City Releases Long-Awaited Living Wage Study

City Hall reports that the city's Economic Development Corporation has finally released its assessment on what a living wage mandate would mean for New York City.

The 44-page report says that requiring employers to pay a living wage would ultimately kill tens of thousands of potential jobs and stifle commercial development, on the grounds that many would not be able to afford the higher wages. City Hall uploaded the entire document on its site; you can read it here.

A living wage bill has been lingering in the City Council for over a year now. The legislation, sponsored by Bronx Council Members Oliver Koppell and Annabel Palma at the behest of Borough President Ruben Diaz and backed by a number of local organizations, would require developers of retail projects receiving taxpayer subsidies to pay workers there $10 an hour with benefits or $11.50 without.

Today's report has been a year in the making: the EDC hired Boston-based consulting firm Charles River Associates last August to conduct the study, paying the group $1 million to assess the economic effects of such a law.

Supporters of the City Council bill disparaged the EDC's move, saying several of the economists hired to work on the study are known living wage critics, and that the report was "rigged" to comply with Mayor Michael Bloomberg's opposition to a wage mandate.

Two years ago, Bloomberg and Borough President Diaz butted heads over plans to fill the long-vacant Kingsbridge Armory, where the mayor was pushing to build a shopping mall. The plan was eventually killed in the City Council, mainly because the developer would not guarantee that retail workers be paid a living wage.

The landmark building still sits empty, though Diaz is soon expected to release his own report, drafted by the NYU Wagner School of Public Policy, with recommendations for redeveloping the site.

Vacca and Palma Sponsor Blizzard Bill

It's hard to think about snow right now, with the weather outside hitting a sunny 73 and the Mister Softee trucks finally making their rounds through the neighborhood, but try to remember that post-Christmas blizzard that dumped two feet of snow on the city, leaving a string of stranded MTA buses--and perturbed residents--in its unplowed wake.

To avoid another snow fiasco like that one, Bronx City Council Members James Vacca and Annabel Palma sponsored a bill, passed last week, that requires the Department of Sanitation to prepare and publish snow-removal plans each winter for all five boroughs.

"Last December’s blizzard revealed how woefully unprepared the City was to deal with these kinds of major storms," Palma said in a press release.

The required plans must include a list of primary, secondary and tertiary streets (the terms the Sanitation Department used to classify blocks in order of plowing-importance) to be published online, along with criteria for each ranking.

"During the December blizzard, we heard a lot of talk about tertiary streets and how they were the lowest priority for snowplows. Well, tertiary streets are where taxpayers like you and I live, and many of us didn’t see plows until days after the blizzard was over," Vacca said.

"That’s unacceptable. This bill will put the City’s feet to the fire so that they are forced not only to have a plan but also to explain why they chose to have the plan they chose to have."

During this winter's blizzard, some outer borough streets and neighborhoods went unplowed and snowed-in for several days, to the frustration of those who lived there.

The new law also requires the Sanitation Department to provide detailed plans for removing snow from bus stops, an inventory of snow management equipment and personnel by community district, and contact information for personnel that residents and elected officials can call on.

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.

Questions Raised Again About Bronx Councilman Cabrera's Residency

Cabrera at his Kingsbridge Heights apartment in 2009. (File photo)

An article in today's Daily News, one in a series the paper is running that chronicles the misdeeds of City Council members, reports that Bronx City Councilman Fernando Cabrera claimed a home he owns in Westchester County as his "primary residence" on tax forms.

The move scored Cabrera a $1,513 tax break via a property tax credit known as School Tax Relief, according to the article, which names three other council members from other boroughs as having done the same.

Although Cabrera himself would not comment about the finding, his office confirmed its accuracy. Cabrera's camp told us the listing of the Westchester property as his primary residence was an "honest oversight" and that Cabrera did not know the tax relief credit would be automatically renewed each year. They said the councilman is in the process of paying the money back and that he does, indeed, live in his Bronx district, as required by law. They couldn't say who lived in the Westchester home. 

Legitimate residency was a hot-button issue in 2009 when Cabrera was running for City Council against then-incumbent Maria Baez. His opponents sought to portray him as a Bronx outsider and "Pelham Republican," chastising him for having been formerly registered with the Republican Party.

Though he had lived in Pelham, Cabrera maintained Bronx connections: he founded New Life International Church on Morris Avenue two decades ago, and served for a few years as a member of Community Board 7. He officially moved into his Bronx home, on Sedgwick Avenue near 197th Street, back in July 2008, a few months before he announced his intentions to run for Baez' seat.

During his campaign, Cabrera gave one of our reporters a tour of his home, which appeared legitimately lived-in. At the time, he said that he still owned his home in Westchester and that his daughter and her family lived there.

Food Stamp Use at Farmers Markets Doubled This Year

The City Council announced yesterday that the number of low-income New Yorkers using food stamps at the city's outdoor greenmarkets is higher than ever before. Residents spent over $500,000 in food stamps to buy fresh fruits and vegetables at the markets last year, double the amount spent in 2009.

City politicians and food advocacy groups have been campaigning for more greenmarkets to accept food stamps, seeing it as one way to increase access to healthy foods in neighborhoods where they're usually hard to find. This fall, the greenmarkets at Bronx Borough Hall, Lincoln Hospital, the New York Botanical Garden and Poe Park all accepted EBT card purchases--at Poe Park, over $500 a day came in via food stamps.

Local markets will open up again this spring and summer, though there are several in Manhattan that operate year-round. Locations and schedules can be found here.

BP Diaz to Hold Forum on Retail Rent Control Bill

Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., is hosting a forum this Friday at Bronx Borough Hall to discuss the legal controversies surrounding the Small Business Survival Act, a bill brought before City Council last year that would have required commercial landlords to negotiate "reasonable" rents with small business tenants.

The city's landlords and real estate groups, as expected, opposed the legislation, which was written by Manhattan Council Member Robert Jackson and supported by a number of Bronx council members. The bill was essentially stalled last year after Speaker Christine Quinn--who more or less decides what comes up for a vote on the Council floor--questioned its legality, saying that forcing a rent negotiation could infringe on the rights of the landlord.

According to a press release, this Friday's event (which is also being sponsored by the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation) will have expert attorneys on hand to see if Quinn's assertions about the bill are true.

"This forum will try to determine if the Small Business Survival Act is fully constitutional and legally sound to withstand likely court challenges, and to recommend changes that would make it stronger to endure those possible court challenges," the release reads.

Last week, Diaz was on hand to break ground on a new "Business Incubator" at the BankNote Building in Hunts Point, which will offer discounted rents on work spaces for struggling new businesses owners.

The forum will be from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Friday on the first floor of Bronx Borough Hall, 851 Grand Concourse.