I was recently appointed Chair of the Assembly’s Mitchell-Lama Subcommittee, which oversees issues pertaining to the Mitchell-Lama housing program in New York. The New York State Mitchell-Lama bill was passed in 1955 in response to affordable housing shortages throughout the State, and the landmark program was established to give moderate-income families greater access to affordable housing. The program encouraged the development of affordable housing for middle-income residents by providing developers with tax abatements and low-interest mortgages. In exchange for these perks, the law required a limitation on housing company profits, income limits for tenants and Department of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) supervision. Mitchell-Lama buildings can consist of rental or co-op apartments.

Twenty years after the initial occupancy of an apartment, housing companies are allowed to buy out of the Mitchell-Lama program by repaying their mortgage. When they do this, the companies no longer have to be supervised by DHCR, and the apartments no longer need to be kept affordable for low- or moderate-income families. Almost a third of the roughly 140,000 apartments built under the program have left or are in the process of leaving the system. However, since 2007, housing companies representing 3,666 units have refinanced and committed to remaining in the program. It is crucial that we develop and promote innovate approaches to retaining units in the Mitchell-Lama program.

I am thrilled at the opportunity to chair this critical subcommittee and continue my work on housing issues in New York. The Mitchell-Lama Subcommittee will provide a useful forum in which to discuss and facilitate both tenant’s rights and affordable housing. I plan to work hard to ensure that the program endures and is preserved for future generations.

Preserving West End Avenue’s Character

For the past two years, a group of dedicated neighbors on the West Side has been conducting a campaign to have West End Avenue, the almost 40-block boulevard comprising architecturally and historically significant buildings, declared a historic district. I am proud to have been among the earliest supporters of the efforts of the West End Avenue Preservation Society (WEPS), which grew out of concern over proposed demolition of 508, 510 and 732, 734 West End Avenue.

While parts of West End Avenue are already protected, WEPS’ founders realized that without designation of the entire stretch by the City’s Landmark Preservation Commission (LPC), any of the avenue’s charming pre-war buildings might be subject to the wrecking ball of overzealous developers.

Marshalling community participation and interest, WEPS’ indefatigable leaders, Erika Peterson and Richard Emery, were able to hire Andrew Dolkart, director of Columbia University’s Historic Preservation Program. He prepared a comprehensive 260-page study for submission to LPC. As that study makes clear, we cannot afford to lose the avenue’s impressive heritage. As such, it is critical that the LPC hold a hearing and approve historic designation for the avenue.

I have written to and spoken with LPC Chair Robert Tierney on this matter and encourage all those concerned to do so as well. For more information, visit the WEPS website atwww.westendpreservation.org. I am confident that by some time next year our efforts will be rewarded.

Rosenthal Organizes Medicare Forum

It was standing room only at JASA Senior Center on West 76th Street on November 17 when I partnered with the Medicare Rights Center to present a free seminar on Medicare options and eligibility.

After introductory remarks by Borough President Scott Stringer more than 300 senior citizens listened to Fred Riccardi, Outreach Coordinator for the Medicare Rights Center, describe basic eligibility criteria for Medicare, as well as various programs to reduce healthcare costs such as the Medicare Savings Program, Part B premiums, the Part D prescription drug benefit, and state prescription drug benefits such as the Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage (EPIC).

The event was timed to coincide with the Medicare open season of November 15 to December 31, when people enrolled in Medicare can change prescription drug and health plan coverage without restriction. For more information about this event or to learn about the Medicare Rights Center, please call my office at (212) 873-6368.

“Kill the Drill” to Protect Our Water

I submitted testimony at a November public hearing convened by the New York State Department of Environmental Protection (DEC) that strongly opposes the DEC’s proposal to drill for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale in the Catskill/Delaware watershed, a process that would risk contaminating New York City’s water supply and creating harmful environmental and health effects.

New York City has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years to buy property surrounding the watershed to ensure that no development can occur in the area that supplies 90% of the unfiltered water supply to millions of New Yorkers. This plan was arranged with the EPA to forestall the need to construct a water filtration plant. The DEC would be taking a major step backward if it allows drilling that would compromise the watershed.

The method used to extract gas is called hydrolic fracturing, which has a track record of contaminating water in other states. It involves injecting millions of gallons of water, sand and potentially harmful chemicals underground at high pressure to break up rock and release gas. Should an accident occur near New York’s watershed during this process, our unfiltered water supply could be exposed to chemicals such as benzene, formaldehyde, ethylene glycol and toluene, to name a few, which could cause serious consequences to human health and safety.

The wastewater generated during fracturing is treated by municipal or industrial water treatment plants and discharged back into public waterways. The wastewater that results contains radium, in some samples as high as 267 times the limit that is safe for discharging back into the environment and thousands of times the limit that is safe for people to drink.

As a co-sponsor of bill A.01322, legislation that would ban the DEC from issuing permits to drill for natural gas within two miles of our water supply, I will continue to work to actively ensure the safety of our city’s drinking water.

Establishing Spay & Neuter Control Fund

I was thrilled that the Assembly passed A.6158A, a bill I introduced that will establish an Animal Population Control Fund in New York City. The fund will cover free and low-cost spay and neuter operations for low-income pet owners and save the lives of thousands of homeless dogs and cats each year. It will also save New York City taxpayers millions of dollars in sheltering and other costs associated with caring for homeless animals. Programs in other states have shown that offering low-cost spay and neuter to low-income pet owners is the best way to significantly reduce the number of stray cats and dogs. It is critical that we consider the welfare of animals throughout New York City as well as the overwhelming financial savings that will be recognized by more effectively implementing this program.

New York’s huge population of unwanted cats and dogs imposes a financial burden on the city because it must shelter and find homes for or euthanize these animals. It also results in thousands of healthy animals being euthanized every year due to a shortage of shelter for every unwanted animal. Surgery is the most effective and humane way to address the problem of animal overpopulation. In 2008, NYC Animal Care and Control took in over 40,000 cats and dogs. Of those, more than 16,000 were euthanized. A study commissioned by Animal Friendly NYC has shown that performing 20,000 low-cost surgeries a year in New York City would reduce the number of cats and dogs going to the city’s shelters by 40% – 17,000 animals. It would also save the city $2 million in the first year, a savings that includes the cost of subsidizing the surgeries.

Rosenthal Stands Up for Yoga Community

The yoga community was turned on its head earlier this year when the New York State Education Department (SED) sent letters to yoga teacher trainers ordering them to discontinue their programs immediately or risk incurring fines of up to $50,000 for teaching without a license. It seems that the SED had determined that yoga schools that train instructors must be licensed in the same manner as proprietary schools that offer vocational training for bartenders, cosmetologists and auto mechanics, for example.

Licensure involves a great deal of paperwork, large fees and a lengthy curriculum approval process, all of which are unnecessarily burdensome for the field of yoga training. To remedy the situation, I introduced a bill, A.8678, sponsored in the Senate by Senator Eric Schneiderman, which would exempt from licensure yoga and other schools providing instruction in certain subjects whose purpose is leisure, hobby or personal enrichment. The SED has agreed to suspend any licensing requirements in the wake of this legislation.

Fighting for Domestic Workers

Domestic workers in New York State won a victory when the Assembly passed bill A.1470A, which I co-sponsored, that would establish clear labor standards for such workers, affording them an eight-hour workday, temporary disability insurance coverage and overtime pay while providing the legal right to one day of rest each week. For too long, nannies, housekeepers and companions for the elderly simply have not had labor protections that other workers have enjoyed, as they were explicitly exempted from minimum wage and overtime laws. There are more than 200,000 domestic workers in New York State and they have been underpaid, often exploited and bereft of legal protections for years. This bill is an important first step in the march to greater rights and better working conditions for those who play such an integral part in so many New Yorkers’ lives. The bill lies dormant in the State Senate.

Rosenthal Animal Cruelty Bill Becomes Law

In November, legislation I sponsored which authorized the Municipal Police Training Council to recommend updates regarding procedures for animal cruelty enforcement was signed into law.

Currently, most laws pertaining to animal cruelty are not part of the penal code; they are contained in the Agriculture and Markets Law and as such, police officers are not educated regularly about these laws. With this law’s passage, the Police Training Council will develop training procedures for police officers on the investigation and prevention of animal cruelty cases.

Some crimes against companion animals and animal fighting are classified as felonies. Police should be trained to identify these crimes, especially since there is a documented connection between animal abusers and people who commit violent crimes against humans. Police officers will be better able to identify unlawful acts against animals so they effectively enforce existing laws and possibly even prevent future crimes against humans.

Coming Soon! NYS Assembly TV

While the 2009 legislative session was nothing if not tumultuous, it did generate a greater than usual degree of interest in what our legislature is up to. It is therefore appropriate timing that the New York State legislature will be launching a “C-SPAN”-style cable TV station with greatly expanded coverage of hearings, floor activity and other relevant programming.

The station will be available for Time Warner Cable subscribers on channel 159 and for Cablevision subscribers on 116. Assembly hearings and session activity can also be streamed on the Assembly’s website at http://www.assembly.state.ny.us/av/. The legislature will formally reconvene in early January.

Despite a legislative session that was interrupted by the Senate coup, I was successful in enacting five of my bills into law. Two of them pertain to issues that unfortunately are prevalent in our society and that primarily affect women: One law requires city and state social service providers to inform all those applying for public assistance that information and resources for victims of sexual abuse and assault are available. Information packets will contain a listing of all local sexual assault examiner programs, including a list of local hospitals offering sexual assault forensic examiner services, rape crisis centers, and other advocacy, counseling and hotline services appropriate for victims of sexual assault.

Studies have shown that a disproportionately large number of women on public assistance have experienced sexual abuse as children. Victims of sexual assault often feel alone and do not know their options for treatment and support. I am hopeful this law will bring to light social services that are available to them and ensure they receive the help they need.

Another law will prohibit the State from forcing victims of domestic violence to contact their abusers in order to receive State services. In addition, it mandates that should such contact need to be made, the governmental entity will assign an intermediary to act on behalf of the victim in a manner that will protect her privacy, confidentiality and current location.

Domestic violence is not acceptable and should not be tolerated. However, continued reports of such violence in the news are a disconcerting indication of the gravity and pervasiveness of abuse. I am a long-time supporter of legislative measures that will create a safer and more just world for these victims. This law will help to ensure that victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse receive the help and support they deserve.