The congressman, whose district encompasses the Upper West Side, said in a statement that too many unstable people have accessed firearms in the country to commit terrible acts.
“If now is not the time to have a serious discussion about gun control and the epidemic of gun violence plaguing our society, I don’t know when is,” he continued. “How many more Columbines and Newtowns must we live through? I am challenging President Obama, the Congress, and the American public to act on our outrage and, finally, do something about this.”

26 people were killed in the elementary school, including 20 children. The shooter, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, also shot his mother in his nearby home before the mass murder, and took his own life in the school.

BROADWAY MALL ASSOCIATION SEEKS DONATIONS
The Broadway Mall Association (BMA), the organization that oversees landscape design and maintenance for the malls along Broadway from West 70th to 168th streets, is seeking private funding for capital improvements.

BMA has secured over $10 million in state and city funds in the past three decades, but now wants to expand its preservation efforts to maintain newly renovated malls at an annual cost of $10,000 per mall.

According to BMA, “If the new malls are to grow in successfully and thrive over time, the BMA will need to advocate as successfully with the private sector as it has with the public.” For more information and to donate, visit BMA’s website at www.broadwaymall.org.

CITY’S CREATIVE ECONOMY GROWING, BUT MINORITIES BEING LEFT BEHIND
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer’s office released a report last week on the city’s entrepreneurial economy. Titled “Start-Up City: Growing New York’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem for All,” the report summarized recent growths in “entrepreneurial” industries like finance, fashion, marketing and technology, but also addressed these fields’ limited accessibility, citing census data that showed only 29 percent of employed Blacks and 20 percent of employed Latinos work in these “creative economies.”

“Too many working-class New Yorkers lack the resources and skills to share in this growth,” Stringer said in a statement, noting that annual salaries for jobs in this new tech economy often start at $65,000, well above the city’s median family income. “We need to turn this engine into a pipeline to the middle class for thousands of New Yorkers.”

To achieve this end, the report recommends increasing office and housing affordability, expanding computer science training in public schools and improving transportation to growing business districts, among other initiatives.

CONGRESS MEMBERS REQUEST POST-SANDY FOOD STAMP RELIEF
Members of Congress including Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler demanded easier access to federal food stamps for New Yorkers still suffering from Hurricane Sandy last week. The members wrote a letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg requesting looser eligibility requirements and expanded eligibility zones for the U.S. Department of Agriculture-administered Disaster Supplemental Food Stamp (D-SNAP) program, which provides relief funding to help feed those who were hit hard by the October storm.

“Making it as easy as possible for those affected by Hurricane Sandy to have access to the resources they need to recover will also help our city rebuild,” the congress members wrote. “Allowing survivors better access to relief programs like D-SNAP will mean more people will be able to sign up, which will also translate into more profits for local small businesses such as grocery stores.”
The members noted that many New Yorkers whose homes were damaged by the storm’s extensive flooding were elderly or handicapped, so they would particularly benefit from easier access to the federal benefits.

The award-winning hospital complex on First Avenue was evacuated and shut down on the night of Hurricane Sandy when heavy flooding knocked out its backup generator. According to CEO Robert Grossman, the complex sustained $1.1 billion in damages.

“I was here that night and I saw the East River blending into Second Avenue,” Cuomo said in his announcement. “We knew right away the damage that was going to be done to this great institution.”
Workers are now in the process of drying out flooded areas in the complex, and Langone aims to restore full service by January.

CONGRESS MEMBERS ASK FOR POST-SANDY FOOD STAMP RELIEF
Members of Congress including Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler demanded easier access to federal food stamps for New Yorkers still suffering from Hurricane Sandy last week. The members wrote a letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg requesting looser eligibility requirements and expanded eligibility zones for the U.S. Department of Agriculture-administered Disaster Supplemental Food Stamp (D-SNAP) program, which provides relief funding to help feed those who were hit hard by the October storm.

“Making it as easy as possible for those affected by Hurricane Sandy to have access to the resources they need to recover will also help our city rebuild,” the congress members wrote. “Allowing survivors better access to relief programs like D-SNAP will mean more people will be able to sign up, which will also translate into more profits for local small businesses such as grocery stores.”
The members noted that many New Yorkers whose homes were damaged by the storm’s extensive flooding were elderly or handicapped, so they would particularly benefit from easier access to the federal benefits.

MOUNT SINAI OPENS NEW MEDICAL CENTER
Mount Sinai Medical Center opened the Leon and Norma Hess Center for Science and Medicine last week. The new 500,000-square-foot, $440 million clinical and research facility, located at 1470 Madison Ave., features eight floors of laboratories and outpatient care offices that will treat a range of diseases and disabilities, including cancer and autism. A new 52-story apartment building next to the center at 1214 Fifth Avenue will be used by the hospital for primary care and diabetes work in addition to providing luxury and affordable housing. At the hospital’s opening on Thursday, Mount Sinai reps said that in the coming years the new center is expected to generate over 800 jobs and garner over $350 million of National Institutes of Health funding.

CITY’S CREATIVE ECONOMY GROWING, BUT MINORITIES BEING LEFT BEHIND
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer’s office released a report last week on the city’s entrepreneurial economy. Titled “Start-Up City: Growing New York’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem for All,” the report summarized recent growths in “entrepreneurial” industries like finance, fashion, marketing and technology, but also addressed these fields’ limited accessibility, citing census data that showed only 29 percent of employed Blacks and 20 percent of employed Latinos work in these “creative economies.”

“Too many working-class New Yorkers lack the resources and skills to share in this growth,” Stringer said in a statement, noting that annual salaries for jobs in this new tech economy often start at $65,000, well above the city’s median family income. “We need to turn this engine into a pipeline to the middle class for thousands of New Yorkers.”

To achieve this end, the report recommends increasing office and housing affordability, expanding computer science training in public schools and improving transportation to growing business districts, among other initiatives.

LOWER EAST SIDE

SILVER PROPOSES GUN BUY-BACKS AT RUTGERS HOUSE

In response to increased gun violence in the Lower East Side over recent months, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver wrote a letter to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly recently, asking for their support in a plan to reduce gun violence.

Silver’s plan is to rally the DA’s office and NYPD to sponsor a gun buy-back program
on the Lower East Side. “Gun buy-backs have proven to be a very effective way to remove guns from our streets,” he said. Silver has also suggested a location for the program, offering the community room at Rutgers Houses on Pike Street, which he said would be a perfect location, noting that the tenants have already agreed to host the venue, should the DA’s office and the NYPD agree to the program.

CITYWIDE
CITY OFFICIALS RENAME MADISON SQUARE PARK IN HONOR OF FALLEN 9/11 RESPONDER

Earlier this month, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, New York City
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and New York City Parks Manhattan Borough Commissioner William Castro gathered at Madison Square Park, which spans from
23rd to 26th Street, to celebrate the life and courage of NYPD officer Moira Smith by renaming the park in her honor.

Smith, who is survived by her husband and daughter, is credited with saving hundreds of lives on Sept. 11, 2001. “People who survived the World Trade Center attacks will tell you they remember Moira, a beacon of calm in the chaos, leading the injured to care,” said Kelly.

SQUADRON OUTRAGED OVER REDISTRICTING

In the wake of a state Senate vote in favor of controversial redistricting lines and a constitutional amendment that would form a 10-member commission (with eight of the members chosen by the Legislature) responsible for redistricting, State Sen. Daniel Squadron spoke March 15 about his opposition to the vote, which he called a “doubly broken promise.”

“The only way to change this poisonous process once and for all is to get the
Legislature out of the business of drawing its own districts. One more year based on this process, much less a decade of its gerrymandered and political results, is unacceptable,” he said.

As a next step, Squadron has proposed that the governor veto the proposed
amendment; however, his opinion is in direct odds with other city politicians,
including Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who in a statement after the vote, said, “This agreement will permanently reform the redistricting process in New York to once and for all end self-interested and partisan gerrymandering.”

CHIN SEEKS TRANSPARENCY FOR METHADONE CLINICS

Last week, City Council Member Margaret Chin introduced a law that would mandate community board notification of proposed methadone clinics. Currently, the New York State Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) is only required to notify the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) of plans to establish a methadone clinic, satisfying its obligation to inform the community.

Chin’s plan, however, would obligate DOHMH to notify the local community board and the City Council when they are first contacted by OASAS.
This measure of transparency, Chin believes, will aid in informing the general public of the potential presence of methadone clinics.

“Given the strong feelings that many communities have regarding clinics that dispense methadone within their neighborhoods, there is little incentive for applicants to inform the public that they are intending to open a clinic,” said Chin. “Local governments know their community best and they should have an opportunity to comment on whether the proposed siting is appropriate or needed.”

A PROPOSED END TO FINGERS FOR FOOD THROUGHOUT NYC
With the support of Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Council Speaker Christine
Quinn, State Sen. Daniel Squadron has introduced a bill that would effectively ban the fingerprinting of individuals eligible for food stamps, believed to be directly responsible for nearly 6,000 food stamp denials between 2009-2010, according to an analysis by the Empire Justice Center.

Advocates claim that fingerprinting deters families from applying because of embarrassment and places an unnecessary financial burden on the state.
“Finger imaging is so ineffective, such a waste of money and such an impediment to food stamp access that even Governor Rick Perry eliminated it in Texas, and now only Arizona and New York City still cling to this discredited process,” said Joel Berg, executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger.