FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 30, 2008

Contact: 212-788-7116
Release # 010-2008

PRESERVING ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING, COUNCIL VOTES TO PROTECT LOW-INCOME RENTERS FROM DISCRIMINATION
Also calls on the State to repeal Cablevision’s Madison Square Garden property tax exemption
 
City Hall, January 30, 2007 – At today’s Stated Council meeting, the members of the New York City Council will vote on legislation to ensure full opportunity for New Yorkers with limited incomes to obtain affordable housing by prohibiting discrimination against tenants based on lawful source of rent payment. This legislation will help maximize the use of available Section 8 vouchers and help low-income families access safe and permanent housing.

Additionally, the Council will vote on a resolution to end the Madison Square Garden property tax exemption.

The full Council will also vote on legislation to:
• Protect the quality of the City’s water and limit post-rain flooding by requiring the Administration to develop and implement a sustainable storm water management plan;
• Make more New Yorkers aware of affordable health care by requiring City daycare centers to distribute health insurance pamphlets to families who register their children for daycare; and
• Improve intergovernmental communication and efficiency by amending the City Administrative Procedure Act (CAPA) to require that agencies electronically transmit the full text of proposed changes to agency rules to appropriate government agencies and community organizations.

PROHIBITING DISCRIMINATION IN HOUSING BASED ON SOURCE OF INCOME
The Council will vote to prohibit discrimination against prospective tenants based on lawful source of income, protecting New Yorkers from housing discrimination and helping those with limited incomes find and maintain affordable housing by maximizing the use of Section 8 vouchers or other forms of governmental rent payment in the City. This vote comes after nearly a year of working with the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), landlord and tenant advocacy groups to improve the administration of the Section 8 voucher programs.

“With the rising cost of housing, it’s critical that we take every possible step to preserve and increase access to affordable housing, and this legislation continues the Council’s efforts to do just that,” said Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn.  “This legislation, thanks to the hard work of the Council, ACORN and other housing groups, will not only increase access for people eligible for Section 8 vouchers to affordable housing, it will fully protect an individual’s right to housing, regardless of their financial circumstances.”

“As difficult as it is to find affordable housing in New York City, it is significantly harder to find an apartment with a Section 8 voucher,” said General Welfare Committee Chair Bill de Blasio. “This legislation will help maximize available Section 8 vouchers and help low-income families access the housing they are eligible for and desperately need.”

Understanding that small landlords may have difficulty with the administrative burden that can come with the Section 8 program, the legislation exempts landlords who own five or fewer units.   However, rent controlled tenants who reside in these small properties would come under the protection of the law.  The law applies to all housing accommodations, regardless of the number of units in each, of anyone who owns at least at least one property of six or more units.

A study released by ACORN NY in April of 2007 revealed that of 122 available studios and one bedroom apartments within section 8 limits listed on Craigslist, The Daily News or The New York Times classifieds, only 16 of the owners surveyed would accept Section 8 vouchers.  In January of 2007, Mayor Bloomberg announced that 22,000 new Section 8 vouchers would be made available in New York City by the federal government, greatly increasing the number of low-income residents who can afford an apartment.  This protective legislation will help maximize the use of available Section 8 vouchers and help low-income families access the housing for which they are eligible.

MADISON SQUARE GARDEN PROPERTY TAX EXEMPTION
The Council will vote on a resolution calling upon the State to end the Madison Square Garden property tax exemption. With a projected economic downturn, the return of the $11.3 million Madison Square Garden tax exemption to the City’s property tax rolls can be used to help protect against budget shortfalls and maintain vital city services.

Over the last 25 years, Madison Square Garden property owners have been exempted from nearly $300 million in property taxes, with a value of $11.3 million in fiscal year 2008 alone. In 1982, the City entered into an agreement that granted the owners of the facility a full property tax exemption as long as professional basketball and hockey teams played home games in Madison Square Garden for at least 10 years.

“Madison Square Garden has gotten a free ride for long enough,” said Speaker Quinn. “With a predicted economic recession ahead, government will face tough financial choices in the coming months and this tax break will not make these future decisions any easier. We need to access every source of revenue available to us, so we can maintain the essential services for the New Yorkers who need them the most. It's time for MSG to pay its fair share.”

“It has now been more than a quarter-century, the City has been deprived of more than $300 million dollars in lost revenues, and the city continues to be deprived of between $11 and $12 million dollars a year- money the city can not afford to lose in a time of projected budget deficits,” said Council Member Helen Sears, lead sponsor of the bill.

“I continue to believe that Madison Square Garden violated the terms of the tax exemption when they locked the NBA and NHL players out and prevented Rangers and Knicks home games from being played for long stretches of time,” said Council Member Lewis Fidler, co-sponsor of the bill. “For that reason, among many others, it is time for Cablevision to pay its fair share of taxes to our City.”

"Cablevision’s own financial statements show its earnings approach nearly $6 billion a year,” said Finance Committee Chair David Weprin. “With New Yorkers paying more for everything and the City itself struggling to make ends meet, MSG’s property tax gift defies logic and fairness.

STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PLAN
To protect the quality of the City’s surrounding water bodies and to prevent flooding due to rain storms, the Council will vote on environmental legislation that would require the Administration to develop and implement a sustainable storm water management plan. Storm water runoff often causes the sewage system to overflow into the City’s water bodies, causing approximately 27 billion gallons of untreated sewage and storm water to be discharged into the City’s waters in a typical year. It has been reported that such combined sewer overflows dump hazardous pathogens into the City’s water bodies, posing a danger to the public health, harming ecology, and making local water bodies unsuitable for recreational activities.

The creating a plan to reduce the volume of storm water flowing into the city’s sewer system, to improve water quality in the city’s water bodies, to protect the public health, prevent flooding on City streets or subways and to enhance the use and enjoyment of the city’s water bodies for recreational activities.

“For too long, the city's local waterways have been fouled by billions of gallons of storm water and combined-sewer overflow events,” said Environmental Committee Chair James Gennaro. “This bill commits the city to implementing the most progressive and cost-effective strategies in the country to control storm water and CSO's at their source. These strategies will have a profound effect on our city's waterways for which our residents and successive generations of New Yorkers will be grateful.”

PROVIDING HEALTH INSURANCE INFORMATION IN CITY DAYCARE CENTERS
Helping to make more New Yorkers aware of health care options, the Council will vote on legislation that would require City daycare centers to distribute health insurance informational pamphlets families who register their children for daycare. The legislation would require the pamphlets to be available throughout the year.

“This bill is a simple, common sense approach focused on outreach, in an effort to reduce the number of uninsured children in New York City,” said Council Member Letitia James, lead sponsor of the bill. “The responsibility to distribute public health insurance program pamphlets ultimately lies with both the day care centers, and the department of health and mental hygiene.”

Currently, the City Charter requires several city agencies, such as the Administration for Children’s Services, the Department of Education, and the Department of Mental Health and Hygiene, to distribute pamphlets about health insurance options to those who request applications for services. The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene would be responsible for providing the pamphlets to the daycare centers.

ELECTRONIC TRANSMITTAL OF AGENCY RULE CHANGES
Improving intergovernmental communication and efficiency, the Council will vote to amend the City Administrative Procedure Act (CAPA) to require that agencies electronically transmit the full text of proposed changes to agency rules. These proposed changes would be sent electronically to the Office of the City Council Speaker, the City Council’s Office of Legislative Documents, the Corporation Counsel, all Council Members, the chairs of all Community Boards, the news media, and civic organizations.

Currently, CAPA requires agencies to transmit notice of proposed rule changes to these entities, but there is no specified timeframe in which notices must be transmitted. This amendment will allow sufficient time for these groups to meaningfully comment and respond to these proposed changes. The proposed changes must be transmitted at least thirty days prior to the date the agency sets for a public hearing on such rules.

“This is the information age.  This bill will help ensure that government is accountable in keeping pace and utilizing technology to transmit information regarding proposed rules changes,” said Government Operations Committee Chair Simcha Felder.

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