(Photo by Kavitha Surana)
Last night council members Margaret Chin and Rosie Mendez visited Community Board 3 to face the music and explain their votes on the mayor’s affordable housing and rezoning plan, which was approved by the City Council in March. The plan will allow developers to build higher in rezoned neighborhoods, but require them to include at least 25 percent affordable housing in all new buildings.
Lunch for the homeless at the Bowery Mission (Photo: Ilyse Liffreing)
Governor Andrew Cuomo began the year with a pretty progressive State of the State on Wednesday. In the annual speech, Cuomo called for 12 weeks of paid family leave, a $15 minimum wage, and emphasized the importance of reducing CO2 emissions. Looks like New York is safe from Trumpkins, Cruzinators and the like, for now anyway.
A protestor at a rally at the Great Hall at Cooper Union in June 2015. (Photo by Sam Gillette)
City and state government officials are cracking down on landlords who collect tax benefits for affordable housing incentives but don’t follow through on their obligations. This practice was one of the major criticisms of the 421-a tax incentive leveled by activists and city leaders in favor of repealing the rent laws that governed the incentive when they were up for renewal over the summer.
The Porter Avenue Shelter, operated by the Doe Fund (Photo via Doe Fund Facebook)
A fight is brewing between the City and the Doe Fund, a non-profit dedicated to helping provide the homeless with shelter, temporary jobs, and vocational training. The Department of Homeless services has moved to place a number of sex offenders at the organization’s Bushwick facility, but the Doe Fund claims it lacks the resources for what it says is a fundamentally different type of homeless person. After filing a lawsuit against the city, the non-profit is now appealing to the community by way of a petition and a “town hall meeting” held yesterday at its Porter Avenue shelter. But City officials, including local Council Member Antionio Reynoso and Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office, are pushing back.