Thank you everyone for coming here this afternoon.
I’d like to recognize my colleagues in the City Council who have joined us:
Today, my colleagues and I join New Yorkers across the five boroughs in mourning the eight lives lost in the tragic collapse of a building in Flatbush.
Council Member Farah Louis represents that community, and I’ve been in close touch with her as her office remains on the ground, responding to her constituents’ needs.
All of us here at the Council are thinking of them, their families, their loved ones — of the pain they must feel, and the indelible loss no words can make up for.
We’re also thinking of the 23 New Yorkers that are injured, including 3 brave firefighters, praying for their swift recovery. And we are incredibly grateful for the 250 first responders who raced to the scene, and who have been working through the night on the heroic rescue efforts.
I want to begin today with a moment of silence in honor of the victims.
[Moment of silence]
Thank you.
It’s times like this which remind us that whenever our city is staring tragedy in the face, New Yorkers have always been able to find solace in each other.
Today, we also recognize the 25th anniversary of Flight 587, which devastated the Dominican community and the Belle Harbor neighborhood.
We will always remember the 265 people that died that day, and how residents immediately came together to honor their lives.
Hundreds of neighbors showed up at the crash site, bringing water and basic necessities on top of their love and condolences.
In times of grief, we clutch that united resolve and unconquered spirit, but we also carry it with us in moments where we strive to build a future as a city, a state, and a nation.
Last Tuesday, millions of Americans headed to the polls for the midterm elections, and of course, quite a few of us even went early.
Our democracy grows stronger each time we participate, so I want to thank my fellow New Yorkers and Americans for that ever-increasing strength.
Yesterday marked the start of the inaugural Art Week NYC, the citywide festival dedicated to contemporary art.
And for the next two days, residents have free access to a truly unparalleled list of events — because art should be accessible to anyone, and enjoyed by everyone.
Yesterday, we celebrated Veterans Day, saluting the brave men and women, past and present, who put their lives on the line to serve our nation. And our city honored the approximately 200,000 Veterans who live here in the five boroughs, whose selfless sacrifice we can thank for our safety and our freedom.
This year, we wanted to put tangible action behind that gratitude. Because for some of our veterans, their patriotic bravery came at an immense personal cost.
Indeed, thousands of veterans in our city have a serious, permanent service-related disability.
The least we can do for those who sacrificed their health and their bodies is ensure they can afford to stay in their homes — to live in the city and country they fought to defend and protect.
Today, we are voting on a bill that means if you’re one of the thousands of veterans with a 100% service disability rating, you pay zero property tax on your home. And I want to thank Council Member Morano for his leadership on this legislation.
I also want to recognize the additional efforts of my colleagues to address issues facing our veterans – and we have several other bills in this veterans package.
We know that the affordability crisis should not be crushing our veterans. And it shouldn’t crush any working-class New Yorker, too.
But millions of residents are feeling the heavy weight of higher costs of gas, groceries, and health insurance.
There are many factors driving up costs, some of them quite obvious to consumers. But a more subtle reason is the insidious and predatory corporate practice of surveillance pricing.
Companies collect the personal information of New Yorkers and then use it to their detriment.
For different consumers shopping at the same time, companies set different prices of the same products – taking advantage of their demographics, web-browsing history, shopping habits, and social media activity — all to make New Yorkers pay more.
One investigation found that upon arriving at the parking lot of a department store, the price of a TV jumped $100 for one interested shopper – simply because the retailer had access to their location data.
Another revealed that a major grocery delivery platform was individualizing price differences as high as 23 percent between customers.
It’s a practice that erodes privacy. It’s a practice that erodes fairness. It’s a practice that worsens the affordability crisis. And today, it’s a practice we will ban, making us the first local jurisdiction in the nation to do so.
Earlier this year, I introduced legislation to prohibit businesses from using the individual data of consumers to set specific prices for them — whether it’s tracking their mouse movements or mapping their location.
Feel free to disagree, but Council Member Epstein should not have to pay more than his constituents for pet food, even if a retailer knows from his search history that he’d do anything for his dog, Homer.
To prevent these predatory tactics, companies would face fines of up to one-thousand dollars for each violation. But to protect small businesses, we are allowing them to avoid being fined if they promptly fix a violation. And of course, New Yorkers can still benefit from legitimate and transparent discounts — whether it be loyalty programs, holiday discounts, or deals for veterans, students, or seniors.
The bill gives consumers more faith in the system, makes transactions more transparent, and deters corporations from using surveillance pricing to drive up costs. And in working with our state partners, we are laying a foundation to guarantee the highest level of protection for our consumers
Building on the ways in which the Council is standing up for working New Yorkers, and adding to the many steps the Council is taking to make this city more affordable for all of them.
Before I turn to the rest of our Stated agenda, I also want to acknowledge a bill that Council Member Farah Louis is introducing.
In the midst of a housing crisis, it is unconscionable that over 50,000 rent-stabilized units are sitting vacant and off the market while so many New Yorkers struggle to find an affordable place to live.
Council Member Louis’ legislation works to rectify that.
It would require HPD to conduct an analysis of the city’s stock of vacant rent-stabilized units and develop a plan to ensure those units return to the market.
It is crucial to our efforts to address the current shortage — because it will finally help ensure more New Yorkers can secure housing that should already be available to them. So thank you, Council Member Louis.
Now, let’s proceed with more details about this afternoon’s Stated meeting.
First, we’ll vote on the following Land Use items:
South Richmond Designated Open Space Amendment will correct longstanding mapping and record-keeping errors in Council Member Frank Morano’s district.
Studio 54 Rehabilitation and Text Amendment will facilitate the preservation of the Studio 54 theater in Council Member Carl Wilson’s district.
Next, we will vote on the following Finance items:
Four Preconsidered Resolutions, all sponsored by Council Member Linda Lee, will set the City of New York’s real property tax rates for Fiscal Year 2027 in accordance with the provisions of the constitution of the State of New York, the Real Property Tax Law and the Charter of the City of New York.
Today, we will also vote on the following pieces of legislation:
Resolution 163-A, sponsored by Deputy Speaker Dr. Nantasha Williams, would designate the fourth week of November as The Shangri-Las Week in the City of New York.
Introduction 178-A, sponsored by Council Member Harvey Epstein, would require the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the Department of Buildings, and other relevant agencies to provide centralized technical assistance to developers and owners seeking to convert non-residential space into housing.
Now, I invite Council Member Harvey Epstein to the podium to discuss his legislation.
[COUNCIL MEMBER EPSTEIN SPEAKS]
Introduction 202-A, sponsored by Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez, would require the Department of Transportation to make reasonable efforts to install traffic safety improvements
Now, I invite Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez to the podium to discuss her legislation.
[COUNCIL MEMBER GUTIÉRREZ SPEAKS]
Introduction 928-A, sponsored by Council Member David Carr, would establish an LGBTQ+ liaison within the department of veterans’ services.
Introduction 488-A, sponsored by Council Member Inna Vernikov, would require an annual report from the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to ensure that applicants benefiting from a veteran preference are in fact veterans.
And I want to thank her for her leadership on this legislation.
Introduction 1051-A, sponsored by Council Member Frank Morano, would provide that the primary residence of any totally and permanently disabled veteran shall be fully exempt from taxation.
Now, I invite Council Member Frank Morano to the podium to discuss his legislation.
[COUNCIL MEMBER MORANO SPEAKS]
Introduction 891-A, sponsored by myself, would prohibit any entity or service provider from engaging in surveillance pricing.
That concludes our Stated agenda.