A Message from
Council Member Daniel R. Garodnick
Dear Lucas,
I introduced a bill [this week] that will allow hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers to pay for their mass transit using pre-tax income.
This legislation would require employers with 20 or more workers to allow their employees to pay for their mass transit (like a monthly Metrocard) using pre-tax dollars. The program is made available by the federal government, but is only accessible to New Yorkers if their employer offers it. Participating can result in a huge savings -- up to $443 a year. It even has benefits for the employers themselves.
The Riders Alliance issued a report in support of the bill, which you can read here.
For some local press on the subject, you can read amNY and the New York Post.
The bill already has 33 co-sponsors.
In other news....
Fighting Predatory Equity in Housing
Last week, my office released a report sounding an alarm about predatory equity in affordable housing. I came to this issue because of the challenges in Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village, but the problem exists citywide.
The report, entitledThe Ghosts of the Housing Bubble: How Debt, Deterioration, and Foreclosure Continue to Haunt New York after the Crash, details the plight of tenants in overleveraged housing and lays out specific recommendations for Mayor de Blasio in his upcoming housing plan.
You can read more about the report in this week's Observer.
Calling for Better Road Repair
Mayor de Blasio's preliminary budget was short considerable funds for road resurfacing, despite the brutal winter. While this is only a tiny fraction of the City's $73 billion budget, the impact of poor streets goes beyond flat tires and can even stress our underground infrastructure. The City Council, at my urging, is encouraging the mayor to add back necessary funds to keep our streets in good repair.
CBS covered this issue and you can watch their story here.
Economic Development -- Focusing on Manufacturing
On April 24, I chaired a hearing of the Council's Committee on Economic Development which took a deep dive into the Brooklyn Navy Yard as a precedent for growth of the manufacturing sector in New York City.
You can read more about the hearing and about the work of the Navy Yard in Gotham Gazette.
Pushing for More Transparency in Political Ads
On April 25, the City Council's Committee on Governmental Operations held a hearing on two campaign finance bills, including my proposal to require a "paid for by" disclosure on all campaign advertisements. There should be no mystery about who paid for a campaign mailer, and I hope that this requirement will lead to greater accountability in the process.
You can read more about the hearing and bills in Capital NY.
That's all for now. As always, feel free to call me at (212) 818-0580 if I can be useful to you.
Best,
Dan