Living Wage deal struck

Koppell speaks on the living wage as Diaz (right) and Quinn (left) look on.

After multiple compromises, a living wage deal has apparently been struck in the City Council.

Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the second-to-last major barricade in passing the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, announced her support of a new living wage bill. The last barricade is Mayor Bloomberg, who still does not support the bill, renewed his vow to veto the bill.

However, with Quinn's support, the City Council should be able to garner the 34 votes needed to override the Mayor's veto.

"There is nothing more important for government right now than the work of creating and retaining the best jobs we can," Quinn said in prepared remarks delivered today (full remarks below the jump).

"As Speaker, one of my jobs is to do all that I can to keep and create jobs in New York and to make sure those jobs provide people with the resources they need to support their families."

As everyone already knew, "I could not support the original living wage bill as it was introduced," she said. "The requirement that tenants in subsidized projects pay more when the city has no financial connection with them is a provision that I believe would have cost us future retail jobs. Placing this requirement on businesses that don’t receive a direct benefit is simply unfair."

That being said, Quinn said it was necessary to have the businesses that directly take money to pass the benefit along to their employees.

"I believe it is fair and appropriate for government to place requirements on a business that has voluntarily entered into an economic development agreement with the City. At the end of the day, they have a choice as to whether or not they want both the money offered to them and the wage requirements."

A living wage would require certain developers of direct, significant city subsidies to pay their employees at least $10 an hour with benefits or $11.50 without.

Local leaders around the city have applauded the compromise, the second Bronx-related compromise with the city this week. The first, which elevated the living wage debate into the spotlight, was the issuing of the request for proposals for the Kingsbridge Armory.

“I am extremely happy that we have reached an agreement on the ‘Fair Wages for New Yorkers’ Act, and that this important bill will finally see a vote in the City Council," Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. said. "The deal we have reached today creates the strongest ‘living wage’ legislation in the nation, one that will demand that direct recipients of significant taxpayer subsidies do better by their employees."

Diaz had City Council members G. Oliver Koppell and Annabel Palma introduce the bill on his behalf.

“This bill will ensure that taxpayer subsidies are used to improve the quality of life of New Yorkers. Today’s announcement is a victory for the people of this City, and I look forward to this legislation becoming law,” Diaz said.

Palma not only applauded the compromise, but also noted that there is now a fight going on for a minimum wage increase at the state level and that it should elevate to the federal level.

“This hard-wrought agreement will help a number of New Yorkers secure jobs that pay a living wage and I am grateful for the support of my colleagues and all of those who have been vocal advocates of this bill," Palma said.

"Additionally, it is encouraging that Speaker [Sheldon] Silver is carrying the fight against income inequality in Albany," she said. "I commend him for highlighting the need for a State-wide minimum wage increase tied to the cost of living. I am further encouraged that this idea is picking up steam on both sides of the aisle, with Mayor Bloomberg’s strong endorsement in yesterday’s State of the City address.

"I also urge our Federal representatives to engage in the conversation on economic inequality that is occurring across the country. People throughout our nation are struggling to survive by working low wage jobs, yet it has been over a decade since Washington increased the federal minimum wage. It’s time for our leaders in Washington to get serious about the challenges ahead and the reforms that will be necessary to fix an economy that too often fails our working people.” 

City Comptroller John Liu also released a statement, saying, “This living wage agreement will ensure

better use of public subsidies for private business and help reverse the widening wealth gap in our City. The City Council and the Living Wage Coalition are to be commended for their tenacious effort in getting this accomplished.”

Adolfo Carrion resigning as HUD director (UPDATE)

Former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion is stepping down from his post as regional director for the Department of Housing and Urban Development in New York and New Jersey next month. 

Carrion is leaving the Obama administration to go to the private sector and help work to re-elect the president. One source said he is planning on starting a company. 

After serving as borough president until 2009, Carrion went to Washington to serve as Director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs before taking the position at HUD.

Carrion officially leaves his post Feb. 10. 

The resignation comes less than two months since the New York City Conflict of Interest Board fined him $10,000 for his connection with an architect who helped renovate his home in 2006. At the time, the architect was also seeking approval from his office for a separate project.

The source, with Washington ties, said the resignation is likely an effort to get himself back into the political limelight for the 2013 mayoral race or city comptroller. With City Comptroller John Liu struggling lately, Carrion could hope to gain the minority vote in either race.

He has over $2 million in his war chest that could be used for either race. According to reports, having a federal job would prevent him from raising campaign cash.

Current Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., also a Latino, still hasn’t ruled out a run for mayor either, though.

The source said Carrion most likely was not pushed out and that it was not related to Monday’s news of fellow Bronxite Jack Lew’s appointment as President Obama’s new chief of staff. 

UPDATE: Here is a letter Carrion sent to friends and colleagues, where he writes, "Upon my departure from HUD, I will be launching Metro Futures LLC, an entity that will be dedicated to advancing investment in infrastructure, housing, and smart metropolitan growth. In this work, I plan to continue to make progress towards our shared mission of building competitive, sustainable and opportunity-rich communities across our great country."

ADOLFO CARRIÓN

Liu audit finds thousands is uncollected revenue from Bronx parks

Here's a story from this week's Riverdale Review.

By Brendan McHugh 

In the Bronx, parks’ concessions have over $58,000 lying on the table in uncollected revenue, a recent audit found. 

City Comptroller John C. Liu audited the Department of Parks and Recreation’s controls over recreational, dining, and retail concessions and found that better management could have yielded $8.8 million more in badly needed revenue for the city. 

In Riverdale, uncollected revenue from the Major Deegan gas stations, mobile food carts in Van Cortlandt Park and even a tennis professional in Seton Park are among the amenities in local parks that are not being forced to pay what they owe to the city. 

“Parks are not just about concessions, but concession contracts should be better managed so that revenue flows to the City without unnecessary interruption,” Liu said.

Jump below for the full story.

Liu says Parks Dept. needs to do a better job with concessions

City Comptroller John Liu says better management of parks concessions would net millions for the city.

He highlights Tavern on the Green, which closed nearly two years ago and still has yet to be replaced with a new tenant, costing the city over $2 million (and made my school change the location of our Senior Formal! Still bitter about that, if you couldn't tell).

Liu says all the concession mismanagement by the Department of Parks and Recreation has cost the city $8.8 million. In addition to the lost revenue calculations, the City and State have forfeited nearly $3.7 million in sales taxes with Tavern’s demise, and 500 jobs disappeared, the audit estimates. 

“Parks are not just about concessions, but concession contracts should be better managed so that revenue flows to the City without unnecessary interruption,” Liu said. 

The audit concluded that other concessions could also have been better managed – to the tune of $6.6 million. These include the pushcart licenses in Battery Park, the Central Park tennis courts, the ice skating rink at Flushing Meadows Corona Park, and the snack bar at Orchard Beach in Pelham Bay Park.

He mentions the ice skating rink in Queens, but the audit has left out (for good reason) the non-existent ice skating rink in Van Cortlandt Park. 

Over the summer, we've been writing about the parks department's failure to close negotiations with Ice Rink Events to bring a skating rink to Van Cortlandt Park. There was limited interest--only three companies showed up to the site tour, and two of them didn't bother bidding on the contract--which seems to have given Ice Rink Events the upper hand in the negotiations, allowing them to force the better deal.

Because of that, parks is probably going to not gain as much money as they could have out of these negotiations. Mayor Michael Bloomberg wanted to rink up and running this year. They're already behind schedule.

They recently announced a compromise for this year only, though if the entire summer has shown us anything, it's that the entire concession process needs to be looked over and reexamined for a more transparent process. 

Liu says that specifically, the Parks Department should have started key contract solicitations earlier and ensured more competition. Parks also failed to maintain key documentation supporting contract decisions and preventing conflicts of interest. 

The Parks Department, as custodian of over 29,000 acres of City parkland, is responsible for soliciting and awarding concessions for various attractions. Typically, the concession operators pay a fee or a percentage of their total receipts – money that is used to support programs and services.  

Jump below for the rest of the audit summary.

Officials, agencies react to Cuomo's tax plan

City Comptroller John Liu, State Senator Gustavo Rivera, the MTA and the Alliance for Quality Education have all released statements complimenting Governor Andrew Cuomo on his leadership in tax reform. More statements will flow in, so I'll post them all below the jump.

Here's part of Cuomo's press release from today. Read the whole thing here.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver today announced that they have reached a proposed three-way agreement on legislative and executive proposals to create jobs and cut taxes for middle class New Yorkers. The agreement includes support for a comprehensive New York Works Agenda that will create thousands of jobs with new investments in New York's infrastructure, passing a fair tax reform plan that achieves the first major restructuring of the tax code in decades resulting in a tax cut for 4.4 million middle class New Yorkers taxpayers, approving $50 million in additional relief for areas devastated by recent floods, and reducing the MTA payroll tax to provide relief for small businesses. The leaders will now present the agreement to their members for approval.

"Our state government has come together in a bipartisan manner to create jobs, grow our economy and, at the same time enact a fair tax plan that cuts taxes for the middle class," Governor Cuomo said. "We are investing in projects that will restore our state's infrastructure and put thousands of people to work. We are cutting taxes on middle class New Yorkers and small businesses, which will inject nearly $1 billion into our economy. We are targeting new tax credits to hire inner city youth and reduce unemployment in some of the poorest areas of our state, as well as providing direct aid to communities struggling to recover in the wake of this year's severe storms. This would be lowest tax rate for middle class families in 58 years. This job-creating economic plan defies the political gridlock that has paralyzed Washington and shows that we can make government work for the people of this State once again."

Jump below for the statements.

Hoffnung named to key post

Here's a story from this week's Riverdale Review.

By Brendan McHugh 

Ari Hoffnung will start his new position
as deputy comptroller Dec. 19.

Riverdale resident Ari Hoffnung was promoted to deputy comptroller this week.

City Comptroller John C. Liu appointed Hoffnung, 38, to Deputy Comptroller for Public Affairs. Hoffnung, who most recently served as Assistant Comptroller of Budget & Chief Policy Officer, will assume his new role on Dec. 19. He replaces Alan van Capelle, who is departing the comptroller’s office.

“Ari has been a consistent and constant driving force on some of our office’s highest priority initiatives over the past two years, and he's proven to execute with precision,” Liu said in a statement. “Ari also shares my deep commitment to public service and improving city government. I’ve no doubt he will excel even more as part of my leadership team.”

Hoffnung will oversee all operations pertaining to the Public Affairs Bureau of the New York City Comptroller’s Office, which includes the Community Action Center, Public Affairs, and Communications departments.

“I am hopeful that my professional experience in the non-profit, business and government sectors will help me build upon the work of my predecessor, Deputy Comptroller Alan van Capelle,” Hoffnung said in an email.

Jump below for the full story.

HPD kept nearly $10 million in unused funds

Despite being under fire from his own financial situation, City Comptroller John Liu is still at work, announcing that a city agency should have given the city back $9.8 million in unused funds from expired contracts.

The Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) kept $9.8 million that should have been returned to the City treasury, Lui says.

 

“This money could have and should have been used to improve shelters, especially in light of rising homelessness,” Comptroller Liu said.  “If HPD can’t use it right then the money should be put back in the City treasury.”

 

Auditors found that the agency inappropriately used a portion of the funds to supplement its operating budget and get around the budget process. The money uncovered by the audit was part of the HPD’s Relocation Shelter account, which is earmarked for capital expenditures at emergency shelters.  As of October 2010, the agency had accumulated over $9.8 million in excess funds in the account.  The bulk of that money came from contracts that had expired, with HPD holding on to money that could have been used for capital improvements. 

 

The audit recommends that the agency return the $9.8 million to the City treasury. Agencies are not generally permitted to keep unused funds from expired contracts. The audit disagreed with HPD’s assertion that it had received prior permission to retain the unused funds.

 

The scope of the audit was July 1, 2009, through Oct. 31, 2010.

 

Comptroller Liu credited Deputy Comptroller for Audit Tina Kim and the Audit Bureau for presenting the findings. The full report is available at: http://comptroller.nyc.gov/audits

Unemployment in the Bronx three times higher than in Manhattan

Last week, City Comptroller John Liu released data highlighting the disparities in education, race, age and borough throughout the city. Most alarming to Liu is the difference between unemployment between the Bronx and Manhattan.

By borough, the unemployment rate in Manhattan has fallen to 4.7 percent, while in the Bronx it is nearly three times as high at 13.6 percent.

	3Q09	3Q10	3Q11
Bronx	17.8%	17.4%	13.6%
Brooklyn	8.9%	9.1%	11.2%
Manhattan	8.5%	7.1%	4.7%
Queens	11.8%	8.3%	7.2%
Staten Island	4.6%	8.6%	7.1%

While the Bronx has seen unemployment drop over 25 percent since 2009, the fact that it is still nine points higher than Manhattan is troublesome.

“Jobs are vital to everyone regardless of race, age, or zip code. Persistent inequities in unemployment threaten the economic health of the City as a whole,” Liu said. “It’s important that the City economy works for everyone, so the crisis like the one we’ve seen doesn’t happen again. Growth that is unequal, jobs that don’t pay, and gaps in educational achievement and infrastructure investment will only create an unequal playing field and, worse, conditions for another downturn.”

The breakdown was designed to help provide policymakers with a snapshot of areas of persistent unemployment. Even as the city’s overall unemployment rate declined year-on-year – to 8.7 percent in the third quarter of 2011 from 9.5 percent in the same quarter of 2010, and 10.7 percent in 2009 – stubborn disparities are evident.

Jump below for the rest of the statistics, including unemployment broken down by race, age and education levels.

Carrión attempting a city comeback?

One last story from this week's paper. This one on the possibility of former borough president Adolfo Carrión running for city comptroller. Check out Bob Kappstatter's Daily News column to read about how he's heard Carrión may decide to run for his former BP post instead. 

By Brendan McHugh 

After mediocre success on the federal level, it is possible that former Bronx Borough president Adolfo Carrión Jr. could come back to New York to run for city comptroller, which would make him the first Latino to hold a citywide office in New York City.

Carrión has $2.3 million in a campaign account, most of it left over from an abandoned run for comptroller in 2009, according to New York City Campaign finance records.

Carrión was instead tapped to run the White House Office of Urban Affairs in 2009, and left a year later to run the regional office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, a move some consider to be a lateral career move at best—current Public Advocate, Bill de Blasio, had the HUD position under President Bill Clinton before taking citywide office.

The funds the former borough president has amassed put him in good position to run for comptroller, which caps candidates’ total funds at slightly over $4 million.

Jump below for the full story.

Plaque Unveiling Honors Woodlawn as National Landmark

A story that didn't make this week's paper. Enjoy.

By David Greene

At the unveiling are (l-r) Bronx historian Lloyd Ultan, Comptroller John Liu,
Woodlawn President John Toale and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.
Photo by David Greene.

Dozens of Bronxites joined local elected officials in a plaque unveiling, celebrating Woodlawn Cemetery's recent inclusion to a list of America's national landmarks.

At the unveiling, held at Woodlawn on Sunday, Oct. 16, Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. told the crowd, "In the United States, there are 2,500 known landmarks and in the state of New York, we have only 262, and today we are celebrating the 5th national landmark of the Bronx."

Diaz continued, "When you look at the wonderful resurgence and the renaissance of our borough, and the fact that we have been designated as a national historic landmark, it doesn't come easy; it comes with a lot of work."

New York City Comptroller John Liu remarked, "People are coming to the Bronx, no question about it, and in a time when our city and indeed our country is still struggling to get out of what is the deepest recession since the great depression. We have things that we can look forward to and great things are happening right here in the Bronx."

Jump below for the full story.

Diaz slams City's 'living wage' study, again -- UPDATE: Liu jumps in the criticism

Even since the Kingsbridge Armory
developer backed out of creating
a shopping mall due to a living wage
mandate two years ago, the issue has
been a hot topic for high profile
elected officials.

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. is one of the leading supporters of implementing a living wage mandate on projects that receive subsidies from the city, so when the New York City Economic Development Corp. released their final report damning the living wage, Diaz shot back, calling the study "nothing more than a ruse" to support Mayor Bloomberg, who is staunchly opposes the proposed mandate.

Diaz slammed the study earlier this year when the EDC (the city's economic development arm) release early reports of the study.

Here's the story from the New York Post on the study.

Jump below for the full statement, and expect a story from this week's Riverdale Review on the living wage to be posted on this blog tomorrow morning. City Councilman G. Oliver Koppell, one of the sponsors of the bill that would require the living wage, recently made some alterations to the bill in hopes of gaining more support and appeasing the opponents.

Diaz's statement:

"Supporters of the ‘Fair Wages for New Yorkers’ Act have known since the announcement of  NYCEDC’s study of living wage laws  that  it would be nothing more than a ruse designed to provide cover for Mayor Bloomberg’s clearly stated opposition to living wage mandates. The mayor made it clear from the beginning that he does not support this bill, and the City then hired consultants to conduct the study that have long and extensive records of bias against not only living wage laws, but minimum wage laws as well."

Jump below for the full statement as well as City Comptroller John Liu's statement (I'd jump. Liu's statement is fierce).

Waste charged in EDC South Bronx job creation program

Here is a story from this week's Bronx Press. Enjoy.

By Brendan McHugh

The city’s Economic Development Corp. failed to spend $9.3 million meant for job creation and training, most for the Bronx.

According to City Comptroller John Liu, in 1992 the EDC received $8.9 million in exchange for financial breaks for the Riverside South residential development, all of which was intended to benefit the Harlem River Rail Yard in the South Bronx.

“It makes little sense that millions intended for economic development remain unused for so long, especially in the Bronx where jobs are greatly needed,” Liu said.

This Public Purpose Fund, earmarked from the beginning to benefit the rail yard, was fully funded by 2005. An audit by Liu, which found the idle money, recommends the EDC find a way to use the money to benefit the Bronx, “and not wait another 19 years to do so.”

Jump below for the full story.

9/11 remembered by politicians

The 9/11 Memorial in Manhattan.

Jump below for statements from various politicians remembering Sept. 11. Check the upcoming issue of the Riverdale Review and Bronx Press for coverage of the events from this past week.

Local pols react to Obama's job speech (Update)

President Obama, with
Vice President Joe Biden (left)
and Speaker of the House
John Boehner (right) behind him.

Here are statements from Congressman Eliot Engel and City Comptroller John Liu regarding President Obama's speech last night. I've shortened them up quite a bit. Jump below for the statements, as well as videos of Obama's speech.

Update: I found Rep. Jose Serrano's statement, which is posted below the jump.

Engel, who has been clamoring for a jobs bill from the Republican party for months now, had this to say:

“The Republican House promised a ‘laser-like’ focus on jobs during the 2010 campaign, and they have failed to produce a single jobs bill. After the Republican Senate filibustered every jobs bill in 2010, this doesn’t come as a surprise. However, this is too important of an issue to be bogged down in the partisan politics of the past. Out-of-work Americans know no political affiliation.

Poll: NYPD's Ray Kelly the next mayor

Mayor Ray Kelly?

A Quinnipiac poll released yesterday shows NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly is the frontrunner for the next mayor of our fine city. While he hasn't given any hints of running for office in 2013, he would be the candidate to beat, with 23 percent of New Yorkers (17 percent with Democrats) saying they'd like to see him in running the city. That puts him five points ahead of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who polled with 18 percent (20 percent with Democrats).

With Bronxites, Kelly and Quinn came in one-two, but the gap was much smaller. Kelly received 18 percent of the vote to Quinn's 17. However, more Bronxites (22 percent) said they did not know who they would vote for at all.

Other questions asked cover the current mayor, Michael Bloomberg, as well as the other candidates running for office. Not much of a surprise--Bronxites mostly disapprove of how Bloomberg has handled his last term.

In related mayoral news, WNYC put together an interactive graphic of contributions given to candidates, broken down by zip code. The Bronx, by what looks like a landslide, has given the least amount of money to any candidate. That may be because the Bronx doesn't have a hometown candidate (Brooklyn has DeBlasio and Thompson, Manhattan has Stringer and Quinn, Queens has Liu), though it's probably related to a variety of other reasons as well. Although, if you want to make a stretch, Ray Kelly is a Manhattan College alum (MC is in Riverdale, remember! And yes, I'm a former Jasper myself), so if he gets involved in the race he could try to take advantage of the other candidates' lack of Bronx roots.