New York State Homes & Community Renewal Commissioner/CEO Darryl Towns at CHPC Annual Luncheon 2011

Bill Traylor introduces NYS Homes & Community Renewal Commissioner/CEO Daryl Towns to the Citizens Housing & Planning Council (CHPC) of New York at the Marriott Marquis Times Square, on Thursday April 14th

DC #37 Lobby Day with Senator Shirley Huntley

On May 3, 2011 Senator Huntley met with many members of District Council 37 (DC 37) in her Albany office and at the convention center. Senator Huntley has supported the hardworking efforts of DC 37 and the millions of middle to working class people who are a part of the group. DC 37 spoke with Senator Huntley about legislation and other pending bills that would be very controversial or have their football spirit.

Some of the issues DC 37 supports include a wide range of topics. Renewal of Rent regulation was very important to members due the fact that there is a housing crunch in New York City for affordable housing. They also support restarting New York City Off-Tracking Betting to bring more jobs and revenue to the communities they live in. Most of the DC 37 members supported extended the Personal Income Tax surcharge. They felt everyone had to pay their fair share, but the wealthiest New Yorkers were not doing so and wanted them to be charged more.

The bills DC 37 did oppose included the Last In, First Out and New York City Property Tax Cap.

News and Notes from Rep Anthony D. Weiner - NY 9th Congressional District

GOP Budget Would Cut Queens to Its Core

Weiner Study Highlights Impact of More Than $25 Billion

in Funding Cuts To Borough Over 10 Years

Today, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D – Queens and Brooklyn) released a study highlighting how the GOP budget plan to be considered this week would cut funding to Queens by more than $25 billion over 10 years, slashing money for cops, transportation, seniors and education.

Under the Republican budget plan, more than $25 billion in federal aid to Queens would be cut over 10 years. During a time when the City is facing a massive budget deficit, this proposal would force major cuts in programs like Medicare and Medicaid, hurting countless seniors and low-income residents in the borough. Title I education funding would be cut by over $205 million, and federal grants to the NYPD would be cut by $111 million. This could mean that more than 425 cops would be taken off the streets of Queens.

Additionally, if the GOP budget passes, over the next decade the MTA would lose over $667 million that is used to fund vital rail and bus infrastructure and security projects throughout Queens, and the more than 300,000 seniors in the borough would lose their guaranteed Medicare benefits and be forced to pay additional premium costs.

"The GOP budget is not about debt reduction, it’s about increasing the dangerous inequities in our economy and society. It is an assault on the middle class and those struggling to make it.”

Weiner’s study found the following:

CUTS TO QUEENS OVER 10 YEARS: MORE THAN $25 BILLION

Medicare

· The over 300,000 seniors in Queens would lose their guaranteed Medicare benefits and be forced to pay premium costs that the new proposed subsidy doesn’t cover. (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and U.S. Census)

Medicaid

• Medicaid costs would be shifted to Queens residents as state and local taxes revenue would need to cover the over $20 billion in Medicaid cuts over 10 years contained within this budget proposal. (NYC OMB and Center for Budget and Policy Priorities)

SNAP Program

• The SNAP Program will now be tied to a block grant program with benefits contingent upon on work or job training. Over 96,000 Queens residents would lose their SNAP benefits and Queens would see $1.7 billion cut in funding over 10 years. (U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Census)

Education

• Title I funding, which provides funding for primary and secondary schools, would be cut by over $205 million over 10 years.(NYC Independent Budget Office (IBO)
• Pell Grants which provide grants for lower income college students would be cut by $1 billion over 10 years and the maximum Pell Grant award would be cut by $819 per student. (NYC Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and U.S. Census)

Law Enforcement

• Federal grants to the New York Police Department for Queens would be cut by $111 million over 10 years. This could mean that 425 cops are taken off the streets of Queens. (NYC IBO)

Housing

• The Low Income Heating and Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) which helps the lowest-income New Yorkers stay warm would be cut by over $68 million over 10 years. (NYC OMB)
• Section 8 vouchers which provide vouchers for low-income families to locate decent, safe, and affordable housing would be cut by over $83 million to NYC over 10 years. (NYC IBO)
• The Public Housing Operating Fund, which provides subsidies to public housing agencies, would be cut by nearly $310 million over 10 years. (NYC IBO)
• The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, which funds local Queens community development activities such as affordable housing, anti-poverty programs, and infrastructure development, would experience over $53 million in cuts over 10 years. (NYC IBO)
• The HOME investment partnerships program, which works with nonprofit groups to build, buy, and rehabilitate affordable housing would be cut by $4 million over 10 years. (NYC IBO)
• The Public Housing Capital Fund, which provides funding for the development and modernization of public housing, would be cut by $22 million over 10 years. (NYC IBO)

Transportation

• MTA would lose over $667 million over 10 years that is used to fund vital rail and bus infrastructure and security projects throughout Queens. (Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA))

Human Services

• The Child Care and Development Fund which provides subsidies for child care for low-income families so that parents can work would be cut by nearly $20 million over 10 years. (NYC IBO)
• Community Services Block Grants which provides funding to assist with employment, education, nutrition and emergency services for the homeless, migrants and the elderly would be cut nearly $10 million over 10 years. (NYC IBO)

Infrastructure

• The Drinking Water Revolving Fund which works to ensure that local residents receive clean and safe drinking water would be cut by $150 million for Queens. (NYC OMB)
• The Clean Water Revolving Fund which works to ensures that local communities can provide clean and sanitary wastewater treatment services for their residents would be cut by $778 million over 10 years for Queens. (NYC OMB)

Job Training

• Queens job training and workforce investment which provides adult workforce training, job-related activities for young adults, and dislocated workers programs would be cut by over $94 million over 10 years. (NYC IBO)

Weiner on President’s Budget Speech: “Today, We Go on Offense”

With President Obama set to give a major speech today outlining his plan for the budget, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D – Queens and Brooklyn) released the following statement:

"Now it's our turn. For months, we have heard the one-note attacks by the GOP on the middle class and those struggling to make it. Medicare, student loans and women's health have all been under attack.”

“Today, we go on offense.”

Weiner Announces $281 Million in Pell Grants for Local Students

More Than 67,000 Will Receive Vital Education Aid in Queens Alone

Today, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D – Queens and Brooklyn) announced that more than 67,000 Queens students will receive $281 million in Pell Grants this year to help cover the rising costs of a college education.

Federal Pell Grants provide need-based assistance to low-income students to help promote access to college and postsecondary education. This year, students across the nation are eligible to receive up to $5,550 each in Pell Grants, which are not required to be repaid.

In Queens alone, over 67,000 students will receive more than $281 million in aid – with an average grant of $4,136 per student. The announcement, however, comes in the midst of attempts by Congressional Republicans to cut the important grant by $1 billion over the next ten years in Queens.

Republicans in Congress, led by Rep. Paul Ryan, are proposing to reduce the maximum Pell Grant award by $819 per student beginning next year. If successful, the maximum Pell Grant will be slashed to $4,731 – a reduction of more than 14 percent. With the cost of higher education rising every year, the GOP proposal would devastate a vital lifeline for students in the borough.

"During a time when colleges are raising tuition, Pell Grants are an important tool in helping students get the education they deserve and the education they need to succeed in the 21^st century workplace,” Weiner said. “$281 million in Pell Grants for Queens is great news, but it’s also a reminder of what’s at stake next year if the draconian budget being pushed by Republicans actually passes.”

How to Gentrify Your Neighborhood by Ibish Comedy...

An old educational film reel on how to gentrify your neighborhood, recently recovered from a brownstone in Brooklyn NY.

Andy Disses Vito! Cuomo’s New Housing Czar is No Fan of Lopez • The Brooklyn Paper

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Gov. Cuomo slapped Brooklyn Democratic Party boss Vito Lopez, picking a longtime rival of the powerful Assemblyman to run the state’s housing agency.

Cuomo nominated Assemblyman Darryl Towns (D–Bedford-Stuyvesant) last week to run an agency in charge of affordable housing — Lopez’s passion — in an effort to antagonize him.

He also believes that the cancer-stricken Lopez’s career as a housing advocate and lawmaker, in its fifth decade, is winding down, sources familiar with the appointment said.

Once he takes over the agency next month, Towns will control the funding spigot for affordable housing projects — including Lopez’s political base, the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, which received four contracts worth $811,000 last year.

Lopez (D–Bushwick) has exerted tremendous influence over the state’s Department of Housing and Community Renewal over the years — he orchestrated the appointment of a former staffer, Deborah Van Amerongen, as its commissioner in 2007.

Publicly, everyone is playing nice — but Cuomo is known to be wary of Lopez. As attorney general, Cuomo led the audits into the Lopez-founded Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council, investigations that briefly caused the state to freeze funding to the nonprofit.

Lopez has called allies in Albany to complain about Cuomo’s appointment of Towns, said one source, and Towns recently told one public official that he “hated” Vito and was willing to work with insurgent political clubs who opposed him.

The bad blood stems from more than a decade of political brinkmanship between the Towns family and Lopez’s clique.

Lopez recruited and ran former Councilman, now state senator, Martin Dilan against Towns in an Assembly primary 1998 and 2000 — even though Dilan was once Towns’s campaign manager.

And about three years ago, Lopez demanded that pharmaceutical giant Pfizer fire its lobbyist, Karen Boykin-Towns, Towns’s wife, because the company did not set aside the property of its former headquarters for affordable housing.

Enraged, Towns confronted Lopez in Albany demanding an apology, according to several sources.

“They argued, they confronted each other in the hallways, and Towns said, ‘What’s up with that and my wife? You crossed a boundary. How dare you?’” said a source.

Towns later said that Lopez’s demand was “an attack on the corporation,” not on his wife. Boykin-Towns was later promoted.

Debra Feinberg, a Lopez spokeswoman, said that chatter over the appointment of Towns does not change the essential fact that “Assemblyman Vito Lopez has been an outspoken voice in Albany in advocating for restorations and increases in allocations for affordable housing programs in the budget. He looks forward to working closely with Assemblyman Towns … and hopes that by working together, well-established and vital programs continue to be able to be funded throughout the state of New York.”

It’s almost as if Towns put out the same statement.

“Assemblyman [Lopez] and I have a history of being very successful when we work together,” said Towns. “There have been times when we have differed on opinions.”

Governor Cuomo Taps Towns to Head Big Housing Agency by Daniel Massey - Crain's New York Business

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Brooklyn Assemblyman to Become Commissioner of State's New Homes and Community Renewal Agency that Focuses on Housing

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday appointed Assemblyman Darryl Towns as commissioner and chief executive of New York State Homes and Community Renewal, the state agency that oversees finance, development and preservation of housing.

Mr. Towns replaces Brian Lawlor, a veteran housing official who last year led a consolidation of the Division of Housing and Community Renewal with nyhomes. As per the consolidation, Mr. Towns will also serve as chief executive of the state’s Housing Finance Agency and the State of New York Mortgage Agency.

A state official said Mr. Lawlor is likely to remain with the agency in a senior policy role.

Since 1992, Mr. Towns has represented the 54th Assembly District in Brooklyn. His father, Edolphus Towns, is a 14-term congressman. Darryl Towns has long been considered a potential successor to his father. It wasn’t immediately clear what his new position says about his aspirations for higher office.

While in the Assembly, he spearheaded the ANCHOR Program, which helped bolster commercial revitalization in residential communities in New York City and support the increase of newly constructed housing developments.

"HCR is an essential agency with the ability to effect real change for the people of New York,” said Don Capoccia, vice president of the New York State Association for Affordable Housing. “Assemblyman Towns will make it his priority to facilitate affordable housing in both urban and rural communities, therefore advancing much needed economic growth in New York.”

The appointment does not require Senate confirmation, a spokesman for the governor said.