photo

The Oodle Swing broke at least five kids’ legs two summers ago in a Park Slope playground. Parents rallied, outraged by the apparently botched installation of the large multi-person discus of a swing which was allegedly too close to the ground and trapped the childrens’ legs between the swing and the rubber mat beneath.

“If any responsible inspection would have been made by an intelligent person working for the City, none of these children would be hurt,” said Robert Kelner of the law firm Kelner & Kelner, who is representing three of the injured children.

“I think, shame on them if they are not sufficiently inspecting areas where children are playing,” Kelner said. They are still waiting for the deposition, he said.

As another spring and summer of outdoor activity approaches, playgrounds across the five boroughs will soon be full of children. The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation has a few systems in place to inspect and ensure that playgrounds are kept safe. One is the Parks Inspection Program (PIP), which conducts frequent and random inspections of parks and submits regular indicators of the safety levels and cleanliness of park facilities. In the most recent inspection, PIP found that 86.5% of parks had an “acceptable” overall condition.

The Parks Department also has Daily Immediate Attention Systems to respond to safety hazards and provide thorough documentation that it has adequately repaired a problem.

In spite of this, personal injury claims from playground accidents have cost city taxpayers over $20 million over the past 10 years, according to a report from the office of City Comptroller Scott Stringer released March 1. The majority of these claims were due to missing or defective rubber matting, known for burning kids’ feet and skinning their knees. Five percent of the claims were directly swing-related. According to the report, playground injury claims have gone up 53% since 2005.

Most of these personal injury claims paid by the City came from Brooklyn, with 209, compared to Manhattan’s 123, the Bronx and Queens with 111 apiece, and Staten Island with 23. The most dangerous playground has been Mullaly Park Playground in the Bronx, with seven claims and settlements over the span, which included $3.5 million paid to a woman who became paralyzed after hitting her neck on a fence installed too close to the swing set.

The playgrounds in Brooklyn with the most claims were the Stroud Playground in Prospect Heights and Slope Park (of Oodle Swing infamy). Stringer penned a letter to the Parks Department asking officials to get the playgrounds up to safety standards. As the playgrounds atrophy and nails begin peeking through old construction, matting wears thin, and new safety standards become increasingly strident, the City will need to devote extra resources to the maintenance or reconstruction of the playgrounds.

In his report, Stringer recommends that the Parks Department ensure that its facilities are up to date with current safety regulations. The comptroller also recommends boosting the City’s “playground associates” program, consisting of a group of Parks Department employees who, officially, facilitate outdoor programs and maintain comfort stations.

“Our experience with them is that they do play a calming role and generally create a safer environment,” said Manhattan City Council Member Mark Levine, chair of the Council’s parks committee. He also said that the salaries of the playground associates would account for significantly less than the amount that the city is paying in personal injury claims.

“It seems to be pretty clear that this will save the City some money,” he said of increasing the number of playground associates.

At his committee’s March 9 preliminary budget hearing, Levine proposed an increase of $5 million for playground associates on top of the $4.5 million already in the Parks budget. This would add 200 playground associates, on top of the 145 already stationed, who work only during the summer. The addition would edge the number closer to covering the city’s 680 playgrounds with comfort stations (their other job would be maintaining public toilets).

However, Levine said that the problem of playground safety will require more action than just supervision. He said that the real issue is retrofitting parks to meet current safety standards.

In a statement, Stringer added a similar solution. “With claims at their highest point in a decade, it’s clear that the Department of Parks and Recreation must find ways to improve safety in our City’s playgrounds,” Stringer said. “We owe it to our kids to adopt best practices for safety and install state-of-the-art equipment in our playgrounds that reduces the potential for injuries.”

This work would mean costly overhauls of the city’s playgrounds, dipping into a dry well of funding for retrofits or new equipment.

To boot, the Parks Department currently ranks last among city agencies in completing its capital projects, according to a separate report from Comptroller Stringer issued in late February. According to that report, Parks completed only 24% of its capital commitments for fiscal year 2015, while sanitation and education completed 89% and 82% of projects, respectively.

Council Member Levine recently proposed a bill that would mandate a report from each park with its progress in retrofitting toward accessibility to people with disabilities. All new construction has to fit the guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act, but the ADA does not mandate retrofitting. Levine said, unlike the bill that is meant to push parks to become more handicap accessible, there is no current movement toward making the city’s playgrounds safer.

However, in the preliminary budget hearing for the Parks Department, Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver made it clear that he has a team devoted to making repairs where they see a safety hazard. “We have a whole team in place where we do certain inspections and prioritize them to make sure our playgrounds are safe,” said Silver. “We’ll sit down with the comptroller to go through his reports so we understand that information a bit more.”

However, there has been no mention in this round of budget negotiations of allocating money to redo hazardous parks that are not in disrepair, but are still not safe. The only funding being proposed to enhance playground safety is the $5 million for the playground associates.

Parents are concerned that more playground supervision might hamper the spirit of free play that the playgrounds represent. While they are glad that the City is concerned about their children’s well-being, they are not completely sold that the playground associates program is the answer to the broken legs and burnt feet.  

Dan Janzen is the president of the PTA for P.S. 295 in Park Slope, directly across the street from “the swing of death,” as he calls it, in Slope Park. He is conflicted about the idea of playground associates.

“I get it in principle. But if your playgrounds are so crowded that they have hundreds of kids and need supervisors, maybe we need more playgrounds,” he said. Janzen said that playgrounds should be preserved as positive and protected spaces for play. It is outside of the playground, on the streets, where supervision is needed most. Playgrounds are safe zones where kids should be encouraged to run, spin, and swing mostly unsupervised, he said. That is ultimately the beauty of the playground.

Janzen added that the money could be better spent on baselining a project to make the facilities less treacherous. “Five million bucks. Think about how many rusty Tetanus shots you could avoid.”

Kelner, the attorney, said that he felt like increased supervision could save the City money and most importantly reduce injuries. But he was also skeptical of the City’s plan to increase supervision without making equipment at old playgrounds safe.

“I don’t know if this is someone who is going to do a very necessary job,” he said referring to playground associates, “or if they are just padding the peril.”

***
by Samuel Lieberman for Gotham Gazette
@SamuelLieberman
@GothamGazette

Governor Cuomo (photo: @NYGovCuomo)

As state budget negotiations delivered a new deal, Gov. Andrew Cuomo was willing to drop many priorities from his spending plan, several of which are of great importance to New York City officials, including his sometime friend Mayor Bill de Blasio.

With adoption of the state's fiscal year 2016 budget, a host of progressive issues de Blasio and his allies touted were abandoned. Both Cuomo and the Democratic Assembly Majority headed by new Speaker Carl Heastie listed a host of major progressive touchstones in their budget proposals this year, such as paid family leave, a minimum wage increase, the DREAM Act, and more. Cuomo draped himself in several of these issues while campaigning in the city in 2014 and they were key parts to the budget plan he labeled the "2015 Opportunity Agenda."

And yet the 2016 budget lacks most of the progressive punch that Cuomo cloaked his budget proposal in. Insiders say that his budget negotiating powers were hampered by the fact that Cuomo's influence has been significantly damaged by a rough election and recent ethics scandals, and that the governor focused what political capital he had on education reforms and an ethics deal that has been dismissed by good government groups as "window dressing."

Meanwhile, Heastie, who enjoys de Blasio's backing, was new to negotiations and was focused on fighting Cuomo's education agenda. Senate Republicans dug in against progressive issues, bolstered by the success they had during the last election where many of their candidates ran against the DREAM Act. They were also motivated by spite of de Blasio, who publicly vowed to defeat them and tip the chamber into Democratic hands. Also pushed into legislative session beyond the budget is mayoral control of schools, which de Blasio asked be made permanent and Cuomo suggested a three-year extension of - during his closing remarks to the chamber on Tuesday night, Republican Majority Leader Dean Skelos ominously remarked that Senate Republicans would consider "how and if" to renew mayoral control.

In the end, contentious debates were mostly abandoned for the sake of an on-time budget. Without the leverage of budget negotiations it is questionable whether many of the larger issues will be addressed later in legislative session, which runs until mid-June.

Legislators from the city were hopeful that 2015 would be a major year for their issues, like the DREAM Act, despite the fact that Senate Republicans managed to win a clear, although narrow majority.

Assembly Members defended the budget deal, publicly supporting Heastie, but many of them acknowledged they were voting for it while holding their noses. Senate Democrats unleashed a host of hostile amendments trying to attach legislation including The DREAM Act, a minimum wage increase, and paid family leave. All of the measures were ruled non-germane.

A look at the major issues important to de Blasio and other city officials that were not addressed in the budget despite being pushed previously by Cuomo and Assembly Democrats:

Paid Family Leave
Perhaps no other issue this year better represents the odd political dynamics at play during budget negotiations. On paid family leave, it's unclear who really wants what and what they are actually willing to do to get it. The issue became a surprise budget touchpoint when Senate Republicans included it in their one-house budget as a hat tip to their partners in the Independent Democratic Conference. The Assembly has been pushing it for years. Republicans are keen to keep the IDC happy as they only enjoy a one-member Senate majority and have members who are under federal investigation, who are considering retirement, who are dealing with health issues, and who may be vulnerable in 2016.

Paid family leave calls for new parents and those taking care of sick relatives to have several weeks of paid leave from their work. Different plans outlined different parameters, including where funding would come from - Cuomo did not include the measure in his budget and seemed caught off guard when it was included in the one-house spending plans of each chamber of the Legislature.

Cuomo claimed the Legislature had "no appetite" for the measure in February. Later he said his office would have to study the issue. Most legislators agree that it was never really at play in budget negotiations. Needless to say, it is favored by de Blasio and most New York City Democrats.

On Tuesday Queens Senator Joseph Addabbo tried to introduce a hostile amendment in his chamber mirroring the Assembly's plan, which is more generous than the Senate's. The amendment was struck down.

Mayoral Control of Schools
With Cuomo supporting a three-year extension and the Assembly supporting seven, even a number of Republican lawmakers told Gotham Gazette earlier in the year that the renewal of mayoral control of schools would not be much of a fight. Diane Savino of the IDC old Gotham Gazette that the renewal should be fairly simple because Senate Republicans had renewed mayoral control before. However, at that time they were dealing with a Mayor (Bloomberg) who donated millions to their campaign accounts.

Senate Republicans feel de Blasio makes a great foil for them and they appear to at least want to make him sweat on mayoral control. Insiders say his push against Cuomo's education reform plan also put him in an even more vulnerable position in budget negotiations. It reasons that Cuomo himself doesn't mind pushing the mayoral control conversation down the line - he himself has called it still an "experiment."

"On something like mayoral control of education, where there's an extraordinary consensus that this is the only effective way to reform education, and the alternative is to go back to a system that was rife with corruption, we're going to win the day on that issue, I believe in my heart, regardless of things that happened last year," de Blasio told reporters on Monday.

DREAM Act
Proponents of the DREAM Act, including de Blasio and his close ally City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, went into 2015 more hopeful than they had been in years. They had assurances Cuomo would make the DREAM Act part of his budget - and he did - but he tied it to the equally controversial education tax credit.

During his re-election campaign, Cuomo finally gave full-throated support to the DREAM proposal and would allocate $27 million to give undocumented immigrants access to tuition assistance. He used the issue on the campaign trail as though it was a major priority, and legislators and advocates had seen what Cuomo could do when he made something a priority (see marriage equality and the SAFE Act). Cuomo had successfully changed Republican minds to ensure passage of progressive legislation before, he could do it again. But as negotiations started, Republican Majority Leader Dean Skelos was adamant that he would not support the legislation despite it being linked to the education tax credit he supports. Skelos and his spokesperson repeatedly said he did not believe the State should pay for college for "illegal immigrants."

"We're nowhere close to an agreement," Cuomo said on March 24. "So it was pointless in the budget." And like that DREAM Act momentum was dead.

Activists are conducting a hunger strike and the measure will surely garner much attention in the coming weeks and months. And, Democrats plan to run on the issue in Republican districts where there are large Hispanic populations. But for this year, most Democrats agree the DREAM Act is dead because of opposition from Senate Republicans.

"Today is the birthday of the great labor leader Cesar Chavez," Sen. Jose Peralta, Senate sponsor of the DREAM Act, said on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday. "And we are still talking about a lack of respect for immigrants who come to this country, who work hard and live the American dream...here we go again another year and another budget without the DREAM Act, another year of intolerant propaganda."

Minimum Wage Hike
De Blasio, the Assembly and progressive advocates want a staggered minimum wage hike for the city that would reach $15 an hour by 2019. Cuomo favored $11.50 by 2017, with $10.50 for the rest of the state, and it looked to many like there would be room for negotiation. And yet, no raise has made it into the budget as Skelos again shut it down. The budget is likely the only place there would have been leverage sufficient enough to convince Senate Republicans to support it. Advocates for raising the wage have seized on the fact that the budget includes tax breaks for yachts and airplanes and no wage increase.

Criminal Justice Reforms
Changing the grand jury system and repairing police/community relations was at the top of the legislative to-do list at the start of the year. Protests over the chokehold death of Eric Garner at the hands of an NYPD officer and the murder of two NYPD officers dominated the headlines. Cuomo promised he would tackle the issue head-on and legislators from all over the state proposed solutions, including having more information released about how grand juries arrive at their decisions and bringing in special prosecutors for police-involved shootings. None of those proposals made it into the budget.

Cuomo's complex "Raise the Age" proposal that would have stopped New York from charging 16- and 17-year-olds as adults and would have made a number of changes to how young people accused of serious crimes are treated had been carefully interwoven into the budget. Resistance from Senate Republicans who want to prove tough on crime and Democrats who say Cuomo's proposal is ill-considered and would actually lead to juvenile offenders spending more time in jail appears to have derailed the measure in the budget. Funds for the initiative have been included, though, so the details of the plan could be worked out later in the year more easily than starting from scratch.

What The City Celebrates
On Monday, De Blasio celebrated the fact that the budget would allow the city the first crack to fix "failing" schools, a change to Cuomo's plan that would have let the state put those schools in receivership. "Per this budget agreement, the city will continue to play the primary role in determining the ways to best address those struggling schools," said de Blasio.

The mayor also expressed his pleasure with the large increase in education funding it will include, which again allows for $300 million toward pre-kindergarten in New York City. "We are certainly pleased with the additional funding for our school system, the additional funding for pre-K and for public housing, those are all steps in the right direction and will certainly help people in New York City," de Blasio said on Monday.

The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) will get $100 million in added funding - a major boost compared to previous years - and City Comptroller Scott Stringer will be required to more regularly audit the agency.

While the Legislature is on recess following the budget deal, expect a refreshed Albany agenda from de Blasio when legislative session begins in late April. Now, the mayor must adjust his city budget to reflect decisions the State has made.

***
by David King, Albany editor, Gotham Gazette
@DavidHowardKing

Council Members Kallos (middle), Cumbo (left), & Cornegy (photo: @BenKallos)

NEW YORK - City Council Members Ben Kallos, Laurie Cumbo, and Robert Cornegy today introduced a bill and five-point plan to help working parents re-enter the workforce after temporary disruptions in employment.

The proposed legislation, of which Kallos is the lead sponsor and he introduced at the Council's Stated Meeting, would expand the city's "Workforce1" job training program and provide additional online resources for parents returning to work.

The five-point plan calls for training in technology, partnerships between public agencies and private companies, resume assistance, a proactive outreach campaign to spread the word about job training, and more online information for parents.

The council members announced the legislation earlier Tuesday at a press conference in front of City Hall, backed by supporters from women's rights groups. On the last day of Women's "Her-story" Month, said Council Member Cumbo, "We must recommit to the struggle that women face daily." Cumbo chairs the council's women's issues committee. She called attention to issues of gender pay equity, the lack of a paid family leave law at the state and federal levels, and the limited resources to help new parents transition back to work, all of which contribute to the loss of a "critical braintrust."

"Parent's should have our city's full support when they choose to return [to work]," Cumbo said.

The council members appear to be responding to a critical issue. Nearly 40 percent of women took significant time off for family-related reasons, as did 24 percent of men, according to the Pew Center for Research. Only 10 percent of men quit their jobs while 27 percent of women quit for those reasons. For 31 percent of mothers, time off hurt their careers; 18 percent of men felt the same.

"The fight for gender equity cannot be confined to just one month," said Council Member Kallos, echoing Cumbo's sentiment. "We must fight for gender equity every day of the year."

Kallos stressed the diversity of stay-at-home parents, who span all socio-economic classes and races, and the potential impact on the local economy from facilitating the transition back to the workforce. "We envision a city where any parent is confident that he or she has the support necessary to reenter the workforce and does not need to struggle to do so," he said.

The Workforce1 program's 18 career centers helped 40,000 people get jobs in 2013, according to Center for an Urban Future. Kallos hopes to increase the number next year by expanding the program with more technological training and making it a "one-stop shop for information and training, not just a way to connect to in-person resources."

Erica Cohen, a young parent and graduate student, worked with Kallos on this campaign. She has been unemployed for five years and has found it tough to find a job while being the primary caregiver for her daughter. "There are some skills that I don't have or I'm rusty at and I think any re-entry program that can help me with those skills and help me with the unique obstacles of returning to work," she said. "Whether you're a stay-at-home mother or father, there are unique challenges, I think this plan would help parents with these unique obstacles."

Council Member Robert Cornegy Jr. has been a strong supporter of women's equity and gender issues, and he is also chair of the Council's small business committee. Last year, Cornegy created the first community lactation station in his office in Bedford-Stuyvesant for mothers to breastfeed their infants in private. Today's bill, he said "acknowledges that the barriers that (women) face are real and have real consequence for their present economic security and their futures."

Representatives from advocacy groups including the Women's City Club of New York, The Lower Eastside Girls Club, Planned Parenthood, NARAL Pro Choice, and New York Communities for Change also showed their support for the proposals.

***
by Samar Khurshid, Gotham Gazette
@samarkhurshid

Gov. Cuomo during Sunday's Greek Independence parade (photo: @NYGovCuomo)

Voting on a murky budget "framework" began in Albany on Monday evening under a cloud of confusion and anger. Debate in both houses of the state Legislature stretched from afternoon into evening, with the Assembly adjourning around 9 and the Senate around 10 p.m. Both will be back to finish voting on budget bills Tuesday morning - legslation that members mostly have not had a chance to read.

As Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislators sprint to an on-time budget, frustration at the Capitol is clear. Budget agreements were things to be grandly celebrated during the first three years of Cuomo's tenure, now in its fifth year. But the past two deals have oozed out with little fanfare and plenty of criticism.

Last year Cuomo went over a deal with reporters on a Saturday conference call, quietly revealing he had agreed to shutter The Moreland Commission on Public Corruption. This year, a Sunday announcement of the "framework" of a deal by Cuomo's office appeared premature on Monday when no formal press conference was held and legislators involved in discussions said that a number of areas were still under negotiation.

In the rush to ensure a fifth straight on-time budget before the April 1 deadline, Cuomo even issued messages of necessity to expedite the passage of the bills and allow them to be voted on without the required three-day review window - something he had tried to avoid previously in an effort to escape criticism.

On Monday evening rank-and-file legislators were unclear on exactly what they were being asked to vote on. State Senator John DeFranciso. who helped author a much-touted ethics agreement, admitted it would only be available for review for a few hours before legislators from both chambers would vote on it.

The ethics package isn't alone. A little past 8:30 p.m. on Monday, Sen. Kemp Hannon said that the capital projects portion of the budget was still being negotiated. As of 9 p.m. legislators still hadn't been provided with education runs that show how state cash will be distributed to school districts. It is unclear if key education policies have fully been agreed upon.

"This budget is shaping up to being nothing more than a glorified extender," Sen. Michael Gianaris said on the floor on Monday. Senate Democrats voted against the budget bills because their leader, Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, has been left out of budget negotiations and because the budget was bereft of so many pertinent issues Democrats had been fighting for, such as the DREAM Act.

Blair Horner, of New York Public Interest Research Group, said that it wasn't exactly surprising the budget was so thin on details, even this late in the game. He noted that Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie is negotiating his first budget, Cuomo has a new second term staff, and Senate Republicans are trying to maintain a "razor-thin majority."

After the arrest of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on federal corruption charges earlier this year Cuomo said he was so set on getting a new set of ethics reforms that he would even sacrifice an on-time budget. But with public opinion turning against him, especially around his handling of education reform, Cuomo and legislators appeared to abandon some of the other policy pieces he had touted. Gone from a final budget deal are an increase to the minimum wage, grand jury reform, the 'raise the age' initiative, an extension of mayoral control of schools, raising the charter school cap, an education donation tax credit, the DREAM Act, and paid family leave. The two minorities - Senate Democrats and Assembly Republicans - attempted a number of hostile amendments to derail the deal, or at least poke holes in it.

What is in the budget agreement appears to be a $1.6 billion increase in education spending, a new plan for revamping the teacher evaluation system through the state education department, $1.5 million in funds for upstate economic development, infrastructure expenditures, and state operational spending capped at an increase of 2 percent.

Mayor Bill de Blasio praised the education funding included in the budget on Monday, but noted he would like to have seen more action on progressive issues. "I think I made my views known on mayoral control of education, I made my views known on the Dream Act. I was hoping both of those issues would be addressed here and now, but they have been postponed," de Blasio said during a press conference on Monday. "We'll obviously continue our efforts to get the Dream Act passed and mayoral control of schools renewed for a substantial period of time."

A Capital New York report that the budget all of a sudden included a sales-tax exemption for boats that cost over $230,000 (and private planes) became the talk of the capital as legislators prepared to vote on the budget bills that had been settled. Many legislators hammered away at the "yacht exemption" as they noted the budget does not include a DREAM Act or minimum wage. Many still voted for it.

Grievances about what is or is not in the mysterious ethics bill were also aired. The deal appeared to involve a mandate that lawyer-legislators disclose clients who pay them more than $5,000, but they would be allowed to appeal to state agencies to not make certain disclosures. Legislators will also be forced to check in to the Capitol with a swipe card to earn their per diem travel reimbursements.

The irony of an ethics reform bill being among the last to be seen as the budget is being passed through was not lost on many. Meanwhile, during a floor vote on budget bills in the Senate, Sen. Daniel Squadron questioned DeFranciso about whether the missing ethics bill would close the LLC "loophole" that allows one person to donate unlimited campaign funds by using multiple LLCs. DeFranciso admitted the provision would not be part of the bill but took exception to the "loophole" label.

"The LLC loophole is unconscionable to leave out of this year's budget at a time when ethics reform has been put forward as necessity," Squadron told legislators. Later, Sen. Brad Hoylman wryly suggested, "Maybe we should call this the New York State Senate LLC exception." Both the Democratic-controlled Assembly and Cuomo had advocated for ending the loophole. Sources told Gotham Gazette the provision was removed at the behest of Senate Republicans.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman slammed the ethics package earlier Monday. Schneiderman is advocating major reform of the Legislature - including making it a full-time body. "I have not seen the final copy of this, but, from what I understand, it does sound as though this is more tinkering around the edges, accompanied by some fairly strong and recycled language about how this really solves all the problems."

Floor debate in the Senate also revealed that Senators, even from the majority involved in negotiations had no knowledge of major policy details. Democratic Sen. Liz Krueger asked DeFrancisco, a Republican, about the state's brownfields program and DeFrancisco admitted he had no knowledge of the final details and said he would get an "analyst" to answer Krueger's inquiry. "I can't intelligently give you an answer on that question," DeFrancisco said. Krueger said she "sympathized" with DeFrancisco because so much was unfinished in the budget. "We are voting on a budget that isn't a budget; budget bills that aren't budget bills," said Krueger.

Horner said that it was "mind-boggling" even by Albany standards that "an agreement to open up Albany would be delivered under darkness with so much secrecy."

Senate Democrats, who have been increasingly critical of Cuomo in public in the last few months, simultaneously congratulated Schneiderman for his work securing settlements with major banks on mortgage fraud and contributing to the state windfall while decrying the budget deal Cuomo negotiated for not using those funds to help neighborhoods hit hard by the foreclosure crisis.

Democratic Senators Adriano Espaillat and Leroy Comrie both lamented a lack of help for those in mortgage crisis in their districts.

In the days leading up to the budget vote - including Monday - Cuomo faced blistering, unrelenting attacks from teachers unions and some parent groups on his plan to change teacher evaluations to rely more on students' state test scores and to boost charter schools. New Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie won accolades from education lobbyists for standing up to Cuomo on education issues, while Senate Republicans appear to have come out the biggest winners as they stymied any effort to move major progressive issues. Meanwhile, Cuomo's mystique as a man who can move mountains and votes to achieve his policy goals has been all but exterminated. "Mario Cuomo said that in politics friends are scarce and enemies accumulate," said Horner.

Cuomo admitted this year's budget was the toughest for him to negotiate, pointing to his push for major ethics and education reforms.

"It isn't surprising Andrew had so much success in his first term - first-term governors tend to get what they want and he had allies spending money to defend him," Horner said. This year, Horner said Cuomo was operating with a new team of aides, with his list of enemies growing, and without organizations like the controversial Committee to Save New York that raised funds at his behest to run advertisements to support his policies.

Cuomo also lost much credibility with reform groups when he decided to negotiate the end of Moreland with legislators. This year he is seeing the impact - good government groups have thrown their backing behind Schneiderman's ethics plan and are dismissing an ethics framework Cuomo says will "address intractable problems that have vexed our state for generations," because they have seen him tout previous deals that ended up fragmented and loaded with loopholes.

"We are waiting to see the plan to cast official judgement," Horner said of NYPIRG and other good government groups. "We've seen in the past that we will be told one thing only to see the language in the bill is the exact opposite."

****
by David King, Albany editor, Gotham Gazette
@DavidHowardKing

CM Kallos at a committee hearing (photo: William Alatriste)

New York City Council Member Ben Kallos, a Manhattan Democrat, will introduce a bill Tuesday to provide a professional urban planner to each of the 59 community boards in the city.

The bill, Kallos said, is a move to empower communities in the city's land use process. Speaking exclusively to Gotham Gazette, Kallos said, "The City has two main powers. The first is over budget and the community boards have a say in that. They make their budget priorities known. The other is land use. In order to give community boards power and a voice in that land use process, they need skilled technical help."

Kallos' bill would create a planning department in each of the five borough president offices which would staff at least one planner for each community board. There are 12 boards in Manhattan, 12 in the Bronx, 14 in Queens, 18 in Brooklyn and three in Staten Island.

The council member cited a number of concerns which prompted the bill, including lack of support from the City Planning Commission and the proposed rezoning of East Midtown. "This is the age of the super-scraper," Kallos said. "I'll be getting a 900 foot tall building in my district soon. Development is running rampant. Developers are making billions off new buildings and communities don't really have a say. The idea is to put planning back in 'community planning board' as it once was and empower the community boards."

Currently, community boards only play an advisory role in any zoning or planning issues. Land use deals that need City Council approval typically hinge on the decision of the council member whose district is home to the project. The City's Planning Department falls under the mayor and community boards that disagree with the administration may not get the planning support they need, Kallos said. Changes in the city's zoning laws proposed last month by Mayor Bill de Blasio will affect the entire city and Kallos believes the community boards may not necessarily have the expertise required to deal with them. The law would require the City to appropriate funding through each borough president's office and the borough presidents would have a say in the new hires, as they do with community board member appointment.

Kallos will introduce the bill at Tuesday's full-body Stated Meeting of the City Council and it will head to the governmental operations committee, which he chairs.

The demand for technical help already exists. At a recent hearing of the governmental operations committee, representatives of Manhattan community boards called for an increased budget for professional hires, although not specifically for planners. "This law is in line with that," said Kallos.

***
by Samar Khurshid, Gotham Gazette
@samarkhurshid

Speaker Mark-Viverito at the fire commemoration (photo: @IvanLS24)

New Yorkers Gather to Honor the Triangle Factory Dead and Rally for a Living Wage

Dozens of cut-outs of cloth shirtwaists fluttered in the air on Wednesday outside the gray brick building near Washington Square Park. Some of the blouses were patterned, others were adorned with chantilly lace and intricate embroidery. All were affixed to wooden poles and branded with the name and age of a victim of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, which occurred at the site 104 years ago.

On a mauve shirtwaist decorated with delicate white-beaded flowers, 19-year-old Rose Liebermark.

On a pink-and-green striped version, 18-year-old Bettina Maiale.

These two were among 146 workers, mostly Italian and Jewish young women, who perished in a factory fire on the corner of Washington Place and Greene Street - an event that became a flashpoint in the Progressive Era fight for workers' rights and an ongoing symbol of such efforts.

More than a century later, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory has a new identity as New York University's Brown Building of Science and the anniversary of the tragedy has become a rallying point for minimum wage advocates.

From the science building's elevated floors, students in chemistry class, still clad in their goggles, peer out at the crowd. They look bewildered; there are few reminders remaining of the tragedy that took place long ago and of the bodies that once littered this asphalt street.

The crowd of about 150 on Wednesday hoped to change that. Every year, union workers, young students, advocacy groups, and members of the New York City Fire Department gather at the site to remember the victims and bring awareness to the ongoing fight for labor reform. At this year's ceremony, a roster of high-profile speakers pledged to continue to fight for labor laws that provide safe workplaces and higher living wages for the more than 594,000 minimum-wage workers in New York State.

"Today, like every year, let us recommit to educate and of course remember," said Vinny Alvarez, president of the New York Central Labor Council. He urged the crowd to "fight for laws that save lives and continue to advocate for all working people."

Paying respects and honoring the victims is the top priority, says union worker and auditor Chester Modzelewski. He makes an effort to attend the remembrance ceremony every year. "Never, ever forget," said Modzelewski. "That's the most important thing."

Modzelewski was joined by a fellow union worker, Mike Cummings, a supervisor for Unite Here, a labor union spanning the U.S. and Canada, which counts more than 265,000 members. Cummings said the event is a reminder of the consequences of cutting costs, something which he says still happens again and again. Workers at the Triangle factory had no way to escape because the doors were locked and nearly all fire exits were blocked in attempts to ensure that workers kept at their jobs virtually non-stop.

Edgar Romney, president of the local Workers United affiliate, believes that while much has changed over the decades, there is still a long way to go. Workplace regulation is subpar and union workers continue to be under attack, he says.

"It frustrates and angers me to stand here every year," Romney said. "As though the fire never happened, as though the world is a safe place for workers around the world."

Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito expressed similar sentiments. Mark-Viverito spoke of carrying on the hopes and dreams of the 146 victims by fighting for workplace reform like paid sick leave, a living wage, and better benefits for workers. "We recommit ourselves to the fight for equity, justice, and humane working conditions," she said.

In New York right now, where the statewide minimum wage is $8.75, this means the fight for a living wage. Today, more than half of New York City's hourly workers over the age of 25 are earning $10.50 or less. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is currently promoting his Fight for Fair Pay campaign, which recommends increasing the minimum wage by the end of 2016 to $10.50 across New York State, and $11.50 in New York City. Though prominent business executives, including Viacom President Philippe Dauman, have thrown their support behind the proposal, state Senate Republicans are largely against any additional bump to the wage, while not all agree that Cuomo's proposed increase is enough.

Instead, many are calling for a hike to $15, an initiative that Mayor Bill de Blasio supported in his 2015 State of the City address in January. He proposed a minimum wage increase that would gradually reach $15 an hour by 2019. In his speech, de Blasio said that Cuomo's plan doesn't do enough to help New York City.

The Fight for 15 campaign agenda isn't limited to New York City. Last May, Seattle became the first city to announce a $15 minimum wage, and cities including Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco are also taking initial steps in this direction. The future of New York's minimum wage is being debated in state budget negotiations, and will likely be discussed in the legislative session to follow.

The 1911 fire brought the grim realities of sweatshops to the nation's attention. Just two years earlier, in 1909, more than 20,000 Triangle Shirtwaist workers abandoned the factory floor to protest for improved benefits and wages. The effort was mostly unsuccessful, raising their weekly wage two dollars. After the fire, the nation knew who these women were, said Cecilia Rubino, an assistant theater professor at the New School and director of the award-winning play "From the Fire," which is about the tragedy.

"Because they had been in the newspapers, they were figures that New Yorkers knew," said Rubino. "They were not just a name and a number, not just immigrants."

The fire spurred many changes. In the following months, labor reform laws and factory safety regulations were readily passed, including the Sullivan-Hoey Fire prevention law mandating the installation of sprinkler systems in factories. "There's where this wheel of change happened. I would say it's unprecedented in American history," said Rubino. "It was just this incredible surge of energy around peacefully legislating change."

After Wednesday's rousing speeches, there was a quiet, thoughtful moment. Members of Ladder 20/Engine 13 in Nolita raised their firetruck's ladders to the eighth floor, where the factory fire began its fatal path. Young school children, adults, and family members read each of the 146 names, one by one. "Rose Weiner, our great aunt," said one couple in unison, laying a white carnation on the ground. A Fire Department official in uniform solemnly tolled a bell.

It was a moving ritual — one that will happen again next year.

"It's a really important moment of convergence," said Rubino. "As a culture we need to believe that there are things that actually do change, there are moments where collectively we turn, and for the better."

***
Christine Chung is a graduate student at Columbia Journalism School. She's on Twitter @chrisychung.
@GothamGazette

Council Member Cumbo at a Women's History Month celebration (photo: Ben Max)

On Monday, March 30, the New York City Council will host a Women's History Month celebration at City Hall. Council members will likely celebrate women heroes of city government, past and present, and acknowledge the history-making leadership of both Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, the first Latina to hold the position, and Public Advocate Letitia James, a former council member who is the first woman of color elected to city-wide office.

At a different Women's History Month celebration last Friday evening in Brooklyn, Mark-Viverito lamented the fact that there are currently only 15 women among the Council's 51 members. She also said that with six, including herself, term-limited out of office after 2017, there is a need to recruit a new wave of women to run for local office. There's a good chance this message will be echoed Monday night in Council Chambers.

Monday's event will come on the heels of a month of City Council preliminary budget hearings held in those very chambers. One such hearing, on Tuesday, March 17, featured the Council's Committee on Women's Issues, which is chaired by Council Member Laurie Cumbo. Without one clearly defined city agency to call in for budget oversight on its own - like, for example, the Education Committee has the city's Department of Education - the women's issues committee is matched with other committees for budget proceedings. Groupings are not uncommon, as there are 38 council issue committees. But, Women's Issues is one of only a handful of council committees dedicated to a specific demographic group and where it fits for its budget hearings defines its focus narrowly.

Because it has jurisdiction over child development, for budget hearings the Committee on Women's Issues joins the Committee on General Welfare and the Committee on Juvenile Justice to analyze the budget of the city's Administration for Children's Services (ACS). For budget purposes, it means a definition of "women's issues" as those related to children, poverty, and families in crisis.

On the City Council website, the women's issues committee has the following description: "Issues relating to public policy concerns of women, domestic violence, Office to Combat Domestic Violence and Agency for Child Development."

As Mark-Viverito, Cumbo, and many others readily note, the "public policy concerns of women" are unlimited. Asked by Gotham Gazette for more clarity on the budget hearing grouping, council sources pressed that the Council has been extremely active in addressing a wide variety of issues important to women and that female council members are at the forefront in many ways - points that are true, of course, especially considering that both the speaker and the powerful finance committee chair (Julissa Ferreras) are women.

When asked to further explain the budget hearing grouping, Council Member Cumbo said in a statement, "Through our collaboration with the Committees on General Welfare and Juvenile Justice, we have worked to assess the operations of the City agencies most frequently used by women and families."

This set-up is not new: since 2009 the Committee on Women's Issues has been partnered with the Committee on General Welfare for preliminary and executive budget hearings. The Committee on Juvenile Justice has been part of this group for three years. These trends span multiple council speakers and mayors, of course, as well as chairs of each of the three committees. The Women's Issues Committee is one of the smallest in the Council, with just five members.

Getting at her committee's much broader focus than what its budget hearings indicate, Cumbo also said that Women's Issues "is uniquely positioned to address the challenges faced by the millions of women who make up more than half of our city's population. We have a broad responsibility to ensure that women from all walks of life have access to critical programs and services to meet their personal, familial, and professional obligations." She points to wage equity, education, entrepreneurship, and affordable housing among key issues she is focused on as chair.

Since the start of 2014, when Cumbo became chair, Women's Issues has held joint hearings with the a variety of other committees including education, finance, civil rights, public safety, and health, among others. These groupings, unlike that for the budget, suggest the reality, that all issues are "women's issues."

To that end, women members of the City Council meet as a Women's Caucus - as do the Council's Jewish members, LGBT members, and Black, Latino and Asian members - and evaluates how to best influence public policy of all kinds. Of these four caucuses, the only one with a parallel council committee is women's. Perhaps the Women's Issues chair should be at most, if not all, council budget hearings.

On the subject, Democratic political consultant and City & State columnist Alexis Grenell said, "We have a tremendous amount of female leadership right now in New York City, a feminist Mayor, and receptive male colleagues in government. It's a very interesting time to expand the conversation about so called "women's issues" beyond traditional categories and think about what a gender mainstreaming agenda might look like."

Council Member Stephen Levin is the chair of the General Welfare Committee. On the subject of why his committee is partnered with Women's Issues for budget hearings, he emphasized that it should not be read into too heavily.

"There's a significant amount of overlap in the issues that we work on with the women's committee," said Levin. "So when you're talking about child care, child welfare issues, there's certainly an area when we've done joint hearings." He concluded, "I wouldn't read too much into it other than there are a lot of times that we do work closely together."

At the preliminary budget hearing, Cumbo gave opening remarks, acknowledging that it is Women's History Month - calling it "herstory" month - and recognizing the great strides that women have made and will continue to make. She singled out Speaker Mark-Viverito and Public Advocate James for their remarkable achievements. She also spoke about the work that the Administration for Children's Services (ACS) must do to "positively impact the women and girls of New York, including women and girls of color that face even greater economic disparities."

With Mark-Viverito and James, Cumbo will co-host the event at City Hall Monday evening, as she did a Women's History Month event in Brooklyn on March 20 with colleague Jumaane Williams.

Pointing to the overarching mission of her committee, Cumbo said at the budget hearing that it is essential the City supports children and families, "while also empowering the women across our city."

She told Gotham Gazette that she is continuing to explore "future opportunities to work with multiple Committees year-round to identify effective ways to cultivate a more inclusive society where any woman can reach her full potential."

***
by Shannon Ho and Ben Max, Gotham Gazette
@GothamGazette

Governor Cuomo (photo: Governor's Office via flickr)

A room full of high school students was answering questions on an excerpt from Stephen Hawking's "The (Elusive) Theory of Everything." The result of the exam could significantly affect their academic future. Also hanging in the balance: the evaluation their English teacher would receive - as well as those to be received by their art, Spanish and music teachers.

"The test is designed to fail both us and the students," said English teacher Jennifer Onopa. In January, her 10th graders were among students across New York who took a Common Core-aligned English Regents exam consisting mostly of science-based reading passages. And, because of a twist in the law, teachers of subjects not tested by the State would also see a portion of their fates decided by the students' scores.

New York's teachers and students are caught in the middle of a political battle. As the April 1 deadline for the state budget approaches, Governor Andrew Cuomo does not seem ready to compromise on his education reform demands, which include shifts to teacher evaluations and tenure rules. On the other side, teachers unions and their political allies are also holding their ground, rebuking the governor's agenda.

The ongoing and contentious debate around overhauling the system of teacher evaluations is likely to extend beyond budget negotiations and into the legislative session to follow.

Changes to the evaluation system would affect how New York's public school teachers are measured, when they earn tenure, and whether they are fired. To pressure state legislators to accept the changes he wants, Cuomo is using education funding as a bargaining chip. The governor is making a $1.1 billion increase in education spending in the state budget contingent on his reforms, which include raising the significance of test scores in teacher evaluations and extending the probationary period before tenure is granted. If the state Legislature rejects his changes, funding for schools would increase by markedly less: $337 million. If an evaluation system overhaul is pushed post-budget, it is unclear what the funding level might be.

In his January State of the State Address, Cuomo called the current evaluation system "baloney." He highlighted the discrepancy between only 38 percent of New York high school students being college ready while 96 percent of teachers were rated "effective" or "highly effective."

Under the current system, 60 percent of teachers' evaluations are based on classroom observations by internal evaluators. These observations are usually done by the school's principal, taking into account the many qualitative aspects of teaching. Based on the Danielson Framework, evaluators look at factors such as a teacher's knowledge of their subject, effective communication with students, and creating a classroom environment of respect.

State standardized tests currently count for 20 percent of the evaluation. The remaining 20 percent is based on local measures, such as school or district-based exams. Under the revisions Cuomo proposed in January, 50 percent of a teacher's evaluation would be based on state standardized tests. The weight of internal observations would decrease to 15 percent and 35 percent would depend on external observers, though it is not clear who those observers would be. Use of local measures would be eliminated.

On tenure reform, Cuomo is calling for a system whereby a teacher would have to be rated "qualified" for five consecutive years, instead of three, to obtain tenure status. An "unqualified" rating for two consecutive years could get a teacher fired.

Teachers' unions oppose the governor's proposed reforms. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, New York City Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña, and Democrats in the state Legislature, especially the Democratically-dominated Assembly, are also against the changes. During a February budget hearing in Albany, Fariña explained her opposition, saying, "I was a teacher for more than 20 years and if I was only measured in test scores, that would have only been a little bit of my work."

As Fariña pointed out, Cuomo's reforms risk making teachers' evaluations even less representative of the actual quality of the teaching. With 50 percent of their evaluation on the line, teachers may increasingly focus their teaching on students' performance on standardized tests. An added emphasis on teaching to the test would, many argue, greatly compromise the qualitative aspects of teaching.

Teachers like Onopo, as well as parents, are also questioning the content and difficulty level of the state exams, particularly under the new Common Core standards. These factors are leading more and more parents to have their children "opt out" of standardized tests. Cuomo's proposal seems inconsistent with the public mood of increasing opposition to Common Core standardized tests. This is reflected in the latest Quinnipiac University poll, which shows that only 28 percent of voters approve of the governor's handling of education. The poll also showed that voters trust the teachers unions more than Cuomo to improve education.

The new evaluation criteria could potentially put the most pressure on teachers of English Language Learners. Around 14 percent of students in New York City are categorized as ELLs. As non-native English speakers routinely score lower on English standardized tests, the evaluations of those teaching ELLs across the state would suffer for reasons unconnected to their teaching. This would be a huge disincentive for those considering teaching in schools with high proportions of ELLs.

A further complication is that state standardized tests are not administered for all subjects and grades. While there are exams for English, Science, Mathematics, and Social Studies, there are no standardized tests for art, music, drama, physical education or foreign languages. Presently, 20 percent of the evaluation of teachers of these classes is based on exams for subjects that they do not teach. With the weight for standardized tests increasing to 50 percent, their job could largely depend on someone else's work. "If this were any other profession, there would be rebellion," says English and Drama teacher Jason Zanitsch. "If you took the word 'education' out of the equation and proposed this in any business in the country, people would dismiss it out of hand."

Along the lines of what Zanitsch envisions, teachers and their allies have been repeatedly protesting Cuomo's policies in Albany and elsewhere.

The governor's plan is not clear on how teachers of non-tested subjects would be evaluated. Teachers fear a situation where half of an art teacher's evaluation would hinge on student performance on a science exam. "This thing that I know, that I've dedicated my career to, can make a huge difference in people's lives...They're saying that what matters is the math score," says music teacher Eric Dalio.

The current evaluation system certainly has flaws. Principals are often overburdened and unable to properly conduct classroom observations. And few objective observers would believe that only 1 percent of the state's teachers are "ineffective." Teachers unions have become extremely powerful, making it difficult to remove even the least competent teachers. Instead of acknowledging flaws in the system, unions are adopting a largely combative approach.

Cuomo has called public education "the great discriminator," with separate systems for the rich and poor. However, the governor's financial ultimatum is putting already disadvantaged students in a lose-lose situation. If school funding is not increased in the budget, these students would be the most affected. While some schools can draw on donations from parents, schools with students from lower income families often rely entirely on public funding.

Zanitsch says his school, where most students are from low-income families, is owed $1.3 million in funding from federal Race to the Top programming and the New York Campaign for Fiscal Equity court ruling. "$1.3 million would mean five teachers, all our after-school funding, iPads for every student. That much money is transformational," he explains. On the other hand, if the evaluation reforms are passed, struggling schools could lose good teachers who would be reluctant to teach where students do not perform well on standardized tests.

With negotiations ongoing, there is uncertainty and unease among educators. It already appears to be taking a toll. As Dalio explains, "It makes it frustrating to come to work and do what I love."

***
Zehra Rehman is pursuing a graduate degree in Journalism and International Relations at NYU.
@GothamGazette

Cuomo and Heastie agree on ethics reforms (photo: Governor's Office via flickr)

On Tuesday Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters that the DREAM Act and the Education Investment Tax Credit (EITC) he had paired were no longer part of budget negotiations. For many Black and Latino legislators the news was painful - they had pushed Cuomo to include the DREAM Act as part of his budget after he and Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul campaigned on the issue across the city this summer. But there was also a sinking sense of deja vu.

"DREAM Act, ETC are very important. Two different reasons, two different constituencies, but both get to the same point, which is access to education," Cuomo told reporters during a visit to the state Senate chambers Tuesday. "We have no agreement. We are nowhere close to an agreement."

A number of city-based legislators, especially from the Senate, say they have been repeatedly burned by a governor who is willing to talk about their issues on the stump to earn votes from their constituents but not willing to actually expend political capital to move their issues when the opportunity presents itself. They are increasingly concerned that Cuomo is willing to cede any number of policy points in budget talks, including further raising the minimum wage, in an effort to win the support of Senate Republicans on other issues.

Sen. Jose Peralta, who has worn a "Pass the DREAM Act!" t-shirt under his jacket during session, has been very active in supporting the act as part of the budget. The $27 million program Cuomo had included would provide tuition assistance to undocumented immigrants. Peralta said he was let down by Cuomo's decision to drop the bill and will work with advocates to push Cuomo and Republican Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos on the issue. The DREAM Act has more than enough support in the overwhelmingly Democratic Assembly.

Senate Republicans believe their opposition to the DREAM Act actually bolstered them in a number of races across the state this past fall.

In a new op-ed on Thursday, Cuomo explains that he wants to see votes on both the DREAM Act and EITC, and that while they may not be in the budget deal, he will continue to push each of them in the legislative session to follow, which lasts into mid June.

However, legislators are frustrated more generally. What is particularly irksome to Democrats this year is that Cuomo appears to be jettisoning contentious issues to get an on-time budget when he claimed earlier in the year that he would sacrifice budget timeliness for ethics reform (which the governor and Assembly Democrats have come to an agreement on).

"The governor should be equally committed to items in appropriations as he is on ethics," said Sen. Martin Dilan. "If DREAM comes out it should all come out. The budget is where we have leverage. Outside of the budget [The DREAM Act] is dead. This was a campaign promise of the governor, and I believe he and the lieutenant governor ran very hard on it."

Sen. Kevin Parker said he still has hope for the DREAM Act despite what Cuomo might have said. "There is still time for anything to happen," he said of ongoing budget negotiations. The budget is due by Wednesday, April 1.

Another item Democratic legislators point out Cuomo ran on was women's equality. And while Cuomo was supposed to help elect a Democratic Senate, he appeared to put little effort into doing so. Now the two converge as a Republican Senate blocks several key pieces of Democratic legislation, such as the DREAM Act and the abortion plank of the Women's Equality Act, and Senate Minority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a woman, is left out of budget negotiations.

Meanwhile, Cuomo has allowed his ally Jeff Klein, who heads the five-member Independent Democratic Conference, to join in leadership meetings around the budget. Mainline Democrats have cried foul over Klein being included and not Stewart-Cousins. At the first meeting of the budget conference committees, nicknamed "the mothership," Stewart-Cousins used her brief opportunity to speak to protest her exclusion. "Apparently the mothership is the only place this mother will appear negotiating the budget," she said.

Democrats appear to now have most of their eggs in the debate over increasing the minimum wage but a number of them fear Cuomo has already caved to Senate Republicans on the issue - something Skelos said was the case on Thursday, declaring an increase out of budget negotiations.

"This guy should be with us on $15," said one legislator who requested to remain anonymous of Cuomo, "but instead we have to beg and scrape to get him to push for $11.50 [for New York City]."

Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh called the minimum wage increase "the Assembly's top priority" when speaking with Gotham Gazette, but added that negotiations were centered around Cuomo's proposal for an eventual $10.50 for the state and $11.50 for the city. Parker said that the minimum wage needed to be done in this budget. "We don't want this to be another thing that comes up each year."

There has been underlying concern among Democrats that Cuomo would dump minimum wage in an effort to appease Skelos, who appears to back him on a number of education and financial issues. Skelos has pushed to remove a number of issues from budget discussions including how to use the State's massive bank settlement windfall and the renewal of mayoral control of schools. "I would guess that the independent monitor [for grand juries] is not going to be there," Skelos said after meeting with Cuomo on Tuesday. "Raising the age is not going to be there. DREAM Act is not going to be there. Other than that things are up for negotiation," he said, seemingly taking a victory lap for having nixed these items, which he and his conference oppose, from the budget.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie told reporters on Wednesday that a minimum wage increase is his top priority. "It absolutely has to be on the table as far as we're concerned in this conference," Heastie said.

During last year's Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Caucus Weekend, Cuomo, joined by Mayor Bill de Blasio, made a grand announcement that he would support a program to provide prison inmates with access to college degrees. A great majority of the lawmakers there would rather have heard Cuomo pledge to deliver the DREAM Act, but they praised and supported his plan. However, Republicans mocked and derided the idea as a waste of taxpayer money that rewarded criminals and Cuomo quietly let the initiative die.

It appears the governor may be having a similar moment this year - except that the program at stake faces criticism from both Democrats and Republicans. Cuomo's "Raise the Age" initiative that would raise the age youths can be tried as adults to 18 from 16 was initially greeted warmly by Democratic legislators. But after analyzing the complex program, which is spread out in different sections of the budget, a majority of Democrats now think Cuomo's proposal is deeply flawed. The Assembly presented a reworked version in their budget and Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Velmanette Montgomery, wrote to Cuomo on Tuesday saying they favor the Assembly version because they believe some of the provisions in Cuomo's plan will actually lead to juvenile offenders spending more time in jail.

"Raise the Age is not likely to be done in the budget," Cuomo told reporters outside of the Senate Republican conference room on Tuesday. "It's very complex. It connects with other issues..."

Melissa DeRosa, Cuomo's spokesperson, quickly contradicted her boss, on Twitter and in a statement, saying, "Raise the age is still part of budget negotiations; we believe we will successfully secure the necessary funding to implement the program."

It appears, though, that the policy will be decided outside of the budget while funding to implement it will be included in anticipation of legislation.

Cuomo defended his decision to remove issues from the negotiating table after he met with Senate Republicans on Tuesday: "The budget is my statement of saying, these are the priority issues, right? And now, people will say, 'If he didn't put it in the budget, he doesn't really care about it. That's what's happened over the years, and if it's not in the budget, then he doesn't mean it.' So the budget has become expansive from that point of view."

***
by David King, Albany editor, Gotham Gazette
@DavidHowardKing

A home rebuilt after Sandy (photo: @NYCBuilditBack)

More than two years on and David Velez's battle with Hurricane Sandy is far from over. But, thanks to some help from the Attorney General's office, Velez's fight with his mortgage lender may soon be coming to an end.

The first floor of the retired NYPD officer's home in Gerritsen Beach, Brooklyn was destroyed by flooding during the hurricane, and without help from insurance he and his wife used their savings to rebuild.

Unfortunately, after the construction was complete an architect from the City's Build it Back program deemed the residence structurally unsafe. Velez and his family moved out of the home this past October and were told that demolition would begin in November. Now March, Velez is still waiting for Department of Housing Preservation and Development contractors to begin construction of his home. While the program has gotten a shot in the arm under Mayor Bill de Blasio, the pace is still too slow for many.

Even living out of his home there is another reminder of the damage Sandy has done: Velez gets regular calls from Citibank representatives asking when he will catch up on his mortgage. "They even called me the day I had cancer surgery to remove a tumor," said Velez who was advised like other Sandy victims that he could stop mortgage payments while his home was being rebuilt, only for his lender to demand missed payments immediately after the forbearance was over.

It is a call increasingly familiar to homeowners across the state who are behind on their mortgages, whether from unexpected disasters like Hurricane Sandy or thanks to the economic downturn of 2008 and subsequent recession. Even in 2014, New York City saw a 33 percent increase in first-time foreclosures compared to the year before, according to one recent study.

Many homeowners have watched as Attorney General Eric Schniederman won the state multi-million dollar settlements from major lenders like Bank of America, Citibank, and JPMorgan. Like Velez, many struggling homeowners expected that those settlements would go directly to help New Yorkers who are underwater with their mortgage.

In Velez's case the AG's office did offer help, through an initiative called the Mortgage Assistance Program, which makes up to a $40,000 loan for homeowners who face foreclosure to pay off mortgage debt, second or third mortgages, or tax liens. Eligible families must be able to keep up with their mortgage to qualify for the program. Thousands of New Yorkers face foreclosure and don't qualify for the AG's program - some New Yorkers are simply far too behind on their mortgages to qualify.

Groups like The Fair Share for Housing Coalition and New York Communities for Change say the State needs to commit all of the funds from settlements with major lenders over mortgage fraud to go to helping homeowners.

In 2013 Schneiderman won a $615 million settlement for "mortgage misconduct" and according to the settlement 85 percent of that money had to go to programs to help homeowners. Schneiderman announced he was going to parse the cash out to nonprofits across the state that help homeowners avoid foreclosures, but Governor Andrew Cuomo and the state Legislature cut a deal in the 2014 budget that swept the cash into their coffers. According to Crain's New York, Schneiderman only ended up with $85 million of settlement funds.

Many advocates say they expected a number of "innovative" programs from Schneiderman's office given his national prominence on the issue. They feel those programs were kneecapped by Cuomo, who has a searing rivalry with the attorney general.

The AG's office currently works with nonprofits around the state to help homeowners avoid mortgage fraud through a program called the Homeowner Protection Program. A network of over 85 groups gets about $60 million in funding from the AG's office. Homeowners are directed through that program to the Mortgage Assistance Program (MAP). The AG's office expects to be able to give out "several hundred" loans through MAP. The program began last October and has given out 100 loans of up to $40,000.

The Fair Share for Housing Coalition lists a total of $492 million in settlements with Bank of America, Ocwen Financial Corporation, and Citigroup as directly related to mortgage fraud and it advocates that the State utilize, at the minimum, those funds to help homeowners. But the State actually has over $5 billion in settlements with banks and corporations that advocates would also like to go to homeowners' cause.

Charles Pollydore, a homeowner from Long Island and member of New York Communities for Change, has been circulating a petition demanding Cuomo use settlement funds to help homeowners who are underwater or face foreclosure.

Pollydore lost his consultant job on Wall Street in 2008 and, while on unemployment, began trying to negotiate a loan modification with Bank of America. He said he was repeatedly rebuffed or ignored. He reached out to a slew of state and federal representatives only to be directed to a different office each time. Also in 2008, Pollydore became disabled due to a diabetes-related amputation and he fears he will never be able to come to terms with his bank for an affordable mortgage payment.

"It is great the State is getting all this money back from the banks, but I feel like they need to give the money back to the homeowners - especially the money that came from these predatory lenders," Pollydore said.

He adds that his Long Island neighborhood has been ravaged by foreclosures. "You drive through the neighborhood and the houses are boarded up, there are squatters, we have increased crime, school taxes have increased." Pollydore says he is now surviving on government assistance and still owes back taxes.

"The money the attorney general is using for his program is a drop in the bucket compared to the settlements they have reached," said Pollydore. "We need the money back to stop so many people walking away from their homes."

Cuomo's budget proposal combines the State's pot into $5.8 billion in settlement cash and proposes to put it largely toward one-time expenditures. The plan would use $1.5 billion for upstate revitalization, $3 billion for infrastructure including the Tappan Zee bridge, $500 million to increase broadband infrastructure across the state, and $850 million for a rainy-day fund.

The Assembly budget is largely in line with Cuomo's proposal, but adds $200 million in increased spending on housing issues, including $100 million for homeowners "at risk of foreclosure or who are underwater on their mortgage." The Assembly budget plan only offers this about the program: "The Assembly provides $100 million for a mortgage modification program." Calls to the Assembly for more details were not returned.

While The Fair Share for Housing Coalition praises Cuomo for including more funding for affordable housng and has tried to avoid ruffling feathers in its push for more help for homeowners, New York Communities for Change (NYCC) has used a more confrontational style. It issued a report earlier this year called "Wall St. On The 2nd Floor" that details the connections between Cuomo's new chief of staff, William Mulrow, and his former employer, Blackstone. Blackstone is the largest private equity company in the world and NYCC worries Murrow, and by extension Cuomo, has a conflict of interest.

The NYCC report reads: "Private equity companies "snapped up properties after prices fell as much as 35 percent from the 2006 peak and rental demand rose from the almost 5 million owners who went through foreclosure since 2008." The company that bought the most foreclosed properties during this time was Blackstone."

NYCC members plan to deliver Pollydore's petition to the governor soon.

"I think the governor has made his priorities pretty clear," said Peter Nagy of NYCC. " Helping people hurt by the banking crisis doesn't seem to be as important as helping those who caused the banking crisis. I think the governor's friends believe it is in their best interest not to help homeowners."

As they do during budget season, deals will materialize and implode, and it appears that the use of settlement funds may be decided in negotiations between the Legislature and Cuomo outside of the budget, which is due by April 1. Legislative session continues through mid June.

"The windfall money is something that I believe should be settled outside of the budget and done in a very deliberate way rather than rushing it in the next three days," Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos said after meeting with Cuomo on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the Cuomo administration was pushing back.

Velez said he is happy with the AG's program but wished there was more help out their for other homeowners, "This was a hurricane, no one asked for this," he said.

Pollydore, meanwhile, plans to keep advocating for Cuomo and the Legislature to dedicate all of the mortgage-related settlement funds to helping homeowners who are facing foreclosure. "This is why I'm appealing to the governor to help us. The banks got a bailout from the government and we didn't - so the State got that money from us. They got it from us."

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by David King, Albany editor, Gotham Gazette
@DavidHowardKing