With the new school year on the horizon, it was announced that New York State qualified for the U.S. Department of Education’s Race to the Top funding that may yield the state close to $700 million. While I have always been skeptical of Race to the Top’s “teach to the test” ideology, it is my hope that as much of this money as possible will be infused directly into the classroom. The Assembly will return in the fall to disperse federal funding that will help retain or rehire teachers and new employees to provide early childhood, elementary, and secondary educational services. As the bills I passed this session have one by one been sent to the Governor for action, I continue to advocate passionately on their behalf.
Now that I am back in our neighborhood, I am delighted to catch up and discuss issues with so many of you. I continue to work on developing new proposals for next year’s session and advancing worthy local causes like fighting tenant harassment, sensible development that includes new school facilities and publicly accessible open space, job creation and quality of life issues.
Even as our fiscal problems persist, New Yorkers are capable of great things and deserve a government that can lead the way in progressive reform. Keep your ideas coming – send me your thoughts at rosenthall@assembly.state.ny.us.
Linda B. Rosenthal
For decades, New York State nannies, housekeepers and health aides, known as domestic workers, have been denied basic rights and protections that people in other professions have long enjoyed. In fact, in 1935 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the National Labor Relations Act, domestic workers were purposely omitted. Lacking the workplace rights that most of us take for granted, these employees, mostly women and immigrants, are often exploited.
Many are regularly forced to work long hours with no respite, overtime pay, health insurance or vacation days. Domestic workers can be fired without notice or severance pay, despite years of service, with no recourse. That has been true for New York’s more than 200,000 domestic workers until now.
With the passage of the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights that I cosponsored, this wrong has been corrected. I worked with many Upper West Side activists on this issue, and our legislature reached this first-in-the-nation victory and succeeded in securing well-deserved gains for New York’s domestic workers.
This undertaking was six years in the making and a broad coalition of organizations including labor, clergy, progressive businesses and community organizations banded together to bring about this victory. While I would have supported additional provisions, most notably the ability to seek collective bargaining agreements, I am thrilled that we were able to rectify a tremendous social injustice through this bill.
These newfound rights include establishing a 40-hour work week for domestic workers and providing time-and-a-half pay for any work over 40 hours per week or 44 hours per week if the worker resides in the home of the employer; granting one day of rest per week and three additional days of rest each year to domestic workers who have been employed by the same employer for one year; including domestic workers under the New York State minimum wage law and state disabilities law, and providing protections from sexual harassment and discrimination once hired.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Education (DOE) revealed in mid-August that elevated levels of PCBs have been detected from leaking ballasts in light fixtures in P.S. 199, an elementary school on West 70th Street. In response, all of the light fixtures are being replaced. Since the initial discovery of PCBs in this school in 2008, I have worked with parents and the DOE to ensure the school has and continues to receive the most thorough cleaning and testing regimen in order to limit the exposure of the students, teachers and workers in the building.
Before they were banned by the EPA in 1978, PCBs were often used in materials including caulk and electrical equipment, and were first identified at P.S. 199 while a window replacement project was under way. At that time, safety protocols required by state and federal regulations were not followed. In response to an outcry by parents, I worked with other elected officials to pressure DOE and ensure that a more comprehensive cleanup of the school was performed.
To avoid prolonged litigation related to a similar situation, the EPA and the DOE signed an agreement in January 2010 creating a five-school pilot program to test for the presence of PCBs. In children whose developing systems are exposed to PCBs throughout the academic year, PCB contact has been linked with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, increased aggression and other symptoms that constitute a serious impediment to cognitive development and learning. The results of this pilot program underscore the need for thorough testing that includes the light fixtures, as many of us have demanded. As our children return to the classroom, I will remain vigilant and continue to fight for safe conditions in all schools.
Our society’s fascination with the latest technology and must-have gadgets has created literally tons of garbage that could have been recycled if a system were in place to properly dispose of electronic equipment. In 2008, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, this country generated 3.16 million tons of electronic waste, or e-waste, and of this amount only 430,000 tons or 13.6 % was recycled.
That’s why I worked this session to pass legislation creating a comprehensive e-waste recycling program, which will require all manufacturers that sell electronic equipment in our state to establish free and convenient recycling programs by April 1, 2011. Consumers, small businesses and most non-profits will be able to bring used electronics to locations where they can be safely disposed of without toxic substances like cadmium, mercury and lead leaching into our environment. While similar programs have passed in other states, New York’s e-waste law has been hailed by environmental organizations as the strongest in the nation. This law will help to lessen the amount of e-waste dumped in landfills and incinerators or exported to developing countries in Africa and Asia.
The new recycling program covers televisions, computers, printers, keyboards, VCRs, DVD and MP3 players, fax machines and game consoles. Electronic devices will be permanently banned from landfills beginning January 1, 2015. Individual manufacturers’ e-waste quotas will vary depending on their market share, ensuring that large chains will have the greatest required commitment.
One of the largest unregulated uses of lead in consumer products is found in wheel weights, which are devices placed on car and truck tires to provide balance. These lead wheel weights fall off on highways and are ground into dust-like particles that make their way into our air, soil and water supply; they can also be tracked into buildings and inhaled by children. Legislation I introduced banning the sale of lead wheel weights has passed both houses of the legislature and is awaiting Governor Paterson’s signature.
I am gratified to have successfully led the charge to phase out lead wheel weights and assist businesses that have already taken the responsible step of switching to lead-free alternatives including steel and zinc. The EPA may take action on this issue at some point, but New York’s large market share ensures that this decision will reverberate nationwide.
Assemblymember Rosenthal joins New York City Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe at the Riverside Park Riverwalk Greenway opening ceremony. This pedestrian and bicycle path from 83rd to 91st Streets along the Hudson completes the final link in the Riverside Park waterfront greenway.
For Unmarried And Same-Sex Couples
This session, my legislation permitting unmarried partners, including same-sex couples, to together adopt a child biologically unrelated to either of them passed the Assembly and the Senate, where it was sponsored by Senator Tom Duane. I fully expect the Governor to sign this bill.
This is a terrific victory for the LGBT community, and also for children lucky enough to have two people committed to raising them with the full protection of the law. It is unfair and mean-spirited to deny children in circumstances where only one partner is the legal parent access to all the benefits they deserve, including life insurance payments, the right to health insurance and other crucial entitlements. Allowing both parents full legal guardianship will guarantee children the ability to have continued access to both parents and extended family in the event of separation and help them avoid the heartbreak and uncertainty that could emerge in the event of one parent’s death.
Although this right was previously affirmed in the New York State Court of Appeals’ ruling Matter of Jacob and Matter of Dana in an opinion authored by then-Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye, the court did not specifically address instances in which neither adult is biologically related to the child. Unmarried couples have continued to experience difficulties in attaining the rights afforded to them in this decision, and must file two different applications and go through two separate certification processes. This bill would codify the Court of Appeals’ decision and end existing legal ambiguities. Current statutory provisions in New York State law permit only an adult person or adult husband and wife to adopt a child together.
A New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division reached a similar conclusion in Matter of Adoption of Carolyn B, concurring that the state should be “encouraging the adoption of as many children as possible regardless of the sexual orientation or marital status of the individuals seeking to adopt them.”
My legislation creating a low-cost spay and neuter program for New York City was included in the Transportation and Economic Development budget that passed this year. The idea for the fund came from legislation I originally passed in the Assembly in 2009. As an animal advocate, I recognized that New York City needed an autonomous program to keep shelter populations under control and prevent animals from being euthanized.
The creation of the fund comes as New York State’s poor fiscal standing led to the disbanding of the statewide Animal Population Control Fund, a successful low-cost spay and neuter program that offered subsidies using revenue collected from surcharges on license fees for unspayed or unneutered dogs. Although it served as a model for similar programs nationwide, funding was redirected from its stated purpose into the state’s general operating fund and the account was subsequently frozen.
In response, I made sure that even though the statewide program was eliminated, all funding originally derived from New York City will be sent back to us and used to start a new local version of this program. Under this arrangement, the fund will be administered by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and will be used to provide low- or no-cost spay and neuter services. By assisting people who cannot afford this service, we can keep animal populations under control and prevent the shelter overcrowding that sadly results in euthanasia. Doing so will also drive down shelter costs and save our city money.
While I urge municipalities statewide to establish their own versions of this now-defunct program, my highest priority is making New York City a leader in the humane treatment of animal populations.
Although I believe government is a force for good, New York has for too long allowed state agencies and authorities to multiply, increase in size and serve as the repository for the politically connected.
This year I supported efforts to consolidate unnecessarily duplicative state offices and curb excess spending. Doing so presented a sensible decision and a progressive alternative to closing our state’s budget shortfall by inflicting cuts to education and crucial social programs that assist vulnerable members of our community. This will also engineer a government capable of more collaborative efforts and better equipped to enact reform.
Some of these changes include merging the Department of Banking and Insurance with the Department of Financial Services, consolidating the following: the Administration of the Environmental Facilities Corporation programs into the Department of Environmental Conservation; the Higher Education Services Corporation into the State Education Department; and the State University Construction Fund into the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York. Administrative resources will also be shared between compatible agencies like Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance and the Office of Children and Family Services to more efficiently use state assets.
In total, these efforts are projected to reap $30 million in savings for New York State taxpayers. While I strongly pushed for this consolidation, I resisted efforts to fold the Crime Victims Board and the Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence into the Department of Parole and Correctional Alternatives, a proposal I believe threatened the autonomy of decision making in domestic violence cases.
Under current law, students with moral or religious objections to performing animal dissections can opt out of participation and complete an alternative project with permission from a legal guardian. This freedom, however, is meaningless if students do not know they have the right to exercise this option. My legislation, recently signed by the Governor, will ensure that school districts inform students and parents of the right to abstain from animal dissections and be provided with an approved project of equal educational value.
Assemblymember Rosenthal meets with West Siders visiting Albany to fight for pro-tenant legislation. Activists have been a major presence in the capitol this year and have organized as our recession threatens the right to affordable housing.
While a number of key housing initiatives, including my bill to repeal vacancy decontrol, stalled during last-minute negotiations in the Senate, we were successful in achieving some hard-fought housing victories this year. These new laws include:
Electronic Billing Discrimination
My legislation will prevent landlords from requiring tenants to make rent payments through
electronic or internet billing systems, a demand that has been used to harass and intimidate
elderly tenants living in rent-regulated homes. While electronic payment systems are efficient
and have features such as monthly auto-payments, they can be intimidating and inaccessible
to tenants who are elderly, disabled, or without computer access.
AIDS/HIV Rent Cap
For HIV-positive tenants with low incomes, eviction can be a death sentence, and yet the
HIV/AIDS Service Administration had been allowed to charge more than 30% of these tenants’
income in rent. We were able to cap this payment at 30%, and for the 11,000 New Yorkers this
applies to, this change could prove lifesaving.
Mitchell-Lama Veterans’ Preference
The Mitchell-Lama program was created in the post-WWII era to offer New Yorkers affordable
housing where they could build stable lives in a city with increasingly expensive rents. While there
are no recipients more worthy than our state’s veterans, regulations governing preferential treatment
were shamefully allowed to lapse, resulting in a situation in which veterans of our most recent wars
were excluded from this benefit. As Chair of the Assembly’s Mitchell-Lama housing subcommittee,
I strongly supported correcting this lapse in the program.
As of May, the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) process has begun for Riverside Center, the Extell Development Company’s proposal for the final undeveloped parcel on the far West Side running from 59th to 61st Streets. The developer proposes to construct five high rise towers, 2,500 residential units, a hotel, retail spaces, an auto showroom and repair center, 1,800 underground parking spots, and 2.75 acres of privately owned public open space. When Donald Trump gained control of the entire site in 1992, he signed a Restrictive Declaration to build 5,700 apartments. The new developer has proposed to build an extra 1,292 residential units, which I believe would make this site too dense.
As the project moves forward, the community’s needs must be factored into decisions related to this site. We must use this opportunity to ensure the development does not overwhelm the area’s infrastructure and resources and becomes an advantageous addition to the West Side. While there are many issues at stake, I have identified specific priorities, most importantly the following.
Alleviating School Overcrowding
Despite the creation of new public school P.S. 452, set to open this fall and house the current
overflow of students in the southern portion of School District 3, the problem of classroom
overcrowding will only grow worse in coming years.
The proposed Extell development will bring a significant number of school-aged children to a district that has already reached crisis levels.
While Extell has agreed to provide space for a K-8 school within the development, it will only pay for the “core and shell” for 75,000 sq.ft., which would accommodate the 480 students the project will generate. This alone may not be adequate space to serve the area that extends beyond the boundaries of Riverside Center. In order to increase the enrollment capacity of the school, 150,000 sq.ft. is necessary, but as of now, the School Construction Authority would be obligated to pay for this component. This facility should be built within the first phase of construction.
Creating Affordable Housing
Extell is obligated to allocate 12% of the units within the project as affordable housing for a
period of 20 years. I believe it is of the utmost importance that this amount be increased and
that these units remain permanently affordable. For a development of this size, a minimum
of 20% of the units should receive this designation so that the economically diverse character
of the neighborhood is maintained.
Constructing Accessible Public Space
To avoid creating an exclusive enclave, public space must be maximized to eliminate the
exclusive nature of the current design. Passage to Riverside South Park must not be
obstructed and the area should be inviting to neighborhood residents. Otherwise, the
development risks becoming an isolated area separate from the community.
Mitigating Traffic
The developer must address the traffic and congestion the site will create. Extell has
proposed building 1,800 parking spaces and an auto repair center in the underground level,
a facility that would be the largest parking garage in the city.
If the garage is constructed as currently envisioned, it will usher in enough new vehicles to imperil pedestrian safety and quality of life. I am concerned with the overcrowding these new residential units will create; adding more garage parking spaces will only encourage traffic.
Perpetrators of domestic violence seek to control and instill fear in their victims, and strangulation is one of the most potentially lethal forms of this behavior. This disgusting act silences the victim and sends a message that the batterer holds the power to take the victim’s life with little effort.
Domestic violence advocates have long sought to close the loophole in New York’s penal law that has prevented prosecutors from charging abusers for intentional obstruction of a victim’s breathing or blood circulation, especially in situations where assault cannot be proven.
Thanks to legislation I supported, this gap has been addressed, and the newly created crimes of strangulation and criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation in the first and second degree will enable law enforcement to effectively prosecute these cases.
This legislation additionally empowers victims of any of these crimes to seek an order of protection in Family Court.
