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.”

“Today’s announcement is a milestone for new housing models,” Steel said at the press conference announcing the decision.

AdAPT NYC was launched last July as a pilot program seeking to develop micro-units, a new model of housing that aims to be efficient and affordable in a time of rising population growth. A Request for Proposals was issued to find developers to design, build and operate NYC’s first-ever micro-unit apartment building at 335 E. 27th St.

“We’ve built market-rate and affordable housing in the five boroughs that has given people places to live and make memories, but this is an important opportunity to change the way we think about living space in an urban setting,” said Alphonse Lembo of Monadnock.

Because an entire building of micro-units does not meet NYC housing codes, Bloomberg has decided to waive the relevant zoning regulations during this testing period.

“The growth rate for one- and two-person households greatly exceeds that of households with three or more people, and addressing that housing challenge requires us to think creatively and beyond our current regulations,” Bloomberg said.

My Micro NY will be Manhattan’s first multi-unit building to use modular construction, a method that cuts cost and time. Sections will be pre-made at another location, in this case the Brooklyn Navy Yard, then transported and added to the already completed foundation, utilities and ground floor.

Features of this winning project include a multi-purpose ground floor used for “creative activities,” a rooftop garden, laundry room and fitness space. The housing units themselves, covering 250 to 370 square feet, will be divided into “toolbox” and “canvas” zones, featuring full-depth closet, compact kitchen, 9-foot, 10-inch ceilings and Juliette balconies.

Who is the target consumer for this revolutionary style of living? One or two people earning low to middle incomes looking to live in Manhattan. The city hopes it might attract young professionals trying to get their footing or a newlywed couple looking for their first shared home.

The Museum of the City of New York will be  featuring the winning proposal along with four other distinguished proposals in the exhibit “Making Room: New Models for Housing New Yorkers.”
Museum director Susan Jones said, “With this exhibition, the Museum of the City of New York and the Citizens Housing & Planning Council are giving New Yorkers a glimpse into the future of housing in our city.”

Another Democratic Official Backs Lappin
State Sen. Brad Hoylman is the fifth elected Manhattan Democrat to endorse City Council Member Jessica Lappin in her run for Manhattan borough president. Noting Lappin’s past achievements that should prove beneficial for future issues, Hoylman said, “She’s fought to bring new schools to the borough and ease overcrowding. Her key role in bringing the Cornell-Technion applied sciences campus here will create thousands of good jobs. And she understands how critical preserving and expanding affordable housing is to the middle class.”

Hoylman went on to acclaim Lappin’s progressive efforts, particularly toward pro-choice, LGBT rights, civil rights and social justice.

“I’m incredibly proud and honored to have Brad’s support for borough president,” Lappin said. “He’s one of the exciting new voices in the Democratic Party—and someone who’s spent more than two decades as a West Side civic activist making a difference on so many issues important to his community.”

Nadler Ranks Again
Once again, Congressman Jerrold Nadler has been named the ranking Democrat on the newly renamed Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice of House Judiciary Committee. This subcommittee has jurisdiction over all proposed constitutional amendments as well as constitutional and civil rights and civil liberties (i.e., LGBT rights and abortion rights).

As a vehemently outspoken advocate of these rights and liberties, Nadler is honored to continue this role. “I look forward to working with my colleagues to advance critical constitutional and civil rights that continue to be under attack by a right-wing majority in the House and in the courts,” he said. I will do my very best to form a first line of defense against any and all attempts to limit or roll back protections.”

Compiled by Jessica Mastronardi

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.

We asked the state senators and assembly members from our neighborhoods to respond to Gov. Cuomo’s State of the State address

Last week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo delivered his annual State of the State speech, addressing a population that had recently been shaken by the devastation of Hurricane Sandy and the unthinkable violence of the school shooting in nearby Newton, Conn. The governor proposed a bevy of sweeping legislative changes to bolster the state’s economy, strengthen the public education system, and crack down on guns and assault weapons. We spoke to state legislators from Manhattan to find out how the governor’s proposals might affect New York City residents and how these leaders plan to follow through on these important issues.

Sen. Liz Krueger, Upper East Side

“I was thrilled to see Gov. Cuomo commit to moving key items in my own legislative agenda, especially a comprehensive women’s equality package including several key measures I’ve sponsored or supported.

“Fair pay, workplace fairness, reproductive health, preventing domestic violence—these are priorities I’ve fought for since I joined the Senate, and I welcome Gov. Cuomo’s leadership and hope he can help us break through the deadlock in Albany that has prevented real action on too many of these issues.

“I was happy to see Gov. Cuomo continue his commitment to passing a comprehensive gun control package including a stronger assault-weapons ban.”

Assembly Member Micah Kellner, Upper East Side

“Gov. Cuomo put forward a progressive agenda to make New York a model for equality, innovation, education and technology. I look forward to working with him and his administration to implement the toughest assault weapons ban in the nation, enact meaningful campaign finance reform, provide equality for women and raise the minimum wage for working New Yorkers.

“Encouraging new businesses to thrive in New York City is something I have long promoted as the sponsor of an Angel Investor Tax Credit, which provides tax incentives to individuals who invest in startups so that companies that develop in New York remain in New York. The governor’s proposed “innovation hot spots”—tax free zones to ensure new technologies developed in New York are commercialized here—is an exciting idea, which could not come at a better time as the new Cornell-Technion campus breaks ground on Roosevelt Island.”

Assembly Member Dan Quart, Upper East Side

“I support the governor’s broad thinking on education issues. The governor’s competitive grant program will allow public schools the opportunity to reimagine their school days with more instructional time. Families who are looking for a longer school day or year will be able to find a public school that can provide those things.

“I applaud the governor for taking a strong stand against gun violence in New York. I support a policy of using the state’s buying power to curb the sale of semi-automatic machine guns. As the ultimate decision-maker when it comes to contacts for firearms for the New York State Police, Gov. Cuomo can and should leverage the state’s buying power against gun manufacturers who have prioritized profits over the safety of New Yorkers.”

Sen. Adriano Espaillat, Upper West Side, Manhattan Valley, Washington Heights

“As the sponsor of legislation to raise the minimum wage, I was heartened to hear Gov. Cuomo express his support for this initiative, which will help millions of New Yorkers rise out of poverty and be able to better make ends meet.

“I commend the governor for his commitment to enacting swift gun reform legislation. As the sponsor of legislation to restrict gun sales and strengthen our gun laws, I am pleased to join the governor in calling for strong reform to gun laws that will make New York’s the toughest in the nation.

“I applaud Gov. Cuomo for his decision to direct $1 billion toward the production and preservation of affordable housing in New York City.

“Additionally, I strongly support the governor’s call for a Women’s Equality Act, ensuring that all women have true equality regardless of gender.

“Finally, I also commend Gov. Cuomo for his call to invest in the future, by educating our youth, including a plan for fully funded pre-K.”

Sen. Brad Hoylman, Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen, Upper West Side, Midtown/East Midtown, the East Village and Lower East Side

“I am heartened by the governor’s renewed call for an assault weapons ban and other measures to fix New York’s porous gun laws, especially in light of the tragedy at Sandy Hook and the spate of gun violence across New York City last summer. The governor’s Women’s Equality Act, which includes support for pay equity, is a bold effort to end discrimination and inequality based on gender, and I appreciate his strong call for passage of the Reproductive Health Act to protect women’s right to choose. I was also pleased to hear his plan to lessen the harm caused by the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy by decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana and advance campaign finance reform through the public financing of elections.

“The creation of a $1 billion affordable housing fund appears promising, although we also need measures to strengthen rent regulation laws, which have been bottled up by special interests for many years. And while I’m pleased to hear of the governor’s support for increasing the minimum wage to help address the growing gap between the rich and poor in our state, working families will not see a lasting benefit if we fail to index any increase to inflation.”

Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal, Upper West Side

“I was pleased to hear Gov. Cuomo outline an aggressively progressive platform for New York state. While it should not have taken the tragedy of Sandy Hook to begin the long-overdue conversation on guns that we are currently having, I am glad that New York state, which already has some of the toughest gun laws in the country, will act to make them tougher. I am eager to cast my vote in the affirmative on a comprehensive package of common-sense gun laws.

“During these tough economic times, it is critical that we raise the minimum wage and index it to inflation to help build ladders to the middle class by guaranteeing that hard-working families are paid a fair wage for a day’s work. Recognizing the role that gender-based discrimination plays in economic security for women and their families, I was pleased to hear the governor focus on achieving real pay equity in New York state. I am the prime sponsor of legislation that would equalize the pay gap that still exists for women employed in stereotypically female-dominated fields, and look forward to working with the governor to pass this and a number of other reforms to end gender-based discrimination and also violence against women and girls. In addition to pay equity, I am excited that the governor will be seeking passage of the Reproductive Health Act as part of a broader Women’s Equality Act, which would focus on protections for victims of domestic violence, sexual harassment and human trafficking.”

Assembly Member Deborah Glick, Greenwich Village and Tribeca

“I’m very excited about the governor’s strong position on women’s equality. I will be working with a broad coalition to ensure that his agenda on women is passed in the Assembly. In addition, measures to increase the minimum wage and close gun loopholes are crucial.”

Sen. Daniel Squadron, Lower Manhattan

“New Yorkers are crying out for the common sense protections that will help keep our streets and our families safe from gun violence. I’ve long supported legislation that would close major gaps in our assault weapons ban—including the weapon used in Newtown and Webster. There is simply no reason for civilians to carry these military-style weapons. I applaud the governor for making a tougher assault weapons ban part of his proposal.

“In addition, I stand with Senate Democrats, the Assembly and the governor in support of microstamping. Blocking the bill means depriving police of a vital, cost-effective tool to connect shell casings with their guns. It’s simply mind-boggling that Senate Republicans would continue to block microstamping and let hundreds of murder and gun violence cases go unsolved each year.
“I also applaud the governor for highlighting the in-plain-view marijuana possession statute and the inconsistent way it’s enforced. In large parts of our city, entire communities feel like suspects targeted by law enforcement rather than citizens protected by it. The governor’s proposal to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana in public view would be a critical step toward ending these inequities.”

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Lower East Side

“As our Lower Manhattan community continues to recover from Hurricane Sandy, I commend the governor’s call for strengthening our infrastructure, such as subways, and I will continue to join my fellow elected officials to demand that Congress end its delays and release the aid that our residents so desperately need. I was also very pleased that the governor said he would join the Assembly in enacting serious and meaningful gun safety legislation. We in the Assembly have passed comprehensive gun reforms year after year, including bills to strengthen our state’s assault weapons ban, require the micro-stamping of shell casings to help police track guns used in crimes, keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill and many other common sense measures. As one of our state’s leading advocates for universal pre-K, I commend the governor for joining our effort to make greater investments in our children, especially here in New York City.”

ESPAILLAT AND HOYLMAN WIN SENATE PRIMARIES
Incumbent state Sen. Adriano Espaillat easily won his Democratic primary race against challenger Assemblyman Guillermo Linares last week, taking an estimated 65 percent of the votes. Linares, who declared his intent to run for the position when Espaillat was still neck-and-neck in the race for Charlie Rangel’s congressional seat, had to give up his Washington Heights assembly seat to run. Espaillat’s district, the 31st, shifted after redistricting and now encompasses only Manhattan (he used to represent parts of the South Bronx), with a greater portion of the Upper West Side included.

In the 27th district Senate race, attorney and former chair of Community Board 2 Brad Hoylman beat out opponents Tom Greco, a Chelsea bar owner, and Tanika Inlaw, a public school teacher, to win the Democratic nomination. Hoylman will likely succeed outgoing Sen. Tom Duane, who surprised many when he announced his retirement at the end of his current term.

FALL FESTIVAL ON BROADWAY
The 20th annual Upper Broadway Fall Festival hits the boulevard on Saturday, Oct. 6, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The festival, which runs on Broadway between West 110th and 116th streets, will include games, food and tournaments. There will be a multitude of participants, including over 200 craft persons, antique dealers and artists. There will be exhibits of collectibles and Latin American crafts, including macramé, ceramics, jewelry, weaving and woodcarving. Sponsors include Broadway Presbyterian Church Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing, the Broadway Mall Association and the Upper West Side Recycling Center.

The Broadway Mall Association works to improve the quality of life along Broadway and adjacent streets through cultivation and general care of the planted malls from 59th to 168th Streets. Broadway Presbyterian Church will use the proceeds from the Festival to further its community work. The festival is free and is open to all.

JAZZ GREAT  CELEBRATED UPTOWN
The Smoke Jazz & Supper Club, at 2751 Broadway, will be hosting the Pepper Adams Festival on Tuesday, Sept. 25, and Wednesday, Sept. 26. The event features Gary Smulyan and the Mike LeDonne Quartet paying tribute to Adams, an important if not well known figure in jazz history who broke ground as a baritone saxophonist. Sets will be at 7 and 9 p.m. both nights, with a two-course prix fixe dinner available for $29.95, and another set at 10:30 p.m. with a $20 minimum. Call 212-864-6662 for reservations and information.

FINAL TOUCH UP
A museum worker cleans the marble columns in front of the newly restored murals in the Theodore Roosevelt Rotunda at the American Museum of Natural History.

SODA BAN PASSES LAST HURDLE
On Thursday, the New York City Board of Health approved Mayor Bloomberg’s “soda ban,” which prohibits the sale of soda and other sweetened drinks in any container over 16 ounces. The average soda bottle actually exceeds this size, according to the New York Times. Bloomberg’s desire to curb the city’s obesity epidemic fueled the measure, which also applies to energy drinks like Gatorade and sweet iced teas. Over half of the city’s adults—and almost half of the city’s public school students—are overweight or obese, according to the Wall Street Journal. Not surprisingly, vendors of sugary drinks have united to challenge the ban, arguing that it infringes on consumer freedom. Many nutritionists support the measure, like the eminent Yale University epidemiologist Dr. Kelly Brownell, who told the New York Times, “It completely makes more sense to make the environment healthier rather than to just do pure education.” While a Times poll found that most New Yorkers were against the law, the Board of Health vote was almost unanimous, with one abstention. Then again, Bloomberg appointed each board member himself. The ban will take effect March 12, but vendors who break the law will not be fined until mid-June.

‘JAY WALK’ OPENS AT JOHN JAY COLLEGE
Last week John Jay College, at 524 W. 59th St., celebrated the opening of their new 60,000-square-foot rooftop terrace, called the Jay Walk, a name students selected in a contest. The outdoor space houses a vegetable garden, benches, custom-engraved bricks and magnolia trees. Students also have a connection between two of the campus buildings. The Jay Walk is the centerpiece of the college’s expansion, which includes a 13-story, 625,000-square-foot building designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

IRISH PLAY ON UWS
Irish playwright and performer Suzanna Geraghty will be performing her one-woman show Zoe’s Auditions, Part 2 this week at the Drilling Company Theater, 236 W. 78th St. The play is a comical send-up of an actor’s life in which aspiring actress Zoe gets sent on wildly inappropriate auditions by her senile agent. The play won acclaim during its run in Dublin last summer and is being presented in New York as part of the first Irish Festival. Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 3 p.m., $18, through Sept. 22. Visit www.smarttix.com or call 212-868-4444 to reserve tickets.

CENTRAL PARK RAPE VICTIM STANDS STRONG
The 74-year-old victim of a vicious assault and rape in Central Park last week told the New York Post that she isn’t going to let the horrible incident ruin her park experience.
“I’m not scared. I don’t want to lose that pleasure. I won’t let anything keep me from enjoying the park,” she told the Post reporter.
The woman, identified only as an Upper West Side resident, was attacked in broad daylight as she was bird-watching in the park. The alleged rapist, now in police custody after he was spotted strolling around the neighborhood, snuck up to the woman and assaulted her, after she had taken his photo days earlier when she caught him masturbating in the Rambles area of the park.

Police caught a suspect, 42-year-old homeless man David Albert Mitchell, as he was walking on the Upper West Side on Thursday. Mitchell reportedly has a long history of violent offenses.

State Senate 27th District
When state Sen. Tom Duane announced his retirement earlier this year, an announcement which saddened many West Side residents, Brad Hoylman quickly emerged as Duane’s likely successor. Hoylman makes for a fine candidate. A Rhodes Scholar and alumnus of Harvard Law School, Hoylman has both the legal and community experience to make a great state legislator.

Hoylman admirably represented the requests of the downtown community on two key, recent issues, the St. Vincent’s Hospital redevelopment and the NYU Expansion Plan. While these projects were ultimately voted through by the City, we commended Hoylman for the work he put in to represent the views of downtown residents and the compromises he was able to help broker.

During his campaign, it has become clear that Hoylman has an encyclopedic knowledge of local housing issues as well as practical legislative solutions to address them. He has proven to be a forward-thinking politician. Whereas others might believe the obstacles facing the LGBT community have been largely resolved, especially in light of the passage of the Marriage Equality Act, Hoylman has advocated for the Gender Expression Non-discrimination Act on the campaign trail. (The bill would protect the rights of transgender individuals.)

Hoylman’s top competitor, Tom Greco, presents a formidable wealth of experience when it comes to owning and operating a small business in New York City and the challenges local business owners face. Greco, however, appears to need more insight into other issues such as housing facing the community in order to make for a stronger candidate.
Greco also makes some valid points on the “handpicked” nature of Hoylman’s candidacy in this race. As we have seen with other local, and sometimes even federal, races, it appears that not enough qualified candidates are coming to the fore. (The other candidate, Tanika Inlaw, may or may not be qualified, but she did not visit our offices for an interview.) While we endorse Hoylman, we wish that the race for this district presented stiffer competition.

Surrogate Court Judge
Judge Rita Mella’s breadth of experience is why she receives our endorsement. In addition to having a distinguished career as a lawyer, she has served as a Civil Court judge since 2007 and is former presiding judge of Manhattan Misdemeanor Treatment Court. She’s also an adjunct professor at CUNY Law School.

Few candidates have as intimate a knowledge of how the Surrogate Court works as Mella. She was principal law clerk for Judge Margarita Lopez Torres in the Brooklyn Surrogate Court right after Judge Michael Feinberg was removed from the bench in 2004 as a result of improprieties. She helped restore the court’s reputation and increased accountability for the court’s clerks.

“People think of Surrogate Court as exclusively dealing with people’s wills and estates. The Surrogate Court in New York State does a lot more than that; it operates almost like a family court. It deals with guardianships, adoptions and even guardianships of adults who are mentally disabled,” she said.

She has an impressive list of reforms that she hopes to bring to the Manhattan Surrogate Court, including changing the perception of the court as corrupt and being a bastion of the wealthy as well as increasing access and diversity there.

To help change this, Mella would like the court to reach out to local community groups and other organizations to educate them on the services that the court provides and the need to plan for the future.

She would also like to diversify the pool of attorneys who come before the court. She proposes a program to train lawyers and work with non-traditional bars such as women and minority groups to increase the percentage of those lawyers that speak before the court.

Judge Barbara Jaffe would also make an excellent Surrogate Court judge. Jaffe, a former Civil Court judge and member of the State Supreme Court presiding over matrimonial cases, is well qualified for the position, but her knowledge of the Surrogate Court isn’t as extensive as Mella’s and her ideas for reform aren’t as wide-ranging. For those reasons, we give the endorsement to Mella.

Civil Court Judge
A Civil Court judge must be well versed in civil cases involving $25,000 or less, criminal cases that involve misdemeanors and violations, and family court cases, which deal with custody and domestic abuse. That’s because the judge doesn’t know which of those areas they will be placed in until after the election is finished. For the sheer breath of her experience, Olga Statz is our choice for Civil Court judge.

Statz’s parents fled Haiti to escape “Bébé Doc” Duvalier, that country’s brutal dictator from 1971 to 1986, and settled down on the Upper West Side.
“What happened to my parents had a profound influence on me. It taught me that there is recourse to a system of law that is founded on a constitution. That’s something I think a lot of people take for granted, but because my parents lost everything when they fled for their lives, that was the first thing that I was introduced to, and I always wanted to work within the system of law.”

Statz graduated from City College of New York magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa at 19. She finished law school at NYU and was a lawyer by the time she was 22.
Over her two decades as a lawyer, many of her cases focused on asylum and immigration. She is currently principal law clerk in the Surrogate Court.

If elected she would bring a popular program from the Surrogate Court to the Civil Court that matches attorneys that want to do pro bono work with self-represented litigants.
Statz also speaks five languages (English, French, Spanish, Creole and German), and that could serve her well in her new position.

Lisa Sokoloff, her opponent, is a volunteer special master in New York City Civil and Supreme Courts and has a calm demeanor and long list of accomplishments.
Both candidates impressed us, but our nomination goes to Olga Statz.

State Senate 31st District
Neither Adriano Espaillat nor Guillermo Linares was able to schedule an interview before we went to press, so we regret to say we won’t be endorsing a candidate in that race.

The presumptive frontrunner is Brad Hoylman, who has been enthusiastically endorsed by Duane as well as U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and a slew of other local politicians. Hoylman, an attorney, recently stepped down from his position as the chair of Community Board 2, a position he held three times.

He’s been active in the community for years, a fact he touts as having given him the experience needed for the senator post, but his opponents say it’s an indication that he’s not the right choice.

“I think I have a strong and long record, and I think that’s why I’ve been fortunate in earning the endorsements,” said Hoylman.

Tom Greco, owner of The Ritz bar in Hell’s Kitchen and director of fundraising for the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, said that the reason he jumped into the race was that he didn’t like the idea that Duane and other Democratic leaders were calling for the party to get behind Hoylman.

“I didn’t appreciate the fact that this was going to be the first Senate primary in this district in decades and they just planned to avoid the whole democratic process,” Greco said.

Greco, who has raised $16,875 for his campaign, also touts his advocacy on behalf of the LGBT community in his campaign, something he said that should count for more with voters than the fact that Hoylman is gay and would be the only openly gay state senator in New York.

Greco also said that Hoylman’s ties to the Partnership for New York City, his former employer, a pro-business group that has taken positions contrary to those of the local community on issues like the expansion of NYU, make him too much of an industry insider.

Hoylman has tried to distinguish his work in the community and distance himself from the Partnership, citing his community board record of opposition to the university’s recently approved expansion plans. He vows to continue fighting the plan at the state level.

“It has the potential to dramatically alter the character of the central Village, and NYU has proven that it’s not a good steward of privately owned public space, so I’m very concerned with the approvals that have been granted to them,” Hoylman said.

The other candidate running, Tanika Inlaw, is a teacher with little experience in the political realm, but she said that she was inspired to run because she feels she can connect with constituents at every socioeconomic level, having come from a difficult background herself.
“I have a lot of experience with the public—I was a district leader. When I was in high school, I worked for [former Manhattan Borough President] Virginia Fields,” Inlaw said. “My knee-jerk reaction is, how do I help people?”

Inlaw’s main concerns are preserving affordable housing, education and gun control, she said (she lost her brother to gun violence at a young age). While her campaign account contains a mere $603 and she’s had trouble getting the support she had hoped for, she said that she’s still happy to be in the race.

“It’s an uphill battle for me, but I’m not deterred by that, I knew it would be. Nothing in my life has been a gravy train,” said Inlaw.
Hoylman, who has $209,410 in his campaign account, has been able to put forth the most detailed and specific plans for issues on which all three candidates generally agree. While he remains the clear frontrunner, he acknowledged that this oddly scheduled primary—on Thursday, Sept. 13—will be as much about getting people out to vote as anything else.

The New York Times and other news outlets reported that around 4:30 p.m. last Thursday, a horse pulling a driver and two passengers got spooked in Columbus Circle and bolted, eventually shedding his carriage, which toppled over. The 6-year-old horse, named Oreo, wasn’t seriously hurt, but did have to be sedated by police with a tranquilizer, and his rampage damaged two cars and injured three people before he was caught on Ninth Avenue.

Upper West Side Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal pointed to the incident as the latest reason to support her bill to ban the carriages in New York.

“I have been calling for an end to a practice that places profit above safety—the safety of the horses and the unsuspecting public for years,” Rosenthal said in a statement. “If an industry is incapable of preventing recurring accidents, the State has a responsibility to step in. We have been lucky up to this point, but our luck is bound to run out.”

Bike Share Pushed Back to Spring
Hopeful cyclists looking forward to taking advantage of the city’s bike share will have to nix their dreams of riding through the crisp fall weather this year. The Department of Transportation announced that the city’s Bike Share program will be delayed—again—and will not be implemented until March 2013. The program, sponsored by Citi with a $41 million investment, will launch with its initial phase of 7,000 bikes at 420 stations spread throughout Midtown and Lower Manhattan, parts of Brooklyn and Queens.

“New York City demands a world-class bike share system, and we need to ensure that Citi Bike launches as flawlessly as New Yorkers expect on Day One,” DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan said in a statement.

The delay has been blamed on software issues related to the payment and tracking system that Citi Bike will use.

Tavern on the Green Operator Named
The Department of Parks and Recreation announced that they will be awarding a 20-year licensing agreement to the Emerald Green Group, a Philadelphia-based company, to operate and maintain a restaurant at the former Tavern on the Green location.

The selected operator, the Emerald Green Group, swayed the city with its proposal focusing on locally sourced food and a 200-300 person outdoor seating area.

“We are pleased to select the Emerald Green Group as the new operator of Tavern on the Green,” Commissioner Adrian Benepe said. “They have done an outstanding job with Beau Monde in Philadelphia, and their vision for the iconic Tavern on the Green will create a casual restaurant and outdoor café that everyday parkgoers, neighbors and visitors can enjoy.”
The new restaurant is scheduled to open in fall of next year.

Espaillat Gets Major Endorsement
City & State reports that the McManus Political Club, the oldest and only citywide political club in New York, has decided to endorse Sen. Adriano Espaillat’s re-election bid, Espaillat’s campaign said. “As the oldest political club in New York, we know a great elected official when we see one,” the club said in a statement provided by Espaillat’s campaign. “Senator Espaillat has been a strong fighter for New York’s working families. He understands the challenges and opportunities our state faces, and he has demonstrated the leadership needed to move New York forward.” Influential in areas like Hell’s Kitchen, a new part of Espaillat’s Senate district, the club could help Espaillat shore up support there against his opponent, Assemblyman Guillermo Linares. In the latest filing period, Espaillat raised $45,390 and has $38,000 on hand, while Linares raised $28,850, and has $82,000 on hand. Of course, Espaillat’s depleted cash reserves are due in part to a closely contested congressional primary against Rep. Charlie Rangel.

Senate Debate Turns the Heat on Hoylman
City & State reports that Brad Hoylman, a candidate for the seat to be vacated by state Sen. Tom Duane, faced questions earlier this week from Democratic primary opponents about his former job at the Partnership for New York City, a pro-business group where he was a vice president and general counsel. At debate, one candidate, Tom Greco, asked Hoylman what he did to save St. Vincent’s Hospital, since Bill Rudin, the developer behind a controversial plan to redevelop the shuttered hospital, was on the Partnership’s board. Another candidate, Tanika Inlaw, criticized Hoylman’s ties to big business, saying she has no “special interests” backing her. Hoylman, a community board chairman who has the backing of Duane and other members of the party establishment, sought to distance himself from the Partnership, saying the city gives away too many incentives to companies and calling for an end to a carried interest deduction benefiting the city’s many billionaires. He also noted his years of work on affordable housing, public education and open space. “I think my record in the community speaks for itself,” he said.

According to court filings, Rahman was walking in front of the AK Houses at East 128th Street and Lexington Avenue at 1:30 a.m. when he fired a shot that hit a parked car near Shaw. When he tried to flee, Shaw was struck in the back by a second bullet and was later pronounced dead at the hospital. Rahman is also charged with firing another shot into a crowd as he was being chased by a group of people.
Hoylman’s Plan for Peter Cooper & Stuy
Brad Hoylman, the presumptive frontrunner in the campaign for Tom Duane’s soon-to-be-vacated seat in the state Senate, released a detailed plan for how he would address the long-term concerns of residents of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. The two complexes have long been home to middle-class residents of the city, but the future of that purpose has been in jeopardy since a failed financial takeover in 2006 by Tishman Speyer left the residents in limbo. Issues with maintenance, tenant and rent regulations, and quality of life have been chief concerns of residents in the past several years as they look for financial partnerships. The ST/PCV Tenants’ Association has been working on finding solutions to these problems and searching for reputable partners that would allow residents to either purchase their homes at reasonable prices or remain as rent-stabilized renters if they choose. Hoylman, with the backing of Dan Garodnick, a resident as well as the area’s City Council member, said that he would follow through on several points at the state level to protect residents if he is elected.

Hoylman has vowed that he would work to repeal the Urstadt Law, which prohibits the city from imposing more restrictive rent laws than the state, in order to let the City Council carve out appropriate rules for the unique ST/PCV community. He also pledged to work on many of the tenant protection law that are hallmark issues of downstate Democratic legislators, like repealing vacancy decontrol laws that give landlords incentives to evict tenants and boost rents out of regulation limits. While the goals are certainly lofty—legislators have been duking it out over rent guidelines every year for decades—Hoylman has also promised some concrete steps his office would take immediately without having to battle upstate Republicans.

He said he would appoint a dedicated staffer to ST/PCV issues as well as work with the management to persuade them against contracting with universities to rent out whole blocks of apartments to students and to maintain the historic layout and grounds of the properties.
“Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village tenants deserve a secure future in the homes they have lived in for so long,” said Hoylman.

East Side Boat Ride
On Wednesday, Aug. 22, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Open House New York is hosting an East River boat cruise with journalists Sharon Seitz and Stuart Miller, co-authors of The Other Islands of New York City: A History and Guide.

The guided river jaunt will start at Pier 16 at the South Street Seaport, where seafarers will board the Circle Line’s Zephyr cruise boat. It will then sail north, passing Roosevelt and Rikers islands as well as other little-known spots such as U Thant Island, the smallest one on the river; Mill Rock, the result of underwater detonations in 1885 that were intended to clear shipping lanes; and North Brother, a protected sanctuary where birds have made their homes among the long-abandoned hospital buildings.

Tickets are $36 per person in advance at ohnyotherislandstour.eventbrite.com or $40 cash at the door. The funds raised from the event go toward the OHNY weekend in October, when dozens of unique and historic buildings are open to the public.

Plan for safer 5th and 6th aves
The advocacy group Transportation Alternatives is launching a new campaign to improve bike and pedestrian safety on Fifth and Sixth avenues, which the Department of Transportation has identified as two of the busiest streets south of 59th Street.

“With community demand for safer, more livable Fifth and Sixth avenues reaching a fever pitch, the community will surely win improvements similar to those ushered in by New Yorkers in other neighborhoods,” said executive director Paul Steely White.

Residents, politicians, activists envision impact of NYU’s long-term expansion plan

New York University scored a key victory last week as the City Council approved a slightly scaled back version of the school’s controversial 2031 expansion plan. While the project was pared down, it will still add close to 6 million square feet of academic space throughout the city. Nearly half of the expansion, equal to about the size of the Empire State Building, would be concentrated on two Washington Square-area superblocks located near the school’s main campus in Greenwich Village.

The NYU plan calls for four new buildings on the two large blocks bordered by LaGuardia Place and Mercer, West Houston and West 3rd streets. The buildings will be used for both academic and residential purposes.
The plan has generated an enormous amount of discussion and controversy both for and against since it was unveiled by NYU officials in 2010. Moreover, the Council’s approval comes at a time when residents uptown are waging a battle of their own against Columbia University’s mammoth, long-range plan in West Harlem that includes a 17-acre, $6.3 billion campus expansion.

Opponents of the NYU plan, including village residents, activists, NYU faculty members and others, have already vowed to continue the fight, including an expected legal challenge, to get the plan sent back to the drawing board and significantly revised. The plan has the support of the mayor and is unlikely to be vetoed.
But what if the current incarnation of the plan is upheld and remains largely unchanged? What will Greenwich Village look like in 2031? Will it be congested, overcrowded and largely unlivable, as many naysayers suggest, or will the plan usher in a new chapter of peaceful coexistence between NYU and its Village neighbors?

“When I ask myself what the Village will look like in 20 years, the first thing I see is large, concrete, functional-looking buildings casting long shadows over the neighborhood; absorbing all the light. The only outdoor space for people to congregate will be Washington Square Park, and you know how crowded that gets now!” said Janet Hayes, who lives in a high-rise co-op at 505 LaGuardia Place near Houston.

A longtime resident of the Village and a local Republican leader, Hayes predicted that NYU’s plan, if allowed to come to fruition, would greatly affect life in the Village and not in a good way.

“Take grocery shopping, using the dry cleaner or going out to dinner, for example—full-service restaurants will be replaced with beer halls, pizza places and other fast-food sources,” Hayes predicted.

She added that more stores would cater to NYU and transit would be a “nightmare”; subways and buses would be overcrowded all day long, and “forget catching a cab.”

In support of NYU’s plan, Borough President Scott Stringer, who most recently helped to broker concessions from the school, cited substantial economic benefits for New York City, which include the creation of 9,500 permanent jobs and as many as 18,200 construction jobs over the next 20 years.

Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, has been one of the plan’s most outspoken critics and has worked to help mobilize village residents, activists and like-minded politicians in opposition to a project he has called a “grandiose scheme of a private university’s super-rich board and its president.”

Immediately following last week’s Council vote, Berman said in a press release, “The NYU expansion plan will turn a residential neighborhood into a company town and subject it to 20 straight years of construction.”
Robert Yaro, president of the Regional Plan Association, a nonprofit planning organization that serves the tri-state area, however, said NYU’s expansion is important to the city for many reasons.

“NYU’s continued success is vital to the economy of New York. The university is among the city’s largest private employers,” Yaro noted. “NYU can continue to attract top students and scholars only if it is able to modernize and expand…By emphasizing density, the NYU plan will avoid harming any of the Village’s historic fabric.”

Asked about possible loss of open space and congestion resulting from NYU’s plan, Council Member Margaret Chin seemed confident the issue has been addressed. “Under this plan, the open space on the superblocks will be improved and it will be fully accessible by the public for the first time,” Chin said in an emailed statement.
“The padlocks and fences around the Sasaki Garden will finally come down, and this park—which few New Yorkers know about—will finally be open to the public. We will also gain a pedestrian walkway, or ‘greenstreet,’ behind the new Zipper Building, which will connect the Village with Soho,” she said.

The Council member added that the walkway would be lined with cafés and restaurants and would have an indoor atrium open to the public year-round.

A spokesperson for Chin also noted that the university would be “bound” by a 500-page restrictive declaration document that specifies what the school can and can’t do with regard to construction, building and other logistics related to the plan.

For example, the school has committed to limit construction to the hours between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. and to limit weekend construction. In addition, the school has promised to assist with construction mitigation issues related to air quality and noise by equipping affected apartments with soundproofing materials.

“This plan is a way to start over. It is a pathway forward,” Chin said. “This plan integrates the Greenwich Village community and NYU in ways that have never been done before.”

Terri Cude, co-chair of Community Action Alliance against NYU 2031 and a member of Community Board 2 (CB2), isn’t so sure of the plan’s integration into the neighborhood.

“If NYU builds everything that is in the current plan, we will have a very dark neighborhood,” Cude said.
Asked about the various committees that were formed by NYU to address community concerns and incorporate residents’ needs into the plan, Cude said, “They attended all the meetings and listened to everything we had to say. The only thing they didn’t do is modify the plan at all based on the input.”

But the concessions brokered by Stringer in early April did in fact include a significant overall density reduction, preservation of public space as parkland, elimination of a temporary gymnasium on the site of two community playgrounds, elimination of proposed dormitories on the Bleecker Building and an affirmation of NYU’s commitment to provide space for a K-8 school.

Brad Hoylman, former chair of CB2 and candidate for state Senate in District 27, testified before the City Planning Commission back in the spring that the NYU plan would “forever alter the character of the neighborhood, bring in thousands of new people into the area [estimates suggest up to 12,000 people daily] and cause decades of construction disruption for local residents.”

Village residents and community garden members Marcia Lawther and Bob Hirschfeld moved to the neighborhood in the mid-1970s. “It’s invasive. It’s crowded enough as it is,” said Lawther when asked about the expansion.

“In the ’70s, things were much quieter, there was not much going on,” recalled Hirschfeld. “NYU was a separate world. It wasn’t elbowing its way into the community.”

However, signs of hope for the future of the project were evident on Tuesday as legislators lauded a new agreement between NYU and the residents of 505 LaGuardia Place in an effort to maintain long-term affordability at the Mitchell-Lama development.

“I am pleased a deal has been reached and much-needed affordable housing has been preserved in Greenwich Village,” said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn in a prepared statement.

“This agreement guarantees that 505 LaGuardia can maintain affordability and that the working-class families that currently reside there will be able to continue to live in a neighborhood they have long called home.”