Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer notes that the Department of Housing Preservation and Development has agreed to end the downsizing of Section 8 voucher tenants.
BY EILEEN STUKANE | At December’s Community Board 4 (CB4) full board meeting, held at Mount Sinai Roosevelt Hospital (10th Ave. at 51st St.), officers were elected for the coming year with only one position, co-secretary, changing.
The 2015 CB4 officers are: Chair, Christine Berthet; 1st Vice Chair, Hugh Weinberg; 2nd Vice Chair, Delores Rubin; Co-Secretary, Lowell Kern; Co-Secretary, Miranda Nelson. The officers are in place, but each of the 12 community boards in the city have 50 volunteer members serving staggered two-year terms. For anyone who is interested in being a community board member, the search has begun. Information on how to submit an application and resume by the deadline of 5 p.m., Jan. 30, 2015, is available online at manhattanbp.nyc.gov, the website of Manhattan Borough President (MBP) Gale Brewer.
REACTION TO GARNER CASE
Throughout the evening, two issues drew unanimous dismay from elected officials. The first and most troubling issue was the Staten Island grand jury’s failure to indict in the Eric Garner case. Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal captured the prevailing disappointment in her written statement: “Justice is not served by denying Mr. Garner’s family and the community the critically important opportunity to examine all the facts and circumstances that ultimately led to Mr. Garner’s death that only a public trial can provide. We must do better.”
DECALENDARING CANCELED, AFTER OUTCRY
The second issue, an entirely different matter but also incredulous, was the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s (LPC) surprise “decalendaring” — eliminating from landmarks consideration 96 sites citywide, including the district’s former IRT Powerhouse on W. 58th St. and The Mission of the Immaculate Virgin Beaux-Arts building on W. 56th. However, as the outcry from elected officials, community boards including CB4 and other civic organizations, was enormous, two days after the CB4 meeting, on Dec. 5th, the LPC announced that it was canceling its plans to vote on the across-the-board decalendaring of the sites — which would have seriously affected preservation in this city and upended what is supposed to be government transparency.
Manhattan Borough President (MBP) Gale Brewer immediately released a statement that she will be introducing legislation to require “a proper public hearing on proposed decalendaring of items older than five years” and another bill to require an LPC public, searchable database of all requests for consideration.
OLD CHELSEA STATION AGAIN ENDANGERED
In addition to above major issues, State Senator Brad Hoylman spoke about how elected officials and the community were completely blindsided by the United States Postal Office’s (USPS) proposed sale of air rights to allow development over the Old Chelsea Station. This under-the-radar attempt especially outraged Hoylman since he, along with the community, had fought to stop the USPS from selling the building last year.
According to Hoylman, and as reported in Chelsea Now (Dec. 4, 2014), had it not been for Save Chelsea, no one in public office or on the CB4 board would have known. Fortunately the New York State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) has rejected the USPS’s hoped-for sale of air rights, stating that the sale would adversely impact the historic features of the station. However, USPS has made an appeal to the National Park Service’s Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, which can overrule the SHPO. Hoylman, CB4, and Chelsea community groups are now alert to USPS actions.
UNIONIZATION LETTERS TABLED UNTIL 2015
Another building-related concern involves luxury residences, particularly those newly developed and close to the High Line, where workers are making known their desire to unionize for better quality of life (Chelsea Now, Nov. 20, 2014). Two items on the CB4 agenda, letters in support of luxury building workers’ attempts to join the 32BJ Service Employees International Union (SEIU), were tabled until January 2015, not ready due to the ramp-up period for Jesse Bodine, the new district manager, and other internal events. The usual e-blast alert to items removed did not go out. Unaware that the letters had been postponed, representatives of 32BJ SEIU attended the meeting to speak out in the public session.
Alfred Marini, a porter at 540 W. 28th St. off the High Line, nevertheless used the opportunity to report that a number of developers and boards of West Chelsea’s new luxury buildings are thwarting workers’ rights to organize. He explained that a luxury building receiving a 421A tax break in development is supposed to provide a standard salary and “decent benefits” to its workers. At his building, concierges are paid $12 an hour, well below the $21 an hour set by 32BJ. Marini also reported that only after workers began organizing did the management of his building offer health insurance. “I took my daughter to the pediatrician with the new healthcare card and the doctor told me that he couldn’t accept it because it was one of the worst healthcare programs,” he said, “I had to pay out of pocket to have her cared for, and that was money that I don’t have.” He asked that standards that have been established for workers in residential buildings across the city not be undercut, and that the rights of workers to organize be respected.
GOOD NEWS FOR SECTION 8 TENANTS
MBP Brewer was able to change the tempo and draw the first applause of the evening when she announced “one small victory.” The Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) had agreed to end the downsizing of Section 8 voucher tenants, particularly seniors, in Mitchell-Lama housing. HPD, facing federal budget cuts of about $35 million, decided to save money by trying to force Section 8 seniors to downsize from one bedroom apartments to studios, since HPD pays a portion of the rent. “I and a lot of other people thought this was inhumane,” said Brewer, “You can’t ask people in their 80s who have lived in a one-bedroom for many years, who were promised a one-bedroom when a building went from Mitchell-Lama to private, to downsize. There will be no more moves and those who have already moved can move back if there’s an opportunity to do that.” Applause broke out.
Another “small victory” announced by Brewer was strong support in the City Council for the Fair Chance Act to become law for all employers in New York City. Fair Chance has also been known as “Ban the Box” in reference to the box on job applications that asks an applicant to indicate whether he or she has a criminal record. With the Fair Chance Act, there will be no box to check in private sector job applications, as there is now no box in government-related job applications. A person can be asked about past history after being offered a job but not before. Of course there are state and federal laws prohibiting those who committed certain crimes from working in certain fields. A pedophile cannot be employed in a job relating to children; a bank robber cannot enter the police force.
An unusual bit of news from Brewer was about YouTube, which is owned by Google, in the neighborhood at 75 Ninth Ave., and has 12 studios available free of charge, equipped with lighting and cameras. “Get some discussion going because they’re looking for you and any group in the city to use their studios. I’m like their ambassador,” she said. Brewer went on to describe the hottest YouTube topic right now, a woman from Argentina who knits. “She has made millions of dollars showing people how to knit. The way it works, YouTube puts up ads, she gets a percentage, and now she is a millionaire. I’m not making this up,” said Brewer, adding, “Please use the studios.”
Public Advocate Letitia James’ representative Ed Sullivan spoke about the effort James is making to require a commitment from Comcast for free broadband internet in NYCHA public housing, senior and youth centers, and parks, before the city approves its $45 billion merger with Time-Warner Cable. “They’re making billions off this merger and they could bend themselves a little bit to have the people who live in public housing able to get on the Internet.”
SHOUT OUTS FOR INVOLVEMENT
City Councilmember Corey Johnson has set aside $1 million of the capital budget and has asked residents who involved themselves in the process of Participatory Budgeting (PB), for suggestions on how to spend the money. Over 300 ideas were collected. The next stage of PB volunteering is to be one of the Budget Delegates who will help evaluate and develop chosen ideas that will be voted on in Spring 2015. Anyone interested in volunteering should contact Matt Green in Johnson’s office: mgreen@council.nyc.gov or 212-564-7757.
Assemblymember Richard Gottfried is sponsoring the New York Health Act, a bill that would establish a universal, single-payer healthcare system in the state of New York. Representing Gottfried, Eli Szenes-Strauss explained that starting this month the Assemblymember will be holding Assembly Health Committee public hearings on the bill. This is to be a progressive campaign in different cities throughout the state and everyone is urged to participate. The hearing in Manhattan will be on Tues., Dec. 16, 10 a.m., at NYU Grand Hall, 5th Floor of the Global Center for Academic and Spiritual Live (238 Thompson St.). Any person wishing to present testimony at the hearing should complete the form available on the Assembly website: assembly.state.ny.us.
Last spring Congresswomen Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat from New York and Marsha Blackburn, a Republican from Tennessee, authored a bill to create a privately funded commission to make recommendations for a National Women’s History Museum. The bill passed in the House with a vote of 383-33, but is now being blocked in the Senate by Republican Senators Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Mike Lee of Utah. Speaking for Maloney, Shelby Garner announced that the Congresswoman had started a social media campaign, #BecauseOfHer, on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. The campaign asks anyone who might have a story about a woman who inspired him or her to express it in social media. Let the Senators know that there is national public support for the bill to be passed and for a National Women’s History Museum to be created.
TRASH TALK
The greatest board discussion of the evening centered on the letters from CB4’s Waterfronts, Parks and Environment Committee — one addressed to Councilmember Johnson, and another to Iggy Terranova from the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY). Both letters expressed concern with the overflowing trash baskets on Tenth Ave. The High Line, the Intrepid, the active cruise ship terminal and the concentration of art galleries, clubs and cabarets have attracted large numbers of people — and, as shown in photos accompanying the letters, trash on the street (which was either overflowing from, or never reaching, the litter baskets).
Discussion of the larger baskets requested from Johnson for the district, and the necessity of perhaps more frequent pickups by the DSNY, was animated. Delores Rubin, co-chair of the committee, explained that the DSNY urged calls to 311 from residents who witnessed a trash problem. Terranova had visited the committee and explained that the DSNY benefits from 311 calls, which help the department analyze routes and the timing of pickups. Photos of offending trash baskets, included with calls or online comments, would be appreciated. For public trash issues, call 311 or contact DSNY online: nyc.gov/html/dsny.
On Sat., Dec. 13, it will be time for another SantaCon, the annual pub crawl through city streets which attracts thousands of participants. Before adjourning, CB4 approved a letter to the organizers, who for the first time offered to share the SantaCon route with the NYPD. The board requested sufficient portable toilets along the route and urged organizers also to share the planned route with community boards and local elected officials, allowing sufficient time for all to comment in advance. CB4 board member Paul Seres suggested that establishments not interested in participating could post a no SantaCon sign: a picture of Santa in a circle crossed with a diagonal “no” line.
Documentary filmmakers and Chelsea residents Marc Levin and Daphne Pinkerson of Blowback Productions (blowbackproductions.com) were on hand with their crew to capture the action of the CB4 meeting for their next HBO project, which views Chelsea’s transition from industrial to high-tech hub as a microcosm of what is occurring in cities across the nation. Other Blowback documentaries for HBO are “Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags,” a history of the Garment District, and “Hard Times: Lost on Long Island,” a look at how the Great Recession has affected suburban life.
