 50 percent since we took office, and the ACS College Choice program that makes sure they can afford college when they get there.
We have also expanded our dyslexia screening programs so that EVERY child is screened for dyslexia, and that those children get the support they need to read and succeed.
We’re proud of all we have accomplished in our first two years, but we know there is so much more to do going forward. We are going to continue to make the safest big city in America even safer, expand economic opportunity for all, and improve quality of life across the five boroughs. With two years of success to guide us, we intend to keep our success story going far into the future.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
April 22, 2024
Editor's Note
See - Tax Breaks for the Wealthy Gets a New Name 4/22/24 [above] for a view that differs from the Mayor's regarding the budgeted housing tax breaks.
And click this link to see how Mayor Bloomberg and his Billionaire friends used government money and power to oust the former owners of the land near CitiField in Flushing Meadows Corona Park to enrich themselves. And, in time, we'll post a report about how the Flushing Meadows Corona Park development puts added pressure on the existing infrastructure to the breaking point, thus forcing taxpayers to fund upgrades for two of the billionaire owned stadiums new hotel and apartment buildings there.Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Delivering Fair Pay to New York City’s Delivery Workers
Since day one, our administration has had a clear mission, protect public safety, rebuild our economy, and make our city more livable for hard-working New Yorkers.
Every day, we are delivering on that vision. We’ve recovered all the private-sector jobs lost during the pandemic, one year ahead of schedule; overall crime is down in our city this year; and our city is getting cleaner and greener.
But we know that our economic recovery hasn’t reached everyone, and it has not benefitted everyone equitably. That is why we are doing everything we can to make sure New York City remains a city for working-class people.
Last week, our administration delivered a well-deserved pay raise for our app-based food delivery workers. Delivery workers who work for UberEATS, DoorDash, and Grubhub will now receive at least $19.56 per hour before tips. This is fair pay for a fair day’s work. This means that more than 60,000 of the hardest-working New Yorkers out there will have their wages boosted.
This puts money back into the pockets of delivery workers, it puts dinner on the table, it helps pay their mortgages, and it supports working families, especially those struggling to get by, across the five boroughs.
Delivery workers are an essential part of our city, but just months ago, they were making an average of just $5.39 per hour before tips.
Our administration knew this was unacceptable, so, in June 2023, we announced the nation’s first minimum pay rate rule for app-based food delivery workers. Since this new pay rate went into effect, delivery workers have already seen a 165 percent increase in their pay per week and they are earning nearly $850 million more annually.
And this minimum pay rate is increased to reflect inflation, because we know that New Yorkers continue to feel the burden of the cost of living. People are working harder and harder to get by. I know the hustle is real. I know what it is like to struggle. I was raised by a working mother who struggled to support my five siblings and me. Thousands of our delivery workers are doing the same to support themselves and their families every day.
But we also know that there is more to be done. We have heard that some delivery apps are making it harder to tip and that some apps are locking out workers from shifts. This is wrong, and we made that very clear last week when we stood with our Deliveristas and delivery workers.
That is why we are pioneering first-of -their-kind hubs where our food delivery workers can take shelter from inclement weather, rest, and recharge their cellphone or e-bike batteries.
And it is why we announced five public e-battery charging locations to test safe, public charging of lithium-ion batteries for 100 delivery workers.
That is also why we plan to create the Department of Sustainable Delivery. This will be a first-in-the-nation entity that regulates new forms of delivery transit and helps keep our workers and our streets safe.
We know that when things get tough, we must invest in our most valued asset: our people.
This is how you build a city where all New Yorkers share in our prosperity, no matter what line of work they are in, or what borough they live in. We are delivering fair pay for working-class New Yorkers.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
April 8, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Jobs NYC: Connecting More New Yorkers to Good-Paying Jobs
Since day one, this administration has had a clear mission: protect public safety, rebuild our economy, and make our city more livable for everyday New Yorkers. Every day, we are delivering on that vision. We have recovered all of the private-sector jobs lost during the pandemic, one year ahead of schedule; overall crime is down across the city this year, as it was last year; and we are improving the quality of life for the 8.3 million New Yorkers who call this city home.
But while our city has recovered from the pandemic, our recovery has not benefitted every New Yorker equitably. Black unemployment still remains far too high in our city and we cannot allow this trend to continue — that is why we are doing everything we can to make sure New York City remains a city for working-class people.
Last week, we took a big step forward with the launch of Jobs NYC, a whole-of-government approach to bringing job and career training opportunities to communities that have been overlooked for too long. As part of Jobs NYC, we are kicking off a series of hiring halls in neighborhoods facing employment disparities. These events meet New Yorkers where they are, bringing well-paying public- and private-sector job opportunities to New Yorkers across the five boroughs.
We also launched an all-new jobs portal, jobs.nyc.gov. Job seekers can now pick up their phones to visit this brand-new website or go in-person to a hiring hall to find new job opportunities. This is all-hands-on-deck effort to make it easier and more accessible than ever for all New Yorkers to participate in our thriving economy.
Further, Jobs NYC builds on action we took last year to reform our minimal qualification requirements for certain entry level city jobs, including removing college degree requirements for numerous positions. We have thousands of open jobs in city government, from school safety agents to tech roles. In the past, there have been too many historical barriers preventing New Yorkers from becoming employed. These commonsense reforms are making good-paying jobs more accessible than ever because we want more New Yorkers to join Team New York.
We also want people to who work for city government to have access to the many benefits that meet the needs of working-class families. Last month, we made city government more family-friendly for thousands of employees [https://www.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/092-24/mayor-adams-takes-steps-help-support-working-families-expands-paid-parental-family-leave-for] by expanding both paid parental and family leave for non-union city workers. Impacting over 10,000 municipal employees and making the city more competitive with municipalities and private employers across the country, we doubled paid parental leave for non-union employees, from six to 12 weeks, and began providing up to 12 weeks of paid family leave for those caring for a seriously ill family member.
I am proud to be a blue-collar mayor who was formerly in a union. That is also why we have worked tirelessly to ensure that the City of New York’s labor sector have updated and improved contracts. In the last 13 months, we have negotiated contracts with unions representing 95 percent of the city’s workforce and 100 percent of the city’s uniformed workforce, securing our hard-working public servants better benefits and higher pay.
Our administration understands that a job is more than what we do in the waking hours of our lives; a job is what enables us to achieve the American Dream. That is why we have made historic investments to connect New Yorkers with the career and training opportunities they need to earn good-paying jobs.
And we are committed to making sure that all New Yorkers, particularly those in Black and Brown communities, share in the prosperity of our city. Jobs NYC will help us recruit the next generation of public servants and leaders who will help us build a more equitable New York City, in which everyone has access to a good job that will help them support a family and build a sense of mission and pride.
Together, let’s keep New York City the best city in the world to live — and work — in.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
April 1, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
The Education Debate: Legislators Counter Executive Spending Restraint
Legislative proposals preserve current spending rather than providing transformative investments
ALBANY, NY | March 26, 2024 — The Fiscal Policy Institute released a new analysis of the education funding
debate, as legislators counter the executive budget's spending restraint.
The fiscal year 2025 executive budget attempts to curb State spending across major State-funded programs. In
doing so, the executive budget proposes restraining the growth of school aid — the State’s largest single
spending program. Further, the executive budget provides little additional support for public universities,
despite growing fiscal strain on many campuses. Executive budget proposals are discussed in greater detail in
FPI’s fiscal year 2025 annual budget briefing. The legislative budget proposals would roll back the executive
budget’s proposed cuts to school aid and provide additional support for public higher education. This funding
would preserve the current scope of New York’s education system, rather than representing transformative new
investments.
School Aid: Legislature rejects executive budget’s Foundation Aid changes
Support for local school districts is New York’s largest single spending program, accounting for more than onequarter
of State spending. After fast spending growth over the last three years, the fiscal year 2025 executive
budget aims to curb school aid spending growth. To cut spending growth, the executive budget would change
the inflation factor in the formula that determines Foundation Aid — the largest component of school aid
funding — and eliminate the formula’s hold harmless provision, which prevents a school district’s aid from
falling in any given year. These changes would reduce spending growth in fiscal year 2025 by $454 million. If
adopted, the modified inflation adjustment would have a compounding effect, restricting school further in
subsequent years.
Both the Senate and Assembly reject proposed changes to school aid, and instead propose higher school aid
funding that more than makes up for the executive budget’s proposed cuts:
- The Senate would increase State-funded school aid by $1.16 billion, above the level proposed by the executive budget. The Senate’s additional funding would guarantee school districts a minimum annual increase of 3 percent, and add $150 million for statewide universal pre-kindergarten grants and $125million for universal school meals.
- The Assembly would increase State-funded school aid by $1.02 billion above the level proposed by theexecutive budget. Like the Senate, the Assembly additional funding would guarantee school districts aminimum annual increase of 3 percent.
School aid planned by fiscal year 2024 enacted budget and fiscal year 2025 executive budget, and legislative proposals
Higher Education: Legislature proposes modest operating support to maintain services
The State’s higher education systems — the State University of New York (SUNY) and City University of New
York (CUNY) — both have campuses facing fiscal strain despite recent upticks in enrollment. The executive
budget makes no new investments in higher education systems, proposing to hold funding for SUNY and
CUNY flat in fiscal year 2025. Meanwhile, the governor is advancing a plan to close SUNY Downstate, a Stateoperated
hospital and medical school in Brooklyn.
Both legislative plans reject the Governor’s lack of investment with proposed operating support for SUNY and
CUNY and plan to keep SUNY Downstate open. Further, both houses propose significant expansions to the
tuition assistance program (TAP), which provides grants to students from low- and middle-income families:
- SUNY colleges
The executive budget would hold State funding for SUNY’s four-year colleges and universities flat in fiscal year
- While the executive budget appears to make modest new operating support available, this funding is
offset by the expiration of one-off funding passed last year.
The Senate and Assembly would each appropriate $100 million in additional operating support for SUNY
colleges beyond the level proposed by the executive budget:
- The Senate’s $100 million appropriation would be divided among community colleges, the State operated colleges (the system’s four-year campuses), and statutory colleges (state-supported institutions housed within non-state universities, such as the specialty schools at Cornell University).
- The Assembly’s $100 million appropriation would be divided only between State-operated and statutory colleges. The Assembly proposes a separate $11 million appropriation for community colleges. For this reason, the State’s four-year campuses would benefit from greater operating support under the Assembly plan.
While these legislative proposals would increase operating support for SUNY, they would not fully bridge the
fiscal gaps faced by many campuses. An estimated 19 SUNY campuses have operating deficits collectively
totaling $138 million per year. Campuses with severe deficits — including SUNY Potsdam and Fredonia —
have entered into restructuring agreements with the SUNY central administration, eliminating degree programs
in exchange for emergency fiscal support. SUNY central administration expects this problem to worsen, with
collective annual deficits exceeding $1 billion over the next decade. While the legislative proposals are a step
in the right direction, deep, recurring funding will be necessary to shore up the SUNY system.
Finally, both the Senate and Assembly propose $670 million for capital investments. The State would be
authorized to apportion this additional capital funding among SUNY campuses.
- SUNY Downstate
In January 2024, SUNY announced a plan to close SUNY Downstate, a teaching hospital in Brooklyn. As part
of the amended executive budget, the State committed $100 million in operating support and $300 million in
capital funding to implement a “transformation plan,” a State-developed plan to relocate certain SUNY
Downstate services to the adjacent Kings County Hospital Center, a City-supported hospital.
The Senate and Assembly both accept the executive budget’s proposed spending levels. The Senate,
however, would make the capital funding conditional on a “sustainability plan.” The sustainability plan, which
would be developed by a commission made up by executive, legislative, labor, and community appointees,
would outline a strategy for retaining SUNY Downstate’s teaching and service capacity in five core medical
practices defined by the Senate. Operating support would be used to support current services while the
sustainability plan is finalized. The Assembly budget resolution expresses support for maintaining services at
SUNY Downstate, though it does not include legislation conditioning capital funds.
Finally, both houses would add $79 million to support SUNY hospitals’ debt service, offsetting costs for the
system’s three teaching hospitals, and $150 million in capital funding for SUNY hospitals.
III. CUNY
New York City’s public higher education system faces fiscal shortfalls as the City implements multiple rounds of
across-the-board budget cuts. In its November 2023 and January 2024 budget modifications, the City
implemented cuts to CUNY totaling $40 million annually. These reductions follow cuts totaling $155 million
enacted the prior year. Despite a recent uptick in enrollment, the City appears poised to continue cutting CUNY
funding, focusing on nine campuses judged to be “colleges of concern.”
The executive budget maintains status quo support for CUNY, proposing an increase in operating support of
$65 million, or 3.3 percent. At the same time, the State proposes dramatically reducing funding for CUNY
capital projects, from $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2024 to $441 million in fiscal year 2025.
The Senate and Assembly would add an additional $67 million and $75 million, respectively, to the executive
budget’s proposed operating support. Both houses would increase capital funding to $1.0 billion, $535 million
above the executive budget level.
- Tuition Assistance Program
New York’s tuition assistance program (TAP) provides grants to students from low- and middle-income families
to pay for tuition at colleges and universities in New York State, whether public or private. The executive budget
took a step to extend TAP by making permanent an existing tuition credit that allows TAP recipients to attend a
SUNY or CUNY school tuition free.
The Senate and Assembly would enact a more sweeping expansion of TAP, proposing, respectively, $138
million and $118 million plans to broaden the program. Both houses would increase the current income
threshold for TAP liability from $80,000 to $125,000 for dependent students and increase the minimum award
level from $500 to $1,000. The Senate would further increase the maximum TAP award by $500 to $6,125.
Both houses would expand access to TAP to part-time students in private colleges approved to be part of TAP.
Finally, each house takes differing steps to incrementally expand TAP, with the Senate expanding access for
students with disabilities and the Assembly extending the maximum duration of awards to five years.
Conclusion
Broad, well-funded school and higher education systems are essential to New York’s competitiveness. The
fiscal year 2025 executive budget attempts to curb spending growth by restricting school aid to districts across
the state and failing to address deficits at State- and City-operated public university campuses. The Senate
and Assembly instead reject the proposed executive changes to school aid and add supplemental funding
above the planned level prior to the cuts. The legislature also appropriates additional funding for the State and
City’s public university systems. While the legislative proposals do not represent transformative investments in
the State’s education system, they would shore up the precarious fiscal situations facing school and public
universities across the state.
Comparison of executive and legislative education plans. Copy & paste this link to view the full analysis.
https://fiscalpolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/One-Houses-Education-Summary-Final-1.pdf
Fiscal Policy Institute
March 26, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Community Op-Ed: Yes to Housing in God’s Backyard
When we came into office, we had a clear mission: protect public safety, rebuild our economy as quickly as possible, and make our city more livable for everyday New Yorkers. The key to livability is affordable housing. It is the bedrock on which New Yorkers can build a family, build a life, or simply continue to live in the city they love. But there is currently not enough affordable housing to meet our city’s needs.
The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s 2023 Housing and Vacancy Survey showed that our city has a vacancy rate of 1.4 percent, the lowest this measurement has been since 1968. The only way to create more rental availability and lower prices is to build more housing. To build more affordable housing, we must think creatively and bring every partner to the table. No partner has been more willing to answer the call than our faith-based organizations. They have been on the frontline of every crisis — from the COVID-19 pandemic to the asylum seeker crisis. Houses of worships have always opened their doors to those most in need. Now, they want to lend a helping hand in creating critically-needed affordable housing. However, because of outdated and antiquated zoning laws that go back generations, houses of worship have been told ‘no.’ But those days are over.
Our city must stop saying ‘no,’ and instead say ‘yes’: ‘yes’ to housing in God’s backyard. Under our ‘City of Yes’ plan — the most pro-housing plan in our city’s history — we are using every tool at our disposal to build a little more housing in every neighborhood, including doing away with outdated zoning rules that prevent us from developing the housing we desperately need. This means giving our houses of worship the flexibility to build homes on their campuses, permitting the creation of much-needed three-to-five story buildings on large lots owned by faith-based organizations, and allowing landmarked houses of worship to permit unused land on their sites to be used for development.
These changes to our zoning rules will help faith-based groups generate revenue, add more affordable housing across the five boroughs, and develop new resources and facilities for congregations at a moment when some are struggling to make ends meet. The changes will support both everyday New Yorkers who need affordable homes as well as our communities of faith. This April, our ‘City of Yes for Housing Opportunity’ plan will enter public review and the City Council will vote on it by end of the year.
While we are doing everything we can on a city level with our ‘City of Yes’ plan, we also need the state to act. At this moment, state leaders are negotiating a budget deal in Albany. We need their deal to include a new incentive for affordable housing construction and a tax incentive for office to residential conversions. We also need the state to repeal the outdated FAR Cap, which will allow us to add more housing in residential neighborhoods, and to give New York City the power to legalize existing basement apartments so that they can meet health and safety standards. Finally, we need Albany to pass the Faith Based Affordable Housing Act, which says ‘yes’ to building affordable housing on the properties of faith institutions.
This fight is personal for me. I know what feels like to live without the security of housing because I grew up on the edge of homelessness. My siblings and I had to carry trash bags full of clothes to school because we didn’t know where we would sleep the next night. That is no way to live.
And it’s no way to live for countless New Yorkers who want to continue to live in the city they love so much. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. knew that affordable housing was critical to our country’s future, and we know today that it is critical for the future of our city. It was Dr. King who called out discriminatory practices by landlords and realtors that kept Black Americans out of certain neighborhoods. And it was Dr. King who advocated for the Fair Housing Act, the landmark legislation that was finally passed by Congress the week after he was assassinated.
But his life’s work did not end with that bullet. We are continuing to fight for it today so that all New Yorkers can live with the dignity, security, and peace of mind that they deserve.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
March 25, 2024
Editor's Note About the City of Yes Text Amendments
We've begun tracking and researching this legislation which is about 1,200 pages long. After talking with a number of community activists, we're far less sure that this is as good a proposal as the Mayor portrays it to be. But that said, our analysis and reporting on it are not yet done, so we're reserving full judgment at this time.
Here's a link to our reporting on the City of Yes Text Amendments Part II, which we will be updating weekly [or so] from here on in, until the NYC Council votes on it, which could be as early as April, when they take it up. Also scroll down to a January 4, 2024 Editorial where we identify Alicia Boyd and MTOPP in Brooklyn, who've done an analysis of the City of Yes Text Amendments Part II proposal of their own.
For further reading on City of Yes Text Amendments, see MTOPP blog
https://mtopp.org/index.php/2024/01/02/mtopp-answers-questions-on-the-city-of-yes/
MTOPP has an entire section dedicated to the City of Yes
https://mtopp.org/index.php/category/city-of-yes-text-amendments/
Be advised that these are huge zoning law changes which will strip away a lot of local input to the real estate development process, and put the authority and right to do things in the hands of the real estate developers and landowners, who are supporting this legislation, because they stand to make huge profits because of it.
Also note that while the legislation includes a whole lot of incentives to build all housing, including affordable, there are few mandates to build affordable, which seems a huge flaw in the legislation, and calls into question the selling of this legislation as a solution to affordable housing. There are also questions as to what this will do to the NYC property tax base in the long term, because - if property owners switch from commercial real estate to residential - NYC could stand to lose a huge amount of revenue, as commercial real estate brings in higher revenue than residential.
Stay tuned because these zoning law changes will affect everyone, as you will see, in our next report coming next week.
Mike Wood
Publisher
March 26, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Giving a Raise for New York City’s Human Services Workers
When I was a child, my family lived on the edge of homelessness. My five siblings and I would go to school with black trash bags full of our clothes in case we were evicted from our apartment. I am mayor of the City of New York today because human services workers were there to support my family when we needed it most. Standing up for these workers as their mayor is not just a professional concern for me; it is personal, too.
But it wasn’t just my family. Human services workers were there for all of us during the pandemic. When so many were in isolation, they were endangering their health as they worked with New Yorkers in need. Today, they are helping our neighbors get mental health care, connecting our homeless brothers and sisters with housing, running community centers across the five boroughs, caring for asylum seekers, and so much more.
This work is 24/7. It can be thankless, and it is often mentally and physically exhausting, but it is absolutely essential. It is no exaggeration to say that these men and women are the hands and hearts of New York City. We owe them everything.
When we came into office two years ago, we had a mission: protect public safety, rebuild our economy, and make this city more livable for everyday New Yorkers. But for too long, the pay of our human services workers has not even kept up with the rising cost of living. Last week, we changed that by once again delivering on our vision to make this city more livable and putting money back into the pockets of these working-class New Yorkers.
We announced that our administration will be investing $741 million to deliver fair wages for the more than 80,000 nonprofit employees working within this city — finally giving our human services workers the pay raise they have earned. This will amount to a 9.27 percent pay increase over the next three years. This was a day one priority of our administration, and it is going to lift up a workforce that is majority women and women of color.
If you dedicate your life to serving New Yorkers, we should make sure that you get paid fairly. Because of this new investment and past wage enhancements we made for the sector, we have now invested $1.4 billion to improve pay for human service workers. This is how we build equity and give workers the support they deserve. And this is what it looks like to help our nonprofit partners attract and retain top talent going forward.
This announcement builds on our administration’s track record of standing with working-class New Yorkers and not only ensuring that they get paid fairly for their hard work, but also finding ways to get more money back in their pockets. In two years, we have negotiated historic contracts with unions representing 95 percent of the city’s workforce and 100 percent of the city's uniformed workforce, and we have hit this milestone faster than any administration in modern history.
We also fulfilled a campaign pledge to work with Albany lawmakers and secure an enhancement of the New York City Earned Income Tax Credit [link - https://www.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/212-22/mayor-adams-applauds-earned-income-tax-credit-enhancement-state-budget-fulfilling-pledge-to], benefitting over 800,000 families and strengthening the city’s social safety net. That’s money for families to put towards rent, bills, and groceries. As part of our multi-billion child care blueprint, we reduced the per child co-payment or out-of-pocket cost [link - https://www.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/984-23/mayor-adams-continues-get-stuff-done-working-class-new-yorkers-halfway-first-term] of subsidized child care for a family of four earning $55,000 a year from $55 a week in 2022 to $4.80 a week. Now, parents don’t have to decide between their career or child care.
I am proud to be a blue-collar mayor, and by offering fair pay, we are creating a fairer and more equitable city for all. By delivering on our vision for a more livable city, we are ensuring that New York City is not only the greatest city in the world to live, but also one of the greatest places to work, especially for those who sacrifice so much for all of us.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
March 21, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Building a City of Opportunity
As I often say, we live in a city of 8.3 million people — and 35 million opinions. But one thing all New Yorkers can agree on is that people come to our city to make it. They come here to work, build lives, and fulfill the American Dream. And the Adams administration is committed to creating the conditions for that dream to flourish. This means doing everything we can to protect public safety, rebuild our economy, and make all five boroughs more livable for all New Yorkers.
As part of our ongoing efforts, we have developed “City of Yes for Economic Opportunity” — a set of 18 zoning changes that will help businesses find space and grow, support entrepreneurs and freelancers, boost growing industries, and make our streetscapes more vibrant.
For far too long, outdated regulations have made it difficult for small businesses in our city to flourish. These regulations, enacted in 1961, no longer make sense for the modern city in which we live. They include zoning laws that prevent certain kinds of businesses in specific neighborhoods — for example banning hardware stores or repair shops on Madison Avenue; or being allowed to have music and DJs at some bars, but not being allowed to set aside space for customers to dance to the music. Worse still, these outdated rules prevent businesses owners and entrepreneurs from meeting real needs.
With the City Council’s support, we can sweep aside these senseless restrictions and create more opportunities for New Yorkers and their businesses to flourish. We have successfully partnered with the Council on “City of Yes for Carbon Neutrality,” which makes it easier for New Yorkers to go green with clean energy, solar panels, composting, electric vehicles, and more. Now, we can do the same with City of Yes for Economic Opportunity.
Along the same lines, we have made outdoor dining permanent. The temporary outdoor dining program saved 100,000 jobs during COVID and showed us a bright future for our streets — but it also led to abandoned sheds and sanitation issues. Our permanent program works for locals, tourists, and restaurant owners and keeps our streets attractive, safe, and trash-free. And we’re making it easier for restaurants to create clean and safe outdoor dining setups through our new Dining Out NYC portal [https://diningout.nyc.gov/application/], which will allow more New Yorkers across the five boroughs to enjoy outdoor dining. The portal offers restaurant owners a wide range of free resources and ideas for how to design their space, and the new rules ensure that the areas around outdoor dining spaces are kept clean, so they look good and don’t attract rodents and other pests.
Running a city like New York is never easy, and for all New Yorkers to flourish, we must continue to adapt to new realities. Whether it’s responding to climate change, getting rid of outdated zoning rules, creating new economic opportunities, or implementing new commonsense rules to keep us all safe and healthy, the Adams administration puts the health and prosperity of New Yorkers front and center every day.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
March 11, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
What To Look For in the One House Budget Proposals
Ahead of the release of the legislature's budget proposals, the Fiscal Policy Institute today released a new briefing on What To Look For in the One House Budget Proposals.
Overview
Following last week’s revenue consensus, the legislature will be able to propose $1.3 billion more in spending than the executive budget. This additional revenue will allow the legislature to restore many of the budget cuts proposed by the executive budget, especially to school aid and home care. The legislature can, however, go beyond restoring the proposed cuts and put forward deeper investments in public services that address New York’s affordability crisis. These investments will require raising additional revenue.
The Fiscal Policy Institute recommends three sets of revenue options necessary to support deeper investments in education and higher education, health care, housing, and climate policy. Further background on each revenue option and policy area can be found in FPI’s fiscal year 2025 budget briefing book.
Tax & Revenue - Policy Recommendations
The legislature can reject proposed spending cuts while deepening investment to make the state more affordable by enacting the following tax policy measures:
- Rationalize the Personal Income Tax Brackets: Reform the top personal income tax brackets by applying the current highest tax rate of 10.9 percent to all millionaire-earners (single filers earning over $1 million and married filers earning over $2 million); increase the tax rates for multi-millionaire-earners;add a new 8.85 percent bracket for top earners below the million-dollar threshold ($500,000 for single filers; $750,000 for joint filers). This change would raise over $4 billion annually.
- Tax Capital Gains: Offset the federal tax benefit for long-term capital gains and qualified dividends by creating a progressive capital gains surtax for high-income filers. This change would create an additional 2 percent capital gains tax for all filers with incomes over $500,000 and an additional 4 percent capital gains tax for filers with incomes over $1 million. This change would raise $3.5 billion annually.
- Reform Corporate & Business Taxes: Raise the corporate tax rate in light of the dramatic 2017 corporate tax break; enact measures to combat multinational corporate tax avoidance, either by including global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI) in the state corporate tax base or by requiring worldwide combined reporting for corporations; tax the profits of high-earning pass-through businesses that are exempt from the corporate tax. These changes would raise $5 to $7 billion annually.
- Enhance the Child Tax Credit: Enact changes (such as those in the “Working Families Tax Credit” proposal) that would improve the State’s current tax credit programs (the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Empire State Child Credit). Sound changes to the program would increase the total credit amount for each child for the neediest families, eliminate phase-ins that prevent the poorest families from receiving any benefit, and make the credit available to immigrants who file based on an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number.
Education & Higher Education - Policy Recommendations
The legislature should reject the proposed change to the school aid funding formula and undertake a study on how to best update the formula. Further, rather than shifting the burden of SUNY deficits to current and future students through reduced academic offerings or tuition hikes, the legislature should appropriate State operating funding to balance campus budgets.
- Maintain the Foundation Aid Formula: Reject the executive budget’s change to the foundation aid formula, increasing school funding growth by $454 million over the executive budget; undertake a study of how to best modernize the formula.
- Invest in a New Deal for High Education: Increase operating support for SUNY and CUNY campuses, balancing their budgets and correcting for a decade of fiscal retrenchment. Further pursue a “new deal for higher education,” including lowering or eliminating tuition, investing in capital repairs, hiring new faculty, and professionalizing adjunct compensation. These actions would require a multibillion-dollar annual investment.
Healthcare - Policy Recommendations
While Medicaid costs have grown sharply in recent years, cutting home care worker wages and restricting access to care is an ill-advised cost saving strategy. A more efficient and equitable approach would be to eliminate Managed Long-Term Care (MLTC) plans — a program that contracts with costly private organizations to coordinate long-term care for Medicaid beneficiaries. Further, rather than allow hospitals serving primarily low-income populations to teeter on the brink of closure and pursue ad-hoc bailouts or mergers, the State should develop a comprehensive plan for ensuring adequate statewide hospital coverage while allocating sufficient resources for safety net hospitals.
- Reject Wage Cuts to Home Care Workers: Reject the executive budget’s proposed cuts of $300 million in fiscal year 2025 and $600 million per year thereafter.
- Fund Financially Distressed Hospitals: Direct $1.5 billion in targeted funding to hospitals serving primarily Medicaid-covered and uninsured patients; invest adequately to prevent the closure of SUNY Downstate Medical Center; raise the Medicaid reimbursement rate.
- Invest in the Healthcare Workforce: Invest in rebuilding the state’s healthcare workforce, which has seen high attrition during and after the Covid pandemic; ensure safe staffing levels at hospitals statewide.
- Expand the Essential Plan: Use $1 billion in surplus federal funding to expand the Essential Plan to cover 150,000 undocumented immigrants (as well as providing ACA marketplace subsidies).
Housing - Policy Recommendations
An ambitious social housing policy that rises to the scale of the state’s housing shortage would 1) increase housing production, 2) protect tenants from displacement, and 3) create units with below-market rents. The first two goals could be accomplished by policies proposed last year that would have loosened local land use regulations and protected tenants from exorbitant rent increases. Enacting these policies, however, would not have ensured a supply of units with below-market rents. This key complementary policy could be achieved with the creation of a social housing authority.
- Reform Land Use: Unlike last year, comprehensive changes to local land use appear unlikely to be enacted in the fiscal year 2025 budget. Nevertheless, proposed legislation to streamline permitting for affordable housing, allow religious institutions to create housing on their land, and require the public reporting of statewide housing data would represent progress toward easing restrictive local land use regulations.
- Invest in Social Housing: Commit up to $5 billion in capital funding to an authority in order create social housing, building on the executive budget’s proposal to build new housing on state-owned land.
- Impose Tenant Protections: Protect tenants of unregulated rental units from unwarranted evictions and excessive rent increases.
Climate - Policy Recommendations
The State should implement an effective cap-and-invest program, as detailed in the FPI Budget Briefing, and commit additional funding beyond that program to ensure the State meets its decarbonization targets. Without public funding for the climate transition, the State’s pursuit of its climate goals will increase energy costs for working New Yorkers.
- Invest in the Renewable Energy Transition: Appropriate $2-3 billion in capital funding to support greater deployment of renewable energy resources, building electrification programs, and investments in transmission infrastructure.
- Adopt the Affordability Requirements of the NY Heat Act: The executive budget includes portions of the NY HEAT Act, including elimination of the “100-foot rule,” which ends the law stating that gas companies must extend new lines to all requesting customers and must spread the cost of the first 100 feet of the new hook-up across all ratepayers. This change will accelerate the transition away from fossil fuel infrastructure. However, the budget excludes provisions that would shelter low-income households from the effects of the transition by capping utility payments at 6 percent of household income. These provisions should be included.
State Workforce - Policy Recommendations
- Improve Public Sector Pensions and Benefits: Improve benefits for public sector employees to increase retention and recruitment in the public sector.
- Invest in Health and Human Services Workers: Implement policies designed to recruit and retain healthcare staff at hospitals in compliance with the 2021 Safe Staffing law that was intended to ensure safe and decent job conditions. The State can further leverage $694 million in funding for the healthcare workforce as part of the recently approved 1115 Medicaid waiver. Additionally, a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for human services workers is necessary to bolster this workforce in the face of a mental health and substance misuse crisis.
- Invest in State Tax and Labor Enforcement: Increase funding for civil services positions such as tax auditors and labor enforcement staff that protect State revenue and workers’ rights.
Fiscal Policy Institute
Albany, New York
March 6, 2024
https://fiscalpolicy.org
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Building a legal, equitable cannabis industry that works for us all.
When we came to office two years ago, we had a clear vision: protect public safety, revitalize the economy, and make this city more livable for hardworking New Yorkers. And building a legal, equitable cannabis industry is part of every part of that vision.
Legal cannabis remains the right choice for New York City. This budding, emerging industry offers a once-in-a-generation chance for those disproportionately impacted by the so-called ‘War on Drugs’ to build wealth, especially in our Black and Brown communities. For too long, these communities faced high rates of drug-related incarceration and were denied economic opportunities. But thanks to the equitable, legal cannabis industry, they have a chance to get in on the industry from the ground up. We know, however, that it’s not enough to just support the opening of new legal cannabis shops — we must have Albany grant local authorities the power to close down the illegal operators that threaten the economic success of legal shops and put the safety of our communities at risk.
Last week, I was proud to celebrate the opening of the first legal dispensary in Brooklyn owned by a Black woman. Matawana Dispensary is an example of how we can build an equitable cannabis industry that rights the wrongs of the past. Leeann Mata, the owner of Matawana Dispensary, was justice-impacted by the previous ‘War on Drugs,’ but turned her pain into purpose. Now, she is a proud small business owner in the borough she calls home.
For many years, people of color in our communities were routinely targeted when it came to cannabis law enforcement. Cannabis criminalization was used to harass, arrest, and prosecute so many of our brothers and sisters. And that’s why New York City is making sure that the New Yorkers who were harmed by the mistakes of the past are first in line for the economic opportunities that legal cannabis offers in the future.
Through the city’s Cannabis NYC initiative, we have supported the opening of 26 legal cannabis shops across the five boroughs, and, every day, we are working to create a more thriving, equitable, and legal cannabis industry.
Our commitment stems from a moral obligation to make sure that the people who were adversely affected by cannabis criminalization get their fair share of this emerging market. But these legitimate businesses are facing stiff competition from shops that are not following the rules.
To support the legal cannabis market, New York City must have the tools necessary to stop the illegal market from growing even further. These illegal shops take money out of the registers of legal businesses, while simultaneously posing both a public safety and a public health concern — selling counterfeit products that are unsafe and often targeted towards kids.
We know that New Yorkers are fed up with illegal storefronts and their unlawful business practices. Legalization is about following the law, not a free pass to sell unregulated cannabis products.
That’s why our administration is working with all our partners in Albany and New York State to get the local authority to shut down illegal smoke shops.
With the limited tools the city has, we have played our part to crack down on these illegal stores. We created the interagency Sheriff’s Joint Compliance Task Force to conduct enforcement against unlicensed establishments. And, since the start of this administration, we have closed 160 illegal businesses, conducted over 46,000 inspections, collected over 18 million dollars in fines, and issued 17,000 summonses.
But, to protect legal dispensaries like Leeann Mata’s, New York City needs the proper authority from Albany lawmakers to proactively inspect and shutdown illegal cannabis shops. Those who flout the cannabis laws and regulations are robbing the very communities that are finally on the cusp of benefiting from a just and equitable system.
We will continue to work with our partners in Albany to give aspiring entrepreneurs, especially those who have been justice-involved, a chance to succeed. Together, we can continue to roll equity into our economy.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
March 6, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Making it Easier for Working-Class New Yorkers to File Their Taxes and Put Money Back Into Their Pockets
New York City was built on the backs of working-class New Yorkers; people like my mother, Dorothy Mae Adams, a single mother who worked multiple jobs to support my five siblings and myself. She sacrificed everything for us, and I know that there are thousands of New Yorkers doing the same today in our city for their families.
Those are the people we have been fighting for since day one of this administration. We’ve been clear that our mission has been to deliver those working-class New Yorkers a city that protects public safety, revitalizes the economy, and is more livable.
We’ve made our city safer, created 270,000 private-sector jobs, set a first-of-its-kind minimum wage for deliveristas, and worked with our brothers and sisters in labor to get them the pay and benefits they deserve.
We have broken affordable housing records — financing the most affordable homes in city history and connecting more New Yorkers to affordable homes than any other year in our city’s history.
We drove down the cost of childcare for working parents, increased public school enrollment, boosted test scores, and revolutionized reading in our classrooms.
Jobs are up, crime is down, and our streets are cleaner, but we know the hustle is still real for so many across our city. That is why we are fighting to put money back into New Yorkers’ pockets — money they have earned and need to support their families.
We know that filing taxes can be overwhelming, so, this tax season, our administration is making it easier for New Yorkers to file.
If your family earns $85,000 or less or you make $59,000 or less as a single filer, you can get your taxes done for free with NYC Free Tax Prep. New Yorkers can file their taxes for free at any one of our NYC Tax Prep locations across the five boroughs or online at getyourrefund.org/nyc.
Some of these locations also offer tax services for self-employed New Yorkers, including freelance workers, gig workers, and small business owners.
And a number of New York City Health + Hospitals locations are also offering free, in-person and virtual tax prep for eligible New Yorkers. Select sites offer support in Spanish, Chinese, and Bengali, and virtual tax preparation is available in Spanish as well, so New Yorkers from different backgrounds can get their taxes filed for free.
New Yorkers can schedule an appointment at a NYC Free Tax Prep location in advance at nyc.gov/taxprep and must bring identification and proof of income to their appointment. For virtual services, New Yorkers can upload their documents and meet virtually with a tax preparer to review their tax return before submission.
Free tax prep is another simple and straightforward way our administration is making sure working-class New Yorkers get their fair share, and it is the easiest way to get the maximum tax credits and the full refund you deserve.
Putting money back into your pockets is also exactly why our administration went to Albany to secure the first increase in the city’s Earned Income Tax Credit in 20 years — to ensure that New Yorkers get to keep the money that helps them pay for the essentials like bills, rent, and food.
Our administration will continue working every day to ensure working-class New Yorkers can keep their fair share, and this tax season, we’re making it easier than ever to do so.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
February 26, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Connecting Communities with Rails & Trails / New Year, New Momentum
The fight for QueensLink is reaching a crucial phase! We’re fighting on THREE fronts, while continuing our community outreach.
I. Help Us Get State Funding!
QueensLink advocates in the state legislature have submitted funding letters for an Environmental Impact Statement, the first step in getting funding in the state budget. Senator James Sanders, Jr. submitted the letter to the Senate Majority Leader, with Senators Leroy Comrie, Jessica Ramos, Kristen Gonzalez, and Julia Salazar as signatories. Assembly Member Stacey Pheffer Amato submitted the letter to Assembly Speaker, with Assembly Members Kahleel Anderson, Juan Ardila, Andrew Hevesi, Zohran Mandani, Ron Kim, and Jessica Gonzalez Rojas as signatories.
However, we need to get more signatures by the end of March! Use our letter writing tool to tell your Representatives! Tell our leaders how QueensLink would improve your life! Or if they’ve already signed our budget request, write to say thank you!
Follow our Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Threads posts for legislators to address.
II. A Metro Hub Park that Would NOT Block Transit
The New York City Parks Dept. and EDC are working on a plan for the Metro Hub section of the QueensWay. At public scoping sessions, attendees were vocal about their wish for transit to be included. But the Parks Dept. and EDC will not take transit into account, promising to design their park first and ask the MTA about their thoughts later.
We’re preparing an alternative plan for the Metro Hub Park that would give residents the scenic walking/bike path to Forest Park that originally inspired QueensWay. However, our solution would preserve much of the right-of-way for future transit infrastructure.
Though the Mayor has promised that QueensWay won’t block potential rail reactivation, the NYC Parks Department and NYC EDC’s community engagement sessions have made clear that they are NOT leaving space for future transit development. If the park is built as in the preliminary plan, future transit development would require tearing up much of the park and a lengthy park land alienation process–two measures that would face insurmountable push back.
We will present our ideas to preserve future rail reactivation at a meeting of Queens Community Board 6’s Special Committee on the Rockaway Beach Branch, on Tuesday, Feb. 27 at 7 PM, in the Rego Park Center Mall Community Room, on the corner of 97th and Horace Harding. Please show up to show support!
III. What Do Rockaways Residents Want?
A new transit group in the Rockaways is launching on Wednesday, Feb. 28, at 6 pm in the Arverne East Welcome Center at Beach 44 and the Boardwalk. Participants will have a chance to talk about the problems they face getting around the long, thin peninsula, and into Queens and the rest of the City. Then, QueensLink and other local organizations will present their proposals for improving transportation.
If you live in Rockaway, we want to hear from you! Get Involved! Sign Our Petition.
The Queens Link Organizing Committee
February 20, 2024
https://thequeenslink.org
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Social Media and Youth Mental Health
New York City has always been a hub for technology and innovation. And while technology has helped create jobs, opportunities, and prosperity, it has also the potential to cause new dangers, especially when it comes to social media and the mental health of our children.
Our administration came into office two years ago with a mission to protect public safety, and protecting our young people’s mental health is very much a part of that agenda. That is why, last week — along with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York City Health + Hospitals, and the New York City Department of Education — we filed a lawsuit against the companies that own and operate five social media companies in an effort to hold these companies accountable for role they have played in fueling a mental health crisis among our young people.
Our most recent data found that young people in New York City are experiencing anxiety, hopelessness, and are even attempting suicide at rates we have never seen before. You don’t need to be a parent or caregiver to realize the effects of social media on our children’s lives. Instead of talking to each other over lunch at the cafeteria, our youth are absorbed in their screens. Instead of playing at the park with friends, they are inside on a sunny day clicking and scrolling. And instead of learning confidence and resilience, they are being exposed to content that often leads to insecurity and depression.
New York City teens are spending an average of three hours or more per day in front of screens — not including time spent on schoolwork — much of it focused on the endless stream of social media that has been designed with one goal in mind: keeping users hooked for as long as possible.
Adults find it hard enough to moderate the use of social media, but it's even more difficult for our young people. We know these platforms are designed with addictive and dangerous features that take advantage of a child's natural interest in novelty and play.
Social media can damage self-esteem, promote addiction, and often encourages reckless behavior like subway surfing and car theft challenges. We have also seen a dangerous rise in misinformation, xenophobia, radicalization, and incitement to hateful acts.
Instead of connecting people to one another, as our social media companies initially promised, their platforms too often tear us apart. Internal TikTok documents reveal that more than 20 percent of children are active on the platform between midnight and 5:00 AM when they should be sleeping. In recent years, there was a 40 percent increase in high school students reporting persistent sadness and hopelessness.
Dr. Vasan, our city’s health commissioner, released an advisory last month declaring social media a public health hazard, and New York is the first major American city to call out the danger of social media clearly and directly, just as past surgeons general did with tobacco and guns. We are treating social media like other public health hazards.
Last week, we also released our Social Media Action Plan, which will help us chart a new course forward in several key areas. First, we are advocating for state and federal policymakers to put in place laws that require social media companies to ensure that their platforms are safe for youth mental health.
Second, we will be providing media literacy and education to support our young people and families. This includes promoting tech-free zones to encourage young people to socialize in person.
And finally, our action plan will study the long-term impacts of social media on our youth to understand how New York City can better address the harms caused by these platforms.
We know that some have begun working to tackle these issues. While we welcome those efforts, this entire industry must do far more. We must have enforceable and agreed upon standards, not a patchwork of voluntary fixes that ultimately shift the burden back to parents, teachers, and young people.
Our children, our families, and our future are more important than profit. That is why we are taking bold actions on behalf of millions of New Yorkers. This is a crucial step in a larger reckoning that will shape the lives of our young people, our city, and society for years to come.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
February 20, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Op-Ed: What We Need From Albany
New York City is all about what is possible. It’s a place where you can start a business, raise a family, and make a difference. Our administration came into office with the aim of keeping that American Dream alive by protecting public safety, rebuilding our economy, and making our city more livable for everyday New Yorkers. I went to our state capital last week with the goal of furthering that vision.
We laid out an agenda to advance working-class families by extending mayoral accountability of our public schools for four years, granting the city the authority to shut down illegal smoke shops, and creating more affordable housing. Finally, we outlined the city’s fiscal challenges, including state funding for asylum seekers and increasing New York City’s debt limit.
New York City public schools are leading the way in New York state and across the nation because of mayoral accountability. Thanks to mayoral accountability we were able to launch New York City Reads, a nation-leading curriculum that teaches our kids the fundamentals of reading. This is more than a curriculum change — it is a reading revolution. And Governor Hochul announced that she is following our model and bringing our approach to every school district statewide. We also became the first city in the country to screen every child for dyslexia to make sure no child falls through the cracks, like I almost did as a young undiagnosed dyslexic child.
Mayoral accountability allowed us to deliver on countless wins: gifted and talented programs in every neighborhood, full-time mental health professionals for every school, outpacing the state in reading and math while closing racial disparities, and more. Prior to mayoral accountability, high school graduation rates stagnated at 50 percent — they are now over 80 percent. Again, all of this is possible because of mayoral accountability. If Albany fails to extend mayoral accountability, we risk seeing test scores and graduation rates fall back.
Additionally, New Yorkers should be able to walk down our streets without worrying about illegal smoke shops selling cannabis to our children. Legal cannabis remains the right choice for our city and our state, but New Yorkers are fed up with these illegal storefronts and their unlawful business practices. We asked Albany to grant us the authority to inspect and permanently shut down these shops.
Rebuilding our economy means creating homes that working-class New Yorkers can afford. Our administration is playing our part and becoming a City of Yes — “yes” to building more in our backyards, neighborhoods, and everywhere else. Now, Albany needs to play its part. We are calling for a new affordable housing tax incentive; a pathway to legalize safe, existing basement and cellar apartments; incentives for office conversions; and lifting the cap on density for new construction. These measures will enable us to build more affordable homes that working-class New Yorkers urgently need.
Finally, New York City is proud to uphold our legacy as a city of immigrants. And we are proud that we have demonstrated leadership and compassion, when so many others showed only cruelty. We have helped tens of thousands file Temporary Protected Status, asylum, and work authorization applications, bringing them one step closer to living a more stable life. However, right now, there are more than 66,000 asylum seekers still in the city’s care.
When you add in the over 55,000 longtime New Yorkers in the city’s care, that means we have close to three times the number of people in our shelter system than when we came into office. While we appreciate the commitment the governor made last year to cover one-third of the city’s asylum seeker costs, this was based on the premise that the city, the state, and the federal government would split the costs three ways. We are again asking the state to increase its commitment and cover at least 50 percent of New Yorkers’ costs. Then, to meet ongoing capital needs, we are asking the state to increase the city’s debt capacity. All of these financial investments will allow us to continue to invest in cleaner streets and welcoming public spaces that benefit all New Yorkers.
Our administration looks forward to turning our agenda into a reality and working with our colleagues in Albany to improve the lives of everyday New Yorkers now, and for generations to come.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
February 16, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Getting Every Single Trash Bag Off Our Streets
New Yorkers deserve clean streets, free of smelly trash bags and rats. That’s why we are taking the next leap forward in the Trash Revolution — our initiative to reimagine trash collection and remove every single trash bag from New York City’s streets.
When we came into office two years ago, we had a mission: Protect public safety, revitalize the economy, and make this city more livable for hardworking New Yorkers.
Our Trash Revolution is a key part of this mission, giving New Yorkers the world-class sanitation services they deserve. New Yorkers shouldn’t have to hold their noses or dodge trash mountains as they walk home.
Our administration is rejecting that status quo, and is delivering for everyday New Yorkers. We are making our streets cleaner by picking up trash more efficiently and cracking down on illegal dumping across the city.
But we are just getting started. Last week, we unveiled the prototype of a new kind of garbage truck that uses a mechanical arm to empty trash from new, on-street containers, like those you might see in European or Asian cities. This will allow us to pick up New Yorkers’ trash quicker, cleaner, and smarter — and we developed this truck in a fifth of the time experts said it would take.
We also announced the next stage of containerization: a full-scale pilot in Harlem’s Community Board 9, expanding from our initial 10-block pilot. This will be the first neighborhood in the city with zero black bags sitting on the street waiting for pickup. Rat sightings in those 10 blocks fell by more than two-thirds year-over-year. That represents real progress, real fast.
The strategies we are testing in Harlem will make a huge difference in some of our biggest and densest neighborhoods, helping us tackle mountains of black bags at the source.
Since our administration came into office, we have been making history in the fight for cleaner streets. We established later set out times for trash, and we are providing the highest level of street litter basket service ever for 23,000 baskets across our city.
By this fall, every single New Yorker in all five boroughs will have access to free, pain-free weekly curbside compost collection.
We are cracking down on illegal dumping and stepping up enforcement efforts. In fact, over the past fiscal year, we issued 24 percent more violations than the year prior.
We have containerized trash for restaurants, delis, bodegas, bars, and grocery stores. And, as of March 1, 2024, all businesses in New York City will have to put out their trash in containers. By this fall, all buildings with one to nine residential units will need to containerize their trash as well.
Here in America, New York City is leading the way, as we use proven solutions that have been adopted in cities all over the world. Add it all up, and we will already have 70 percent of New York City’s black bags off our streets by this fall. This is the most significant progress toward clean streets that New Yorkers have seen in generations.
No one thought this would be possible, but we are getting it done. As a result, New York City, which used to be known for its mean streets, will now be known for our clean streets.
Rats are moving on and moving out. And our city is becoming more livable than ever for everyday New Yorkers.
Mayor Eric Adams
City Hall
February 5, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
The State of Our City: You Can Make It Here
Last week, in the Bronx, the borough where hip hop was born, I reported to New Yorkers on the state of our city.
When our administration came into office 24 months ago, we had a clear mission: protect public safety, rebuild our economy, and make this city more livable for New Yorkers.
Two years in, we are seeing real results. Crime is down, jobs are up, and every day we are delivering for the hard-working people of New York.
We took 14,000 illegal guns off our streets and drove down shootings and homicides by double digits, while getting millions of people back on our subways.
We created 270,000 private-sector jobs and set a first-of-its-kind minimum wage for deliveristas, as we worked with our brothers and sisters in labor to get them the pay and the benefits they deserve.
We unlocked billions of dollars for public housing through the NYCHA Preservation Trust, and broke affordable housing records — financing the most affordable homes in city history and connecting more New Yorkers to affordable homes than any other year.
We drove down the cost of child care for working parents, increased public school enrollment, boosted test scores, and revolutionized reading in our classrooms.
We made our streets cleaner and greener with more parks and less garbage bags and rats. And we did all of this while marshaling our entire city government to respond to the asylum seeker humanitarian crisis.
The last two years have been about resetting and renewal. Now, it is time to make the future together.
That starts with public safety. While New Yorkers welcome the future of transit, we cannot have mopeds speeding down our sidewalks or dangerous lithium-ion batteries burning down our buildings.
We are going to work with the City Council to create the “Department of Sustainable Delivery” — a first-in-the-nation entity that will regulate new forms of delivery transit and ensure the safety of drivers, delivery workers, and pedestrians.
And while we are doing everything in our power to keep our streets safe, we all know there’s a secret weapon inside our bedrooms, kitchens, and on our living room sofas. We are protecting our children from online harm by becoming the first major American city to designate social media as a public health hazard, just as past U.S. surgeons general have done with tobacco and firearms. We cannot stand by and let big tech monetize our children's privacy and jeopardize their mental health.
The future of our economy is green, and that’s why we announced the “Harbor of the Future” — our plan to create 53,000 temporary and permanent jobs, generate $95 billion in economic impact, and establish New York City as the global destination for green technology, innovation, and opportunity.
Our administration has already advanced projects from the Bronx to Brooklyn to Manhattan and Staten Island that will drive research and innovation in emerging fields. This year, we will add a new stop along the Harbor of the Future with a $100 million Climate Innovation Hub at the Brooklyn Army Terminal. This hub will bring business development, incubation, and research to Sunset Park as we invest in clean tech innovation and manufacturing.
And while we’re rebuilding our economy, we must also make sure New York remains a livable city that is cleaner, greener, and more affordable. Chief among our priorities here is to ensure that people are not priced out of their homes. That is why our administration is advancing a powerful agenda both to build more housing and keep people in the homes they already have.
This year, we will build on our past success with our ‘24 in 24’ initiative, advancing 24 housing projects on public sites to create or preserve over 12,000 units. We will also expand our Homeowner Help Desk, which provides counseling and resources to keep people in their homes, to the entire city. We are going to be a city of yes when it comes to housing: “yes” in my backyard, “yes” on my block, and “yes” in my neighborhood.
COVID taught us that people don’t just want public spaces — but that public spaces are essential. We are going to continue reimagining the urban experience for all New Yorkers, including a complete makeover of Kimlau Plaza in Chinatown. And we are going to build and refurbish four major public skate parks in the Bronx and Brooklyn.
Additionally, we must make sure that all New Yorkers can share in our city’s success. Last week, we released a more than $40 million action plan — “Women Forward NYC” — to connect more women to job opportunities, dismantle barriers to health care, reduce violence against women, and so much more.
We also announced the cancellation of over $2 billion in medical debt for up to half a million working-class New Yorkers, a life-changing policy that will keep money in New Yorkers’ pockets.
Thanks to these investments, and the dedication of our public servants and millions of hardworking people across the five boroughs, New York City will remain a place where anyone can make it. Without a doubt, the state of our city is strong. We Can Make It Here | State of the City 2024 (youtube.com).
Mayor Adams
City Hall
January 29, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Tell Governor Hochul Not to Cut Clean Water and EPF Funding
Investments in clean water infrastructure and other environmental projects are in jeopardy and we need your help. Governor Hochul’s Executive Budget for FY25 proposes cutting $500 million ($250 million per year for two years) from the Clean Water Infrastructure Act and allowing up to $25 million from the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) to be raided for agency staffing.
Tell Governor Hochul her cuts to clean water and environmental protection are unacceptable.
Cut & paste the following link to show your support - https://actions.nylcv.org/a/fund-clean-water-epf?sourceid=1014473&emci=cf7e580f-07ba-ee11-bea1-002248223848&emdi=72792899-21ba-ee11-bea1-002248223848&ceid=1384937
One of the League’s top priorities for 2024 is the allocation of at least $4 billion in clean water infrastructure funding over the next five years, with $600 million in the 2024-2025 budget to reduce the backlog of projects. But the governor’s proposed budget takes us in the wrong direction, and the impacts won’t be academic; it will mean fewer jobs and fewer protections for public health.
Similarly, allowing the EPF to be raided for agency staffing sets a dangerous precedent. It amounts to a cut for environmental protection and climate mitigation projects in the near term and all but ensures the program will be used as a bargaining chip for years to come. This is the wrong approach.
Urge Governor Hochul to fully fund the Clean Water Infrastructure Act and EPF.
Cut & paste the following link to show your support - https://actions.nylcv.org/a/fund-clean-water-epf?sourceid=1014473&emci=cf7e580f-07ba-ee11-bea1-002248223848&emdi=72792899-21ba-ee11-bea1-002248223848&ceid=1384937
We will do our part in Albany as we meet with lawmakers over the coming weeks and months to advocate for these programs to be fully funded, but it is very important that the governor hear from all of us as soon as possible that these cuts are simply unacceptable.
It may only be January, but this is a key moment in the 2024 legislative calendar and we need to make our collective voices heard on this issue now, before negotiations begin in earnest.
Thank you for joining us in this fight for clean water and environmental protection, and thank you for all you do for the environment.
TAKE ACTION
Patrick McClellan
Policy Director, NYLCV/EF
New York League of Conservation Voters
January 23, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - Bk NYC
Balancing Our City’s Budget While Delivering for Working-Class New Yorkers
Our administration came into office with a clear mission: to protect public safety, revitalize our economy, and make all five boroughs more livable for the 8.3 million people who call New York City their home. For the last two years, we have worked every day to make our vision a reality. And the recently released Fiscal Year 2025 Preliminary Budget keeps us on track.
I am proud to report that jobs are up, crime is down, tourists are back, our streets are cleaner, and our children’s test scores are better. We have accomplished all this and delivered a balanced budget for New Yorkers.
It is important for New Yorkers to understand how we achieved this balanced budget that invests in working-class families, despite a perfect storm of COVID-19 stimulus funding drying up, tax revenue growth slowing, labor contracts that went years overdue, and an ongoing national humanitarian crisis that has brought more than 170,000 asylum seekers to our city in less than two years.
Despite a record $7.1 billion gap, we were able to balance and stabilize our budget without laying off a single city worker, raising taxes, and with minimal disruption to services that New Yorkers rely on. This is the result of careful fiscal planning and management.
We made tough but necessary decisions like implementing a hiring freeze and a Program to Eliminate the Gap (PEG) savings program. These steps, along with an unexpectedly strong economy, and lowering asylum seeker costs helped balance the budget.
And to properly manage the asylum seeker crisis, we helped file over 27,000 applications for asylum, work authorization, and temporary protected status. We also helped more than 60 percent of migrants take the next steps in their journeys.
Our strong fiscal management also helped to make restorations that put dollars back towards public safety, public space, and young people. We restored funding for the April Police Academy Class, which means 600 additional officers out on our streets this fall. Additionally, we restored the fifth firefighter at 20 of the city’s engine companies because more firefighters on the job always helps.
We will maintain 23,000 litter baskets across the five boroughs, and continue to install the award-winning “Litter Basket of the Future,” so we can keep can winning the war against rats. And we will continue to fund our Parks Opportunity Program, which keeps our public spaces clean and green while helping our neighbors find job opportunities.
And to support one of our young people, our administration restored funding for 170 community schools so that students and families can continue to get the support they need, both in and out of the classroom. In addition, for the first time ever, our city will invest new funds into and entirely pay for Summer Rising, a program that impacts 110,000 children, and had originally been funded with temporary federal stimulus dollars.
Finally, libraries across all five boroughs will maintain their current level of funding so they do not have to further reduce the library programs and services that New Yorkers of all ages love.
All of these wins are possible because of our fiscal planning and discipline that keep our city safe and clean and open the doors of opportunity for everyone.
But we must continue to be cautious.
Experts expect the economy and job markets to slow this year, and asylum seekers will continue to arrive, so we must be vigilant and remain focused on making government more efficient and spending taxpayer dollars carefully. That is why we are proud that our preliminary budget includes a near-record Rainy-Day Fund of $8.2 billion.
Running a city of any size is never easy. And balancing the many competing needs of a city like New York requires us to think ahead and make the best decisions we can for today and tomorrow. Everything we do is about making this city safer and making it work better for working-class New Yorkers. That is what this budget delivers.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
January 22, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Honoring Dr. King’s Legacy by Fighting for Fair Housing
This week, we celebrate the life of one of our greatest American leaders, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This is a moment to honor his accomplishments, but it’s also an opportunity to reflect on what he fought for and to carry his legacy forward. We must find new strength to continue his work by breaking down barriers and building true equality — here in New York City, and all across this nation.
That means fighting for fair housing and building a city where working people can afford to stay and thrive. This is one of the major issues that Dr. King fought for during his lifetime and it remains urgent in 2024.
Many forget that Dr. King called out discriminatory practices by landlords and realtors who were keeping Black Americans out of certain neighborhoods. He also advocated for the Fair Housing Act to make those discriminatory practices illegal. This landmark legislation was finally passed by Congress the week after Dr. King’s assassination.
Here in New York City, we have much to be proud of about our civil rights record. But there is a dark side to our history that has yet to be reckoned with — a deep legacy of discrimination and segregation that we must dismantle in order to finally build more housing and create an equitable city.
New Yorkers are still living under zoning laws written more than 60 years ago. Many who pushed for these laws aimed to promote racial segregation. As a result of these laws, New Yorkers of color have suffered from a housing crisis for decades. Costs are too high, and too many parts of our city are “off limits” to housing opportunity. This is a direct cause of gentrification and soaring rents, and it’s driving New Yorkers away from family, community, and jobs. These outdated and unfair zoning laws must be changed, and they must be changed now.
That’s why our administration has put forward our “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity” proposal, which will promote new housing in every neighborhood. And it is why we’re calling for action in Albany this session to deliver the housing affordability New Yorkers need.
Our “City of Yes” plan delivers on the promise of the Fair Housing Act. It calls for every neighborhood to carry its fair share of the housing crisis. It will pave the way to converting unused offices into houses; help families add space for parents, children, and caregivers; and give our houses of worship the flexibility to use their property to build homes and generate income.
When we came into office two years ago, we had a mission: protect public safety, revitalize the economy, and make this city more livable for hardworking New Yorkers. Making our city more livable means building more housing for more people, especially people of color.
We delivered on that promise by creating the second-highest number of new affordable homes in one year, and the highest number of homes for formerly homeless New Yorkers. Using CityFHEPS vouchers, we have connected more New Yorkers than ever before to permanent housing, made record investments in improvements at NYCHA developments, and established the NYCHA Trust to unlock billions more for repairs.
For so many New Yorkers, this is personal. I know what feels like to live without the security of housing. I grew up on the edge of homelessness. My siblings and I had to take trash bags full of clothes to school because we didn’t know where we would sleep the next night. That’s no way to live. You cannot plan for the future if you are worried about today.
We cannot say "no" to our neighbors and our fellow New Yorkers. We must be a “City of Yes”: “yes” in my backyard, “yes” on my block, “yes” in my city. We must say “yes” to housing opportunity, and we must continue Dr. King’s legacy through action, not just words.
Together, we can build a fairer, more equitable New York City.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
January 16, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Alternative View of City of Yes by MTOPP a Brooklyn Community Non-Profit
MTOPP is doing a series on the Mayor Adams's City of Yes, "COY" Business/Economic Text Amendments, that will change where, how and what types of businesses will be allowed to exist in the City.
The Business Text Amendments are currently being reviewed by all 59 Community Boards who have up until December 30th 2023, to comment on them, with the City stating they will continue to accept these comments until the New York City Planning Commission votes on these amendments in early February!
After reviewing almost 700 pages of these amendments we found at least 10 major changes that have a serious impact upon the community, and its residents. [Editor's Note - the following points are all separate blog pieces on their website - for details see url below].
- Allowing Commercial Businesses into all Residential Areas.
- Allowing “Small Businesses” to exist in people’s apartments and homes.
- Eliminating restrictive business within Residential buildings.
- Allowing manufacturing businesses to exist in commercial and residential zones.
- Allowing all businesses to exist in all commercial zones.
- Allowing businesses to exists on residential floors and on rooftops.
- Allowing cabaret/dancing to exist on all commercial zones. and New Text Amendment: Casinos!!!
- The Scariest Changes!
- Q & A on COY
- Removal of Environmental Reviews for Developers. (New Text Amendment, just given to the Community Boards on December 15, 2023]
Alicia Boyd
MTOPP [Movement to Protect the People]
Brooklyn, NY
January 4, 2024
For further reading on City of Yes Text Amendments, see MTOPP blog
https://mtopp.org/index.php/2024/01/02/mtopp-answers-questions-on-the-city-of-yes/
MTOPP has an entire section dedicated to the City of Yes
https://mtopp.org/index.php/category/city-of-yes-text-amendments/
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Key Considerations Ahead of New York State's Fiscal Year 2025 Executive Budget
Budget Growth
- The total budget for fiscal year 2024 is $229 billion, including $123.8 billion in state funds — reflecting no growth in state spending over fiscal year 2023's $123.8 billion in state funds, or a
3% decrease after adjusting for inflation.
- Despite spending growth during the Covid pandemic, the State budget has shrunk by nearly 10% in relation to the state economy as a whole over the last 15 years due to a decade of constrained spending (as measured in relation to personal income, the state’s most important tax base).
Budget Gaps
- Future year budget gaps are routinely projected and often disappear.
- Because of conservative forecasting, in typical years, enacted budget financial plan gaps projected for the first outyear are generally 2 – 6% of general fund spending.
- The current $4.3 billion budget gap for fiscal year 2025 is within the routine range and will likely resolve without significant policy intervention.
- Routine gaps like the current FY25 gap (4.1% of general fund spending) typically reflect conservative revenue projections rather than a significant revenue shortfall.
- Budget gaps of this size have historically resolved without significant policy intervention.
- Expiring tax rates will drive a larger budget gap in fiscal year 2028.
- The fiscal year 2028 budget gap will reflect approximately $2.4 billion lost from the expiration of the top Personal Income Tax and Corporate Tax rates.
- The State can ensure future fiscal stability by making these tax rates permanent.
Economic Outlook
- New York’s economy continues its recovery from the Covid recession; however, inequality and poverty continue to rise.
- Stable tax receipts recently drove a 50% reduction of the projected budget gap for fiscal year 2025.
- The poverty rate rose to 14% in the last three years.
- The average income of the top 1% of earners in New York State is approximately $2.6 million in annual earnings, compared to just over $49,000 for the bottom 90%.
Expenditures
- The State remains on a trajectory of modest overall spending growth.
- State spending in fiscal year 2024 is $123.8 billion — on par with the level it would have been had Covid not occurred and had the budget continued to grow at an inflation-adjusted rate of 0.8% per year.
Revenue
- While fiscal year 2024 revenues will likely fall below fiscal year 2023 levels, this decline does not reflect an economic downturn, but rather a step down from last year’s capital gains-driven, above-trend revenue.
- State revenue has returned to an ordinary level of growth after a period of Covid-era surpluses.
Population Loss
- New York’s population loss poses a long-term economic challenge.
- New York’s population fell by 102,000 residents over the last year. Since 2020, the population has fallen by 533,200, or 2.7%.
- Working- and middle-class New Yorkers are leading the State’s population loss — reflecting the growing affordability crisis.
- Working- and middle-class New Yorkers are leaving the state at 4x the rate of wealthy New Yorkers.
The Fiscal Policy Institute
New York, NY
January 16, 2024
https://fiscalpolicy.org
The Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI) is an independent, nonpartisan think tank.
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Statement from Tri-State Transportation Campaign Executive Director on Governor Hochul’s FY2025 Proposed Executive Budget
In response to today’s Executive budget announcement presented by Governor Hochul, Tri-State Transportation Campaign’s Executive Director Renae Reynolds said:
“The Tri-State Transportation Campaign applauds Governor Hochul’s proposed FY25 Executive Budget for its substantial investment in public transit. This funding is a major win for our region's mobility and environment. However, the budget's commitment to highway expansion projects across the state, like Route 17 in Sullivan and Orange Counties and the Kensington Expressway in Buffalo, is a step backward. More highways mean more cars, more pollution, and more traffic - undoing the good work of our transit investment.
“We urge Governor Hochul to rethink this strategy. Our future depends on sustainable transportation and mobility options, not in paving the way for more cars. Let's invest in solutions that match the urgency of our climate crisis and the needs of our communities. It's time to prioritize transit, not traffic.”
Tri-State Transportation Campaign
New York, NY
January 16, 2024
https://tstc.org
Tri-State Transportation Campaign is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting sustainable transportation
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
The Safest Big City in America
Since day one, our administration has been clear about our vision for the five boroughs — creating a city that is safer, more economically viable, and more livable for the 8.3 million hardworking New Yorkers who call the greatest city in the world home. I always say that “public safety is the prerequisite to prosperity.” That’s why, since coming into office 24 months ago, we’ve been dedicated to making sure New Yorkers are safer and feel safer.
Two years later, the results are in. Crime has gone down across the city and jobs have gone up. We have recovered all of the nearly 1 million private sector jobs we lost during the pandemic, and New York remains the economic engine of this nation.
When we came into office in January 2022, the city was emerging from the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and, in just one week, an 11-month-old baby was shot in the head, police officers were shot night after night, and NYPD Detectives Rivera and Mora were both murdered. The memory of that week will remain with me always.
But, as of December 31, 2023, it’s official: overall crime was down in 2023. Both murders and shootings were down double digits once again in 2023, with murders down 12 percent, and shooting incidents down 25 percent — the highest decrease in shooting incidents in our city since 1995.
These decreases build off of reductions that had already begun under our administration in 2022. And I want to be clear: these aren’t just numbers — these are lives saved, families kept together, and neighborhoods and communities spared from tragedy and trauma.
Shootings were also down in all five boroughs — all across our city — in 2023 as compared to 2022. This means our model of precision policing and our 360-degree approach to tackling crime have been working. Our administration continues to support our officers and find upstream solutions to uplift the most vulnerable in all our communities.
Additionally, transit crime declined in 2023, and we have made almost 2,000 arrests related to auto theft — the highest number in 20 years. And in the last two years, we removed more than 13,500 illegal guns from our streets.
We know that traffic violence is also violence, and so we cracked down on illegal scooters and mopeds, seizing more than 12,500 illegal mopeds and scooters in 2023 — this was a 74 percent increase over 2022, and the highest number of mopeds and scooters confiscated in New York City history.
All these measures taken together, along with our efforts to continue the fight against illegal and “ghost” guns, have laid the foundation for our economic recovery. And, in just two years, more than 285,000 jobs have been created under our administration.
Thanks to the hard work of NYPD Commissioner Caban, the brave men and women of the NYPD, Deputy Mayor Banks and his public safety team, and the other commissioners and agencies that have worked hand-in-hand on our public safety efforts, New York City remains the safest big city in this country.
And we are going to make sure it remains that way by working hard for New Yorkers each and every day of 2024, and in the years to come.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
January 8, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Keeping Nightlife Safe in New York City
New York City is the city that never sleeps. We are a 24-hour city that is the nightlife capital of the world. And we remain the safest big city in America. When I came into office two years ago, we had a mission: Protect public safety, revitalize the economy, and make this city more livable for hardworking New Yorkers.
Our bars, restaurants, music venues, and nightclubs employ workers across the city and are home to every level of our live performance industry. But across the five boroughs, local residents often deal with noise, trash, and crime from nightlife. Complaints can lead to unannounced inspections that shutter nightlife businesses, sometimes permanently.
Just because our nightlife establishments throw a great party, residents and businesses should not be stuck with a hangover the next day. We want to protect public safety, while keeping our nightlife businesses open.
So, last week, I joined the owners of the nightlife venue, Paragon in Brooklyn, to announce a new public safety program to keep our nightlife venues safe. CURE, or Coordinating a United Resolution with Establishments, brings together the NYPD, Small Business Services, and the Office of Nightlife to improve public safety responses to nightlife establishments and better engage business owners by focusing on compliance and education, not punitive enforcement.
Previously, nightlife establishments had faced unannounced, late night, multi-agency inspections, through a program created in the 90s called MARCH. We heard directly from the nightlife industry that this program wasn’t working. We listened to our business owners and residents, and together with multiple agencies, we went work to make sure we were improving safety while keeping nightlife venues open.
CURE creates direct lines of communication between the Office of Nightlife and local establishments and gives businesses a chance to correct issues before enforcement takes place. No more demonizing nightlife in our city. When a noise complaint or trash complaint about a venue comes in, we will work with businesses to resolve the issues, so residents can have peace of mind and quiet and businesses can keep their doors open. CURE is how we protect public safety, cut red tape, ensure better quality of life, and keep business doors open.
And it is all part of our efforts to drive down crime while supporting our local economy and making our city more livable. This year, jobs are up, and crime is down, our streets are cleaner, and we remain the safest big city in America.
We are going to continue to roll out programs that make living in this city easier for residents and business owners — programs that make our neighborhoods quieter, keep our streets clean, support small businesses, and reduce crime. And we are creating a better-quality of life for everyone who lives, rests, and plays in our city.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
January 2, 2024
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
NYCHA Residents Make History
Access to safe and affordable housing is one of the keys to prosperity. I understand that just as much as anyone else. As a child, I grew up on the edge of homelessness. There were days when I had to take a trash bag full of clothes to school because we didn’t know where we would sleep the next night. No child should have to feel the angst or worry my siblings and I felt when we were younger. You cannot plan for the future if you are worried about the present, and that’s why our administration has acted urgently to tackle the housing crisis across our city, especially for New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) residents.
One in 17 New Yorkers live in NYCHA, our city’s public housing system. It is a critical piece of our city’s infrastructure, and we cannot solve our housing shortage without also fixing the problems that NYCHA faces. But for too long, NYCHA residents have been left out of the conversation and have not had a say in the future of their own homes. That is changing under this administration.
Our administration was the first to include NYCHA in our housing plan, recognizing that the federal government had abandoned its responsibility to adequately fund our public housing system, leaving residents living in unacceptable and dangerous conditions in crumbling buildings that need $80 billion in repairs. We knew the status quo could not continue. That is why we fought to create the NYCHA Trust, a once-in-a-generation opportunity to give residents control over their futures while simultaneously unlocking billions for repairs by tapping new federal funding streams.
Under the Trust, a development is kept 100 percent public while ensuring residents always maintain their rights — including permanently affordable rent. Another choice is the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together (PACT) program, which similarly ensures that residents maintain their rights and permanently affordable rent, but unlocks funding for third-party PACT partners to complete comprehensive repairs.
Last month, the residents of NYCHA’s Nostrand Houses became the first development to vote on how they will fund much-needed renovations and repairs. After 100 days of public engagement, in which residents at Nostrand Houses learned about their options, they exercised the historic opportunity to decide what was right for them: enter the Trust, enter the PACT program, or maintain the traditional public housing financing model.
Their decision, and the decisions of other NYCHA residents to come, will shape the future of public housing in New York City for decades to come. NYCHA residents are now making their voices heard and making their own choices. That is how good government should work — and this is just the beginning. Next up is the Bronx River Addition, which has dealt with several severe infrastructure issues in recent years that caused tenants to be relocated in one of its two buildings. And in the coming weeks and months, other NYCHA campuses will vote as well.
As a blue-collar New Yorker, I know what it takes to survive and thrive in this city. Safe and affordable housing is the cornerstone to the American Dream. By fixing NYCHA housing and putting decisions into residents’ hands, we are on track to turn that dream into a reality.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
December 4, 2023
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - BK NYC
Alternative Views - NYCHA Residents Making History
NYCHA property is worth billions. Up until now, NYCHA was not encumbered with legal deals, restrictive financing, and it has been owned, free and clear, by the people of NYC, NYS and the USA. It appears that this is changing - all too quickly - and the corporate broadcast media has turned a nearly completely blind eye to this, as they seem to do on so many issues of the day.
Click the following links to learn more about the NYCHA / PACT program from another point of view by Human Rights Watch. The first report is headlined 'The Tenant Never Wins / Private Takeover of Public Housing'. The second is headlined the Risky Fix of NY Housing Woes.
Brooklyn BLVD Editor
December 4, 2023
Brooklyn OpEds & Opinions - BK NYC
Uber Riders Must Pay Their Fair Share Under Congestion Pricing
The Federal Highway Administration recently signed off on New York City’s first-inthe-nation congestion pricing plan, which means that, with few exceptions, every car and truck entering Manhattan’s Central Business District will be charged a toll. To secure FHWA approval, New York had to add a robust package of measures specifically designed to protect the health and livelihoods of New York’s minority and immigrant communities.
Unfortunately, one element of this package misses the mark: Companies like Uber and Lyft will only have to pay the toll to enter the congestion zone once a day. Uber has made it clear that it intends to spend millions in a campaign to protect this loophole and they will claim concern for the well-being of the drivers, but their goal is to maximize market share and enrich their shareholders, all while continuing to clog our streets and pollute our air.
We have both spent years advocating for congestion pricing and are eager to see it up and running. But if New York is serious about curbing traffic congestion, we must address the excessive use of ride-hail companies. In 2022, over 52 million for-hire vehicle rides started and ended in Manhattan below 60th Street, most of them Uber or Lyft, despite that same area being served by 19 subway lines.
An Uber trip from Tribeca to Midtown is a luxury and should be treated as such. The once-per-day toll on for-hire vehicles will do nothing to reduce traffic and will invariably be charged to the working-class drivers the FHWA and MTA are trying to protect, instead of their more well-off passengers.
The solution is to replace the once-per-day toll with a significant increase to the current $2.75 surcharge on every for-hire trip that begins in or enters Manhattan below 96th street, with the surcharge paid by the passenger, not the driver.
For trips entering the zone the increased surcharge should be half of the peak toll and somewhat more than this for trips that begin and end in the zone, with discounts for both at night.
Yellow cabs should be exempt from the new increase; cab drivers paid as much as $1 million each to the city to obtain medallions, but the value of those once coveted medallions was destroyed by the city's failure to properly manage and regulate the introduction of Uber and Lyft to city streets.
Concerns about worker dislocation should be taken with utmost seriousness during the shift to new policies and technologies, but we should not accept the argument that polluting industries and practices be protected for the sake of preserving jobs and profits. If congestion pricing works and demand for for-hire rides softens, we could, for example, create a fast track for former Uber and Lyft drivers to work for the MTA.
Done right, New York’s congestion pricing program will markedly reduce traffic, improve air quality and street safety, modernize mass transit, and create an overall healthier and more livable city. But to do so in a way that is truly equitable, for-hire companies and their customers must pay their fair share. Only then can we claim to be a model program other U.S. cities should follow.
June 7, 2023
Assemblymember Robert Carroll
Alex Matthiessen
Assemblymember Robert Carroll (D-WF) represents Brooklyn’s 44th Assembly District, which includes the neighborhoods of Prospect Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Kensington, Victorian Flatbush, Borough Park, Ditmas Park, and Midwood
Alex Matthiessen founded Move NY, a campaign which led to the passage of congestion pricing in 2019.
Editor's Note. Click here to view a fairly good deep dive we did a few years ago, regarding the issue of Congestion Pricing in NYC. The gist is we're not fans, it favors the rich and penalizes everyone else, and doesn't solve the problem, which would be to build more / better infrastructure that enables folks to get around using public transit.
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - Brooklyn NYC
Making Outdoor Dining Permanent
Summer weather is here, and there is no better time to be on the streets of New York—especially at our city’s bustling outdoor restaurants.
At the height of the pandemic, our temporary outdoor dining program served millions of New Yorkers and saved 100,000 jobs. It allowed cooks, waiters, busboys, and all those who depend on the restaurant industry to get back to work – and New Yorkers to get back to socializing safely after being cooped up indoors.
Outdoor dining transformed our cityscape for the better, making our sidewalks and neighborhoods livelier and more welcoming and helping our small businesses thrive. While it may have been an improvised solution at first, outdoor dining helped us reimagine how we use our public spaces, and quickly became a beloved feature of New York City life.
But outdoor dining brought challenges too. Abandoned and poorly maintained sheds became a haven for rats and an eyesore for residents. We’ve removed more than 300 of these problem sheds from our neighborhoods.
And now, our new permanent outdoor dining program will build on what we learned during the pandemic and in subsequent years, and make outdoor dining more streamlined, sanitary and sustainable. It will provide clear design guidelines that will help keep our streets clean and rat-free while giving restaurant owners the opportunity to exercise their creativity. It will significantly expand sidewalk dining from an option that was available almost exclusively in Manhattan to become a year-round feature in all five boroughs. Now, all New Yorkers will be able to enjoy the many benefits of outdoor dining. This equitable and inclusive approach will continue to bring vibrancy to our diverse neighborhoods and help our city’s economic recovery.
The new program will also make street dining possible for eight months out of the year. This will allow the city to clean and repair streets in the offseason, and ensure that unused structures are not left up indefinitely. This new vision for outdoor dining addresses many different needs: it will deliver outdoor space for restaurants, clean streets, and a high quality of life in our communities.
Finally, our new program will make life easier for all the small restaurant owners who are pillars of our communities. There will be one process for all outdoor dining, housed under one city agency. From the Upper West Side to Far Rockaway, we want to partner with restaurants, not penalize them.
I’d like to thank Councilmember Marjorie Velasquez and the many others who have worked tirelessly to bring New York City a permanent outdoor dining program that helps communities thrive and creates quality jobs for hardworking New Yorkers.
Our new permanent outdoor dining program allows us to expand the opportunities that were created during the pandemic and continues to build the New York City of tomorrow.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
June 6, 2023
Brooklyn Op Eds & Opinions - Brooklyn NYC
Summer in New York City: Let’s Get Outside
The flowers are blooming, the weather is warming up, and it’s starting to feel a lot like summer in New York City. It’s a great time to get outside, go for a run or walk, or just breathe in the fresh air. Summer also means that I get to do my favorite thing as Mayor: get on a Citi Bike and enjoy the outdoors with my fellow New Yorkers.
This year, we are making improvements to your experience in your neighborhood and across the five boroughs. This summer alone, 72 of our parks are getting improvements: from renovated playgrounds to new skate parks, and cleaner spaces for everyone. We will have 240 new city employees dedicated to cleaning parks, removing graffiti, and helping to take out trash at our city’s most popular parks during peak use hours. That means no more overflowing garbage cans — and no more rats. I hate them, you hate them, and as we welcome New Yorkers to our parks this summer, we are going to send rats packing.
For parents and families, we are hosting over 300 Movies Under the Stars screenings in parks in all five boroughs. Grab your popcorn and curl up on a blanket with family and friends to take in classic films and popular movies on the big screen, all for free.
We are investing in more activities at our parks and playgrounds. That includes Kids in Motion, which is hosting New York City children at 50 playgrounds across the city to get in shape and have fun. We will also have free classes for children to learn about nature and their environment. To find out more about programming in a park near you, visit https://www.nycgovparks.org/.
And if you prefer indoor activity, we are expanding the hours at nine of our city’s recreation centers. That means more opportunities for New Yorkers to play sports, swim, dance, and lift weights at recreation centers on nights and weekends.
We are also opening up streets across the city as part of our Open Streets program. You can step right outside your door to enjoy food, games, music, and more with friends and neighbors. This summer, Open Streets is expanding to 160 locations across the city. We also added over 400,000 square feet of permanent new pedestrian space in 2022, including six new pedestrian plazas. Street space is for everybody, and with Open Streets and new pedestrian spaces, it has never been safer or easier to enjoy your neighborhood.
This is the time to take advantage of all New York City has to offer. From live concerts to food festivals, outdoor markets, and Broadway performances, there is something for everyone. Check out https://www.nycgo.com/things-to-do/ to find events. I look forward to seeing you out there.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
May 26, 2023
Brooklyn OpEds & Opinions - Brooklyn NYC
The People’s Money—Your Money to Improve Your Community
Have you ever looked around your neighborhood and thought—it would be great if we could have a community garden here, or maybe more afterschool programs for students, or special services for seniors? Now, you can bring those ideas to life. “The People’s Money” is the first ever citywide participatory budgeting process run by our Civic Engagement Commission (CEC), and from today until June 25th, all New York City residents ages 11 and older - regardless of immigration status - can vote on how to spend $5 million dollars of our city’s budget. To do so, go to our website: on.nyc.gov/pb and vote on projects that your fellow New Yorkers have proposed.
You can vote on projects for your borough, and the residents of 33 equity neighborhoods can vote on one additional project that will be funded in their neighborhood. The projects have been carefully selected from hundreds of proposals that were brainstormed by New Yorkers in workshops across all five boroughs earlier this year. In fact, the CEC facilitated 523 Idea Generation sessions across the city in which 12,344 New Yorkers participated. If you have ideas that you would like to suggest, please consider participating in this phase of the process next year.
Participatory budgeting gives you a direct say in the future of your community. You decide how our money is spent. Participatory Budgeting strengthens our democracy and deepens civic engagement. I championed the program as Brooklyn Borough President, and as mayor, I have made it even bigger, giving New Yorkers more money to invest directly in their communities.
Some of this year’s proposals include: a youth multicultural arts program in Manhattan; workplace skills training for adults with autism in the Bronx; an intergenerational mentoring program in Brooklyn; a young entrepreneurs program in Queens; and a women and young girls health center on Staten Island.
Proposals in the equity neighborhoods include: teaching Bed-Stuy history in Bedford Stuyvesant; coding 101 for BIPOC youth in Fordham Heights and University Heights; food access support on the Lower East Side and in Chinatown; multilingual job fairs in Corona; and outreach to unhoused people with disabilities in St. George, Stapleton, Port Richmond and Tompkinsville.
Most projects can be implemented in a year. So you don’t have to wait endlessly to see the results. The winners will be announced by July and the CEC will work closely with the organizations to make sure that all projects are completed successfully.
You may have voted on Participatory Budgeting projects through your City Council Member, but “The People’s Money” is the first citywide process, and it uses mayoral funds.
Don’t miss this opportunity to vote on how to spend $5 million of your money.
Visit https://cecpb.decision21.org/the-peoples-money-2023 and vote today.
Mayor Adams
City Hall
May 22, 2023
Brooklyn OpEds & Opinions Brooklyn NYC
A Historic Shift in How We Teach Our Children To Read
New York City has the largest public school system in the nation, and we are proud of our dedicated teachers and administrators who do so much to educate our talented students from so many different backgrounds and countries. We want to set up our students for success, and teaching them to read confidently is crucial to our efforts.
That is why we are making a historic shift in our curriculum, and launching NYC Reads, a program based on proven science-of-reading techniques. We will teach our students skills that they can fall back on to decode words when the level becomes difficult, and we will train our teachers so they can provide instruction effectively.
When our young people don’t learn to read properly they are more likely to struggle, and they can fall into a cycle of poverty and even incarceration. A staggering 40% of our jail population cannot read properly, and 80% don't have a high school diploma or equivalency diploma.
The inability to read is not our students’ fault nor our teachers’ fault. It doesn’t mean that a teacher isn’t doing her job well or that a child is lazy or lacking in ability. We have been using the wrong methods to teach our children, and now we are shifting course so we can give our young people a chance at a better future.
NYC Reads is personal for me. Even now, when I enter a classroom as mayor, I’m reminded of my life as a child walking into class, hoping and praying that the teacher didn’t call on me to read. I had dyslexia but it wasn’t diagnosed—and every day I was laughed at and humiliated. I was told that I was dumb. Now, in addition to making sure that all our students are screened for dyslexia, we will be teaching them reading and mathematics through a proven, scientific, and methodical approach—so that they don’t have to suffer the way I did.
As we switch to NYC Reads, we are asking our parents and community leaders to step up as well. Attend an Open House at your child’s school, where you can learn about NYC Reads and ask questions. Ask your children or the children in your care what they are reading about. Can they tell you about the stories they are reading? And if possible, spend some time reading with them, or let your children see you reading as well!
A child’s best day should not be the day their teacher doesn’t call on them. Their best day should be when their teacher does call on them, and they can stand up and read. NYC Reads will make that possible.
Learn more about NYC Reads at: https://www.schools.nyc.gov/learning/subjects/literacy
Mayor Adams
City Hall
May 15, 2023
Brooklyn OpEds & Opinions Brooklyn NYC
Amnesty for Unpaid Water Bills
Water is a precious resource, and New York City has some of the best municipal drinking water on the planet. Our water comes from reservoirs in the Catskills and beyond, and travels hundreds of miles to reach our taps. New Yorkers pay just one cent per gallon for our exceptional drinking water. And we use that money to maintain and improve the critical infrastructure that keeps our water flowing and keeps New Yorkers hydrated and healthy.
However, we know that some New Yorkers have trouble paying their water bills, so we are extending our Water Bill Amnesty program to May 31st. If you pay the principal of your water bill in FULL, all of the interest will be forgiven. That is correct: you won’t have to pay any interest. If you are not able to pay in full, we will help you set up a payment plan, and depending on the amount that is paid, a portion of the interest may be forgiven.
You can find out more by calling (718) 595-7890 or you can visit the Department of Environmental Protection’s water amnesty website: nyc.gov/dep/amnesty.
We want to work with you. We helped the residents of the Shorehaven affordable housing community in the Bronx save $400,000 on their unpaid water bills. This will allow the community to invest in other important upgrades.
We are constantly looking for ways to make your life easier and more affordable, and the Water Bill Amnesty program is part of our working people’s agenda. It was launched in January and has brought in $80 million from overdue accounts so far, and allowed New Yorkers to save more than $12 million in interest.
At the same time, we’re not going to look the other way while millionaires and billionaires who can afford to pay their water bills choose not to – and drive up your water rates as a result. Last week, five properties – all valued above $4 million, and all with unpaid water debt above $100,000 – were informed that if they didn’t pay within two weeks, we’d shut off their water. And already, four have paid or entered into payment plans.
But we don’t want to shut off anyone’s water, so we encourage all New Yorkers with unpaid water bills to check in with the Department of Environmental Protection and find out what their options are. By paying our water bills, we keep costs low and our wonderful water flowing for everyone.
Please take advantage of the extension of the Water Bill Amnesty and pay any unpaid bills. Remember: you have until the end of this month, May 31st to sign up.
Mayor Eric Adams
City Hall
May 8, 2023
Brooklyn OpEds & Opinions - BK NYC
Elected Officials, Community Board 1, and Community Advocates Oppose State Decision to Proceed with Development at 5 World Trade Center without Securing Greater Affordability
State Senator Brian Kavanagh, Congressman Dan Goldman, Assembly Member Charles Fall, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, Council Member Christopher Marte, Manhattan Community Board 1 -- all of whom represent the site of 5 World Trade Center -- and the Coalition for a 100% Affordable 5 World Trade Center today voiced unanimous opposition to the announcement by the Empire State Development (ESD), the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey that they will proceed with public approvals for the proposed residential development of the site without securing the additional resources necessary to increase affordability at the site.
The agencies originally proposed developing a building with 1,200 apartments, 300 of which would be affordable and 900 of which would be luxury market-rate housing. Having identified no new funding source that they would dedicate to affordability at the project, they now propose either to proceed with the original proposal or with an alternative that would include 360 income-restricted units, but with much fewer units affordable to lower-income residents.
Over the course of the past two years, elected officials, the Community Board, and community advocates have engaged in numerous discussions with the agencies and urged them to find a path to providing more affordability in the proposed building, which is located in a community that has lost affordable housing at a particularly high rate for decades. All the elected officials, the Board, and the Coalition have consistently emphasized that additional affordability, with clearly identified sources of funding to support it, is a prerequisite to their support for the project. The decision by the agencies to unilaterally proceed to seek formal public approvals at this time comes as a surprise to those who have been involved in these discussions on behalf of the community and undermines the basis for those discussions.
“It is completely unacceptable that these agencies are attempting to move forward with a public approvals timeline without coming to an agreement on how to maximize affordability at the site,” said State Senator Brian Kavanagh. “It is reasonable to expect that public agencies that control a major development site in a community where affordable housing is so scarce would work to provide significantly greater levels of affordability than we might expect from the sorts of deals that have typically been done on private development sites. I am disappointed that these agencies are now rejecting that premise, and I strongly urge them to reconsider.”
“The current housing crisis in New York City already leaves far too many households unable to pay rent and places huge financial strain on the most vulnerable families,” said Congressman Dan Goldman. “Access to affordable housing is a lifeline, and is sorely needed in the area surrounding the 9/11 site. The lower Manhattan community, including 9/11 survivors and elected officials, have repeatedly stressed the need for maximizing affordability at 5WTC. It is imperative that this project not move forward until there are significant steps to achieving that goal.”
“While 5 World Trade Center is primarily designed to be built as a residential tower, the surrounding community has made its voices heard in making sure there are affordable units. Ensuring real affordable housing for 5 World Trade Center gives us the unique opportunity to give back to the 9/11 responders, survivors and their families who have sacrificed so much. I stand with my colleagues in government and community partners to strongly oppose any agreement that doesn't prioritize actualaffordability for 5 World Trade Center,” said Assembly Member Charles Fall.
"With 5 World Trade, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to provide a significant amount of affordable apartments in Lower Manhattan," said Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine. "While I recognize that this project must move forward, I also believe that we cannot undermine this opportunity by imposing a one-year timeframe to maximize affordability. ESD and the development team must hold off on approvals and work with stakeholders to find the funding that will maximize the number of affordable homes in this project. In doing so, they will win the support necessary to have a successful development.”
"It is unacceptable that ESD would seek approvals for 5 World Trade Center when the unanimous call for more affordability on site has not been addressed. There is no reason to move forward now while the State has failed to answer our call to find necessary funds for this essential project. We are not asking for the potential for more affordability, but for a serious commitment from ESD to find the financing we need before entering any approval processes. I am confident that a combination of state and city tools can result in significantly more affordable units at lower income brackets, and I will continue to support the community in their call for a truly affordable 5 World Trade,” said Council Member Christopher Marte.
“CB 1 doesn’t take rain checks for affordable housing,” said Tammy Meltzer, Chairperson of Manhattan Community Board 1. “Punting the conversation to some uncertain date, while moving forward on all the other approvals is tantamount to ESD shrugging its shoulders. We are not ready to give up and we ask the State to match our willingness to find a solution before proceeding.”
“The Coalition for 100% Affordable 5WTC is appalled that the LMDC would put forth a plan that ignores the community's needs. This community has fought for over two decades to build fully, deeply affordable housing that would promote diversity and give 9/11 survivors & first responders a home in the neighborhood they helped rebuild. The proposed plan is unacceptable both in quantity of affordable units as well as the level of affordability. And it is unacceptable that the public agencies effectively wash their hands of any responsibility for the search for and provision of funding for this desperately needed affordable housing,” said The Coalition for a 100% Affordable 5WTC.
May 4, 2023
Brian Kavanagh
NYS Senator
27th Senate District in Manhattan
Brooklyn OpEds & Opinions NYC
NYC Executive Budget
Last week, the Adams Administration released our Fiscal Year 2024 Executive Budget. As President Joe Biden has often said: “Show me yourbudget and I will show you your values.” That is why this budget invests in our Working People’s Agenda, prioritizing education, jobs, housing, health care, and public safety.
As Mayor, I'm committed to protecting the safety and wellbeing of our people. But the challenges we face are real. It is no secret that our city is still recovering from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as spending over millions on the ongoing asylum seeker crisis. These are unavoidable realities that have made a massive dent in our city’s resources.
The good news is that we were able to balance this year's budget with better than expected revenues and efficient budgeting. We were able to create $1.6 billion in savings across the two fiscal years – without layoffs or service cuts. This $ 106.7 billion executive budget preserves essential services and continues to improve the lives of everyday New Yorkers.
Almost 60 percent of this budget, $62.5 billion in total, goes to education, healthcare, and social services. It provides money for schools that lost enrollment, as well as funding childcare, summer youth employment, and affordable housing. From expanding education to increasing our sustainability to investing in our infrastructure, this budget delivers on the essentials. And we did not cut a single penny from our libraries or cultural institutions.
This budget continues our efforts to put money back into the hands of working people. We will continue to support programs that help people claim all available benefits, including the Earning Income Tax Credit, cash assistance, SNAP, and more. We are bringing more attorneys on board to make sure that our neighbors who rely on government-funded housing vouchers can utilize them without being discriminated against by landlords.
We're expanding broadband in NYCHA developments so that New Yorkers at every income level can access the high-speed internet that is indispensable to so many aspects of daily life, from work to education to telemedicine. And we are adding online portals for childcare, workforce, and business services to our MyCity platform, making it easier for all New Yorkers to access city service they need.
New Yorkers are rightfully concerned about ensuring that education is strong and fully funded, and our Administration supports this vision. We’re investing in job training and apprentices and continuing education, including Supporting the City University of New York’s (CUNY) Inclusive Economy Initiative programs, which provide internships, mentoring, and job opportunities for students. We are also funding and expanding the CUNY Reconnect program, which helps students who left CUNY because of extenuating circumstances return and earn their degrees.
We are also investing more than half-a-billion dollars to redevelop the CUNY Brookdale Campus and create a world-class science park and research center.
This will generate billions of dollars in economic impact, lead to thousands of good jobs, and confirm New York City’s role as a global leader in public health and life sciences.
We’re investing in the Medgar Evers College Brooklyn Recovery Corps, which connects 200 students a year with nonprofits and small businesses in Brooklyn to work on projects that spur economic recovery and growth. And we are supporting the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities’ plan to promote workforce development for people living with disabilities.
This budget also strengthens our mental health resources by continuing the expansion of the Behavioral Health Emergency
Assistance Response Division (B-HEARD) program, supporting mental health services for high school students and children in family shelters, and increasing the capacity of the clubhouses that provide peer-led mental health support.
Paying our workforce a fair wage is one of our priorities. It puts more money in the pockets of working families and helps us recruit and retain top talent. Earlier this year, we settled long-expired labor contracts with DC 37 and the Police Benevolent Association. These contracts set the pattern for wage increases across the city.
We are proud that our Administration is supporting working families, creating providing access to good jobs, and improving public safety. This budget supports all those goals and more – ensuring that we can continue to Get Stuff Done for New Yorkers now and in the years to come.
Mayor Eric Adams
City Hall
May 1, 2023
Brooklyn OpEds & Opinions NYC
Gov. Hochul Shifts Focus Away from Education Equity to Push for Zombie Charters
Expansion of Privately Run Charter Schools Comes at an Historic Moment for Equity in NY Public Schools
In response to Governor Hochul’s announcement that a conceptual agreement has been reached on the 2023-24 New York State enacted budget, the public education advocacy organization Alliance for Quality Education released the following statement:
“Thirty years after the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit was filed and 15 years after the Foundation Aid formula was enacted, the New York State enacted budget will fully fund public schools, for the first time in its history. The completion of this historic investment brings public schools to the level of funding they have needed for decades, and will be particularly transformative for children in the predominantly Black, brown and low-income schools that have been shortchanged for so many years,” said Jasmine Gripper, Executive Director, Alliance for Quality Education.
“It is unfortunate that, at this historic moment of opportunity for public education in our state, Governor Hochul was more concerned in doing the bidding of her billionaire donors than what is in the best interest of children.
“The Governor's initial proposal, which in addition to reauthorizing “zombie” charters, was extreme and would have created chaos and destabilized all New York’s education system, including both public and privately run charter schools. With the decline of school age children, pushing to open more schools with not enough students to attend them would have set everyone up for failure.
“As it is, the reauthorization of “zombie” charters will cost New York City’s public school system tens of millions a year going forward. Had Governor Hochul gotten her way in this budget deal, it would have caused even greater chaos in all New York’s public schools. We owe great thanks to Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, who over these past weeks and months of negotiations have championed New York’s children, and fought hard to limit the most harmful impact of the Governor’s efforts to expand charter schools.
“This year’s fight over charters was never about what’s best for the people of New York, and it should never have been part of budget negotiations to begin with. New York’s children and families deserve better than being reduced to a political bargaining chip.
“We applaud the Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and the Assembly Speaker for pushing back against the Governor's proposal and fighting on behalf of the children of New York State. We look forward to celebrating the CFE victory and continuing to progress toward equity for all New York’s students.”
Jasmine Gripper
Executive Director
Alliance for Quality Education
April 27, 2023
Brooklyn OpEds & Opinions Brooklyn NYC
PlaNYC: Getting Sustainability Done
Last week, New York City celebrated Earth Week by powering up new rooftop solar panels in Brooklyn, cleaning up parks in Queens, and releasing PlaNYC: Getting Sustainability Done, our new plan to create a more climate-resilient city for all.
This strategic climate plan builds on our city’s ongoing efforts to protect New Yorkers from extreme weather, improve quality of life, and support our new green economy. Most importantly, these new initiatives are not happening in some far-off future, but right now, in your neighborhood.
The plan includes a new public solar program that will help everyday New Yorkers afford the cost of installing rooftop solar panels, heat pumps, and other energy efficiency retrofits. The plan also includes provisions to advocate for Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) reform – reforms that will help people afford new air conditioners and assist with their utility costs to keep cool during increasingly hot weather.
Thanks to our robust public transit system, New Yorkers already have some of the lowest carbon emissions per capita in this country, but we can go further. We’re going to help more New Yorkers join the clean energy revolution by expanding our electric vehicle charging network across the five boroughs, so every New Yorker who chooses to drive can drive electric – especially our for-hire vehicle drivers. We are already electrifying our schools and our entire school bus fleet and working to reduce our emissions from every major source — buildings, transportation, and food.
The city will install solar energy, electric building infrastructure, green roofs, and other renewable energy on as much city-owned property as possible, including our DOE schools and our NYCHA buildings.
We will also phase out capital spending on new fossil fuel equipment and infrastructure and update our zoning practices to facilitate building retrofits and eliminate barriers to electrification. This is not only good news for our environment, but a path to more jobs and opportunity for New Yorkers working in the building trades.
Building a renewable energy future will bring down emissions and mitigate climate damage in the years to come, and it will also drive down pollution and improve air quality. We’re going to amplify that effort by getting polluting trucks off our streets, creating new low-emissions zones in neighborhoods that have seen far too much traffic and congestion in the past. And plans are already in motion to expand New York City’s tree canopy by 30%, planting thousands of new trees and iimproving our green spaces, parks, and recreation areas as well.
We’ve already seen what climate-driven storms can do to our city. From Hurricane Sandy to Tropical Storm Ida, we know that lives are at stake, and our homes and our infrastructure are at risk. This plan expands our efforts to prevent flooding and sewage problems, from building new overflow tanks along the Gowanus Canal to improving drainage in flood-prone neighborhoods.
All of these efforts will protect and sustain our environment, as well as lay the foundation for a new green economy. That’s why a big part of this new plan is about providing education, training and opportunity for New Yorkers to acquire the skills and training they need to succeed in this new job market, one that will protect our future and support a new generation of workers.
There is so much more to this plan, which New Yorkers can read at https://climate.cityofnewyork.us/initiatives/planyc-getting-sustainabilitydone/.
New York City has always been a leader when it comes to climate solutions and environmental justice. We have so much to be proud of, and so much to protect. This new plan is a positive and practical roadmap to creating a cleaner, greener, and more just city for all.
Mayor Eric Adams
City Hall
April 24, 2023
Brooklyn OpEds & Opinions NYC
NYS Budget
Greetings,
Eid Mubarak to those of you who observed the holy month of Ramadan.
The State’s budget which by law is due April 1st is now almost three weeks late as negotiations between the Governor and the Legislature continue. Yesterday my colleagues and I passed another “budget extender” until Monday - stop-gap legislation proposed by the Governor that will allow state operations to continue, state employees to be paid, and critical benefits like unemployment insurance to continue to be processed. The Governor’s misguided attempts to undermine the 2019 bail reforms and her intransigence on initiatives opposed by the legislature such as raising the cap on charter schools have meant that many important matters are not getting the attention they deserve. Unfortunately, some of my suburban colleagues in both the
Assembly and Senate have proved equally intransigent when it comes to housing, rejecting the Governor’s proposals on housing production without putting forward meaningful alternatives [https://nysfocus.com/2023/04/20/new-york-budget-housing-out/]. We must find a way to build more housing and more affordable housing both in New York City and throughout the State while at the same time expanding tenant protections like good cause eviction, but it seems likely that this challenge will have to be taken up outside of the budget.
Despite the budget impasse, I continue to work on refining and building support and advocating for my legislative priorities including renewable energy, election law reforms, and dyslexia interventions and literacy education. Every day I speak with parents whose children are struggling to learn to read, but I am hopeful we can accomplish meaningful change in our policies and practices around literacy education here in New York State. More and more attention is being paid in the media to the depths of the literacy crisis the country faces and the growing movement to overhaul how literacy is taught moving away from failed “whole language approaches” to practices and curriculum based on the science of reading. The New York Times just ran a story on this featured on its front page, which you can read here [https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/16/us/science-of-reading-literacy-parents.html]. I was gratified to participate this past week on a panel hosted by Education Trust around a screening of the film “The Right to Read” [https://www.therighttoreadfilm.org], produced by LeVar Burton which compellingly illustrates how literacy is a civil rights issue.
Progress is also being made when it comes to the State’s transition away from fossil fuels. I remain confident that the most significant aspects of my bill, The Build Public Renewables Act [https://nyassembly.gov/leg/?bn=A279], which will help ensure the State meets its climate goals, will be included in the final budget. On that note I want to wish everyone a happy Earth Day tomorrow and look forward to seeing many of you at one of the Earth Day events around the district this weekend or at my Spring Green and Clean next weekend.
Robert Carroll
Assembly Member
April 21, 2023
Brooklyn OpEds & Opinions NYC
Summer Rising: A Free Program for Grades K Through 8
Summer is a great time for children, but it's a challenging time for working parents. No parent wants to leave their child at home if they don't have family or trusted friends to look after them. Learning loss also happens over the summer. Studies have shown that during the summer students can lose about 40% of what they have learned during the school year. Summer Rising — a free program for New York City public school students in Grades K through 8—provides a safe, fun, and enriching alternative.
Summer Rising includes a full day (8am to 6pm) of in-person academics combined with social-emotional learning, art activities, field trips, and sports. Last summer, students participated in a variety of programs including "World Explorer," which focused on the food, language, and culture of different countries. They played ping pong and kickball; took part in nutrition classes and learned to cook with fresh vegetables; they went on trips to the Bronx Zoo, the Aquarium, Lincoln Center, NY Liberty basketball games, and visited the BioBus.
The Summer Rising session runs from July 5th to August 18th for students in Grades K-5, and from July 5th to August 11th for students in Grades 6-8. Students receive breakfast, lunch, and a snack, and students with disabilities receive the supports they need. Priority for the 110,000 Summer Rising seats will be given to students in temporary housing, foster care, and with 12 - month IEP.
You can enroll your child now at [cut & paste this link] https://www.schools.nyc.gov/enrollment/summer/grades-k-8
The deadline to apply is May 1st, and you will find out whether your child has received a seat via email about a week afterward.
I cannot emphasize how important it is for our young New Yorkers to be in a safe environment learning and socializing with their friends, and experiencing the attractions of our city, instead of sitting at home and surfing the internet. Summer Rising makes that possible—and our city offers it at no cost to you. As the child of a mother who had to work multiple jobs to make ends meet, I wish I had a program like Summer Rising to keep me and my siblings learning and engaged.
I hope you will apply, and please spread the information to other parents you think will be interested in this wonderful opportunity. And if your child was born in 2020 and lives in New York City, they are eligible to attend one of our city’s free 3-K programs this Fall. You can apply now at [cut & paste this link] www.myschools.nyc.
Mayor Eric Adams
City Hall
April 17, 2023
Brooklyn OpEd & Opinions NYC
Helping Working Families Access Child Care
New Yorkers work hard twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. They should expect their city government to work at their pace — not the other way around. New Yorkers shouldn’t have to navigate layers of government bureaucracy or fill out pages of paper forms to have access to the services their tax dollars pay for.
My Administration is committed to making it easier for New Yorkers to access city services, wherever they are, and on their schedule. That is why we’re launching MyCity, an online portal where New Yorkers can search, apply for, and track city services right from their smartphones and computers.
The first phase of MyCity is focused on providing access to child care assistance for low-income New Yorkers. For the first time, New York City families who need help paying for child care can apply in one place, with one digital application.
Before, families had to visit multiple websites, navigate different city agencies, and send paper documents. Many would later find out they had been rejected—and have to start the whole process over. Many may not have known which documents they needed to include, or realized that they had mistakenly submitted an incomplete application.
No more. It’s time that government worked for working families.
When you log onto MyCity, things are going to be different. The application process will now be secure, fast, and accessible in more than ten languages. It’s so user-friendly, you can do it all while holding your child on your lap!
MyCity is fully online, and documents are securely stored. To save time, families can also complete an easy screening tool to see if they might be eligible for child care assistance even before starting the application process.
This is what government is supposed to do – make life easier for working families. I promised we would get this done on the campaign trail and I am proud that we are delivering on that promise.
Applying for child care subsidies is just the beginning of how MyCity will help New Yorkers access city services and benefits. New Yorkers will soon be able to find and apply for jobs and access business services as well. They will be able to check eligibility qualifications, complete applications, track service status, and securely store personal information all in one place.
This is what it looks like to use the power of technology to reduce paper workload, bureaucracy, and red tape. New Yorkers deserve easy, convenient access to the services they pay for through their tax dollars. I am proud to say that we are getting it done.
Visit mycity.nyc.gov to get started and find out how your city can do more for you and your family.
Mayor Eric Adams
City Hall
April 10, 2023
Brooklyn OpEds & Opinions NYC
Swim Strong Foundation Seeks Support for Water Safety Bill
Dear Fellow New Yorkers,
I hope this note finds you well. I am reaching out to you today with a request for you to support legislation, Senate Bill S2545A and sister Assembly Bill A4846, which at the heart of these bills encourages that water safety training be taught as part of curriculum in NY State schools grades K-12.
Please follow this link to sign the petition in support: Make Water Safety Education an Essential Right for All in NY | New Mode - https://act.newmode.net/action/surfrider-foundation/make-water-safety-education-essential-right-all-ny
This legislation is critical for the safety and welfare of our children who are inheriting a much more watery world. Between rising sea levels; storms which are increasing in strength, speed and frequency and waterfronts being developed providing much more access to open water our youth need to understand water much more deeply. The New York City Panel on Climate Change anticipates by end of century that New York will experience 25% more annual rainfall than today. The intensity of rainfall is increasing and more water is falling in shorter period of time. Frankly, we ALL need to develop a different relationship to water.
As friends of Swim Strong Foundation, you must know the simple fact is, we can no longer avoid water and so we must understand how to navigate safely through our changing world.
You also understand the criticality of swimming skills and water safety knowledge. Thank you in advance for your advocacy to help pass these life saving bills.
Happy to address any questions you may have or to introduce you to Swim Strong's programming which you can share with schools or purchase for your family.
https://www.swimstrongfoundation.org/know-before-you-go/
Share with your NY City and State family, friends and colleagues. Thank you!!
Shawn Slevin
shawn.slevin@SwimStrongFoundation.org
March 30, 2023
Brooklyn OpEds & Opinions NYC
Supercharging Safety for E-bikes
Electronic transportation devices are everywhere in New York City now – and from daily commuting to food delivery, they are revolutionizing how we get around. E-bikes and e-scooters are a convenient and low-cost alternative to cars. They help reduce congestion on our streets and make our city cleaner
and greener. Tens of thousands of our delivery workers rely on them for their livelihoods, and we all rely on them when we have goods delivered.
E-bikes are here to stay, and our city wants to make sure they are safe and reliable for all - both on the street and when they are being stored and recharged. While most of the e-bikes and e-scooters in our city are safe, there are some that do not meet safety standards and contain uncertified lithium-ion batteries.
These faulty devices are causing fires and explosions, putting New Yorkers and our first responders in danger. Last week, the City Council and our Administration took action to protect New Yorkers and delivery workers from these faulty devices. We are also taking action to crack down on illegal electric mopeds that endanger pedestrians and cyclists.
Last week, I signed five bills that ban the sale of uncertified e-vehicles as well as refurbished batteries. And we released our Charge Safe, Ride Safe plan to help New Yorkers use e-bikes and e-scooters safely. New Yorkers deserve access to safe devices and batteries, and we are committed to helping them transition away from faulty and unsafe ones.
New York City is leading the charge on safety, and we will continue to support a transition to safe electric mobility devices. We are going to pilot options like battery swapping and safe charging systems for our delivery workers and identify opportunities to make safe and legal devices accessible and affordable. And we are going to work with Los Deliveristas Unidos and other community groups, visiting all corners of New York City to train people on safety measures.
We are expanding education, increasing enforcement on high-risk situations, and pursuing additional regulation from the Federal government to ensure that illegal devices are not on our streets.
Many people store batteries and battery-operated scooters in their homes, places of business, and in their restaurants. And every New Yorker who uses these devices can help keep themselves and the city safe by following these tips:
Purchase only legal, UL-certified e-bikes and e-scooters. Never use refurbished batteries. Use only the charger and battery made specifically for your device. Keep batteries away from heat sources like radiators. If a battery is damaged, stop using it. Do not store batteries near the exit of a room or apartment. And never leave batteries unattended when charging, especially overnight.
New Yorkers can dispose of lithium-ion batteries safely at DSNY drop-off sites or pop-up events, which you can find at nyc.gov/batteries.
All New Yorkers and our delivery workers deserve to be safe in their homes and on our streets. Thousands of New Yorkers are choosing a healthier and greener way to travel around this city, and we are going to ensure they can do so safely.
Mayor Eric Adams
City Hall
March 27, 2023
Brooklyn OpEds / Opinions NYC
More Frequent Transit Service & New York’s Climate Mandates
Dear Governor Hochul:
As you well know, climate change poses an existential threat to New York communities while our path breaking Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act mandates a robust response. As organizers and advocates for bold action to stop the worst of climate change, we strongly support a broad and deep approach to mitigation. We accordingly urge you to fund $300 million for more frequent subway and bus service to make public transit a better alternative to driving and help reduce vehicle miles traveled in New York.
Public transit has long been New York’s competitive edge over other cities’ and states’ carbon footprints. New York City residents produce an estimated two-thirds less carbon emissions per capita than the average American. Public transit accounts for a large portion of the difference, with the MTA estimated to lower the tri-state region’s carbon emissions by 30%. It should go without saying that any climate action is predicated on maintaining that edge and saving the MTA – and millions of daily riders – from the approaching cliff. And of course, the CLCPA requires that we even do better, reducing emissions 40% by 2030 and 85% by 2050. Indeed, the CLCPA scoping plan approved by the Climate Action Council last month identified improvements to MTA service as a key strategy to reduce transportation emissions.
Investing in more frequent service, which will cut wait times and speed trips overall, will enhance transit’s competitiveness with driving. While vehicle electrification is an essential component of our response to climate change, reducing vehicle miles traveled is also of great importance. With the edge afforded by our legacy transit infrastructure, New York is uniquely positioned to cut emissions just by making the most of the subway and bus network we have today. Simply running more service on existing routes that serve densely populated communities will bring more riders on board and make travel times – particularly outside of the traditional rush hour when service is most frequent – more attractive to New Yorkers with multiple transit options.
Given the enormity of the emergency, we call on your leadership to take every opportunity to mitigate climate change. More frequent transit is a crucial complementary policy to all of the others in the state’s growing climate action toolkit. As you negotiate a final budget, we urge you to make more frequent public transit service a top funding priority.
Sincerely,
Sent to Governor Kathy Hochul via email by
E2 Environmental Entrepreneurs
Earthjustice
Environmental Advocates of New York
Long Island Progressive Coalition
Natural Resources Defense Council
New York City Environmental Justice Alliance (NYCEJA)
New Yorkers for Clean Power
New York League of Conservation Voters
New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG)
Sierra Club
Tri-State Transportation Campaign
Union of Concerned Scientists
Cc:
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie
Deputy Secretary of Transportation Nivardo Lopez
March 24, 2023
Brooklyn OpEds NYC
Joint Statement on Fatal Hit-and-Run Along Brooklyn Trucking Route from Council Majority Whip Brooks-Powers and Council Member Gutierrez
In response to the death of 56-year-old Eugene Schroeder at the corner of Morgan and Johnson Avenues in Brooklyn, the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chair, Selvena N. Brooks-Powers, and Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez released the following statement:
Once again, another family has been irreparably broken by the scourge of preventable traffic violence. Eugene Schroeder was blocks away from his home on a bike when he was struck and killed by a turning truck driver who then fled the scene. Our thoughts are with the impacted family and their loved ones during this difficult moment.
Each and every single time life is lost on our streets, impacted families need access to swift justice. Last year, about one third of all traffic fatalities were hit-and-runs and yet the NYPD only solved a fraction of them. We have legislation on the table that would offer a reward to those who help us find individuals wanted for questioning following hit-and-run traffic violence.
Outside of the courtroom, our communities also need us to pursue justice by looking at where targeted street safety interventions can help save lives. Next month, the Council will consider legislation to comprehensively redesign truck routes in our city like the one on Morgan Avenue. This includes looking at how daylighting and other street safety measures can protect the lives and well-being of all New Yorkers.
Council Majority Whip Brooks-Powers
Council Member Gutiérrez
March 10, 2023
Council Member Gutiérrez will be holding a Community Workshop with DOT on March 30th, 2023. For details see her councilmember page on NYC.gov.
Brooklyn Op-Eds
Earned Income Tax Credit: You earned it – and NYC will help you get
My mission as Mayor of New York City is to focus on the needs of working people of this city. One of the best ways we can do that is to get money back in your pocket – money you have earned, money you need to support your family.
Last year we went to Albany to get the Earned Income Tax Credit, better known as the EITC, expanded for the first time in 20 years. The EITC is a refundable tax credit provided to working New Yorkers and families. And I am proud to say that together with our state partners we got it done.
Promises made, promises kept.
The enhanced EITC put $350 million dollars in the pockets of hardworking New Yorkers. That means more money for the essentials: food, groceries, bills & rent. It is a lifeline for so many working people and families across New York City. This tax credit has helped 800,000 New Yorkers and this year we want to reach even more.
And last week we launched a $1.5 million television, print, subway, social media and radio marketing campaign on the enhanced EITC to spread the word to New Yorkers.
This tax season, we want to help more working people get the support they need through the Earned Income Tax Credit.
New Yorkers can visit nyc.gov/getcredit to see if they qualify for this cash back. If you do, you can apply for this credit while filing your taxes. It is that simple. New Yorkers can file their taxes for free at any one of our NYC Tax Prep locations across the five boroughs or online at getyourrefund.org/nyc
The EITC is a simple and straightforward way to make sure working New Yorkers get their fair share.
Under the enhanced EITC a single parent with one child with an income of $14,750 has seen their benefit increase from $187 to $933. And a married couple with two children and an income of $25,000 has seen their New York City benefit increase from $308 to $925 under the city payment.
I come from a working-class background. My mother worked a double shift as a cleaner to support my siblings and me. There are thousands of New Yorkers doing the same today in our city.
We know many New Yorkers are struggling right now. Rent is going up and inflation is driving up the cost of living. People are worried about whether they can keep a roof over their heads. And due to the pandemic, many have lost wages and childcare.
I know the hustle is real. And I want every hardworking New Yorker to know: We’re looking out for you.
The EITC is one of the most effective support programs in history, helping low-income families and workers get a boost as they climb the ladder of success.
Through the EITC we are putting more money in working peoples' wallets and helping lift some of the burdens they face. Working New Yorkers deserve their fair share and credit, and we are giving it to them.
Mayor Eric Adams
City Hall
March 6, 2023
Brooklyn OpEds / Opinions NYC
Keeping New York The Safest Large City in America
A year into my administration, New York City remains the safest large city in America. We are following through on a 360-degree approach to fighting crime that includes both strategies for investing in our communities and excellent policing.
Thanks to two years of tireless efforts and coordination between the NYPD Gun Violence Suppression Unit and the Violent Criminal Enterprise Bureau, on February 14th, we announced an 85-count indictment that charges 23 gang members in Queens with conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, reckless endangerment, and gun possession. Eight of the men had fired a weapon previously. All of them had no regard for others’ lives or safety.
The indictment covers eighteen acts of gun-related violence that took place in and around the Astoria Houses and the Woodside Houses. The gang members fired their weapons in broad daylight next to an ice-cream truck, in a courtyard and at a playground. Children were present and on one occasion, an innocent bystander was injured. The senseless violence was the result of feuds on social media and threatening rap videos—but the online activity spilled over into real life with real consequences. I have said this before: gangs plus guns equals graves. No one should have to fear for their life as they go about their daily life. No one should have to fear for the safety of their children while they are playing in a playground or courtyard or buying ice-cream.
Along with the NYPD’s units and Commissioner Sewell, we are grateful to the office of the Queen’s District Attorney, Melinda Katz, for also playing a crucial role in bringing about the charges.
My goal in tackling crime is to be proactive—to take guns and dangerous individuals off our streets, as well as offer alternative solutions like jobs, education, and violence prevention programs to neighborhoods that are most affected by gun violence. This is intervention, and prevention.
And our efforts are bearing fruit. Shootings are down, murders are down, and major crimes were down last quarter for the first time in six quarters. We have the highest murder clearance rate since 1998, and the third highest clearance rate in 32 years. So far this year, shootings are down 20.9%, and between January 1, 2023, and February 12, 2023, we’ve seized nearly 900 firearms.
This is no coincidence. These numbers are the result of a strategic, data-driven enforcement plan, and the NYPD has also utilized existing resources to increase patrols in key neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs and strengthened detection efforts. By the time guns get into the wrong hands, we are too late, so we are also investing in systems of community care like mental health care, childcare, affordable housing, and parks. Addressing these basic necessities goes a long way toward solving the root causes of crime and suffering. A recent study shows that New York City spends more on this kind of care relative to criminalization than any nearly every other major city in the nation.
Creating a safe city requires excellent policing as well as a system of support that provides hope, opportunity, and meets our most vulnerable New Yorkers’ needs. Our administration is taking all the steps necessary to tackle comprehensively tackle crime and create an even safer New York for everyone.
Mayor Eric Adams
February 17, 2023
Brooklyn OpEds / Opinions NYC
Cannabis Justice for All
Legalizing cannabis was a major step forward for equity and justice in our city. But legalization is about following the new laws, not a free pass to sell unregulated cannabis products.
Over the last few months, illegal cannabis retailers have taken advantage of decriminalization efforts, with unlicensed smoke shops popping up all over the city. This “Wild West” attempt to gain market share will not be tolerated. New York City has changed the laws, but we intend to enforce them — fairly, equitably, and thoroughly.
For many years, people of color in our communities were routinely targeted when it came to cannabis law enforcement. Cannabis criminalization was used to harass, arrest, and prosecute our brothers and sisters.
Advocates rightly pushed for an end to these practices, and fought hard to put racial equity at the center of New York's cannabis legalization
efforts. Past convictions were automatically expunged or suppressed. People with past convictions for marijuana and their family members are being given priority for these licenses. 50 percent of licenses have been set aside for social and economic equity applicants.
An open and democratic process resulted in the progress so many wanted to see — an end to the “war on drugs” mentality, the establishment of a safe and sanctioned cannabis industry for adults, and a pathway to restorative justice for those who were unfairly prosecuted in the past.
Legal cannabis is expected to be a $1.3 billion industry that will create thousands of jobs and generate approximately $40 million per year in tax revenue for our city. And 40 percent of the tax revenues from legal cannabis will be invested back in the communities that were most harmed by prohibition.
We have a moral obligation to make sure that the people who were adversely affected by marijuan criminalization get their fair share of this emerging market. That’s part of the mission of the new CannabisNYC Office. his is a city agency that will make New Yorkers aware of opportunities to participate in this industry, promote equity, and help applicants navigate the licensing process.
In the last month, the first licensed cannabis dispensaries in our city have opened for business. One is owned by a not-for-profit that supports people living with H.I.V. and A.I.D.S., the other by a formerly incarcerated entrepreneur who received priority for a license because he is one of countless Black men who was harmed by the drug war in the 1990s.
But these legitimate businesses are facing stiff competition from shops that are not following the rules. Instead of respect for the law, what we have seen recently is the proliferation of storefronts across New York City, selling unlicensed, unregulated untaxed cannabis products.
Those who flout the cannabis tax laws and regulations are robbing the very communities that are finally on the cusp of benefiting from a just and equitable system.
We cannot allow that. We’re not going to take two steps back by letting illegal smoke shops take over this emerging market, especially when so many of them are selling unlawful and unlicensed products that could seriously harm consumers.
It is time for the operation of illegal cannabis dispensaries to end.
Sheriff Miranda and our partners at the N.Y.P.D. recently took direct action to counter this trend. Over a two-week enforcement blitz, the Sheriff's Office issued 566 violations and seized $4.1 million worth of product at 53 locations.
And this week, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office sent letters to approximately 400 unlicensed smoke shops in Manhattan. The letters state that the city will commence legal eviction proceedings against commercial tenants who are engaged in illegal business activity. That includes the unlicensed sale of cannabis, the sale of untaxed cigarettes, and the sale of adulterated products. If owners and landlords fail to initiate timely eviction proceedings against these commercial tenants, the Sheriff's Office will take over and pursue eviction proceedings.
While we are not ruling out criminal prosecutions for tax evasion, money laundering, or the sale of cannabis to minors, the focus of this initiative at this time is civil enforcement. We want to give New York's legal cannabis market a chance to thrive — and deliver on the vision of safety, equity and justice that advocates fought for so long.
February 13, 2023
Mayor Eric Adams
City Hall
Brooklyn OpEds / Opinions NYC
Composting for All
New Yorkers know that rats love trash bags full of food waste. And they know that I hate rats. This week, our Administration declared that Restaurant Week for rats in this City is finally over.
For too long, New Yorkers have had to bring their compost to neighborhood drop off sites, or deal with one-off collection programs that weren’t designed to reach everyone. This meant mountains of trash bags on our sidewalks, attracting rats day and night.
New Yorkers have been saying loudly that they want a compost program across the City – they want the rat food out of the black bags and out of the landfills once and for all. For over twenty years, New York City has been trying to achieve citywide curbside composting that actually WORKS for everyone.
We are finally getting it done. By the fall of next year, New Yorkers in all five boroughs will be able to put their yard waste and food scraps out on the curb year-round, in the simplest, easiest, most efficient curbside composting program ever.
No more carrying your banana peels to neighborhood drop off sites or bagging up fall leaves to be thrown in the garbage. New Yorkers across all five boroughs will be able to compost kitchen scraps and yard waste every week on their recycling day. What could be more convenient for us, or more upsetting for the rats?
Starting March 27 of this year, composting service will restart in Queens after a brief winter pause. It will never take a seasonal break again. On October 2, we will roll out a composting in all of Brooklyn, followed by service in Staten Island and the Bronx in March 2024. And on October 7, 2024, we will expand composting to all of Manhattan, creating the largest citywide composting program in the country.
This is a new, free, universal service for New Yorkers, and we’re making it as easy and straightforward as possible. You can use our Brown Bin or your own bin – no more complicated rules. And you can compost everything from vegetable scraps to coffee grounds and chicken bones. We like to say, "If you cook it or you grow it, you can throw it."
Our pilot program in Queens kept nearly 13 million pounds of kitchen and yard waste out of our landfills in just three months. That’s more than the weight of 300 city busses! Imagine the impact when we expand that to 8.5 million New Yorkers across all five boroughs.
This is about more than making life easier for families and homeowners – and worse for rats. It’s about improving our environment and quality of life across the board. New York City produces over a million tons of food waste every single year. Right now, we know that 1/3 of all material in our refuse stream is compostable material, which goes to landfill and decomposes over YEARS, releasing harmful methane gas.
Instead, we’re going to capture and use that waste ourselves to make usable soil, biosolids, and renewable energy. Under this new program, some of the material will be composted at our facility on Staten Island and other places around the country; other material will be turned into usable natural gas and biosolids by the Department of Environmental Protection right in Brooklyn.
And all of that compost can be used by New Yorkers to grow healthy food. The soil will return to our parks, planters, and personal gardens. People will be able to pick this up for free. And those who love gardening or growing urban farms can grow fresh, healthy food right here in New York City.
I want to thank everyone who has made this possible, including the Queens residents who led the way, separating their compost and making the pilot program a success.
We are making composting easy in every corner and in every neighborhood in New York City.
This is huge win for cleanliness, a huge win for sustainability, and the environment we all share as New Yorkers. The only ones that lose are those rats.
February 6, 2023
Mayor Eric Adams
City Hall
Brooklyn OpEds / Opinions NYC
Governor Hochul Undermines Historic Investment in Public Schools by Pushing for a Permanent & Massive Expansion of Charters Schools in NYC
ALBANY, N.Y. (February 1, 2023) — In response to Governor Hochul’s Executive budget address on Wednesday, the public education advocacy organization Alliance for Quality Education [AQE] released the following statement:
“We applaud Governor Hochul for keeping her promise to New York’s children by fully funding the Foundation Aid formula at 100 percent for the first time since its creation nearly two decades ago,” said Jasmine Gripper, Executive Director of the Alliance for Quality Education. “The Foundation Aid formula was created to ensure equity and to strategically drive state resources to the students that need it the most. This means that districts with high populations of students in poverty, students that are English Language Learners and students with disabilities will see a significant increase in state aid.”
“Unfortunately, this historic investment may not reach many of the children in New York City due to the Governor’s proposal to drastically expand the number of charter schools in New York City by removing the regional cap and reauthorizing ‘zombie charters’. Allowing a drastic increase in new charter schools in New York City will siphon off millions of resources that would otherwise be going to public schools, which educate 80 percent of the student population there.
“New York City currently spends about $3 billion per year on charter schools, a price tag that will continue to increase because it is the only district in the nation required to pay rent for charter schools, and the only school district in the state that does not receive charter school transition aid to offset those costs. At a time when New York City is grappling with a declining population of school age children due to a number of factors, there is no justification for increasing the number of charter schools in New York City.
“We urge the New York State Senate and Assembly to completely reject the Governor’s proposals to remove the regional cap on charters and reauthorize ‘zombie charters.’”
Jasmine Gripper
Executive Director
Alliance for Quality Education
Received February 2, 2022
Brooklyn OpEds / Opinions NYC
Assemblymember Carroll’s First Take on Governor Hochul’s 2024 Executive Budget
“Governor Hochul’s $227 Billion Executive Budget proposal isn’t all bad, but some of it is, and there is a lot missing. While the promise of fully funding Foundation Aid is being fulfilled, the Governor’s expansion of Charter Schools is misguided, and only distracts from the challenges so many of our students face. The Governor had a chance in this budget to acknowledge the literacy crisis facing our children – two thirds of New York City Public School students in grades three through eight read below grade level and are at risk of reading failure. She did not and that will unfortunately perpetuate the grave harm being done to our children. Her refusal to acknowledge this crisis, and her previous veto of my dyslexia task force legislation, will only further deepen this crisis and imperil the academic success of hundreds of thousands of New York students.
I commend the Governor for her proposal to increase the payroll mobility tax and utilizing tax revenue from casinos to help fund the MTA, but the specter of raising fares is disconcerting and unnecessary, especially if we fully implemented congestion pricing, a policy the Governor refuses to embrace.
Finally, the Governor’s embrace of a ban on fossil fuels in new buildings is something I have long supported, however, her proposal that relates to the Build Public Renewables Act, of which I am the prime sponsor, doesn’t go far enough. The Assembly should proceed to pass the BPRA in full to ensure the labor provisions and other critical elements related to democratization and oversight are preserved.”
Assemblymember Robert Carroll (D-WF)
Brooklyn’s 44th Assembly District
Representing Prospect Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Kensington, Victorian Flatbush, Borough Park, Ditmas Park, and Midwood
Brooklyn OpEds / Opinions NYC
RJPS Responds to Eric Adams' State of the City 2023
In response to Mayor Adams' State of the City address, education justice coalition New Yorkers for Racially Just Public Schools (RJPS) released the following statement.
"New Yorkers for Racially Just Public Schools is outraged about the continuing cuts to necessary components of public education and our social safety net. New York’s 3K program, K-12 public education, libraries, and CUNY face existential operational threats while “uniformed agencies” such as the NYPD remain untouched. Rather than heeding the calls of communities and advocates for deep investments in human services, the Adams Administration, has chosen to
balance the budget, once again, on the backs of the most vulnerable New Yorkers while deceitfully naming this a “Working People’s Agenda.” This Administration frames these cuts as“fiscal responsibility” and “strong fiscal management” to neutralize the ugly truths of the Mayor’s policy choices. In addition, there is nothing responsible about austerity - it destroys lives in the present, and weakens the entire economy for the future. A city full of struggling families is not a thriving city and a Mayor who is pretending to be a progressive by co-opting language will not make it into one," said Amshula Jayaram, Campaigns Director for the Alliance for Quality Education, an RJPS coalition member.
"Cuts to the budget aren’t about the numbers on a spreadsheet, but the people whose lives this administration proactively disinvests from. Public schools are still reeling from the cut of $469 million to fair student funding this past summer, followed by additional cuts to the DOE central staff who are essential to running our vast school system, and now, a proposed cut to education in the FY24 budget of close to $300 million dollars, $168 million from CUNY and over $40 million to public libraries. These cuts will be disastrous for our young people. By disinvesting in young people and our public school system, which continues to educate the vast majority of students, we are guaranteeing that future generations of New Yorkers will be poorer than their parents, and the city’s economic growth will suffer as a result. The Mayor’s proposals for job training and dyslexia screenings are important, but cannot and do not compensate for seismic cuts of millions of dollars to the overall public education budget. We also acknowledge and appreciate the work of the Fair Student Funding task force, and the new weights allotted towards students in temporary housing and high needs districts, but the reality is, once again, that in the larger context of millions of dollars in cuts, all students will continue to struggle to get the education and support they need and deserve."
"Shame on this Mayor and this Administration for going after people who have already endured unimaginable suffering. We soundly and unequivocally reject the blatant scapegoating of migrant families, many of whom have already been through more than most of us can imagine in a lifetime - walking hundreds of miles through mountains and jungles, watching people die along the way, leaving loved ones and homelands behind, all for a chance of a life of safety and
dignity. This is not what decency, much less leadership, looks like. A year ago, the Mayor made grand statements about New York City being a “sanctuary city,” one that welcomes all immigrants. Now, he targets them as the reason for the city’s economic downturn."
"New York City is not broke. We call on the Adams Administration and the City Council to find real policy solutions, not cuts to essential services for the people that need them the most. We are home to over 100 billionaires. A recent report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that NYS has the most concentrated wealth in the entire country. The Mayor repeatedly emphasized his work with Governor Hochul and the “synergy” between city and state. If revenue is what we need, we encourage the Mayor to use that synergy and work with leaders in Albany to raise taxes on the ultra rich and the corporations they run, rather than going after services for migrant families. It’s time for meaningful, lasting policy solutions for all families and communities, especially the ones the Mayor claims to represent."
Alliance for Quality Education, AQENY.org <aqe@aqeny.org>
via email.actionnetwork.org
Fri 1/27/2023
Brooklyn OpEds / Opinions NYC
Preliminary Budget Address
Every year, the Mayor presents a budget to the people of New York City. This budget is about much more than what we are spending and what we are spending it on. It is a statement of values and a declaration of purpose: Creating a safer, more prosperous and equitable city for all.
This is the city that our responsible and focused Fiscal Year 2024 Preliminary Budget continues to make possible.
Since Day One, fiscal discipline has been the hallmark of this administration. We are focused on governing efficiently and getting results. Over the past year, we have made our city safer and continued our economic recovery. We have funded and will continue to support programs that benefit everyday New Yorkers — including public safety, affordable housing, and clean streets.
It can be tempting to add a bunch of new spending, and certainly there are many who will call for us to spend beyond our means. But we can’t put the future of our city at risk by overextending ourselves today. It will just force deeper cuts and greater pain down the line.
With lower tax revenues, rising health care costs, and the continuing crisis of asylum seekers being bused into New York City, we must proceed with caution and clarity. And thanks to strong fiscal management, we were able to save $3 billion over this fiscal year and the next. And we accomplished this without laying off a single employee or reducing services, especially when it comes to the NYPD and public safety.
I am proud that, despite the many challenges I’ve mentioned, our budget protects funding for the transformative programs we’ve rolled out over the past year, including the Earned Income Tax Credit, which directly benefits working families, the largest summer jobs program in City history, and violence prevention programs for communities most affected by the epidemic of gun violence. And we’re not waiting any longer to invest in the housing our city needs, starting in Willets Point, where we will transform the neighborhood with thousands of units of affordable housing and a world-class soccer stadium.
In addition, we have continued to invest in our students and schools. This includes more
resources for students with disabilities, literacy and dyslexia screenings, summer enrichment, healthy food, career pathways, and the gifted and talented programs.
Even with federal stimulus money running out, we’ve kept per student funding at a higher level than before the pandemic, adding an additional $80 million to that funding pool for Fiscal Year 2024. This keeps the total at $160 million for another academic year. We were also able to increase the capital funding our city uses to build and maintain the infrastructure we all rely on, including affordable housing, health care facilities, parks and other public spaces.
And as every New Yorker knows, it’s important to be prepared for change. Whether it’s new labor contracts, asylum seeker costs, or the next unexpected event—the bills will come due.
That’s why this Preliminary Budget maintains reserves at a record $8.3 billion, an amount that will allow us to respond effectively to any unforeseen events. Our disciplined and efficient budget keeps us safe and allows us to continue to provide the essential services New Yorkers rely on.
This is just the beginning of a process, and we look forward to working with our communities and our Council colleagues on the final budget. There may be those who say that we should do things differently, that we should extend ourselves further, save less and spend more. But as mayor, the buck stops with me. It is my responsibility to keep our city strong and resilient, prepared for whatever lies ahead.
Mayor Eric Adams
Friday, 1/13/2023
Brooklyn OpEds / Opinions NYC
As Democrats Celebrate Averting Election Disaster, We Can't Ignore the Voters We're Losing
Election Day is over. And though Americans did not speak with one voice, working-class voters sent a clear message: They are deeply concerned about the economy, crime and inflation. They are also increasingly looking for leadership that acknowledges their concerns and defends their interests, regardless of party.
Because for America’s working-class voters, elections aren’t about their identity – they are about their survival.
A majority of Americans are in a precarious economic position, many just one illness or job loss away from financial ruin. They will vote for candidates who acknowledge those problems, even if the solutions on offer are less than effective.
So, despite an overall better-than-expected showing for Democrats on Tuesday, working people continued the long trend of voting more often for Republican candidates. We cannot ignore the continued erosion of their support while we celebrate avoiding electoral disaster.
Democrats' support – and base – is wavering.
Many of these voters are from previously reliable voting blocs for Democrats, including Black voters, Latinos and Asians. Those groups seem to be increasingly unenthusiastic about Democrats, and many voters have already switched teams.
Exit polling by The Associated Press showed that people of color seemed to have voted at lower rates for Democrats on Tuesday, the latest dip in a trend of decline. Just 6 in 10 Hispanic and Asian Americans voted Democrat, down from 7 in 10 and 8 in 10 respectively just four years ago, according to the data.
As the working-class Black mayor of New York City, I hear it over and over again: My street is not safe. I can’t find work. I lost my job, my apartment, my health care. What are you going to do about it?
And I can do more than listen – I can empathize. I am the son of a single mother, who grew up not knowing if I would come home to food on the table or an eviction notice on the door.
On Tuesday, Republicans from those communities in Queens and Brooklyn – traditionally deep blue areas – made very strong showings, capturing seats that are traditionally Democrats’.
One thing I learned during my campaign for mayor last year, though, was that just addressing basic concerns is not enough. Public officials need to be able to say what they will do today for those who are struggling and not just make promises for tomorrow.
Republican Party asking the right questions
Republicans do this well. The Republican Party asks the right questions even as they supply the wrong answers.
Democrats have the right answers, but the wrong attitude.
New York is the safest big city in America, but this statistic means nothing to a mother mourning a child lost to gun violence. We might have nearly two jobs available for every American who is unemployed, but that doesn’t help the person laid off from the only job they’ve ever had.
That’s why my administration adopted the mantra of "Get Stuff Done," and my team has embraced it. When working people say they want safer streets, we put more officers on them. When they say they want more housing, we move heaven and earth to start building. We’ve immediately helped working families by expanding the earned income tax credit and creating a massive new child care initiative.
None of this is radical. It’s practical. It’s radically practical. And that’s what Democrats should be, too. Voting is an act of emotional trust, not straightforward logic. It’s about acknowledging peoples’ needs, their emotions, their reality – and doing something about it.
Democrats, put working people first
Democrats have to put working people and their communities first, which includes three critical actions we seem to have forgotten how to do: listening, responding and organizing.
The Democratic Party has the right policies, but it must focus its messaging on immediacy, not grand plans. We must put “right now” solutions – such as investments in income tax credits, child care, housing, health care and public safety – front and center and keep them there.
If we fail to hear what working people are saying, to empathize with their concerns and take action on their behalf, we will lose that bond of social trust that holds small towns, big cities and multicultural democracies together.
Republicans will also continue to press their advantage in congressional maps, controlling more seats with fewer votes than we can as we become the party of only upper middle class urban and suburban residents, relegating us to long-term irrelevance.
My fellow Democrats: This is our mission going forward. We’re not here to tell people how to feel. We are here to show people they are being heard. The people – working people – are our north star. Their priorities must be our priorities. Their values must be respected. Their voices must be heard.
And following their lead is not just our responsibility; it is our future.
Mayor Eric Adams
11/14/22
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