Bronx Living Wage Campaign Heats Up

Text and Videos By JORDAN MOSS


Untitled from Bronx News Network on Vimeo.

The campaign that would require developers of retail projects receiving taxpayer subsidies to pay a living wage -- $10 with benefits and $11.50 without -- is heating up as advocates press for an April City Council hearing. Council Speaker Christine Quinn has said she would allow hearings on the bill, which has 29 supporters, including every Bronx member of the City Council except for James Vacca of the east Bronx. Vacca was very much on the minds and tongues of numerous speakers at a Living Wage NYC rally last week at the Bronx Pentecostal Deliverance Center on the anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s death.

The legislation was introduced by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., (see the video above) who led the effort to defeat the city’s effort to build a mall at the Armory, mainly because the developer would not guarantee that retail workers be paid a living wage. Council Members Oliver Koppell (speaking in the video below) and Annabel Palma are leading the charge in the Council.


Oliver Koppell Speaks At Living Wage Rally from Bronx News Network on Vimeo.

Mayor Bloomberg is on record opposing the bill, but with five more backers, the Council would have enough votes to override his veto.

Bloomberg Makes Armory Dig; Still Against Living Wage Bill

Mayor Bloomberg was in the Boogie Down today to announce a new housing initiative (see the story here) at a press conference in Kingsbridge Heights.

In a question-and-answer session afterwards, one reporter asked the Mayor if his stance on the City Council's Living Wage bill has changed, in light of new concessions proponents made this week to make the legislation more appealing to the business community. The Mayor, though, is staying staunch in his opposition.

"The marketplace is telling us that businesses can only afford so much," Bloomberg responded. "I don't think government should be in the businesses of setting wages."

"Here in the Bronx, we had an opportunity to fill a building, and it wasn't done," he continued.

The building in question, of course, is the long-vacant Kingsbridge Armory, where Bloomberg had pushed for the development of a shopping mall last winter. The controversial plan was killed by the City Council because the developer, Related Companies, refused to guarantee a living wage pay for workers.

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., and community groups like the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, were two of the Armory's biggest living wage proponents, and were present at today's press conference.

The living wage legislation that's been proposed in City Council came directly out of the Armory debate; it would require projects that receive taxpayer subsidies over a certain amount to pay workers $10 an hour, plus benefits.

Supporters of the bill are hosting a rally tonight in Harlem at Convent Avenue Baptist Church, 420 W. 145th Street, at 6:30 p.m.

Editorial: The Armory Vote a Year Later

Editor's note: the following editorial is from the most recent edition of the Norwood News, which is out and online now.

It’s the one-year anniversary of the nearly unanimous City Council vote that scuttled the mayor’s juggernaut to stuff a cookie-cutter mall inside the landmark Kingsbridge Armory.

In that time, the city’s two tabloids, the New York Post and the Daily News, have taken every opportunity to whack at Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. for his opposition to the project, which gave the necessary juice to a community and labor-backed effort to defeat it in the City Council.

Regular readers know where we stand on this, but as long as the editorial boards of the city dailies continue to harp on this, we are compelled to reiterate our position.

For more than a decade, community organizations led by the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition hammered out plans for a remake of the facility that made room for recreation, community programming, small businesses, a movie theater, etc.

Related, the city’s chosen developer, never offered details on what it was going to provide except for retail. Despite this and the clear sense that the Armory would be a mall pure and simple, the community’s only firm request in the end was that people had to be paid a living wage, particularly when the developer was going to receive over $70 million in taxpayer subsidies to remake a public landmark.

It was hardly an outlandish request. Several other municipalities have enacted wage guarantees on development projects benefiting from taxpayer subsidies.

It hasn’t been required in New York City, but, thanks to the Armory battle, living wage requirements are now an issue with wings as legislation is being considered in the City Council. (It won’t pass this year, but it will be back on the docket and a priority in 2011, says Council Majority Leader Joel Rivera.) That’s why all the Manhattan-based big-shots are so mad at Diaz. He picked a big, risky fight and he’s winning.

We might have a little more patience for the tabloid tirades if they ever really gave a whit about the Bronx when it mattered. Where were they when the Yankees took subsidies and local parkland for their stadium, delaying some local replacement parks as much as three years? They were cheerleading the project along.

What have they said about the scandal-plagued water filtration plant that ripped a stadium-sized hole in a local park, costing water rate payers $2 billion more than the original billion-dollar price tag? Right, nothing.

Yes, jobs are critical, but what’s even more critical is laying a foundation of fairness that has long eluded the borough. That includes jobs that pay decent wages and a real role in determining what is done with our precious public property.

Whatever the tabloids say, Diaz helped lay the cornerstone for that foundation, and we applaud him for it.

Diaz Opposed to Administration's Living Wage Compromise Proposal for Armory

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. is joining the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA) and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Workers Union (RWDSU) in opposition to a compromise on living wage jobs at the Kingsbridge Armory, a proposal currently being mulled by the Bronx City Council delegation.

The still murky and complicated proposal would create a fund that Armory mall employees could opt into and would augment their checks. The proposal would not guarantee a living wage ($10 an hour plus benefits) for Amory employees, something Diaz has fought for since August.

For more details on the compromise deal, click here.

“From the first day I got involved in the issue of the redevelopment of the Kingsbridge Armory, I made it crystal clear that I would not support this project unless it included a guarantee that the employees at the future retail center would be paid a living wage. Though the wage supplement provisions that the Bloomberg administration has put forward represent a major step forward compared to our negotiations six months ago, there is no guarantee. With that said, I will continue to oppose this project, and I urge the members of the City Council to do the same,” said Borough President Diaz in a press release.

Diaz said that while he opposes the project as is, he's encouraged by the work and progress made by his office, community leaders and other Bronx elected officials.

He also says he's hopeful that this fight will lead to a change in how the city and state does development in the future. He wants to see legislation mandating living wage for employees at projects where developers receive city and/or state subsidies and tax breaks.

'Neverending' Armory Negotiations Update

I loved the headline for today's Daily News story on the ongoing (and going) negotiations over the Kingsbridge Armory shopping mall proposal: "NEVERENDING DEAL" in huge type. Very accurate.

From what we hear, the Bronx delegation and the city aren't much closer to striking a community benefits agreement that would include living wage job guarantees. Word is the Council is going to string this out until Monday, the drop dead deadline for an Armory decision.

But that doesn't mean there hasn't been extensive discussions and plenty of action.

Last night, some Council members and staffers were trading ideas with administration staffers until almost midnight. Today, discussions went from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Just to quickly recap, the Bronx delegation has said they will vote down the Related Companies proposal to turn the Armory into a shopping mall unless there is an agreement in place that would guarantee employees at the revamped old drill hall a living wage ($10 an hour, plus benefits).

The latest proposal, which would not require Armory tenants to pay their workers a living wage, but instead would create a sort of wage fund that would subsidize workers' pay checks, is being vehemently opposed by the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA) and their allies, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Workers Union (RWDSU).

"All Bloomberg is offering is a 'Bah Humbug' and a lump of coal," said KARA's Desiree Pilgrim-Hunter after meeting with members of the Bronx City Council delegation. "This is a bad deal for the Bronx and all New Yorkers and we are calling on the Council to vote it down. The so-called living wage fund that the Administration is proposing is nothing but a subsidized poverty fund. It doesn't mandate employers to pay living wages.Low wage workers are already on food stamps, Medicaid, and Section 8. We don't need to subsidize poverty we need a mandatory living wage paid by employers!"

"Bronx workers need a living wage. But Mike Bloomberg, the richest man in New York, feels $10 an hour is too much to pay working people. His proposals would condemn them to a life of poverty wages and reliance on charity. Workers in the Bronx need jobs with living wages and benefits," said Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union and a co-convener of KARA.

Here's a few details on the wage proposal being pushed by the Bloomberg administration and Related, a proposal that the Bronx delegation is currently weighing.

-The city would give Related a $1 million discount on the sale price of the Armory, dropping the price from $5 million to $4 million. (Blue book on the Armory is somewhere around $20 million.)

-In exchange, Related would give up an additional 18,000 square feet of retail space (in addition to the 27,000 square feet they will be setting aside for community space.

-That 45,000 square feet will be operated by some kind of nonprofit wage fund organization that would use the rent profits of that space and the initial infusion of the $4 million sale price to subsidize the paychecks of Armory mall workers.

-At this point, only retail workers at the Armory would be eligible, meaning anyone working at the cinema or in the mall's food court would be out of luck.

-It's still unclear whether this would amount of funding would be enough to get Armory employees up to a living wage.

-The city and delegation have discussed additional benefits, but it's unclear exactly what those would include.

This appears to be the furthest the city and Related is willing to go at this at this point. It's also the best wage deal ever offered for a city-subsidized project. (But that's not saying much, given the Bloomberg administration's strong aversion to setting any kind of wage or benefits requirements on development deals.)

Bloomberg is now injecting himself into the conversation, where before it was just his Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber and the staff of the Economic Development Corporation. At one point earlier today, he walked into the Council office where the Bronx delegation was meeting, grabbed a bag of popcorn, and hung out for a while. It's no secret he wants this deal to go through.

Meanwhile, Council Speaker Christine Quinn refuses to publicly take a side on the Armory issue. Yesterday, when I asked for her stance, she declined to say (like a steamroller running over an ant) whether she supported living wage job guarantees at city-subsidized projects like the Armory.

We'll find out in the next few days if the Bronx delegation takes the offer and moves the project forward or is willing to vote down the project without a more substantial guarantee of living wage.

Feel free to weigh in here in the comments section. Do you think this is a good deal for the Bronx? Do you think the plan should be scrapped and we should start all over? We want to hear from you.

No Deal Yet, But Bronx Delegation Hopeful

The short-hand version is that there was no deal reached between the city and the Bronx delegation on a community benefits agreement that would include living wage job guarantees ($10 an hour, plus benefits). But things are moving in a positive direction and the delegation is hopeful that a deal will get done that will provide living wage jobs at the Kingsbridge Armory.

That's a far cry from earlier this morning, when the delegation was prepared to kill the project.

Now, the longer version.

The meetings of the Zoning and Franchises and Land Use committees has been pushed back until at least Friday, but possibly all the way until Monday -- the drop dead deadline for a Council decision on the Armory project. This is key because if the Council doesn't act on Monday, then the fate of the project will be up to the City Planning Commission, which approved of it, benefits agreement or not, six weeks ago.

"We won't let that happen," said Council speaker Joel Rivera, who has thrust himself into a citywide spotlight on this issue.

Live from City Hall: Armory Negotiations Heating Up

We're live from City Hall, where a bunch of reporters, KARA reps, union folks and Related Companies officials (also just saw Avi Kaner, part-owner of Morton Williams supermarkets, which has its headquarters across from the Armory) are milling about, playing the waiting game.

All of us are waiting for an update on negotiations between the city and the Bronx delegation of the City Council on an Armory community benefits that would include guarantees of living wage jobs ($10 and hour plus benefits).

Earlier today, we reported that negotiations fell apart last night.

At about 10 a.m., Council member Joel Rivera, who, along with fellow Bronxite Annabel Palma, is taking a leadership role in these negotiations, made an announcement that the Council was prepared to vote down the plan unless the delegation heard from the city and/or Related (at this point we can lump them together as one negotiating team) in an hour.

Clearly, the city came back to the table and the two sides have been talking for the past couple of hours. A little before noon, Rivera and the delegation went from the Council side of City Hall over the mayor's side, which means that perhaps these talks are going higher up the ladder or have entered a new phase.

I just heard from KARA representatives that the main sticking point appears to be which party is ultimately responsible for making sure employees at the revamped shopping mall are paid a living wage.

On Monday, the Bronx delegation put forth a proposal that would create a fund that would subsidize wages at the Armory mall. That's still the proposal on the table. But if the fund doesn't pay fully for the wages, which appears likely, who is responsible for paying the rest of the wage? Related, the owner of the property? The city, which is pushing the project? Or tenants, the shop owners at the mall?

What's clear is that, from all the attention being placed on providing living wage jobs at city-subsidized development projects like the Armory, the issue is not going away any time soon.

And we may not get a definitive answer on negotiations anytime soon. A meeting of the entire Council, scheduled for 1:30 p.m., has been postponed because of the Bronx delegation's deliberations with the city.

Just saw the entire Bronx delegation briskly pass by, going from mayor's side back to the council side. Are they weighing the merits of the city's latest compromise? Lunch?

All Rivera would say is: "we're working, we're working." Well, that's something.

One last tidbit for now: Council member-elect Fernando Cabera (14th District) is in on the negotiations. Where's Maria Baez?

Stay tuned.

Armory Deal Falls Through, Bronx Delegation Meeting

Just spoke with Council Member Joel Rivera, who was at City Hall getting some coffee and preparing to meet with other members of the Bronx delegation.

The Zoning and Franchises Committee, which Rivera sits on, was supposed to meet this morning to vote on the Kingsbridge Armory mall project, but that clearly isn't going to happen.

Rivera said negotiations with the Armory's developer, the Related Companies (working with the strong backing of the Bloomberg administration and Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber), on a community benefits agreement that would include guarantees of living wage jobs, was no longer "moving in a positive direction."

As recently as last night, Rivera said, "We had a semblance of a deal in place, but then it fell apart." Rivera didn't go into detail on what broke the deal, but he said the ball was in Related's court and he was waiting for them to come back to the table.

If they don't, and no deal on living wage jobs is in place, he said the Council was prepared to vote the project down. But, he added, "the could change in five minutes."

Stay tuned, we'll keep you posted on the latest developments.

With Negotiations Moving, Bronx Delegation Looks to Postpone Armory Vote; Onus Now on Related

Reporting here from Kingsbridge Armory Central.

As Jordan mentioned in our previous post, negotiations for an unprecedented community benefits agreement (with a guarantee of living wage jobs, $10 an hour plus benefits) as part of the Kingsbridge Armory shopping mall project are about as fluid as the Bronx River at this point.

But this is what we know as of 6:08 p.m. on Tuesday, with a vote on the project scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.

The Bronx Council delegation met with Related representatives (the Armory's designated developer) and Deputy Mayor (for economic development) Robert Lieber on Friday. Related/Lieber laid out a proposal they were comfortable with. But the proposal didn't "mandate or guarantee living wage. Not something the delegation was interested in," said Council Majority Leader Joel Rivera in a text message over the weekend.

Yesterday, at a meeting with Related/Lieber at 12:30 p.m., the delegation responded with a deal that would effectively subsidize living wage jobs at the Armory shopping mall without forcing retail tenants to pay the full wage themselves. These were the main points outlined in the deal:

• language in leases mandating participation in providing living wage to all employees (for all retail tenants).
• The City will subsidize the living wage via a funding pot; the full purchase price of the Armory ($5 million) will be the initial funding for the pot.
• And increase of community space from 27,000 sq. feet to 45,000 sq. feet, which would help fund the living wage pot over time.
• 5% of Related's rent profits fromt eh Armory mall to be contributed to living wage funding pot.
  

Now, according to one council staffer at the meeting, Lieber said any mandate that tenants would have to pay a living wage would be a non-starter, which has been the consistent position of Related and the Bloomberg administration since the beginning.

However, the staffer said Rivera told Lieber that the delegation's proposal was not simply a mandate. It would, in essence, be a nonprofit fund created to subsidize wages at the Armory. This would eat into Related's profit, but not the bottom line of retail tenants.

This is where it gets interesting. Related lawyer and lead negotiator Jesse Masyr has made it clear that Related's stance against a living wage mandate wasn't about Related's profit margin, it was about not being able to attract tenants to fill the building.

Masyr has said all along that he couldn't put requirements and/or restrictions on tenants when they could easily set up shop somewhere else (across the street, Westchester County, etc.) in a situation where they wouldn't have to deal with those requirements. And if Related couldn't attract tenants, Mayr reasoned, they couldn't secure a loan for the $300-plus million they would need to build out the shopping mall.

The delegation's plan appears to have rendered Related's argument moot. The burden would be on the city (to give up the $5 million for the sale of the Armory) and Related (to give up additional space and a percentage of rent profits), not retail tenants.

Based on the progress made yesterday, delegation members were looking to postpone the scheduled vote on the Armory to allow for more negotiations. Perhaps until Monday, the deadline for a decision on the Armory project by the Council. Another option, that Rivera has posited recently, would be to modify the proposal and send it back to City Planning, which would push the vote back even further, to Dec. 21.

Today, Related came back with a counter-proposal, though delegation members are keeping quiet about what that contained. Delegation staffers would only say that negotiations were "ongoing."

There's no word as of yet on whether the vote's being pushed back or if a deal has been struck. As Bret Collazzi, a spokesman for Bronx Council member Jimmy Vacca, put it to me in an e-mail, "this may go to the wire."

One other note: The Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA) is treating tomorrow as if the vote will happen and is continuing to urge the Council to vote down the proposal if it doesn't contain a strong CBA that includes living wage job guarantees, among other benefits.

To fortify this effort, they've also undertaken a massive letter writing campaign (incorporating the supportive letters of clergy from throughout the city) outlining their stance on living wage.

They'll also be at City Hall tomorrow, with a press conference featuring Stuart Appelbaum of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Workers Union (RWDSU, KARA's biggest ally) scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

Committee Armory Vote Scheduled for Thursday

[Update, 2:26 p.m., according the City Council's online agenda for the Zoning and Franchises Subcommittee tomorrow morning, the four land use changes that Related and the EDC are applying for with regards to the Armory project are up for discussion (and a vote?). They are listed as agenda items 2 through 5. There have been rumors swirling that the vote will get pushed back until next Wednesday, but we haven't been able to confirm anything.]

Tomorrow, the City Council Zoning and Franchises Subcommittee as well as the Land Use Committee, are scheduled to vote on whether or not to recommend approval of the Kingsbridge Armory redevelopment to the City Council. The City Council is scheduled to vote on the development on Dec. 9.

Over the past weeks, the developer, Related Companies, and the Bronx City Council delegation have been at a standstill over the main issue of the shopping mall development: providing a living wage ($10 an hour plus benefits) for retail workers. If both factions refuse to back down, both the Zoning and Franchises Subcommittee and the City Council appear poised to reject Related’s proposal and start from scratch.

Related insists that including a living wage requirement will deter retail companies from setting up shop in the mall. They believe the community will benefit from the 2,200 jobs created during and after construction of the mall, regardless of wage level.

Meanwhile, the Bronx delegation, along with an apparent majority of the Zoning and Franchising Subcommittee, hold that guaranteeing living wage jobs is a small fee for Related to pay, since they stand to make a bundle off of the development. They say the jobs currently being offered at the proposed Armory mall would do nothing to lift a community mired in poverty.

Besides rejecting the proposal, the subcommittee could vote to modify the proposal and, in return, gain 15 days for the Bronx delegation to negotiate with Related. Last week, Bronx Councilman Joel Rivera, who sits on the Zoning and Franchises Subcommittee, said he would like to push the final City Council voting deadline from Dec. 9 to Dec. 21.

The Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA) fears that delaying the vote will only allow the Bloomberg administration, which is in favor of the development and against living wage guarantees, more time to influence Council members.

“[Related has] had well over two years to negotiate,” said KARA’s Desiree Pilgrim-Hunter. “They met with the Bronx delegation twice and they have left them empty handed."

Check back on the blog tomorrow for an update of how the subcommittee votes on the proposal.

Armory Vote to be Pushed to Dec. 21

Despite meeting face-to-face on at least two recent Saturdays, the Bronx City Council delegation and the Related Companies are not budging on the issue of living wage in the Kingsbridge Armory redevelopment project.

But it an effort to buy some more time for negotiations, the Zoning and Planning Subcommittee will most likely vote to nominally modify Related’s proposal to turn the Armory into a shopping mall, which will postpone the committee’s final voting deadline from Dec. 9 to Dec. 21.

Related insists that including a living wage requirement will deter retail companies from setting up shop in the mall, while the Bronx delegation, along with an apparent majority of the Zoning and Franchises Subcommittee, insist that a living wage ($10 an hour plus benefits) is a small fee for Related to pay, since they stand to make a bundle off of the development in addition to receiving tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies.

On Nov. 23, in an effort to work out the living wage issue, Zoning and Franchises decided to forgo further questioning of the Bloomberg administration in order to let the Bronx delegation meet with Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber, a supporter of Related’s development proposal. No representatives from Related attended the meeting.

One Council staffer who attended the meeting said both sides had their say, but no concessions were made. “The Council has drawn a line in the sand,” the staffer said. “Living wage is the deal breaker on both sides.”

While the Council has until Dec. 9 to vote up or down on the proposal, Bronx Councilman Joel Rivera, who sits on the Zoning and Franchises Subcommittee, says the committee will vote that day to modify the proposal and, in return, gain 15 days for the Bronx delegation to negotiate with Related and Leiber.

Rivera said that modifying the proposal had little relevance to the project and was a procedural move to delay the vote. “We can modify just about anything,” he said. “In this case bureaucracy works in our favor.”

If Related does not budge on the living wage issue, the Bronx delegation, as well as the majority of the Zoning and Franchises Subcommittee, appears willing to let the Armory lie vacant for the foreseeable future. “It is not like the community is desperate for retail,” Rivera said. “I would rather [the armory] sit vacant and hold out for a better deal.”

The Bronx delegation’s firm stance on the importance of a living wage seems to have influenced the Council's approaches to other proposals. On the same day as the Zoning and Franchises Subcommittee on the armory, Council members Larry Seabrook of the Bronx and Helen Sears of Queens both asked about providing a living wage to construction workers at another Related development on the west side of Manhattan at the Western Rail Yard. Related responded that the issue of a living wage had not been discussed concerning that development. 

--This article was reported and written by Molly Ryan

City Council Grills Armory Developer on Living Wage

KARA supporters gather outside of City Hall to protest the redevelopment of the Kingsbridge Armory without a living wage.

Requiring developers of city property to guarantee a living wage for retail employees may have seemed far-fetched to some observers six months ago.

Not anymore.

At the City Council’s hearing on the Related Companies’ proposal to turn the Kingsbridge Armory into a giant shopping mall, virtually the entire Zoning and Franchising Subcommittee, (which will be the only Council committee to hold a hearing on the project) grilled company representatives on the living wage issue.

Council Member Larry Seabrook, who sits on the committee and represents the northeast Bronx, said that overall unemployment figures don’t reflect the vast numbers of jobless in the borough’s African American and Latino communities – a figure he cited as 55 percent. He said he believed the project would not be harmed by a living wage requirement. “I don’t think providing living wages will destroy the project,” he said.

Another member of the committee, Eric Gioia of Queens, said the only way that workers will survive on a minimum wage is if “the government subsidizes workers through food stamps.” He added that without a community benefits agreement (CBA), Related will “keep the neighborhood poor.”

Meanwhile, the Bloomberg administration, which presented a united front with Related, held to their position that the proposed deal with Related (which includes millions in tax breaks and bargain-basement price tag of $5 million for the facility) is the best that can be achieved.

“We have the best project we can possibly get,” said Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber. “We want to make sure we don’t miss this opportunity to begin construction.”

And Related spokesman Jesse Masyr told the committee that requiring living wage jobs ($10 an hour with benefits) was not realistic. The retailers “can go anywhere else in the Bronx,” he said, adding later, “We wouldn’t be doing any justice promising something we can’t guarantee.

Other members pressing Related on the living wage were Robert Jackson, Albert Vann, Helen Sears and Joel Rivera, who has taken a leadership role among the Council delegation in opposing the project without a negotiated CBA.

“In my book, this is an economic exploitation project,” Rivera said. Later he said, “We need to change the conversation with the administration.”

Even Council Member Oliver Koppell, who has been the least enthusiastic about a living wage requirement among the Bronx Council delegation, put the heat on Related. Citing a New York Times story from this week about other cities that have had living wage agreements, Koppell, who doesn’t sit on Zoning and Franchises, told the company, “I would like to see a presentation that shows me why [living wages] cannot be financed.” He also suggested that the Council might want to pass a living wage law.

The hearing room was packed with members of the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA), which includes union members as well as local residents and activists. Members of construction unions, however, spoke in favor of supporting Related’s plans even without a CBA.

Because the committee felt it needed more time to question city officials, they have scheduled a public meeting on Nov. 23, but the public will not be able to testify.

The nine members of Zoning and Franchises, which is chaired by KARA supporter Tony Avella of Queens, as well as the full Land Use Committee, must vote on the project by Dec. 9.

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, who has taken a firm stance on the living wage requirement, summed up his argument, which seems to be gaining traction just as Mayor Bloomberg, whose mayoralty has been defined by its partnership with developers, suits up for a third term.

“I do want to see new jobs created in my borough,” Diaz testified. “But these jobs must be created in the right way. The old model, that any job is better than no job, is no longer acceptable.”

This piece was written by Jordan Moss and reported by Molly Ryan and Jordan Moss.

Diaz and Bronx Council Delegation to Meet with Armory Developer Tomorrow; Council Hearing Set for Tuesday

Earlier today, with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. said he had a little insider tip for the Bronx News Network. Tomorrow, Diaz said, he and members of the Bronx Council delegation would be meeting with representatives from the Related Companies, the developer with plans to turn the massive and vacant Kingsbridge Armory into a shopping mall.

This is the second meeting in the last few weeks between Bronx elected officials and Related as they hammer out the details of a community benefits agreement -- a binding document that would outline other benefits Related would give back to the community in exchange for letting them set up shop in the Armory. In the benefits agreement, Diaz, community groups and unions are pushing for Related to require its mall tenants to pay their employees a living wage ($10, plus benefits). Related has said living wage requirements would be a deal-breaker. Both sides have hinted that there might be a compromise out there.

At the 52nd Precinct Council's annual breakfast this morning, Diaz spoke about many things, including the need for better jobs in the Bronx that pay a living wage. He said he was tired of the Bronx's high rates of unemployment and poverty. He wants development to happen in the Bronx, he said, but it needed to come with good jobs.

The news of tomorrow's meeting with Related is big for a couple of reasons. For one, it marks a 180-degree turnaround from where negotiatins were just a month ago, which was nowhere. It could also have an impact on what happens at the Council's hearing on the Armory project, which is set for sometime on Tuesday.

Diaz said he hasn't decided yet whether or not he will testify or what he would say if he did testify. At the City Planning Commission hearing in September, Diaz urged the commission's board members to reject Related's plan because the developer had not seriously worked at negotiating a community benefits agreement. The Commission approved the project, but it was an 8-4 vote, closer than most.

By Tuesday, depending on what Diaz does (or doesn't do) at the hearing, we should know how negotiations have progressed.

Diaz added that he's proud of the Bronx Council delegation, which he said is presenting a united front during negotiations with Related.

While most of the delegation has publicly expressed support for Diaz's benefits agreement efforts, Council member Maria Baez, who's district includes the Armory, is nowhere to be found and is said to be dealing with some serious health problems. There were rumors swirling that Baez was going to vote for the project, with or without a benefits agreement in place. But one of her top aides says she's always been supportive of a community benefits agreement and Diaz says he hasn't heard one way or the other.

Either way, this project is generating more discussion in the Council than any development in recent memory, according to Diaz and other Council members.

Stay tuned. This is getting interesting.

Liu Supports Living Wage Job Requirements at the Kingsbridge Armory; Barron Backs Diaz's Efforts

Photo: Council member and Comptroller-elect John Liu supports a living wage requirement at the Armory.

With the Bronx City Council delegation coalescing around Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr.'s push for living wage requirements and a strong community benefits agreement as part of the redevelopment of the Kingsbridge Armory, other members from the outer boroughs are also starting to express their support.

On Monday night, during an interview on "BronxTalk," Queens Council member and Comptroller-elect John Liu told host Gary Axelbank that he supported the inclusion of a living wage requirement for retail tenants at a revamped Armory mall.

"We want to make sure development deals [like the Armory project] create decent paying jobs for Bronxites," Liu said. He added later that a strong community benefits agreement deal like the one Diaz has proposed would "set the standard for Bronxites and the rest of the city as well."

The problem, he said, is that workers in the Bronx and the rest of the city aren't getting paid enough to live on. "The concept of living wage is that minimum wage isn't sustainable for any families or any working class people."

Related has repeatedly said a living wage requirment would essentially kill the project because the developer wouldn't be able to attract tenants with those types of restrictions in place.

But Liu said the requirement should not be a deal-breaker because Related is getting millions in tax breaks and is buying the Armory for well below market value.

"[Living wage] is not an imposition on the private sector because it only comes into play when companies, like Related, are getting a large accomodation from the city," Liu said.

In the end, he thinks a deal will get hammered out before the Council votes sometime in December. (See the whole interview here.)

In a phone interview today with Norwood News reporter Alex Gibbons, Brooklyn Council member Charles Barron said he supported Diaz's efforts in negotiating a strong benefits agreement that would include living wage.

Barron, who, like Liu, is on the Council's land use committee, which will be looking at the merits of the project next Tuesday during a public hearing, said that such an agreement would amount to a revolution in New York City. Although he said he couldn't tie his vote to (or make it contingent upon) the signing of a benefits agreement, he said, "it would set a positive precedent...it's the right way to go."

With Council members lining up in support of Diaz's living wage push, it will be interesting to see if Mayor Bloomberg "goes to bat for Related" and tries to squash this precent-setting proposal, as one "Council insider" told the Daily News' Bob Kappstatter earlier this week.

Kingsbridge Armory: Bronx Delegation Taking Push for History-Making Benefits Agreement to the Council

Photo (by Adi Talwar): Council Majority Leader Joel Rivera is helping set the stage at City Hall for an unprecedented community benefits agreement with one of the city's biggest developers.

(This story was written by Alex Kratz and Jordan Moss, with additional reporting by Molly Ryan and Katie Riordan.)

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. and the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA) have been lobbying Bronx City Council members to reject the Related Companies’ plan to redevelop the Kingsbridge Armory into a giant shopping mall unless the firm sits down to negotiate a binding community benefits agreement with elected officials and community stakeholders.

They seem to be having success.

Recently, Bronx Council members have had productive meetings with Related officials and Council Speaker Christine Quinn in an effort to get a community benefits agreement (CBA) signed before the Council votes on the project. Diaz, KARA and members of Community Board 7 sent a draft CBA proposal to Related earlier this fall, but the developer said the demands contained in the proposal, most notably a living wage requirement for all retail tenants at the completed Armory mall, were unreasonable.

Council Member Joel Rivera told the Norwood News on Wednesday that he and several other Bronx Council members are coalescing around the borough president who has taken a strong position on the project. The more united the Bronx Council members are the more likely Council members in other boroughs will follow their lead.

Rivera's position is also important because he is the Council's majority leader and sits on the both Council panels that will review the project – the Zoning and Franchises Subcommittee and the Land Use Committee.

Rivera also said that Council Member Larry Seabrook who is on Zoning and Franchises and Maria del Carmen Arroyo, who is on Land Use, are with him. And Councilmember Annabel Palma, who has been mentioned as a successor to outgoing Bronx delegation leader Maria Baez, told the Norwood News that she is firmly in Diaz's corner.

“The Kingsbridge Armory project presents a unique opportunity for the Bronx to set a new standard of responsible development for all five boroughs of New York City, and perhaps even beyond the city’s borders,” Palma said in a statement her office e-mailed to the Norwood News. “It is essential that the redevelopment plans for the Armory reflect the community's clearly expressed wish for an appropriate mix of educational, retail, entertainment, recreational and service needs.”

She added: “My support of this project is contingent upon project developers agreeing to hire, to the fullest extent possible, local residents and to guarantee them ‘living wage’ jobs, both during the construction period and with the businesses that will occupy the as-built space.”

The living wage requirement ($10 and hour, plus benefits) is a critical element that KARA and Diaz want in a CBA, but it is also the one that Related claims it can never fulfill.

Jesse Masyr, Related’s lawyer and lead negotiator, said if living wage requirements are imposed, it won’t ever get off the ground. Masyr says banks will not bankroll the project because Related won’t be able to attract tenants.

Rivera isn’t buying it. He said Related is using the position as a negotiating strategy and doesn’t believe the requirement would prevent them from attracting tenants. “They’re going to make beaucoup dollars on this,” Rivera said. He added later, “I’m not crying and sympathizing with someone that’s generated an expensive wealth from developments all over the city and around the country. At some point they’re going to have to come around to living wage.”

Both Rivera and Masyr said there was room for compromise.

Sources familiar with the situation say that Council Member Maria Baez is in favor of the project, which is in her district, regardless of whether a benefits agreement is in place. But Rivera, who is close to Baez, said he's trying to work behind the scenes to get her to join with the rest of the delegation. Baez, who hasn't appeared in public in weeks and is said to be in poor health, lost her bid for reelection to Fernando Cabrera, but she'll be in office through the end of the year.

Rivera also said that Council Speaker Christine Quinn told the delegation that she's neutral on the Armory project and shepherding it through the Council is not a priority for her, which is tantamount to allowing the delegation's wishes to carry the day.

Other Bronx Council members are not yet showing all their cards but may yet fall in line with the rest of the delegation.

Council Member James Vacca is supportive of the issues important to Diaz and KARA but fell short of saying that he'd oppose the plan without a CBA.

“The final Armory agreement must speak to meaningful jobs and community improvement,” Vacca said in an e-mail statement. “At this point, the proposal is far from what it should be and we have just begun discussions with Council Speaker Christine Quinn designed to bring our borough’s needs to the table. Community benefits and jobs are very much on my radar.”

Council Member Oliver Koppell says there needs to be a CBA but that he won't commit to a particular formulation on the wage issue.

A Council hearing on the project was set for Nov. 12 but, in what is probably good news for CBA advocates who would like a little more time to get as many Council members on board and possibly even negotiate an agreement, it has been pushed back to Nov. 17. Rivera said Council leaders have agreed to hold the vote on the project until the end of the mandated review period, which would push it into early December at the earliest.

Diaz Calls Economic Development Fight at Armory ‘A New Civil Rights Movement’

Bronx B.P. Diaz delighted the crowd with his demand for living wage jobs at the Armory.
(All photos by Adi Talwar)

Speaking before a crowd of at least 1,000 people who mobbed the gym floor at St. Nicholas of Tolentine School last Sunday, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. said the battle for living wages jobs at the Kingsbridge Armory was the beginning of a movement for economic justice in the borough, calling it “our new revolution here, our new civil rights movement.”

The Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition organized the forum, called “A Blueprint for the Bronx,” to lay out their agenda on a broad range of issues at the federal, state, and city level, including immigration reform, universal healthcare, vacancy decontrol, and overcrowded schools. But most of the crowd said they were there to support community efforts to ensure living wage jobs and school space at the Kingsbridge Armory.

People came from all over the Bronx, and many came straight from church. They arrived singing hymns in English and Spanish and carrying homemade signs and banners with the name of their congregations. Many arrived on buses organized by their church.

"We're protesting about the armory. We want to make the decision about what goes in the armory," like a school, said Greg Miller, who came on a bus with, he estimated, 60 other people from Walker Memorial Baptist Church on East 169th Street. "We have enough stores around here," he said.

"We don't need any more stores in the Bronx," agreed Idrena Adams of the East Bronx, who came with members of her congregation from St. James Church nearby. "We want better jobs, better pay."

A group from University Heights Presbyterian Church arrived and stood outside singing hallelujah and clapping as they waited to sing in and enter the gym. Rev. Brenda Berry said they had come "In support of the Armory project, to fight for full-time jobs for the Bronx and a whole new focus on what the Bronx needs." She was expecting 100 members of her congregation to show up.

The Tolentine gym was filled to capacity.

Inside, people packed the gym in the basement of the Tolentine Church, filling folding chairs, bleachers, and standing along the walls, waving small flags that read "Blueprint for the Bronx." Signs on the walls said, "Say no way to poverty pay!" and "Save our jobs! Vote No!"

Up on stage, elected officials and clergy members sat facing the audience, and for two hours, NWBCC organizers, local clergy, and local elected officials spoke, interspersed with music, dance, and a poetry recital. Members of the NWBCC pulled elected officials up to the microphone and asked them to answer straight on the coalition's agenda, ranging from banking reform to, of course, the armory.

Switching back and forth between Spanish and English for the benefit of the crowd, Diaz focused on the Armory, and what he called, "our new revolution here, our new civil rights movement."

"I want to do business in the Bronx,” Diaz said, [but] “it is not radical to simply say, a) we should protect surrounding businesses and b) we should have jobs and living wages," Diaz said. ""You want to do business, we can do business. But business has to be good for everybody. "

‘Bronx has my back!’

Diaz added that the political pressure on him to support the deal with Related before a community benefits agreement has been signed has been intense. "But I know the Bronx has my back!" he shouted, bringing the crowd to its feet in a din of cheers and whistles.

After his speech, Diaz told the Bronx News Network he didn't yet have the support of the full Bronx delegation in the City Council, which will vote on the project next month. "If Related does not want to negotiate, I will ask the City Council to vote no," he said, adding that he had a three-hour breakfast with the Bronx delegation on Saturday. But, he said, "I'm not willing to guarantee that the entire delegation is together" right now.

Diaz said the vote earlier this month at the City Planning Commission, in which two other borough presidents directed their representatives to vote with him against the plan, was encouraging: "I think the tone is changing,” he said. “I think they [Related] realize we have a lot of support outside the borough."

As for the Council members present at the forum, Joel Rivera, the Council’s majority leader who represents the 15th District, promised to vote no on the project unless Related negotiates with KARA. Asked about her position when she left the meeting, Melinda Katz of Queens, who chairs the Council’s Land Use Committee, was noncommittal. “I’m here to support the Coalition,” she said.

[We were not able to approach Councilman Oliver Koppell, who represents the northwest Bronx and has long taken an interest in the Armory, and Robert Jackson of Manhattan for their positions before they left.

Council Member Maria Baez, who was defeated for reelection in the September primary and will leave office at the end of this year, was not in attendance, even though Tolentine and the armory are in her district.]

March to the Armory

After the forum, the remains of the crowd marched to the Kingsbridge Armory, breaking into intermittent shouts of "Si, se puede!" and "Yes, we can!"

Queens councilman Tony Avella, chair of the City Council's Zoning & Franchises committee, turned up to tell the crowd, "Until you get what you want, I'm voting no."

Councilman Tony Avella of Queens spoke to the crowd at the Armory.

As the crowd dispersed, NWBCC organizers passed out small 'prayer cards' with residents' wishes for the armory written on them, for protesters to tie to the armory fence.

As she fastened a string of the prayer cards to the fence, Anne Gibbons, a Kingsbridge resident who came with members of her congregation at New Day Church, said she was hopeful that momentum was building around the issue. "This could be the start of a new direction across the city," she said, when elected officials "take a political risk in favor of the people for a change."

--This story was reported and written by Rachel Waldholz.

More Labor Groups Joining Fight for Benefits Agreement, Living Wage at Armory; Rally Planned for Sunday, Oct. 25

As the Related Companies, one of the city's most powerful developers, moves further through the city's land review process for its planned shopping mall at the Kingsbridge Armory, more labor groups are calling for them to sign a binding community benefits agreement that would include living wage job guarantees and union protections.

Earlier today, the New York City Central Labor Council, which represents 1.3 million workers from more than 400 local unions, approved a resolution urging the City Council to reject Related's Armory mall proposal unless a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) is signed before the Council votes on the project, which will be within the next two months. The benefits agreement, they said, should include living and prevailing wage jobs ($10, plus benefits), unions protections and other community benefits.

Jack Ahern, the president of the labor council, said a strong benefits agreement with living wage jobs included would "allow workers a chance to provide for their families and to build a better life."

The Council joined the Retail, Warehouse and Department Store union (RWDSU) and the Building Construction Trades Council in calling for a strong benefits agreement.

On Monday, the City Planning Commission approved of Related's plan without a benefits agreement in place by a vote of 8-4. The representative of Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., as well as representatives of the Manhattan and Brooklyn borough presidents and public advocate Betsey Gottbaum, voted against the project because it lacked a binding benefits agreement that included living wage requirements.

Related has said living wage requirements would make the project unprofitable and wouldn't be fair to tenants moving into the renovated Armory.

The Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance, which has pushed for living wages at the Armory for the last two years, is holding a rally in support of living wages and responsible development at the Armory on Sunday afternoon at St. Nicholas Tolentine Church at 3 p.m. (2345 University Ave., right on the corner of Fordham Road and University) and is inviting everyone in the community to attend.

B.P. Diaz Wants "Real Response" on Armory Issues

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. says the Kingsbridge Armory's designated developer, The Related Companies, is not responding to community concerns about the Armory project.

Related's plan to turn the massive and vacant Kingsbridge Armory into a shopping mall is currently in the middle of the city's land review process. On Monday, Oct. 19, the City Planning Commission will vote on whether or not to approve the project. Diaz, as well as the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA) have urged the planning commission to reject the project because it lacks a community benefits agreement (CBA) that would address many of the community issues.

Related sent an official response to Diaz's concerns about the project, but they were not anywhere near what the borough president was hoping for.

“It is upsetting that, rather than address the legitimate concerns of the Bronx community surrounding this development, on issues ranging from traffic to business impact, the Related Cos. and its consultant have simply chosen to dismiss, if not outright ignore, issues raised by my office,” Diaz said in a statement today.

Earlier this fall, Diaz, KARA and Community Board 7 drafted a proposed CBA and sent it to Related. But there has been little negotiation since, except for Related saying that many of the provisions in the CBA, including living wage requirements, would render the project unprofitable for the developer. Without any progress on CBA negotiations, Diaz issued a negative recommendation to City Planning.

Last week, Related representatives and Diaz spoke briefly before a fundraising dinner held by the Bronx Chamber of Commerce at the Marina Del Rey, but apparently the two made little progress on the CBA front. In a speech during the event, Diaz said the Bronx needed to find a way to create more "living wage" jobs. Related received an award at the event, but did not speak to the crowd after receiving it.

“In many cases, the Related Cos. responses to the questions raised by my office seem to have been issued without any real consideration of those concerns, as though the answer was predetermined before the question was even asked, which is no way to formulate responsible public policy. I hope that the developer will take another look at my concerns—which were put forward only after months of careful consideration and discussion with numerous community organizations—and offer my office a real response on these issues,” Diaz said in a statement.

After City Planning makes its decision on Oct. 19, the City Council then has 20 days to vote on the Armory project.

Bronx News Roundup, September 30

Yesterday, the New York Times detailed the conflict between Related Companies and the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA) over the proposed supermarket at the Kingsbridge Armory. In the article, a representative for Related said that the developer was not going to let the supermarket issue end the plans for the armory, but he insisted that Related would not give in to KARA's demand for a living wage requirement.

Thirsty for a taste of the Bronx? Try Bronx Pop-- Bronx BP Ruben Diaz's soda of choice, according to the New York Daily News. For more information on Bronx Pop, check out our blog posting on the product published two weeks ago.

Last Friday, Stella D'Oro factory workers picketed outside of Goldman Saks, an investor in Lance Inc. (the owner of the factory), and then marched to City Hall in an effort to keep the cookie factory in Kingsbridge. Lance Inc. recently announced that they plan on closing the Bronx factory and moving production to Ohio.

A survey done by the US census bureau found that the Bronx continues to be the poorest urban county in the country. According to the survey, 380,000 Bronx residents live below the poverty line.

Happy Anniversary BronxTalk! The show will celebrate its 15th anniversary next Monday with a special hour-long episode. For more information on the show's history, click here.

With No Benefits Agreement, Opposition to Developer's Armory Plan is Mounting

Community groups, a big retail workers union and Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. told the City Planning Commission today not to approve the Related Companies' plan to redevelop the Kingsbridge Armory into a giant shopping mall because the developer has refused to sign on to a Community Benefits Agreement.

In his statement, Diaz said he couldn't recommend approval of the project "based on the lack of a signed Community Benefits Agreement that inlcudes provisions concerning a living wage policy, first source and local hiring, various economic development initiatives, labor peace and the ability of employees at the retail development to unionize, community access to space at the Kingsbridge Armory and the development of a community facility as part of the project, the maintenance of local parks, green initiatives, and are traffic improvements."

Diaz also relayed concerns about the economic impact on businesses on nearby Fordham Road and the River Plaza, traffic concerns and the inclusion of school facilities as part of the project.

Representatives of the The Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA) and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) also said the planning commission shouldn't approve the project for similar reasons, the living wage policy and unionization protections being the biggest ones.

Earlier this summer Community Board 7 voted to approve of the project, but only if Related, a national developer with close ties to the Bloomberg administration, entered into a substantial and binding benefits agreement.

Related has said they would enter into a benefits agreement, but in a statement last week, Related said it had concerns that some of the provisions contained in the borough president's benefits agreement proposal would undermine the financial viability and profitability of the Armory.

Though they declined to specify which provisions they were referring to, Related officials have repeatedly said no to any kind of living wage policy, which would require retailers at the Armory mall to pay their employees $10 an hour, plus benefits.

Because of Diaz's stance, it's clear that negotiations between the borough presidnet (who is also representing KARA and Board 7) and Related hav fizzled.

This morning, KARA held a rally in support of CBA before the planning commission met to hear testimony. Tonight, local religious leaders who are members of KARA are rallying outside of the Armory to "call on God for strength in pursuing the righteous cause of High Road Development at the Kingsbridge Armory."