Senate Democrats, NYC Elected Officials, and Housing Advocates Call For Renewal and Strengthening of Rent Regulations to be Included in SFY 2011-12 Budget

Sen. Espaillat, Senate Dems, NYC Elected Officials, & Housing Advocates Call For Renewal and Strengthening of Rent Regulations to be Included in SFY 2011-12 Budget

With rent regulation laws that protect over 1 million units of affordable housing in New York City dangerously close to expiring, Senator Adriano Espaillat was joined by his Senate colleagues, City elected officials, and over 150 advocates to call for the immediate extension and expansion of tenant protections.

To prevent the expiration of rent regulations and the most significant “tenant tax” in the history of New York, which could force over a million New Yorkers from their homes, Senate Democrats are calling for Sen. Espaillat’s omnibus tenant protection bill (S.2783-A) to be included in the SFY 2011-12 budget. The laws governing rent regulation are set to expire on June 15, 2011. Between 1994 and 2010, it is estimated that over 300,000 units of affordable housing were removed from rent regulation.

“Raising rents on middle-class and poor families that are already struggling in this tough economy is tantamount to a crushing tax that will drive New Yorkers from their homes,” said Senator Adriano Espaillat, Ranking Democrat on the Senate Housing Committee That’s why I have introduced legislation strengthening rent control and other crucial regulations that protect tenants and stabilize communities across New York. As elected officials, leaders, and grassroots activists, we stand united in fighting to preserve the millions of homes that might be lost if rent regulations are allowed to expire on June 15th.”

Mary Tek, spokesperson for the Real Rent Reform campaign, said, “We thank Senator Espaillat for recognizing that our current, weakened rent laws have resulted in the loss of over 300,000 affordable homes for New York’s families. We need real rent reform that not only renews rent protections, but also strengthens them by repealing vacancy destabilization. Without these steps, over 1 million families face unsustainable rent hikes leading to increased homelessness, destabilized communities, and the further erosion of New York’s economy.”

Senate Democratic Conference Leader John L. Sampson said, “To maintain our communities, grow our businesses, and keep middle-class families in their homes, we must extend and expand tenant protections. If rent regulations expire over a million New Yorkers could be driven from their homes by a devastating tenant tax. Including tenant protections in the budget process will safeguard tenants and stop an affordable housing crisis from crippling New York.

New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio said, “These laws are the only thing standing between our city and the largest affordable housing crisis in this country’s history. If we don’t act here and now, hundreds of thousands of working and middle class families could lose their homes. We must live up to our historic responsibility to keep the more than million apartments under threat affordable.”

Key Components of S. 2783- A/ Espaillat:

• Repeals vacancy destabilization and re-regulates most of the apartments that have been lost through this loophole in the last two decades.
• Allows New York City and suburban municipalities to bring former Mitchell-Lama and Section 8 buildings under rent stabilization.
• Reduces the statutory vacancy bonus from 20% to 10%.
• Reforms preferential rent loophole that enables landlords to increase stabilized rents by hundreds of dollars when tenants renew their leases.
• Reforms the provision that allows landlords to empty entire buildings by claiming they need more than one unit for themselves or their family members.
• Reforms the Major Capital Improvement (MCI) program by making rent surcharges temporary and which end when the landlord has recovered the cost of the improvement.
• Reforms the Individual Apartment Improvement (IAI) program by reducing the monthly rent increase from 1/40th to 1/60th of the cost of the improvement.
• Adjusts high-income deregulation thresholds to more accurately represent inflation.
• Repeals the Urstadt Law which would restore home rule powers over rent and eviction legislation to the City of New York.

Ana Maria Archila, Executive Director, Make the Road Action Fund, said, “Immigrant renters in New York City confront serious challenges finding safe, decent, and affordable housing. The deregulation of thousands of rent regulated housing units has been disastrous for immigrants, drastically cutting the supply of affordable housing in our communities. We cannot wait any longer. We must repeal vacancy decontrol this year."

History Lesson at Cypress Hills Cemetery by Lisa L. Colangelo - NY Daily News

Read original...

Bearing flowers, Naomi King went on a Black History Month tour of Cypress Hills Cemetery last week.

Myeisha Nixon stared at the elaborate gravestone for jazz great Eubie Blake as she listened to a brief lecture about his numerous accomplishments.

"It's fun and exciting to learn about new things," said the bubbly 10-year-old as she walked through Cypress Hills Cemetery last week to hear about the famous African-Americans buried on its sprawling grounds.

But the unusual setting made the trip a little more exciting - and eerie, she admitted.

"They can stack graves on top of each other!" she exclaimed, her eyes widening, when she learned that coffins in family plots are sometimes stacked.

The group of Brooklyn youngsters went on the tour as part of a Black History Month celebration organized by Assemblyman Darryl Towns (D-Brooklyn) and Cypress Hills Cemetery.

The cemetery has embarked on a campaign to celebrate its famous permanent residents, which include a number of African-American trailblazers.

Baseball legend Jackie Robinson is buried there, along with writer and historian Arturo Schomburg and Charlotte Ray, the first female African-American lawyer in the nation.

Taliayah Rios, 11, and Marianny Rodriguez, 10, left flowers at the gravesites of Charlotte Ray and Wallace Turnage, a slave whose thrilling story of escape was detailed in the book "A Slave No More."

"I thought it would be really creepy to come here," said Marianny. "But it's fun and interesting."

Towns said he was amazed to discover the rich history in Cypress Hills, a 210 acre site that straddles Brooklyn and Queens.

"I had lived in the community for over 40 years and never knew the treasures we had in Cypress Hills," said Towns.

"When youngsters see that these heroes chose this as their final resting place, it might make them take a second look at our community and remember it deserves respect. It's not a place where you litter and graffiti."

Stephen Duer and Allan Smith, co-authors of a book about the cemetery, served as tour guides answering questions along the route.

Some of the kids were captivated by the colorful, heartbreaking memorials and headstones for infants.

"We're a monument-loving society," said Duer. "In my opinion, every stone in a cemetery is a monument to a life lived and has a story to tell."

Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito of East Harlem is 1 of Just 2 Politicians in Upper Manhattan by Frank Lombardi - NY Daily News

Read original...

Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito is one of just two uptown politicians

Women are scarce in uptown elected offices. The list begins and ends with Democratic City Council members Inez Dickens of Harlem and Melissa Mark-Viverito of East Harlem, both Democrats.

That's just two out of 11 uptown legislators on the city, state or federal levels, or 18%. The city's population is 52.3% female and 47.7% male.

"It's a shame - that's embarrassing," said Mark-Viverito. "It's an indication that we haven't done enough to open doors to women to be in those positions."

Mark-Viverito and Dickens took contrasting paths to win their Council seats in 2005.

Dickens, 61, is an insider who was was invited to the party. She's a protegé of Harlem Rep. Charles Rangel and his co-leader in the potent Martin Luther King Jr. Democratic Club. Her late father, Lloyd Dickens, was a prominent Harlem insider.

Dickens was elected her first time out in the 9th District (Central Harlem and parts of Morningside Heights, the upper West Side and East Harlem). Then-incumbent Bill Perkins was blocked from seeking reelection by term limits, and is now a state senator.

Mark-Viverito, 41, is an outsider who had to crash the party to win her seat in the 8th District (East Harlem, parts of Manhattan Valley and a piece of Mott Haven in the Bronx).

Born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, she came to New York at 18 to attend college, earning a BA from Columbia and a master's from Baruch College. She then worked for several nonprofit agencies, including the Hispanic Education and Legal Fund (HELF) and ASPIRA of New York, and was a strategist for 1199 SEIU, New York's health-care union.

She said she was involved in East Harlem issues and causes through her work, but got more involved after moving into the district in 1998. She made her first Council bid in 2003, getting crushed in a crowded primary against incumbent Philip Reed.

Two years later, with Reed term-limited, she won a six-candidate primary by 167 votes - becoming the first Puerto Rican woman to represent the East Harlem Council district.

Single and guarded about her private life, she explained that her hyphenated name comes from the last name of her late father, Anthony Mark, and the maiden name of her mother, Elizabeth Viverito (whose father was of Italian-American heritage). Her father was a doctor and a founder of San Pablo Hospital in Bayamón, where her mother still lives.

Mark-Viverito has a reputation for being outspoken and for embracing controversial issues - sometimes to the consternation of fellow Council members.

"Maybe that's why I won't be able to look at any other position, because I don't play well with others sometimes," she joked.

One recent example is her call for a pardon for Oscar Lopez Rivera, a Puerto Rican independence activist serving a 70-year sentence for "seditious conspiracy" involving the FALN paramilitary group.

Mark-Viverito insists Rivera, now 68, was never linked to FALN violence and bombings. She said his pardon after 29 years in prison would be "a matter of justice." The U.S. Parole Commission rejected a pardon last month, and Rivera remains in prison.

Her trail of controversies could also hurt her chances of moving up to Council speaker in 2013, when current Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Chelsea) is forced out by term limits. Dickens also has been mentioned, among others. The new speaker will be chosen by a vote of the 51 Council members.

"I'm very flattered that people think that I may have the capacity and the ability to be in that position," Mark-Viverito said. "I mean people talk to me about it ... so I don't exclude it. I definitely want to be involved in that process."

Black Marks for Schools Chancellor on Trip to Williamsburg by Aaron Short • The Brooklyn Paper

Read original...

Hours after Mayor Bloomberg announced on Monday that 4,600 teachers would be laid off due to budget cuts, Schools Chancellor Cathie Black took her roadshow to Williamsburg, where she was verbally assaulted by nearly 200 seething Williamsburg parents and teachers.

Speaker after speaker took issue with Black over virtually all of her and Mayor Bloomberg’s educational agenda:

• On layoffs: “Our teachers — they’re not from Teach for America — these people grew up in this neighborhood, went to school here, and stayed here when on one else would,” said Brian DeVale, principal of PS 257 in Bushwick. He argued that good principals know how to get rid of bad teachers without layoffs from on high.

• On priorities: “This is an agency with a $22 billion budget — we should be trying to find savings in there somewhere,” said Councilman Steve Levin (D–Greenpoint).

• On charter schools: “I’m upset by the lack of community schools,” said Williamsburg parent David Dobosz. “We now have a mayoral dictatorship of schools. This is not what the law intended.”

To her critics, Black repeated what she has often said when under fire: “I will work day in and day out as your chancellor,” she said in her opening statements at the “town hall” meeting at JHS 71 on Rutledge Street. “We will work with the best of our abilities to solve our financial problems.”

DeVale had another problem with Black — she wouldn’t take his teddy bear.

Yes, the principal showed up with a gift for Black: a bear that he said was in honor of President Teddy Roosevelt’s dedication towards civil service.

“It’s ironic that [mayoral control of schools] is now trying to destroy civil service,” said DeVale. “She wouldn’t take the bear.”

Northeastern Senators Make Play for High-Speed Rail Funds Rejected by Florida by Felicia Sonmez - Washington Post

Read original...

Ten senators from northeastern states requested Monday that $2.4 billion in funding for high-speed rail rejected by Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) be redirected to rail projects in their states.

Democratic Sens. Tom Carper (Del.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Ben Cardin (Md.), Chris Coons (Del.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), John Kerry (Mass.), Frank Lautenberg (N.J.), Bob Menendez (N.J.) and Barbara Mikulski (Md.) as well as Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.) made the request in a letter to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

"With its large population and high economic activity, the Northeast Corridor is well-positioned to lead the nation into the future of high-speed rail transportation," the senators wrote. "If another project sponsor in Florida is not found, our states stand ready to put the unwanted funds to good use to improve our existing high-speed rail service, create jobs, and reduce congestion and air pollution."

The letter follows one penned by Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) to LaHood this month asking for the high-speed rail funds to be directed to his state and the Northeast Corridor.

Scott two weeks ago joined Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) in rejecting the Obama administration high-speed rail funding, projecting that the program would be too costly to taxpayers. LaHood gave Scott a reprieve until the end of this week to make a final decision on the funding, which would go toward a high-speed rail line between Tampa and Orlando; Scott last week renewed his criticism of the project, calling high-speed rail "a federal boondoggle."

The 10 senators in their letter Monday made the case that "although the Northeast Corridor has the only operating high-speed train in the country, the Corridor has received less than two percent of the $10.5 billion provided by Congress for the High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program to date."

The text of the letter is after the jump.

A copy of the letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation follows:
February 25, 2011
The Honorable Ray LaHood
Secretary
U.S. Department of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Ave, SE
Washington, DC 20590

Dear Secretary LaHood,

In light of the State of Florida's decision to reject $2.4 billion in High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program funds, we urge you to reprogram these funds to projects on the Northeast Corridor. Our states are ready to put these funds to good use to improve our existing high speed rail service, reduce congestion, and create jobs.

As you know, the Northeast Corridor is critically important to our nation's transportation infrastructure. The region served by the Corridor accounts for roughly one-fifth of the nation's gross domestic product and twenty percent of our nation's population. More than 250 million rail passengers use the Corridor annually and the Acela Express has built the foundation for high-speed rail service throughout the country. In a recent report, America 2050 rated the Northeast Corridor as the region with the greatest potential to attract high-speed rail ridership in the United States.

Improving passenger rail service on the Northeast Corridor is necessary to accommodate the sixty percent increase in passengers expected by 2030 and will alleviate severe congestion on the region's highways and airspace. At a time when numerous states have rejected federal funding from the High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program, we note that high-speed rail's potential on the Northeast Corridor is proven. For example, ridership on the Acela Express has risen six hundred percent during its nine years of service.

Although the Northeast Corridor has the only operating high-speed train in the country, the Corridor has received less than two percent of the $10.5 billion provided by Congress for the High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program to date. We believe that this is an insufficient investment in the Northeast Corridor, given our region's position as a population and economic mega-region.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,

Tom Carper
John F. Kerry
Joseph I. Lieberman
Richard Blumenthal
Kirsten E. Gillibrand
Frank R. Lautenberg
Robert Menendez
Christopher A. Coons
Barbara A. Milkulski
Benjamin L. Cardin

The Story of Citizens United v. FEC (2011) - The Story of Stuff

Season Two launches on March 1st with The Story of Citizens United v. FEC, an exploration of the inordinate power that corporations exercise in our democracy.

The Story of Citizens United v. FEC, released on March 1st, 2011 at storyofcitizensunited.org, explores the history of the American corporation and corporate political spending, the appropriate roles of citizens and for-profit corporations in a democracy and the toxic impact the Citizens United decision is already having on our political process. It ends with a call to amend the U.S. constitution to confirm that people—not corporations—make the decisions in a democracy.

Join the movement and our community: Please consider a tax-deductible gift to support the distribution of The Story of Citizens United v. FEC.
 You can make a secure contribution HERE.

America's 51st State: Baja Arizona? - msnbc.com

Watch original...

No joke, say Pima County Dems who want split from 'un-American' part of Grand Canyon State

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Some Pima County, Ariz., residents are angry enough with the rest of their state that they are considering an attempt to form the 51st state of "Baja Arizona." Organizer Paul Eckerstrom discusses with msnbc's Tamron Hall.

Forget calls for unity and common ground.


The former Democratic Party chairman for Pima County is so fed up with Arizona's conservative politics that he wants the county to secede and form a 51st state in southern Arizona.


Paul Eckerstrom says he wants to restore the region's credibility as a place that is welcoming to others. He and fellow Tucson attorney Peter Hormel have formed a political committee called Start Our State to explore process of making Pima County a separate state.


The mood of frustration has been "been building for the last couple of years," Eckerstrom said in an interview Tuesday with MSNBC's Tamron Hall. "A lot of folks down here have been very, very frustrated with the extremist policies coming out of our state Legislature.”


Anti-immigration bills, education cuts and attempts by conservative lawmakers to "nullify" federal laws prompted the secessionist movement.


Start Our State lists its mission as: "To establish a new state in Southern Arizona free of the un-American, unconstitutional machinations of the Arizona legislature and to restore our region’s credibility as a place welcoming to others, open to commerce, and friendly to its neighbors."


Eckerstrom said Start Our State, which had more than 2,350 "likes" on its Facebook page as of Tuesday night, wants to put a non-binding resolution for secession before Pima County voters next year. If approved, the measure would need the OK of either the state Legislature or a statewide referendum. Congress and America's 51st state: Baja Arizona? No joke, say Pima County Dems who want split from 'un-American' part of Grand Canyon State the president would also have to approve the new state.


"It has been so darn frustrating watching fringe legislators trying to dismantle our state and to tarnish our state’s reputation,” said state Senate Minority Whip Paula Aboud, a Tucson Democrat, who recently offered a secessionist amendment to a Republican-backed bill that would create a legislative committee to decide which federal laws to nullify. (The amendment was defeated.)


Eckerstrom said he has received several suggestions for a name for a new state, including Baja Arizona, South Arizona and Gadsden. The latter is a reference to the 1854 Gadsden Purchase of southern
Arizona from Mexico.


Pima County, with a population of about 1 million, is in the south-central region of Arizona, which became the 48th U.S. state in 1912. The county seat is Tucson, where a gunman killed six people and
wounded 12 others, including Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, at a meeting of Giffords constituents in January.


According to voter registration records, 35.8 percent of Arizona voters are Republicans, 31.7 percent independents, and 31.6 percent Democrats, according to The Daily Courier. In Pima County, about 38
percent of voters are Democrats vs. 31 percent Republicans. Pima, whose more-conservative neighbor is Maricopa County, is by far Arizona's most populous state.


The prospects for creation of a new secession state are dim at best.


Since the formation of the U.S. Constitution, only two states have been created from parts of an existing state: Maine, which seceded from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1820, and West Virginia, which split from Virginia during the Civil War.


Eckerstrom acknowledges the secessionist movement faces significant hurdles, but he said he hopes the publicity will at least send a wake-up call to others.


“We would like to at least send a message to the state Legislature and Arizona’s voters (that) hey, we need more moderation in our policies and at the same time tell the rest of the country that we’re rational, moderate people in Pima County. Don’t boycott us. Come here and bring your business here," he told MSNBC.


At least one critic openly scoffed at the secessionist notion.


Blunt-talking Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio — who calls himself “America’s Toughest Sheriff” —called the idea “stupid."


"If you don't like the elected officials, just get rid of them and put somebody in there where you like their philosophy and agendas. You don't just form a new state!" Arpaio recently told KGUN9-TV. "What's the next step? Include Mexico? Is that what they want? I guess Mexico can take over Baja Arizona as time goes on. "