By Adam Janos

If you’re a New Yorker with a kid, you may have some cash that’ll be waiting for you in your mailbox, come next autumn. That’s because the state is issuing a $350 tax rebate check to families with at least one child (under 18) whose total household income falls between $40,000 and $300,000 per year. There’ll be no forms for you to fill out; claiming the money will be as effortless as a walk to the bank.

Just in time for the general election.

That’s the claim made by Citizen Action of New York, a grassroots organization that advocates for economic justice and an end to electoral corruption.

“Mailing out checks is designed to make people appreciate the incumbent legislators at election time, because they just got a check in the mail,” said Karen Scharff, executive director. “It’s an election year gimmick… I think it’s fine to make the tax system more progressive. A child tax credit is fine, but we need a comprehensive reform to our tax system; we shouldn’t do one-time rebates that are tied to election cycles.”

State Senator Brad Hoylman agrees, which is why he voted against the bill when it came to the senate floor. But beyond his problems with the gimmick element, Hoylman also believes that the $375 million which will be spent over three years on this rebate is a poor use of taxpayer money, which could go to a variety of programs, including – amongst other things – restoring $90 million in cuts to New York State’s Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD), providing $25 million to start up the Dream Act, and increasing community college-based aid.

“I’m not saying that people need to pay more taxes,” explained Senator Hoylman. “But we need longer term strategies. No one has studied the impact of this rebate check. It came up at the last minute behind closed doors. No constituency was campaigning for it. On the other hand, I had troves of seniors, kids with disability issues, public school parents… all trying to preserve their programs. I mean the New York State AIDS Institute was cut by $5 million. That’s what I find objectionable. The rebate discussion came within the course of a few days without any data or economic information to back it up.”

Hoylman, who served as Vice President at the Partnership of New York City, has some background working in the world of commerce and fiscal policies. However with this tax rebate, his thinking comes less from his experience in the financial sector and more from his philosophy regarding the relationship between the state and its citizenry.

“The basic function of government is to protect the most vulnerable in our society,” said Hoylman. “For families and individuals who have conditions [ranging] from cerebral palsy to autism… they’re left behind in this budget [due to cuts in the OPWDD]. I’ve met with a lot of people who directly benefit from those services, and there’s widespread concern that with this budget, some people will have to institutionalize their family members. That’s a very frightening prospect.”

Hoylman also questioned the exclusivity of the tax rebate: immigrants, senior citizens, and the extremely poor will all be left off the payroll when the checks start getting cut. Meanwhile, at the more affluent end of the rebate bracket, households with $300,000 will be receiving money for their kids. “At the upper scale, it makes no difference,” Hoylman said.

Hoylman is indignant that his colleagues in the Senate and Assembly are trying to buy votes, rather than help advance the greater good; for him, programs like these rebate checks are the seeds from which cynicism with government grows. “One-time feel-good rebate checks are not the answer, particularly when they’re not targeted at the poorest people. There’s a growing income inequality in New York, and to me the better approach is to fix it in a systemic way.”

A few years ago, Albany was named the most dysfunctional state legislature in the nation by a good-government group. But as I begin my career as the newest state senator from Manhattan, there are signs that the legislature may be beginning to shake this embarrassing moniker once and for all.

Before the legislative session began, I helped elect a new Democratic leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins from Westchester. Sen. Stewart-Cousins represents a series of long-overdue firsts. She’s the first African-American woman to lead a conference and the first full-time legislator to serve as a leader in many years. Her singular focus on governing will help insulate her and the entire Democratic caucus from the special interests that have held Albany captive for decades.

You may have heard that we Senate Democrats, while winning a numerical majority of seats in November, still ended up in the governing minority because some renegade Democrats made a deal to support the Republicans, keeping the GOP in power. Only in Albany, you might say? I remain optimistic and see this factional split as a transitional phase. As Democrats continue to win more seats due to demographic changes, it’s just a matter of time until we control the chamber.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s agenda this year also gives me hope as a progressive Democrat. Although we don’t have all of the details, the governor’s State of the State address put forth a series of progressive reforms, ranging from a comprehensive women’s health and equality initiative, to campaign finance reform, to decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, to innovative ideas for job creation. Also, I was pleased not to hear any plans to push hydrofracking, which I strenuously oppose. And on my first full day in Albany as a state senator, we passed the governor’s assault weapons ban, the toughest in the nation. After a decade of inaction on gun laws—not to mention the tragedy at Sandy Hook and the spate of gun violence in the city this summer—it was long overdue and represents the defeat of the gun lobby.

This week, there will be an important test as the governor announces his proposed budget for the coming year. New York faces enormous structural fiscal challenges. As a result, there will be calls by some for further austerity measures by cutting social services to the bone.

We must fight this effort. New York’s poverty level is the highest in decades. A family of two in New York living on minimum wage is beneath the poverty level. The slow economic recovery and record unemployment, particularly among people of color, have only heightened the crisis.

For progressives, the challenge will be how we advocate for policies in the budget that reverse the growing gap between the rich and poor. Will we follow the lead of the federal government and push for a more progressive tax structure that strengthens our social safety net and saves the state from sliding further into economic turmoil? If Albany is truly to continue on the pathway from dysfunction and reassert its claim—as the governor put it in the State of the State—as the progressive capital of the nation, we must confront the need for new revenue while protecting the most vulnerable in our society.

Brad Hoylman represents New York’s 27th Senate District, which includes parts of the Upper West Side, Chelsea, Clinton/Hell’s Kitchen, Greenwich Village, Midtown/East Midtown, the East Village and the Lower East Side.

What’s going to be the biggest news story to come out of your district in 2013?

Garodnick: Dan Garodnick will kiss every baby in Council District 4 in support of his reelection bid.

Quart: As the first phase of the Second Avenue Subway moves closer to completion, the MTA is going to have to start planning for the next phases of this project. We’ll begin discussing the next phases of construction and how to fund it.

What’s going to be the biggest political upset in 2013?

Garodnick: Hillary Clinton will take Mayor Bloomberg’s advice and run for mayor, but she will lose in a nail-biter to a young, charismatic politician who comes out of nowhere and gives better speeches. He is gracious enough to give her a deputy mayor post.

Quart: Scott Stringer winning comptroller. He has some serious competition in that race.

What will be the single most important development for the downtown community in 2013?

Garodnick: With the Roberts settlement announced, 2013 will be the year Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village tenants get management to work with them on a condo conversion, and begin the process of taking ownership of their community.

What’s one thing that everyone thinks will happen in 2013 that probably won’t?

Garodnick: Joe Lhota will lose the Republican nomination for mayor when his campaign is saddled by allegations that sometimes the MTA’s trains are late.

Who will win the Super Bowl in 2013?

Garodnick: Giants. I got this right last year, so why stop now?

Quart: Anybody but the Patriots.

Read our predictions on literature, Broadway, politics and fashion.

The National Weather Service reports tornado warnings for the Northeastern part of the nation from Northeast Pennsylvania to Southern New England–including New York State. Along with NYC, the New York counties at risk include Albany, Fulton, Cortland, and Schenectady. The full list of counties that may be affected is on the National Weather Service’s website, forecast.weather.gov.

Expect rain this evening from about 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.  but the occurence of widespread, damaging winds associated with a tornado is at a moderate risk, according to the NWS Storm Prediction Center.

Governor Cuomo advises residents to be weary of the weather as summer storms that are high in humidity and temperature could escalate to dangerous conditions. The governor said he would activate the State Emergency Operations Center that works with blackouts and these kinds of situations at 1 p.m.

This situation is not uncommon, New York City experienced a severe tornado in September 2010.

The watch is until 9 p.m. tonight.

Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

A popup pool opened Friday in Brooklyn Bridge Park with an exclusive capacity of sixty swimmers. The pool, with its view of the Manhattan skyline, opened preceding the weekend heatwave which was expected to surpass the 100 degree mark, though it only hit a recorded high of 95. Brooklyn Bridge Park pool will be open for at least five years and has a sandy beach, lounge chairs, picnic tables and a concession stand, reports WNYC. 

State Senator Daniel Squadron helped raise $400,000 from Albany to install the pool, which he hopes will become permanent, according to WNYC. For the time being, hopeful swimmers will have to arrive early or during off peak hours to get into the tiny pool, which is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The pool is intentionally shallow with three lifeguards, designed with families in mind.

Community advocates have allegedly been pushing hard for some time for the pool’s installment. Head to Brooklyn Heights to beat the heat this summer without the frenetic madness of McCarren Park pool, but remember to get there early.

—Alissa Fleck

via talentmanagement.com

One of the more controversial proposals being floated in Albany is the idea of giving all 212 (soon to be 213) lawmakers in the Senate and Assembly a pay raise.

The New York Post‘s Fred Dicker reported the amount of a potential raise as $100,000, a substantial jump from the lawmakers’ current base salary of $79,500.

While the Governor has said there is no deal on a pay raise, even a slight whiff of the possibility that there could be one stirs up controversy, based in part on the idea that lawmakers shouldn’t increase their own salaries during the nationwide recession. The opposition isn’t necessarily rooted in the actual costs of the proposed increase. So how much would it cost?

The state’s total budget this year was $132.5 billion and lawmakers’ salaries cost $19.7 million, a figure that includes their leadership stipends, also known as “lulus” (listed below).

A hypothetical pay raise to $100,000 for 212 lawmakers plus an additional senator would add $4,446,000 every year to the state’s budget.

It’s not so much in the grand scheme of a $132.5 billion budget, but as Hank Sheinkopf told the Times-Union,

“It’s not generally a good idea to do in an election year and a recession. No good can come from it,” Sheinkopf said.

To read the full article at City & State click here.

Cy Vance. Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons.

Senate Republicans may have killed Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, but Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., still is calling for the legislative change. At an event held by the New York City Bar Association last night, Vance criticized the current law, which allows police officers to have people they stop empty their pockets – and once any marijuana is outside their pockets, the possession of it becomes a crime. “It’s 6,200 cases in Manhattan in 2011 fell into that category, where the arrest was based upon of a small amount of marijuana outside, where if it had been inside the pocket … it would have been a violation,” Vance said. “I don’t think that it’s a fair distinction that a piece of clothing should frame the basis between what is legal and what is not.” Vance added that his staff would better serve the public by devoting the time spent on those cases on violent, serious crime instead. “And we are taking violent serious crime aggressively in our office, and prosecuted over the last 18 months successfully six or seven large gangs throughout Manhattan,” he said. “So I want to take those resources and apply them to more violent crime.”

To read more from City & State click here.

Our hope has been realized, with two strong candidates in the 13th congressional district’s Democratic primary: State Sen. Adriano Espaillat and Clyde Williams, a man with experience on the national stage as well as in Harlem, still the heart of the newly drawn district.

Our nod goes to Williams, who presents the clearest vision—really a laser-like focus on how to bring more jobs back to the district. With his experience in job and community development in Harlem and elsewhere and with his ties to President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton, he has the best chance to be the district’s most effective representative, particularly if the president wins re-election.

We like Williams’ record, his intelligence and his problem-solving skills.

Espaillat has had an admirable career fighting good fights in Albany, but he hasn’t given us a reason to think he will be as effective as Williams in Washington. Although jobs and the economy are important issues to him, they are not his top priority.

Rangel, for his part, did not present us with a clear vision of what he hoped to accomplish in the next two years. He does not appear to have the energy and focus he once did.

Add to that his ethical problems, which are much more serious than “spitting on the sidewalk,” as he described them us. Even if you accept Rangel’s claim that he was railroaded into an unfair admission agreement and censure, he nevertheless is a fallen political star. The president and other Democratic leaders pay a political price if they get too close to him.

He believes the accusations are no longer an issue because he was re-elected overwhelmingly in 2010, but that ignores the fact that the district has changed and many voters are looking at Rangel for the first time.

Much of the Upper West Side has been cut out to include more of the East Side and parts of the Bronx.

The other two candidates in the race, Joyce Johnson and Craig Schley, have not run strong campaigns and did not give us reason to think they could be effective.

Clyde Williams is the best candidate in the race and we endorse him in the June 26 Democratic primary.

By Alan S. Chartock

Andrew Cuomo is positioning himself to be president of the United States. His chances of getting there will be infinitely increased if he is able to turn Albany into a calmer, less venal, more reflective and genuinely representative place.

Cuomo must win the Legislature’s confidence and at the same time convince the people that he really is going to clean things up. He’ll need to be perceived as being “good” and “likeable” as opposed to “tough guy Andy.” His friends at the radical right wing New York Post know that and they’re spreading around his picture, with his kids and his girlfriend and an atypical smile on his face. Old man Hearst would be proud.

To succeed, Cuomo has to reserve all the perks of being a strong executive. The more power he cedes to the Legislature, the weaker he becomes. He has to toughen the ethics rules. The less double-dealing and inside trading the legislative leaders can get away with and the more truly transparent the process is, the more powerful Cuomo will be. That’s why David Paterson vetoed the quarter-of-a-loaf ethics law that the Legislature was able to dupe the so-called “good government groups” into endorsing. That’s why Cuomo is opposed to allowing the Regents (owned by the Assembly, which is owned by the teachers union) to have the sole say as to who gets a charter school. He appoints the members of the SUNY Board of Trustees and he is not about to relinquish that influence to the legislative chieftains.

Of course, the members of the Legislature know full well that they need Cuomo at the top of the ticket, otherwise they will lose their marginal members. On the other hand, Cuomo knows that he can’t be perceived as being in bed with them. That means a diminution of power for the leaders and their associated lobbyists. He is telling anyone who wants to run on his coattails that they will have to pledge to support reform. Interestingly, he is painting himself not only as a candidate of reform, but as a candidate of bi-partisan reform. He is signaling to those Democrats who want to preserve the old order that he is not above making deals with their mutually exclusive Republican enemies in order to achieve reform.

Andrew has come a long way and he holds great promise. If he wants to go all the way to the White House and to uphold his anointed title as “son of Mario,” he will have to insist that apportionment be done fairly and that gerrymandering be relegated to the past. He will have to put a dent in the power of the institutionalized lobbyists. He will have to do more than the commendable talk his father was famous for, and translate his platform into actions. If I were Shelly Silver, I’d give up a lot to make Cuomo comfortable. Three-quarters of a loaf is better than none should be Silver’s thinking—otherwise he may just end up with none.

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Alan S. Chartock is president and CEO of WAMC/Northeast Public Radio and an executive publisher at The Legislative Gazette.