SANITATION ASSOCIATION De LATINOS
New York City Housing Authority Journal: Special Edition August 2009 Justice Sotomayor Never Will Say Goodbye
to the People of Public Housing 
(l to r) Congressmember Nydia Velazquez, Justice Sonia Sotomayor,
Board Member Magarita López
Photo credit: Courtesy of Magarita López
Newly confirmed Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who grew up in Bronxdale Houses, is the first Latina, first NYCHA resident, and the third woman to hold this honor.
New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) Board Member Margarita López represented Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg along with the residents and employees of the nation's largest public housing authority at the August 12th White House reception that celebrated the confirmation of Justice Sotomayor's appointment to the United States Supreme Court.
At the reception Board Member López said, "Both President Barack Obama and Justice Sotomayor spoke about the future of the nation and how every child, no matter where they grow up, or what background they come from, deserves to have opportunities." She also mentioned that Justice Sotomayor along with the President, spoke about "how our country is moving to the future with a clear path of inclusion."
As Justice Sotomayor was preparing to leave the reception, Board Member López asked her to say goodbye to the people of public housing, as she snapped her photo. In response to this request, Board Member López said, "Justice Sotomayor turned around and said, 'I will never say goodbye to the people of public housing!'"
Board Member López, who was thrilled to be invited to participate in this historic occasion concluded by saying, "I told the Justice, there wasn't a single resident or employee of public housing that didn't experience her triumph as their own."
By Eileen Elliott
August 13, 2009
FROM THE MAYOR'S OFFICE IN CITY HALL
STATEMENT OF MAYOR MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG ON CITY COUNCIL APPROVAL OF THE LOWER CONCOURSE AND FORDHAM REZONINGS JUNE 30, 2009
Lower Concourse Plan Will Help Revitalize South Bronx Gateway with 3,100 New Housing Units and Create 3,400 Permanent Jobs as Part of the City’s Five Borough Economic Opportunity Plan
“Today's approval of City Planning's rezoning for 30 blocks of the lower Grand Concourse will revitalize the transit-rich neighborhood, create opportunities for new housing development on underutilized and vacant land and loft buildings and facilitate the redevelopment of the waterfront with new housing, commercial uses and open spaces.
“While retaining viable light manufacturing uses, the plan will create opportunities for some 3,100 units of new housing, including more than 500 affordable units, nearly 3,400 jobs, and a publicly accessible new waterfront esplanade and park.
“This fulfills a key commitment we made to the many stakeholders who participated in our South Bronx Initiative, and will be transformative for the area and those neighborhoods surrounding it.
“In addition to the Lower Concourse rezoning, the Council also today approved the plan to facilitate the expansion of Fordham's Lincoln Center Campus. The project contemplates construction over time of new buildings that will solidify Fordham’s long-term viability in the Lincoln Square neighborhood as well as the City’s global competitiveness and economic well-being. It will also create new construction jobs during development as well as hundreds of permanent jobs. I commend the City Council for approving this critical plan.”
FROM THE GOVERNOR'S MANSION IN ALBANY
GOVERNOR PATERSON URGES LEGISLATURE TO PASS TIER V PENSION REFORM LEGISLATION TO PROVIDE RELIEF TO TAXPAYERS
Vetoes Bill To Provide Temporary Tier II Extension
Governor David A. Paterson today urged the Legislature to enact a new and less costly tier of pension benefits for public employees, which would result in substantial savings of at least $48 billion over the next thirty years for local governments and the State. In addition, the Governor announced today that he has vetoed a bill that has been extended regularly since 1981, which would provide Tier II benefits to all new police officers and firefighters, matching the benefits of current employees at a significant cost to local government.
“We need to change Albany’s culture of ‘business as usual.’ Nothing says ‘business as usual’ like a temporary fix that lasts 28 years,” said Governor Paterson. “Instead of a rubber stamp on a temporary fix, we need to move forward with real reform to the pension system. My Tier V pension reform program bill will substantially reduce costs to local governments and provide much-needed relief to property taxpayers.”
“Police officers and firefighters have earned New York’s gratitude, and they deserve to have strong pension benefits when they retire,” Governor Paterson continued. “That does not mean we should continue enacting legislation that does nothing to fix the present and unaffordable pension system without measures to reduce costs. My proposal addresses the core problems with the pension system in a way that eases the crushing burden of New York’s high property taxes.”
Governor Paterson’s Tier V legislation would:
- Give the State and local governments the right to opt into a less costly pension plan for police officers and firefighters. Components of this new optional tier for police officers and firefighters include creating a minimum retirement age of 50 and increasing the minimum years of service required for most individuals to collect a pension from 20 to 25;
- Create a new and less costly pension benefit for New York City police and firefighters;
- Establish a new, mandatory pension tier for civilian employees that would, among other reforms, reinstate employee contributions after ten years of service, increase the minimum retirement age from 55 to 62, and restrict the use of overtime in pension calculation.
These reforms, in accordance with the New York State Constitution, would only apply to new employees. A Division of the Budget analysis concluded that they will produce savings of at least $48 billion over the next thirty years.
In his veto message for Senate Bill 1409, Governor Paterson indicated that he would be willing to enact legislation similar to the vetoed bill, but only if a lower-cost option for police officer and firefighter pensions, along the lines of his program bill, is provided for the State and localities that choose it. The veto message stated that while this legislation had been routinely extended in the past, “these are not routine times.” In particular, the message noted the recent report of the State Comptroller that the pension system lost 26 percent of its value in the last fiscal year, which will necessitate higher pension costs for the State and localities.
FROM THE MAYOR'S OFFICE IN CITY HALL
Mayor Bloomberg Warns Unions of Deeper Cuts.
BY Adam Lisberg
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF
Thursday, April 9th 2009, 4:00 AM
Mayor Bloomberg is threatening to lay off up to 7,000 city workers, saying municipal unions and state officials haven't done enough to help New York balance its budget. Budget Director Mark Page told agency heads Wednesday to cut $350 million from their budgets, saying previous cuts of $3.1 billion starting July 1 weren't enough. "This next step would most likely rely heavily on additional head count reductions, whether through attrition or, as is more likely, through layoffs," Page wrote. "It is expected that these savings could result in a reduction of as many as 7,000 positions citywide." Bloomberg's press team refused to discuss the letter. "While it's a letter addressed to the agency heads,
it's a message being sent to the union leaders," said Charles Brecher of the Citizens Budget Commission, "and to a certain extent the state Legislature." The mayor has asked municipal unions to pay for 10% of their health care costs and find additional health cost reductions to save $557 million and avoid layoffs. "This is a ploy to get more money from Albany, and he really deserves it," said Harry Nespoli, head of the Municipal Labor Committee, which negotiates for city unions. "We're still at the table. He just made it more difficult to negotiate." Bloomberg wants approval from Albany for more than $1 billion in new revenue, such as a quarter-point increase in the sales tax, a new five-cent tax on plastic bags and reduced pension benefits for new city workers. New York's four uniformed departments - police, fire, sanitation and correction - are being ordered to slice their spending by just 0.5% in the latest round of cuts, apparently reflecting Bloomberg's determination to preserve public safety and order in the recession.
alisberg@nydailynews.com
FROM THE STEPS OF CITY HALL
Shovel attack on Sanitation Worker spurs bill for harsher penalty
BY Frank Lombardi
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU
Friday, February 27th 2009, 12:43 AM
It's easy to hate a garbage truck in New York City, but getting violent about it could soon lead to hard
time in state prison. Last September, a driver got hot under the collar when he got stuck in backed-up traffic caused by a sanitation crew making pickups in Washington Heights. The motorist jumped out of
his car, argued with the crew - and then used one of their shovels to whack sanitation worker Juan Ramos in the side, cracking several of his ribs. The assailant has yet to be caught, but the shovel assault on
Ramos - a diminutive, 74-year-old Manhattan resident with 22 years on the job - has spurred an effort
to increase the maximum prison penalty for assaulting a sanitation worker. Other uniformed workers already have that legal status, including cops, firefighters, transit workers and, most recently, traffic enforcement agents. "This kind of conduct is just unacceptable," said Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes as he stood Thursday with Ramos, sanitation union officials and Council members on the steps of City Hall. They announced the introduction of a bill in the state Assembly to make assaulting a sanitation worker a C felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Such assaults are now a D felony punishable by up to seven years in prison. The bill was introduced by Assemblyman Joseph Lentol (D-Brooklyn), chairman of the Codes Committee, which oversees criminal justice legislation. Hynes said he was optimistic that with Lentol's support, the bill will become law. He added, "The message has to be loud and clear that if you assault a member of the uniformed services, whether it's a sanitation worker or police officer or firefighter or a bus driver, then you should do some substantial time in jail." Harry Nespoli, president of the Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association, said confrontations with the public are not uncommon. "I'm sure everybody here got stuck behind a sanitation truck," he said. "But you have to realize something - it's our esponsibility to the taxpayers of New York to do our job." Ramos, believed to be the oldest sanitation worker on the job, said that despite the assault, he's not about to retire. "I want to stay for awhile," he said.
THE MAYOR AND GOVERNOR TALK STRATEGY
Rising cost of city benefits hit
Wednesday, January 14th 2009, 4:14 PM
Pensions and health insurance - once considered the sacred cows of Civil Service - are under fire for their growing cost to the city and the state. Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Paterson recently announced a series of legislative reforms that would increase the retirement age and pension obligation for future city and state workers. The Citizens Budget Commission released a study last week that shows city health and pension benefit costs have increased 182% since 2000. Even Brooklyn-Queens Rep. - and Democratic mayoral hopeful - Anthony Weiner, who has touted himself as a champion of the middle class, said this week that future municipal employees should pay more for health care, and that defined benefit pension plans may not be around much longer. Of course, the issue is way more complicated than headlines and press releases explain. Pensions and health insurance are costly but serve as key incentives for job-seekers to take lower-paying city and state positions over those with better salaries in private industry.
It's hard to imagine in these tough economic times, but it wasn't unusual for someone to turn down a $50,000 or $70,000 city job to make twice that in the private sector. Pension costs have continued to rise, in part because lawmakers often throw sweeteners into the pot to curry favor with unions.
Bloomberg's staff has lobbied hard in Albany against many of those additional pension benefits, with mixed success. So city union leaders and Bloomberg administration aides must have been surprised at the tone of the Citizens Budget Commission report, titled "Six-Figure Civil Servants: Average Compensation Cost of New York City Public Employees." And they certainly couldn't have been happy to read that the commission suggested the mayor return to productivity-based negotiations. Bloomberg has repeatedly said productivity is an important part of all city contract negotiations. The report is reminiscent of numerous Manhattan Institute reports and columns complaining about pensions and other city budget costs. But Citizens Budget Commission researchers said they have been watching these issues for a while, and were spurred by recent contract settlements that gave workers 4% yearly salary increases. They studied salaries, pensions, health insurance and other benefits of city employees and put a fat price tag on each of them. (The report is available on the group's Web site, www.cbcny.org) "I don't think the average civil servant knows what the cash value of their pension is and what the city is paying for health insurance," said Charles Brecher, the commission's research director.
FROM THE OFFICE OF THE BROOKLYN BOROUGH PRESIDENT
FIRST PUBLIC APPROVAL OF CONEY ISLAND REVITALIZATION PLAN
Brooklyn Community Board 13 Vote to Approve the Plan Concludes First Phase of Uniform Land Use Review Procedure
Plan Now Proceeds to Office of the Borough President, City Planning Commission and the City Council “Coney Island is one of New York City’s most treasured neighborhoods, but after decades of disinvestment and abandonment, it’s been left with vacant lots and an amusement district that’s dwindled to just three acres. It’s time to reverse that end. “Tonight the local Community Board voted to approve the City’s plan to capitalize on Coney Island’s existing assets, preserve its character and spur investments that will restore its heyday. The City’s plan will expand the amusement district to 27 acres – featuring a modern 12-acre amusement park along the boardwalk made permanent through a designation as parkland, and another 15 acres of open and enclosed entertainment space that will include rides, arcades, restaurants and other attractions. “No less important, the plan will support Coney Island’s diverse neighborhood outside the amusement district by producing 4,500 new housing units – including 900 targeted to low- and middle-income New Yorkers – and by creating more than 6,000 permanent and 25,000 construction jobs. We’ll also build a new neighborhood park and generate more than $14 billion in economic activity. “While input from the Community Board will no doubt strengthen the plan throughout the process, some of the recommendations made are counter to the plan’s goals, such as doing without the designation of parkland, which would prevent the amusement district from being permanent and reduce the amount of housing, retail and open space we can create outside of it.
“But the overall message the Community Board has sent by voting to approve the City’s plan is clear: Coney Island needs comprehensive revitalization, and the time to do it is now.”
