Senator José M. Serrano represents the 28th District, which includes parts of the South Bronx, Highbridge, University Heights, East Harlem, Yorkville, and Roosevelt Island.
Same idea as the first crisis – bad bank loans, weak underwriting, and that risky practice of securitized mortgages – except this time it’s hitting large affordable apartment complexes in New York City.
From the Wall Street Journal on Aug. 15 (and also reported in Crain's): “The owners of the 1,230-unit, rent-controlled Riverton Apartments in Manhattan's Harlem neighborhood anticipate defaulting on the property's $225 million mortgage by next month, marking one of the housing bust's largest collapses of a New York City residential development.
Same idea as the first crisis – bad bank loans, weak underwriting, and that risky practice of securitized mortgages – except this time it’s hitting large affordable apartment complexes in New York City.
From the Wall Street Journal on Aug. 15 (and also reported in Crain's): “The owners of the 1,230-unit, rent-controlled Riverton Apartments in Manhattan's Harlem neighborhood anticipate defaulting on the property's $225 million mortgage by next month, marking one of the housing bust's largest collapses of a New York City residential development.
“Developers Rockpoint Group LLC and Stellar Management have told the mortgage's servicer that they made minimal progress toward their goal of converting half of the 61-year-old complex's units to market-rate housing since obtaining the mortgage in December 2006 …”
We, housing advocates and elected officials, have been talking about this for a while now. In fact, earlier this month I was out in front of 1520 Sedgwick Avenue – The Birthplace of Hip Hop – urging predatory investor Mark Karasick (and his bank lending cohorts like CIBC) to keep their hands off.
We’ve also gathered over 40 elected signatures in a letter to the State Comptroller, asking him not to invest our pension funds in these real estate deals.
My overriding concern is the tenants: low- and middle-income, hard-working residents who often face harassment every time one of these private equity firms gets its hands on a building. I know people who live at Riverton. They make up the bedrock of the Uptown community. We’re talking about community leaders, business owners and homemakers. Did Stellar expect them all to just leave under their own volition? Did Stellar try to push them out and fail?
But this is not just about a small corner of Harlem or The Bronx. These deals have ripple effects that hurt the overall economy. When the Masters of the Universe and the Smartest Guys in the Room recklessly gamble on our homes, everybody else is left holding the ball.
I can’t help but contrast this with the work we’re doing today in Albany on the State Budget. While I may not agree with everything Governor Paterson wants to cut, I give him a lot of credit for taking proactive steps to avert a financial crisis.
Meanwhile, the Stellars and Mark Karasicks of the world apparently have nothing better to do with their billions than provoke a new financial crisis.
Senator José M. Serrano represents the 28th District, which includes parts of the South Bronx, Highbridge, University Heights, East Harlem, Yorkville, and Roosevelt Island.
I think there’s a lot to be learned from the 28th Senate District – which is both a hotbed of new and innovative economic activity, but also a place with a lot of economic insecurity.
I think there’s a lot to be learned from the 28th Senate District – which is both a hotbed of new and innovative economic activity, but also a place with a lot of economic insecurity.
Here’s a preview of my testimony. Feel free to share your thoughts.
First, we are losing the businesses that matter most. As part of the Supermarket Task Force that I started earlier this year, I mapped out the closures of several East Harlem supermarkets in recent years. This represents a loss of jobs, and reduced access to nutritious and affordable food.
At the core of the crisis is rent, which is doubling and even tripling in some areas of Upper Manhattan. In the Bronx, artists are getting creative and using their own walk-up apartments as gallery space. For the most part, though, there’s no substitute for a storefront.
Meanwhile, big box stores are sprouting everywhere you look, including East River Plaza in East Harlem and the Gateway Center at (the former) Bronx Terminal Market. But for all the time and money this City has expended on a corporate future, it has barely lifted a finger to protect mom and pop.
Here's a good example: One of the finest woodworking manufacturers, William Somerville, Inc., is located right here in East Harlem. For more than 120 years, it has employed generations of local workers out of a factory on East 124th Street.
The business wants to expand into three adjoining lots on East 123rd Street, which would generate some 25 new jobs, as well as opportunities for apprenticeship. Unfortunately, the Department of Sanitation controls all eight lots and won’t sell off a single one, even though its vehicles do not fill the area to capacity.
The City has ignored support letters from community stakeholders dating back to 2001.
Elsewhere, the Brooklyn Brewery wants to expand and double its workforce, if only there were room in the condominium-laden borough. According to the article in the Times: "Manufacturing now accounts for about one of every 40 jobs in the city, down from almost a quarter of all jobs in the mid-1960s."
The cases of William Somerville, Inc. and Brooklyn Brewery demonstrate an important point: we must redouble efforts to protect small business and light manufacturing in a City that seems to think it can succeed in the 21st Century with everyone sitting behind a computer screen or cash register.
I applaud the Governor for his focus on Economic Security, and I look forward to working with him on the issue.
Senator José M. Serrano represents the 28th District, which includes parts of the South Bronx, Highbridge, University Heights, East Harlem, Yorkville, and Roosevelt Island.
Senator Obama made an astute comment last week to the nation’s mayors. He said that "change comes not from the top-down, but from the bottom-up.
The Bush corollary is that bad decisions at the federal level do go from the top on down, with local governments left to clean up the mess.
Two examples of what I mean:
• Military recruiters have developed special marketing techniques that target youth in low-income neighborhoods. Everything from parking decked-out Hummers in front of Bronx high school to recruiting users of internet role-playing war games. The efforts are not simply aggressive, but very often violate Dept. of Education guidelines. (Be sure to read this report from Borough President Stringer and NYCLU.)
Senator Obama made an astute comment last week to the nation’s mayors. He said that "change comes not from the top-down, but from the bottom-up.
The Bush corollary is that bad decisions at the federal level do go from the top on down, with local governments left to clean up the mess.
Two examples of what I mean:
• Military recruiters have developed special marketing techniques that target youth in low-income neighborhoods. Everything from parking decked-out Hummers in front of Bronx high school to recruiting users of internet role-playing war games. The efforts are not simply aggressive, but very often violate Dept. of Education guidelines. (Be sure to read this report from Borough President Stringer and NYCLU.)
Starting last month, Councilmember Mark-Viverito and I began sending letters to high school principals in our respective districts. We want to make sure that students are provided a full menu of academic and professional options, including but not limited to military service. Such a shame that President Bush does not muster up the same energy to sell kids on higher education and volunteer work as he does on war.
• President Bush has failed to address the root causes of Sub-Prime Mortgage Crisis #1. Why is it only #1? Because hedge funds and institutional investors continue to pour money into risky mortgage-backed securities. This time it's not single-family homes, but large swaths of New York City's affordable housing stock.
While we wait for greater regulation of Wall Street's dangerous appetites, state elected officials are banding together. The bills we have crafted, and intend to pass once we re-take the Majority, will strengthen state housing policy and protect renters from the whims of predatory equity. In the meantime, we're also putting pressure on housing agencies to comprehensively enforce existing statutes.
Senator Obama, in his Miami speech, was pragmatic. He acknowledged that federal support to cities would be limited due to the Bush deficit. But at the same time, he promised major infrastructure assistance, as well as a White House Director of Urban Policy.
He appreciates how much American cities need renewable energy, immigration reform, and strong public education, and he understands the local implications of foolish foreign policy. In short, he knows that bottom-up growth depends on getting the elephant (and I do mean the elephant) off your back.
Senator José M. Serrano represents the 28th District, which includes parts of the South Bronx, Highbridge, University Heights, East Harlem, Yorkville, and Roosevelt Island.
Being a Democrat dooms my legislation before it is even conceived. Once a bill of mine gets introduced, it goes to committee where it waits for a vote. And waits. And waits. And waits.
No rule exists that requires committees to take vote on a piece of legislation. Thus, it is almost a certainty that Democratic bills will go through an entire legislative session without one minute of substantive public debate or discussion. Then they die.
There does exist one small opening, called a motion to petition, which allows me to bring a bill sitting in committee to a vote before the full Senate. If the full body votes to bring the bill out of committee, then it is introduced on the floor for another round of votes. It used to be that a Senator was given 5 minutes to speak on a motion. The Senate Majority, having adopted the barest minimum of the Brennan Center’s reform proposals, gave me 10 minutes before they killed my bill. Further debate is expressly prohibited by the Senate rules.
As expected, my motion was not carried. Every Republican voted along party lines. Actually, they didn’t even vote or go on the record. They just made sure to keep their hands down or conveniently step out of the chamber. Senate rules do not require attendance during a motion.
Two days ago, motions from my colleagues Senator Eric Schneiderman and Senator Liz Krueger, which I had the pleasure of cosponsoring, were similarly rejected. In fact, a Democratic bill has never been brought out of committee by a motion to petition. What is supposed to be a safety valve against domination by leadership, just helps to further cement that control.
It is a problem that good ideas are discarded in Albany simply because they do not come from the majority party. My bill would have helped to increase parental involvement in our schools, by providing translation services to parents with a limited command of English. It is a well-documented fact that children do much better in school when their parents are involved. Senator Schneiderman’s bill would have made it harder for criminals to get guns. Senator Krueger’s bill would have helped keep our environment clean, while promoting job growth here in New York State.
Education, safety, environmental protection and job creation are only a few of the big issues that affect people in every Senate district. Effectively silencing almost half of the Senate will not help us tackle these problems any quicker.
By expanding the potential pool of information that law enforcement officials can access, more crimes will be solved and more law breakers will be brought to justice. This is a common sense measure that has worked in New York City and will work in New York State.
The bill is modeled on Mayor Bloomberg's Executive Order 41, a policy that has been embraced by every New York City since Ed Koch. My proposal goes one step further, and creates a mechanism to punish those agencies found in violation of the law.
Naysayers will tell you that such an approach contributes to rising crime rates, but crime rates have steadily declined in New York City since we've gone sanctuary.
The economic argument also strikes an incorrect chord.
The Social Security Administration receives an ever-increasing amount of W-2 earnings reports with incorrect Social Security numbers. The so-called "suspense file" generates $6 billion to $7 billion in Social Security tax revenue and $1.5 billion in Medicare taxes.
This, mind you, is money that undocumented immigrants pay into the system and will never get back. Far from being subsidized, they help to subsidize and stabilize our taxpayer funded programs.
As reported by the New York Times in 2005: "Social Security officials do not know what fraction of the suspense file corresponds to the earnings of illegal immigrants. But they suspect that the portion is significant. 'Our assumption is that about three-quarters of other-than-legal immigrants pay payroll taxes,' said Stephen C. Goss, Social Security's chief actuary, using the agency's term for illegal immigration."
My point is that undocumented immigrants don't just deserve emergency services because they are here in the country, but rather because they help to pay for them.
There is no great state-specific data for New York. But in Texas,
the state comptroller found that revenues collected by undocumented immigrants exceed what the state pays in services by $424.7 million. Removing all 1.4 million undocumented immigrants in the state would have meant a loss of $17.7 billion to the Gross State Product.
There's no question immigration is a complex issue. But first thing's first: If you treat certain people like second-class human beings, you're going to get second-class communities. If you keep certain people living in fear, you end up with a whole lot of people living in fear. And that has to end.
Senator José M. Serrano represents the 28th Senate District, which is comprised of parts of the South Bronx, Highbridge, University Heights, East Harlem, Yorkville, and Roosevelt Island. He was first elected to the State Senate in 2004.
“It’s obvious that you’re Mexican and interested only in Mexican interests,” wrote one person who saw me on CNN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight last week. (I was born in the South Bronx, to Puerto Rican parents.)
Along the same lines: “Despite your assertions, your people are bastardizing American trades … So why don’t you go to Mexico, asshole, and stay. You are a traitor to the people of America.”
“It’s obvious that you’re Mexican and interested only in Mexican interests,” wrote one person who saw me on CNN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight last week. (I was born in the South Bronx, to Puerto Rican parents.)
Along the same lines: “Despite your assertions, your people are bastardizing American trades … So why don’t you go to Mexico, asshole, and stay. You are a traitor to the people of America.”
“We will de-rail the illegal gravy train from within,” had a nice ring to it.“Hey, Asshole, I just wanted you to know your insistent ‘undocumented’ stance on Lou Dobbs Tonight is BS and these illegals you represent are truly ILLEGAL in my country, the USA, you piece of shit,” wrote another fan.
He continued, “Now you are pushing to overrun the USA with goddamn illiterate illegal aliens sucking off all the benefits they can get for free at my expense.”
My personal favorite: “I loved the way you tried to pull the wool over the eyes of Dobbs on his program, you jackass party people are such funny little liars. You need to go to Mexico to collect your pay check since you seem to be all for those undocumented, we call them illegals …”
As with most policy matters, there are legitimate concerns that straddle both sides. What makes the immigration debate so frightful is how quickly policy concerns turn into a kind of xenophobic rage.
The simple truth is that Governor Spitzer will not change the mind of a racist. But the new policy will make it safer for that racist to drive on the road, will save the racist a whole lot of money and will make our state a safer place to live.
Thanks to enhanced verification techniques, New York will have the most secure licensing system in the country. We are also going to save drivers an estimated $120 million by reducing the premium costs associated with uninsured motorist coverage.
The new policy will do nothing to increase the risk of another terrorist attack. The 9/11 Commission determined that restricting access to driver’s licenses based on immigration status would not have prevented the attacks.
In fact, in the long list of proposals to make the licensing system more secure, the Commission explicitly did not recommend denying driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants as a measure that would prevent another attack.
The Commission did, however, recommend that states take immediate steps to increase the security of their licenses, which is an integral part of the Governor’s plan.
Critics are also claiming the new system prevents U.S. citizens from using driver’s licenses to board airplanes. Again, not true. Only in 2013, when the federal government imposes the REAL ID act will residents have to get new, federally-approved licenses.
As it stands right now, there is not a driver’s license in the country that conforms to the REAL ID guidelines. If you have a problem with the federal mandate, call your Congressman or President Bush.
But not Governor Spitzer.
He is charged with protecting the people who live in New York, and making sure that the federal government’s failure to reform our immigration laws does not spell disaster at the state level.
After all, as many as one million undocumented workers live in New York. Unless the Dobbs viewers have a plan for massive deportation – a plan that would ruin our state’s economy – then I suggest they spend more time crafting pragmatic solutions and less time with the hate-filled emails.
Senator José M. Serrano represents the 28th District, which includes parts of the South Bronx, Highbridge, University Heights, East Harlem, Yorkville, and Roosevelt Island.
The only problem: all the students were from Republican Senate districts. Click here to read the full article in the Buffalo News. This was the first I’d even heard of the contest.
It’s bad enough the Republicans don’t allow our bills to the floor, or provide equal staffing resource, or a more equitable distribution of member items and capital funds. Now they are snubbing the kids in our district.
The only problem: all the students were from Republican Senate districts. Click here to read the full article in the Buffalo News. This was the first I’d even heard of the contest.
It’s bad enough the Republicans don’t allow our bills to the floor, or provide equal staffing resource, or a more equitable distribution of member items and capital funds. Now they are snubbing the kids in our district.
The contest, according to a spokesperson in the article, is sponsored by the Senate majority. But that distinction is not always made clear. At least one Republican website simply states: "The New York State Senate has hosted this event for sixteen years."
In the end, the story in the Buffalo News speaks volumes for the Republican environmental agenda – soft and sweet on the outside, but all smoke and mirrors when you take a closer look.
• • •
I also want to respond to a comment that was made on my last blog post:
"Look at Serrano. The father and the son are both in politics. Look at the Riveras. The father, son and daughter are all in politics. These people are the reformers??? A reformer is almost by definition a newcomer or outsider. Serrano's saying the political establishment can reform itself. It won't."
There is certainly no shortage of political families in the United States. And – let’s be honest – they have produced some very good elected officials and some very bad ones. Which is all the more reason to vote on the merits of a candidate, and not his last name.
What bothers me is the notion that (1) next-generation politicians are necessarily anti-reform, and (2) some of these politicians are less legitimate than others.
Adlai Stevenson, in my mind the most respected politician of the 1950s, was the grandson of a U.S. Vice President. John Kennedy appointed his brother as Attorney General. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House and an immensely accomplished woman, is daughter of a former Congressman from Baltimore.
Before anyone wants to chime in with a Lloyd-Bentsen like response, please understand that I am not comparing or equating myself to any of the above politicians.
Rather I’m asking a simple question: Why are some politicians automatically considered part of anti-reform dynasties while others are celebrated as the genetic sure-bets – ingrained with the political DNA to inspire confidence and trust?
I ran against Olga Mendez as a reform candidate, and won big. I remain one of the few state legislators to publicly release my list of member item grants. And I work hard to fashion a legislative agenda that is both progressive and practical.
I think Room Eight is a fabulous place to foster a dialogue like this. In the true spirit of a blogger, I welcome all the biting wit and cynicism you can muster. Just try to keep it civil and substantive – don’t just accuse me of being against reform, but tell me why, and where you see room for improvement.
With just two seats needed to re-capture the State Senate, we received a warm welcome from leaders in Washington.
Joe Bruno beware.
Because now is the time when policy and politics collide. When common sense tasks like environmental protection and real campaign finance reform are not likely to happen without a shift in power.
Under the leadership of Senator Smith, we are putting together a formidable slate of candidates for 2008.
We showed our playbook to the likes of Howard Dean, Rahm Emanuel and the New York Congressional Delegation. They were all ears.
With just two seats needed to re-capture the State Senate, we received a warm welcome from leaders in Washington.
Joe Bruno beware.
Because now is the time when policy and politics collide. When common sense tasks like environmental protection and real campaign finance reform are not likely to happen without a shift in power.
Under the leadership of Senator Smith, we are putting together a formidable slate of candidates for 2008.
We showed our playbook to the likes of Howard Dean, Rahm Emanuel and the New York Congressional Delegation. They were all ears.
But forget, for the moment, their strategic and financial support. What’s really going to win the next election is ideas -- and the other side has just plain run out.
If they are the party of backroom deals, we are the party of advocates and experts: Senator Liz Krueger on affordable housing; Senator Tom Duane on gay marriage; Senator Eric Adams on law enforcement. Among countless other examples.
As Ranking Member of the Tourism, Recreation and Sports Development Committee, I am committed to harnessing the power of the arts industry to kickstart the Upstate economy. The model for such efforts is New York City, where the arts have an economic impact of $21.2 billion, and generate $904 million in tax revenue.
Democrats are also the new party of fiscal responsibility, with smart budgets that spend money where it matters, by restructuring our healthcare system and investing in the neediest school districts.
Our “Green Apple Initiative” -- to reduce particulate matter in the air, improve water quality and halt suburban sprawl -- will amount to massive long-term savings, while stimulating economic growth through green technology.
Look at voter registration in the state. Look at ideological trends around the country. Look at the overwhelming support for legislative and campaign finance reform. Simply put, the Republican-controlled Senate is a relic. And 2008 will prove it.
Senator José M. Serrano represents the 28th Senate District, which is comprised of parts of the South Bronx, Highbridge, University Heights, East Harlem, Yorkville, and Roosevelt Island. He was first elected to the State Senate in 2004.
One way is to reduce the pollution that contributes to global warming. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have found that measures to reduce climate-altering pollution from power plants could cut smog and soot levels in the New York metro area by at least 10 percent. Over a 20-year period, cleaner air in the metro area could prevent up to 8,500 deaths.
In recent years, New York State has led the way in developing the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), an effort by ten states to stabilize and cut carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. Set to begin in 2009, this market-based cap and trade program will keep greenhouse gas emissions roughly at current levels until 2015, and then mandate a 10-percent reduction by 2018.
A key piece of this climate pact involves smart utilization of the funds that it generates. New York plans to auction all of what are known as pollution “allowances," rather than give them away to power plants. This makes sense, as power plant owners should have to pay for the cost of the pollution they produce.
Investing in energy conservation will result in real reductions in consumer energy bills. The RGGI State Working Group’s analysis has shown that aggressive investment in energy-efficiency programs, when distributed across households, will reduce average electricity bills in the RGGI region by approximately $66 per year in 2015, and by up to $109 by 2021. These are significant savings that will be particularly helpful for low-income New Yorkers.
The Climate Change Solutions Act and Solutions Fund (State Senate bills 5347 and 5371) would make sure that any of the monies raised from the auction of allowances under the RGGI go back into energy-efficiency programs and clean-energy development. These bills have passed the Assembly, but are currently stuck in committee in the New York State Senate.
I urge my Senate colleagues to pass these bills before the end of this year's legislative session. The last thing we need is more hot air.
Senator José M. Serrano represents the 28th District, which includes parts of the South Bronx, Highbridge, University Heights, East Harlem, Yorkville, and Roosevelt Island.
But I question why this news has prompted yet another debate on capital punishment. The death penalty does not deter crime. Any studies that claim otherwise "fall apart under close scrutiny."
The facts speak for themselves. Across the country, over 100 people have been exonerated and released from death row. The death penalty costs tax payers more than keeping guilty convicts in jail for life.
But I question why this news has prompted yet another debate on capital punishment. The death penalty does not deter crime. Any studies that claim otherwise "fall apart under close scrutiny."
The facts speak for themselves. Across the country, over 100 people have been exonerated and released from death row. The death penalty costs tax payers more than keeping guilty convicts in jail for life.
What most concerns me is race. The death penalty is highly susceptible to institutional flaws and human bias. Though only half of all murder victims are white, 80 percent of cases resulting in execution involved white victims. And only 1 percent of chief district attorneys in death penalty states are black.
During jury selection, blacks are more likely to be excluded from the jury even when providing the same answers to key questions.
A fascinating 2006 report in the Psychological Science journal argues that, in death-eligible cases involving white victims, the physical traits of black defendants "function as a significant determinant of deathworthiness."
This is not how our criminal justice system is meant to function.
I believe the death penalty is not about "law and order," but instead serves as a politically convenient platform. In both its allure and implementation, the death penalty is more reliant on emotion than fact.
If we are going to reduce gun-related crime, then we need stronger and better-enforced gun control laws in New York State and throughout the country. Our brave law enforcement officials deserve nothing less than full protection, not just policies that sound good on cable news.
Should this issue come before the State Senate, my vote is no.
Created in the 1970s to fuel development in a depressed city, the exemption program has been periodically reformed to help protect affordable housing in a now booming market.
Most recently, Mayor Bloomberg convened a task force to study the program, and Speaker Quinn later fashioned a compromise in the City Council.
But all of it was just a non-binding recommendation for us legislators in Albany. We hold the purse strings on this program, which sunsets at the end of the year.
Created in the 1970s to fuel development in a depressed city, the exemption program has been periodically reformed to help protect affordable housing in a now booming market.
Most recently, Mayor Bloomberg convened a task force to study the program, and Speaker Quinn later fashioned a compromise in the City Council.
But all of it was just a non-binding recommendation for us legislators in Albany. We hold the purse strings on this program, which sunsets at the end of the year.
I believe there is room for improvement in the city proposal, and the proof is right in my district. Only half of East Harlem is covered in the proposed Geographic Exclusion Area (GEA), an area where developers who receive the tax exemption would have to provide 20% affordable housing.
The proposed GEA would roughly go up to East 117th Street on our side of the island. Were it not for the valiant efforts of Councilmember Mark-Viverito, that line might never have been pushed north from East 96th Street.
Real-estate developers, HPD, and the Mayor contend that the real-estate market north of East 117th is not strong enough to swallow an affordability requirement on the 421a exemption; they say it would be a disincentive to build.
The evidence points in the other direction. Community Board 11 has done its homework and identified several high-priced developments going up outside the proposed GEA.
Market-rates units as high as East 130th Street are selling for over a half-million dollars. The buildings themselves, without having to provide any affordability, are exempt from millions of dollars of property taxes.
For a citywide list, check out the Pratt Center’s comprehensive report: Still Subsidizing Luxury Development.
Now just imagine when we are connected to the 2nd Avenue subway in a decade or two, and it’s clear that East Harlem – already getting harnessed with names like SpaHa and Upper Upper East Side – needs more affordability, and less unfettered development.
Here’s what’s taking place in Albany: Vito Lopez has introduced a bill in the Assembly that would, among other things, create a city-wide exclusion zone and up the ante to 30% affordability.
The same bill is carried in the Senate by Serphin Maltese, a city Republican who just barely won his 2006 re-election.
If sincere, Senator Maltese has a better chance than us Democrats of getting Joe Bruno’s blessing and pushing this through the Senate. If not, he’s paying lip service to affordability, and won’t mind seeing the real estate lobby water it down.
As state legislators like myself fight to include exposed parts of our own districts in the exclusion area, the constituents of Senator Maltese would do well to track the path of his new housing bill.
It didn’t last more than an hour or two. It didn’t even work out. But our efforts to change the Senate rules, and bring some openness back to Albany, made a ripple that might just become a wave.
My colleagues leading the floor debate did a great job stating our case. We need complete disclosure of member items. We need an equal allocation of staff and resources. And no more “off-the-floor” committee meetings that subvert the legislative process.
Most Republicans didn’t have the decency to show up. But they all flooded back into the chamber to oppose a “slow roll call,” which would have obligated them to go on the record against reform.
It didn’t last more than an hour or two. It didn’t even work out. But our efforts to change the Senate rules, and bring some openness back to Albany, made a ripple that might just become a wave.
My colleagues leading the floor debate did a great job stating our case. We need complete disclosure of member items. We need an equal allocation of staff and resources. And no more “off-the-floor” committee meetings that subvert the legislative process.
Most Republicans didn’t have the decency to show up. But they all flooded back into the chamber to oppose a “slow roll call,” which would have obligated them to go on the record against reform.
And they won – by employing the very same archaic rules we tried to get rid of. They did not have to vote "no" on the record. They didn’t even have to raise their hands. It was a shadowy resistance.
Which is what I can’t understand. If Republicans are the self-proclaimed pillars of fiscal responsibility, the ones who consider government part of the problem, then why not vote to fix it? Or at least explain – on the record – why it must remain the same.
Until that happens, the silence from the other side of the aisle is deafening.
Senator José M. Serrano represents the 28th District, which includes parts of the South Bronx, Highbridge, University Heights, East Harlem, Yorkville, and Roosevelt Island.
What followed was the capitol blame game – a boon to the pundit community I’m sure, but a real waste for New York residents. The leaders of the Senate and Assembly must work better together, and they can do so by including the rest of us in the process.
As for the rest of us, if we’re going to call for a more open decision-making process, then we need to promote a more transparent budget. In the future, let's not wait for a judge to order the disclosure of our member items. We can do it ourselves.
What followed was the capitol blame game – a boon to the pundit community I’m sure, but a real waste for New York residents. The leaders of the Senate and Assembly must work better together, and they can do so by including the rest of us in the process.
As for the rest of us, if we’re going to call for a more open decision-making process, then we need to promote a more transparent budget. In the future, let's not wait for a judge to order the disclosure of our member items. We can do it ourselves.
Irony haunts the member item process. Even as some legislators are reluctant to make their member items public, they are unwilling to distribute the money evenly across the aisle.
By virtue of my party affiliation and (lack of) seniority, I have perhaps 90% less spending power than my Republican colleagues. Mind you that’s in a district already on the short end of inequity – in everything from health care access to the siting of environmentally harmful facilities.
And if money is one problem, bureaucracy is another …
Ten percent of my constituents live on Roosevelt Island, which is governed by a public authority and its non-elected board. According to a 2005 report by Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, the public authority has exhibited "a pattern of secrecy and unaccountability.”
That has to change, and I’m hoping the new governor agrees.
Transparency works for just about everything but business envelopes and bedroom curtains. It garners trust and makes government run more efficiently.
New York needs a strong dose of transparency. My New Year’s resolution is to continue fighting toward that goal.
Senator José M. Serrano represents the 28th District, which includes parts of the South Bronx, Highbridge, University Heights, East Harlem, Yorkville, and Roosevelt Island.
According to the letter I received, the board of directors “has decided not to endorse any incumbent members of the state legislature this year” because of the “failure to forge solutions to four of the five top environmental priorities” identified by the organization.
Point taken. Many important environmental bills did not even garner a floor vote in the Senate. Rather they died in the Rules, Finance, or – oddly enough – Environmental Conservation committee.
According to the letter I received, the board of directors “has decided not to endorse any incumbent members of the state legislature this year” because of the “failure to forge solutions to four of the five top environmental priorities” identified by the organization.
Point taken. Many important environmental bills did not even garner a floor vote in the Senate. Rather they died in the Rules, Finance, or – oddly enough – Environmental Conservation committee.
But keep in mind that Senate committees are tightly controlled by the majority party. (Not by freshman Senators, like myself, in the minority party.) According to the 2006 Brennan Center report, Unfinished Business, “It remains nearly impossible to get a bill out of committee without the support of a committee chairperson. There was not a single successful discharge motion in 2005 or 2006.”
Which brings me back to the letter of non-endorsement. This particular environmental group, and perhaps others, will have to reconsider their election-year strategies. They fail to acknowledge and reward legislators with a strong environmental record, much less punish those who fall short.
The alternative is pushing for real change – if not by endorsing incumbents who care about the issue, then at least by endorsing a platform of legislative reform. Environmental non-profits do a wonderful job cleaning up our state. But if they’re going to help clean up our legislature, they’ll need a more realistic approach.
Senator José M. Serrano represents the 28th District, which includes parts of the South Bronx, Highbridge, University Heights, East Harlem, Yorkville, and Roosevelt Island.