1 1 2 CITY COUNCIL 3 CITY OF NEW YORK 4 -------------------------------x 5 THE TRANSCRIPT OF THE MINUTES 6 of the 7 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 8 -------------------------------x 9 10 May 14, 2008 11 Start: 2:05 p.m. Recess: 3:19 p.m. 12 City Hall 13 Council Chambers New York, New York 14 15 B E F O R E: 16 JOEL RIVERA Majority Leader 17 18 COUNCIL MEMBERS: Speaker Christine Quinn Joseph Addabbo 19 Maria Arroyo Tony Avella 20 Maria Baez Charles Barron 21 Gale Brewer Leroy Comrie 22 23 24 LEGAL-EASE COURT REPORTING SERVICES, INC. 17 Battery Place - Suite 1308 25 New York, New York 10004 800-756-3410 2 1 2 A P P E A R A N C E S (CONTINUED) 3 COUNCIL MEMBERS: 4 Bill DeBlasio Inez Dickens 5 Erik Martin-Dilan Matthew Eugene 6 Simcha Felder Lewis Fidler 7 Helen Foster James Gennaro 8 Vincent Gentile Alan Gerson 9 Eric Gioia Sara Gonzalez 10 Vincent Ignizio Robert Jackson 11 Letitia James G. Oliver Koppell 12 Jessica Lappin John Liu 13 Miguel Martinez Michael McMahon 14 Darlene Mealy Rosie Mendez 15 Hiram Monserrate James Oddo 16 Annabel Palma Domenic Recchia 17 Diana Reyna Joel Rivera 18 James Sanders Larry Seabrook 19 Helen Sears Kendall Stewart 20 James Vacca Peter Vallone, Jr. 21 Albert Vann Melissa Mark-Viverito 22 David Weprin David Yassky 23 24 25 3 1 2 A P P E A R A N C E S (CONTINUED) 3 STAFF: Hector Diaz 4 City Clerk 5 Billy Martin Council Clerk 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 4 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 SPEAKER QUINN: Just one second, 3 because we're going to have our presentation, and 4 let me just, when we get assembled, get started, I'm 5 going to give the mike over to Council Member Al 6 Vann in a second, but I really want to thank Council 7 Member Vann, and I want to thank Virginia Fields and 8 everyone on the Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, 9 Guillermo Calderon and Dennis DeLeon, and everyone 10 on the Latino Commission on AIDS. We are here today 11 celebrating the work of a number of religious 12 leaders in our five boroughs, and all of these 13 religious leaders, through the Latino Commission on 14 AIDS, through BLCA, have been part of the Council's 15 faith-based initiative against AIDS. And this 16 initiative was really 100 percent the brainchild of 17 Council Member Al Vann. 18 (Applause.) 19 SPEAKER QUINN: He does deserve a 20 round of applause. When I was Health Chair before I 21 was Speaker was when Council Member Vann developed 22 this idea. And Council Member Vann saw, as we all 23 saw and continued to see HIV and AIDS continuing to 24 spread in the City of New York. Particularly 25 continuing to spread and spike in neighborhoods of 5 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 color. And knew we needed not just to do more, but 3 we needed to do more in a different way. Than we had 4 been doing it, to try to reach people with 5 messengers who would be impactful and would be 6 listened to, but maybe also to reach people in 7 places where they would not necessarily expect to 8 hear a message about HIV and AIDS. Because often 9 when you hear something in a place you don't expect 10 it, it really sinks in a little more and that's in a 11 very small nutshell what the faith-based initiative 12 on HIV and AIDS is about, and we just wanted to take 13 a moment today to, with, you know, representatives, 14 a small sampling of those who are involved, because 15 I think there is close to 200 different religious 16 institutions that are involved but with a small 17 sampling, get you all together to say thank you for 18 doing this work out there in our community every day 19 and helping us in our effort. 20 And before we hear from Virginia and 21 Guillermo, let me first call on Al Vann and again 22 thank him for this very creative and therefore, in 23 my opinion, effective idea in our battle against HIV 24 and AIDS. 25 COUNCIL MEMBER VANN: Thank you, Madam 6 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 Speaker. 3 Even as Chair of the Health Committee 4 you were supportive of this effort, and as Speaker 5 you continue with that support, of which we are 6 very, very pleased, and we thank you for that. 7 But most of all, I would like to 8 thank all of you who are here, Black and Latino 9 Commission on AIDS, because you are really the front 10 line, the first line, if you will, of dealing with 11 this dreaded HIV and AIDS. And though we haven't 12 eliminated it yet, I hate to think what it would be 13 were you not involved on the front line, providing 14 information and the inspiration that you do. 15 And, so, we can't do enough for you 16 to continue your work because our goal is to 17 eliminate, reduce the severely, the infection rate 18 within New York City. 19 And I think the Coalition you have, 20 the religious institution, our community-based 21 organizations, you are well placed in our community 22 to get that information out. 23 So, again, thank you for all that you 24 do, and we are very pleased to be able to recognize 25 you this afternoon. 7 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 Thank you very much. 3 SPEAKER QUINN: Thank you. 4 While we are giving out these 5 citations that are a small token of our thanks, let 6 me also call on someone who knows this Chamber well, 7 the new Executive Director of BLCA, C. Virginia 8 Fields. 9 MS. FIELDS: Thank you. Thank you so 10 much, Madam Speaker. 11 Here in New York City, although 12 African-Americans represent only 25 percent of the 13 population, newly diagnosed AIDS cases, 48 percent 14 within the African-American community, and a growing 15 number of those are heterosexual black women. 16 So, you see, there is still much work 17 to be done. So, I want to thank the Speaker. I 18 certainly want to thank Councilman Al Vann, and all 19 of the Council members who are standing here with 20 us, and for your support of these faith-based 21 institutions, people who are out there, on the 22 ground, in the communities, doing the necessary 23 outreach, providing the education, creating 24 awareness, and doing all that they can to help us, 25 as the Councilman said, eliminate HIV/AIDS in our 8 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 lifetime. 3 We can do it, but it has to take all 4 of us on the ground, and that is what is represented 5 here today by our faith-based leaders. So, we humbly 6 thank you for everything you do. We could never 7 thank you enough, because if not for you, we would 8 not be as far alone in doing the work as we are. 9 So, thanks. Thanks to the Council. 10 Thanks to Dee Bailey, who heads up the New York City 11 operation; Leatrice, who is here, and Roberta, they 12 really do everything in terms of making this 13 possible. Thank you, and God bless. Thank you. 14 SPEAKER QUINN: Thank you. 15 And if we could hear from Guillermo, 16 because there are two organizations that really 17 spearhead and coordinate this effort for us, and the 18 second one is Latino Commission on AIDS, and we want 19 to thank Guillermo for all his work, but also would 20 ask Guillermo -- 21 (Applause.) 22 SPEAKER QUINN: -- He does deserve an 23 applause. But I would ask Guillermo also to convey 24 our thanks to Dennis DeLeon. 25 MR. CALDERONE: I will. Thank you. 9 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 Thank you all. This is a very important day for us 3 because this faith-based initiative is a very good 4 example of what partnership can do and also 5 leadership can do, and the Council members, the 6 Speaker, Al Vann, in particular, but, you know, show 7 leadership. And I believe in health promotion and 8 HIV prevention, and New York to be the epicenter of 9 this epidemic, is one of the best things that we can 10 do. 11 And we honor our partnership with 12 BLCA. We believe that working for all of the 13 communities across the City of New York, we send an 14 example and a very good message of partnership and 15 commitment and leadership to defeat this epidemic. 16 Today is the day of hope and action 17 and we, our community, with all of you, we will 18 continue to do health promotion, HIV prevention and 19 education. 20 Grasias. Mucho grasias. 21 SPEAKER QUINN: And each of the 22 citations are personal for each of the religious 23 leaders, but if the clerk could one of just the 24 overall parts of that, I would appreciate that. 25 Thank you. 10 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 CITY CLERK DIAZ: The Council of the 3 City of New York, HIV/AIDS Faith-Based Initiative, 4 City Council Citation. 5 Whereas: The Black Leadership 6 Commission on AIDS of New York City with its 7 partner, the Latino Commission on AIDS Communities 8 of Color HIV/AIDS Counseling, Testing and Referral 9 Initiative is an unparalleled example of how 10 community activists, local community-based 11 organizations, houses of worship, and the New York 12 City Council have joined efforts to allocate 13 resources to our social change; and 14 Whereas: We recognize the houses of 15 worship and community-based organizations are places 16 of refuge through which people seek guidance, 17 fulfillment and hope, and 18 Whereas: Our City's clergy members 19 give not only everything they have, but everything 20 they are, fulfilling the role every hour of every 21 day and spreading God's message for all to hear. 22 Now, therefore, be it 23 Resolved: That the entire New York 24 City Council offers its deepest gratitude for your 25 devotion, wisdom, grace and goodwill and recognizes 11 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 that in Reverend Patricia Morris, Reverend Hector 3 LaPorta, Nurah Amat'uallah, Reverend Erik Cruz, 4 Reverend Ambrose Chalokwu, Reverend Dilca Lebron, 5 Pastors Russell and Ruth Morrison, Reverend Terry 6 Troia, Reverend Domingo de la Cruz, and Dr. Curtis 7 Whitney. We have outstanding citizens, each who is 8 worthy of the esteem of both the community and the 9 great City of New York. 10 Christine C. Quinn, Speaker for the 11 Entire Council. 12 SPEAKER QUINN: Thank you very much. 13 CITY CLERK DIAZ: You're welcome. 14 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: Please rise 15 for the Pledge of Allegiance. 16 (Pledge of Allegiance.) 17 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: Thank you 18 very much. 19 Roll call. 20 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Addabbo. 21 COUNCIL MEMBER ADDABBO: Here. 22 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Arroyo. 23 COUNCIL MEMBER ARROYO: Here. 24 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Avella. 25 COUNCIL MEMBER AVELLA: Here. 12 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 CITY CLERK BAEZ: Baez. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER BAEZ: Here. 4 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Barron. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER BARRON: Here. 6 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Brewer. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER BREWER: Here. 8 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Comrie. 9 (No response.) 10 CITY CLERK DIAZ: DeBlasio. 11 COUNCIL MEMBER DEBLASIO: Here. 12 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Dickens. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER DICKENS: Here. 14 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Dilan. 15 COUNCIL MEMBER DILAN: Here. 16 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Eugene. 17 COUNCIL MEMBER EUGENE: Here. 18 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Felder. 19 COUNCIL MEMBER FELDER: Here. 20 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Fidler. 21 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: Here. 22 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Foster. 23 COUNCIL MEMBER FOSTER: Here. 24 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Garodnick. 25 (No response.) 13 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Gennaro. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER GENNARO: Here. 4 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Gentile. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER GENTILE: Here. 6 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Gerson. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: Here. 8 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Gioia. 9 (No response.) 10 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Gonzalez. 11 COUNCIL MEMBER GONZALEZ: Here. 12 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Ignizio. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER IGNIZIO: Here. 14 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Jackson. 15 COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON: Here. 16 CITY CLERK DIAZ: James. 17 COUNCIL MEMBER JAMES: Here. 18 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Katz. 19 (No response.) 20 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Koppell. 21 COUNCIL MEMBER KOPPELL: Here. 22 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Lappin. 23 COUNCIL MEMBER LAPPIN: Here. 24 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Liu. 25 COUNCIL MEMBER LIU: Here. 14 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Mark-Viverito. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER MARK-VIVERITO: Here. 4 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Martinez. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER MARTINEZ: Here. 6 CITY CLERK DIAZ: McMahon. 7 (No response.) 8 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Mealy. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER MEALY: Present. 10 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Mendez. 11 COUNCIL MEMBER MENDEZ: Here. 12 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Monserrate. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER MONSERRATE: Here. 14 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Nelson. 15 (No response.) 16 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Palma. 17 COUNCIL MEMBER PALMA: Here. 18 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Recchia. 19 COUNCIL MEMBER RECCHIA: Here. 20 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Reyna. 21 COUNCIL MEMBER REYNA: Here. 22 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Sanders. 23 COUNCIL MEMBER SANDERS: Here. 24 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Seabrook. 25 COUNCIL MEMBER SEABROOK: Here. 15 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Sears. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER SEARS: Here. 4 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Stewart. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER STEWART: Present. 6 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Vacca. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER VACCA: Here. 8 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Vallone. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER VALLONE: Here. 10 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Vann. 11 COUNCIL MEMBER VANN: Here. 12 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Weprin. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER WEPRIN: Here. 14 CITY CLERK DIAZ: White. 15 COUNCIL MEMBER WHITE: Here. 16 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Yassky. 17 COUNCIL MEMBER YASSKY: Here. 18 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Oddo. 19 COUNCIL MEMBER ODDO: Here. 20 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Rivera. 21 COUNCIL MEMBER RIVERA: Here. 22 CITY CLERK DIAZ: Speaker Quinn. 23 SPEAKER QUINN: Here. 24 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: A quorum is 25 present. 16 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 Everyone please rise for the 3 Invocation to be delivered by Bishop G. Taylor, 4 Pastor from Center of Hope International. 5 BISHOP TAYLOR: Let us bow our heads. 6 Eternal God, we thank You for the 7 privilege of enjoying another day. We pray that even 8 though we are here to discuss the business of this 9 great City, let us not forget the hundreds of 10 thousands that have lost their lives in the wake of 11 the tragedies that hit Myanmar in China in recent 12 days. Let us not forget the victims of last 13 weekend's tornados that occurred throughout the 14 south and midwest; and 15 Eternal God, we ask that you remember 16 those in our City that face poverty, starvation, 17 abuse and neglect every day; and 18 We pray today that you give those 19 that have been entrusted with the leadership of this 20 City, the wisdom, knowledge and understanding, to 21 govern the affairs that we all will be discussing 22 today. 23 Amen. 24 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: Council 25 Member Gioia. 17 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 Council Member Comrie. 3 Council Member Dilan. 4 COUNCIL MEMBER DILAN: I make a motion 5 to spread the invocation in full upon the record. 6 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: So ordered. 7 Adoption of the Minutes. 8 COUNCIL MEMBER MENDEZ: I make a 9 motion that the minutes of the Stated Meeting March 10 26, and March 31st of this year, be adopted as 11 printed. 12 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: So ordered. 13 Messages and Papers of the Mayor. 14 COUNCIL CLERK: M 1020. Expense 15 Revenue Contract Budget. 16 SPEAKER QUINN: Finance. 17 COUNCIL CLERK: M 1021. Executive 18 Capital Budget. 19 SPEAKER QUINN: Finance. 20 COUNCIL CLERK: M 1022. CD Program. 21 SPEAKER QUINN: Finance. 22 COUNCIL CLERK: M 1023 through M 1027. 23 Executive Budget supporting schedules. 24 SPEAKER QUINN: Finance. 25 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: 18 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 Communications from City, County and Borough 3 Offices. 4 COUNCIL CLERK: M 1028 through M 1061. 5 Base station license applications. 6 SPEAKER QUINN: Transportation. 7 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: Petitions and 8 Communications. 9 COUNCIL CLERK: None. 10 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: Land Use 11 Call-Ups. 12 COUNCIL CLERK: M 1062 and M 1063. 13 Sidewalk cafes. 14 SPEAKER QUINN: I'd now like a 15 call-up, please, on the coupled Land Use Call-Ups, a 16 roll call on that, please. 17 COUNCIL CLERK: Addabbo. 18 COUNCIL MEMBER ADDABBO: Aye. 19 COUNCIL CLERK: Arroyo. 20 COUNCIL MEMBER ARROYO: Aye. 21 COUNCIL CLERK: Avella. 22 COUNCIL MEMBER AVELLA: Aye. 23 COUNCIL CLERK: Baez. 24 COUNCIL MEMBER BAEZ: Aye. 25 COUNCIL CLERK: Barron. 19 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 COUNCIL MEMBER BARRON: Mr. Chair, may 3 I have unanimous consent to vote aye on all General 4 Order items? 5 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: So ordered. 6 COUNCIL MEMBER BARRON: Aye on all. 7 COUNCIL CLERK: Brewer. 8 COUNCIL MEMBER BREWER: Aye. 9 COUNCIL CLERK: Comrie. 10 (No response.) 11 COUNCIL CLERK: DeBlasio. 12 COUNCIL MEMBER DEBLASIO: Aye. 13 COUNCIL CLERK: Dickens. 14 COUNCIL MEMBER DICKENS: Aye. 15 COUNCIL CLERK: Dilan. 16 COUNCIL MEMBER DILAN: Aye. 17 COUNCIL CLERK: Eugene. 18 COUNCIL MEMBER EUGENE: Aye. 19 COUNCIL CLERK: Felder. 20 COUNCIL MEMBER FELDER: Yes. 21 COUNCIL CLERK: Fidler. 22 (No response.) 23 COUNCIL CLERK: Foster. 24 COUNCIL MEMBER FOSTER: Aye. 25 COUNCIL CLERK: Garodnick. 20 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 (No response.) 3 COUNCIL CLERK: Gennaro. 4 COUNCIL MEMBER GENNARO: Yes. 5 COUNCIL CLERK: Gentile. 6 COUNCIL MEMBER GENTILE: Yes. 7 COUNCIL CLERK: Gerson. 8 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: Aye. 9 COUNCIL CLERK: Gioia. 10 (No response.) 11 COUNCIL CLERK: Gonzalez. 12 (No response.) 13 COUNCIL CLERK: Jackson. 14 COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON: Aye. 15 COUNCIL CLERK: James. 16 (No response.) 17 COUNCIL CLERK: Fidler. 18 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: Aye. 19 COUNCIL CLERK: Koppell. 20 COUNCIL MEMBER KOPPELL: Aye. 21 COUNCIL CLERK: Lappin. 22 COUNCIL MEMBER LAPPIN: Aye. 23 COUNCIL CLERK: Liu. 24 COUNCIL MEMBER LIU: Yes. 25 COUNCIL CLERK: Mark-Viverito. 21 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 COUNCIL MEMBER MARK-VIVERITO: Aye. 3 COUNCIL CLERK: Martinez. 4 COUNCIL MEMBER MARTINEZ: Aye. 5 COUNCIL CLERK: McMahon. 6 COUNCIL MEMBER McMAHON: Mr. Majority 7 Leader, I would request unanimous consent of my 8 colleagues to vote on all General Coupled orders, as 9 well as resolutions, as well as the Land Use Call-Up 10 items. 11 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: So ordered. 12 COUNCIL MEMBER McMAHON: I vote aye on 13 all. 14 COUNCIL CLERK: Mealy. 15 COUNCIL MEMBER MEALY: Aye. 16 COUNCIL CLERK: Mendez. 17 COUNCIL MEMBER MENDEZ: Aye. 18 COUNCIL CLERK: Monserrate. 19 (No response.) 20 COUNCIL CLERK: Nelson. 21 COUNCIL MEMBER NELSON: Mr. Majority 22 Leader, I request unanimous consent to vote aye on 23 all Land Use Call-Ups, General Orders and 24 resolutions. 25 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: So ordered. 22 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 COUNCIL CLERK: Palma. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER PALMA: Aye. 4 COUNCIL CLERK: Recchia. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER RECCHIA: Aye. 6 COUNCIL CLERK: Reyna. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER REYNA: I vote aye. 8 COUNCIL CLERK: Sanders. 9 (No response.) 10 COUNCIL CLERK: Sears. 11 COUNCIL MEMBER SEARS: Aye. 12 COUNCIL CLERK: Stewart. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER STEWART: Aye. 14 COUNCIL CLERK: Vacca. 15 COUNCIL MEMBER VACCA: Aye. 16 COUNCIL CLERK: Vallone. 17 COUNCIL MEMBER VALLONE: Aye. 18 COUNCIL CLERK: Vann. 19 COUNCIL MEMBER VANN: Aye. 20 COUNCIL CLERK: Weprin. 21 COUNCIL MEMBER WEPRIN: Aye. 22 COUNCIL CLERK: White. 23 COUNCIL MEMBER WHITE: I vote aye, and 24 I ask for unanimous consent to vote on all other 25 items that's come before us today. 23 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: So ordered. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER WHITE: I vote aye. 4 COUNCIL CLERK: Yassky. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER YASSKY: Aye. 6 COUNCIL CLERK: Gonzalez. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER GONZALEZ: Aye. 8 COUNCIL CLERK: Rivera. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER RIVERA: I vote aye. 10 COUNCIL CLERK: Speaker Quinn. 11 SPEAKER QUINN: Yes. 12 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: Today's Land 13 Use Call-Ups were adopted by a vote of 40 in the 14 affirmative with zero in the negative. 15 Communication from the Speaker. 16 SPEAKER QUINN: Thank you very much. 17 First, before I mention the 18 legislation we're voting on today, I want to thank 19 Bishop Taylor for reminding us about the folks who 20 have been lost in the Earthquake and also the folks 21 who have been lost through the Tornados and other 22 natural disasters and thank him for reminding us to 23 take a moment and think of the folks who have been 24 lost and remember them. 25 On a much happier news front, I want 24 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 to make a couple of important Council family 3 announcements. 4 I think we all know that Melinda Katz 5 gave birth to her son, Carter, a few weeks ago, and 6 in true Katz's fashion, Carter is a fighter and has 7 gained enough weight and has just left the hospital 8 and is headed home with his mom, and Melinda wanted 9 to thank everyone for their good wishes and prayers, 10 and Helen has pictures on her phone if anyone wants 11 to see pictures of Carter, who is beautiful. 12 I also want to let folks know that 13 Samara Rifkind, my scheduling director had a baby 14 boy, Jackson Leo, on Sunday, on Mother's Day, which 15 is a great Mother's Day gift and they are doing 16 well. 17 And also, just to let folks know that 18 Dan Garodnick isn't here today, but that is because 19 he is on his honeymoon, having been married on 20 Saturday. So, I wish him well. 21 We'll mention Dan's wedding again 22 when Jimmy Oddo gets back, to make him feel 23 uncomfortable. 24 But on a more serious note, if I can 25 mention, if we could get a little quiet in the 25 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 Chambers, some of the legislation we're voting on 3 today. 4 First, Intro. 199-A. It's a piece of 5 legislation that was introduced by Council Member 6 Gale Brewer, and shepherded through the 7 Transportation Committee by its Chair John Liu, and 8 I want to thank Chairperson Liu and also Council 9 Member Brewer. 10 This is a very important piece of 11 legislation that will start a yearly process of 12 documenting and tracking transit use, street 13 traffic, vehicular traffic in the City of New York. 14 We believe and know that getting this data on a 15 regular basis is going to help us come up with 16 solutions to reduce traffic congestion in our City. 17 You know, some of us thought there 18 were ways to deal with congestion in the City right 19 now, others disagreed, but we all know there is a 20 problem, and Gale's bill is going to help us track 21 that problem, not just once, but make sure that we 22 track that problem on a yearly basis, so we can come 23 up with focused solutions. I want to thank Gale for 24 this piece of legislation. I want to thank Laura 25 Popa, Phil Hom and Terzah Nasser, who all worked on 26 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 this bill. 3 I want to call on the bill's sponsor, 4 Council Member Gale Brewer. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER BREWER: Thank you very 6 much, Madam Speaker. 7 This bill, 199, will think of when we 8 are, the City is booming, it's not moving, is the 9 model that I would like to think about, when I think 10 about 199-A. 11 I think that currently the DOT does 12 collect data on filling pot holes and fixing traffic 13 lights. And they certainly help moving traffic, but 14 they're not enough. And we need to be much more 15 sustainable in our transportation policy. 16 So, the 199 will require the 17 Department of Transportation to collect information 18 on various performance indicators, usage capacity 19 and so on for key corridors, bus lanes, bike paths, 20 ferry routes, anything that moves on the surface. 21 And as the Speaker indicated, it will 22 help move traffic and encourage people to use 23 alternate modes of transportation and improve our 24 quality of life. 25 On November 1st of every year, 27 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 including this year, the DOT will be required to 3 submit a report of these indicators to the Mayor and 4 the City Council and the public. And I think it's 5 very exciting. It will not eliminate congestion, it 6 will give us, however, the tools to be able to work 7 on a sustainable plan. 8 I would like to certainly thank the 9 staff of the Mayor's Legislative Office, Department 10 of Transportation, Shula Warren, who was Chief of 11 Staff in our office who put a great deal of work 12 into this, and all the people mentioned by the 13 Speaker, particularly Phillip Hom, Counsel to the 14 Committee, certainly the Chair and the Speaker. 15 Thank you very much. 16 SPEAKER QUINN: Thank you, Gale. 17 Just since Council Member Oddo, our 18 Minority Leader, is in the Chambers, I just want to 19 mention what we mentioned before. We don't know who 20 put the Yankee hat on your chair, you're going to 21 have to conduct an investigation. 22 But we did mention before when you 23 were out that Dan Garodnick isn't here because he 24 got married, and some felt it was important we 25 mention that when you were in the room. 28 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 I'm just saying. 3 Again, back to our legislation today. 4 In addition to passing legislation today, we are 5 voting on a veto override, the veto that was sent to 6 us by Mayor Bloomberg. I think folks are well aware 7 of the long process that's taken place in the 8 Council around the e-waste bill. 9 What we ultimately ended up doing was 10 taking the e-waste bill and splitting it into two 11 pieces of legislation. These two pieces of 12 legislation make New York City the first City in the 13 United States to have an electronics recycling 14 program. 15 The first piece of legislation, 16 amongst other things, prohibits New Yorkers from 17 putting e-waste out on the curb anymore. So that 18 means it won't get picked up and sent to our 19 landfills where it could contaminate our water 20 supply. 21 It also requires that folks who sell 22 and produce electronic waste come up with a 23 recycling program and that they provide, among other 24 things, information to their customers about how 25 they can recycle. 29 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 Those are all very important steps. 3 But perhaps one of the most important parts of our 4 electronics waste recycling programs in the City is 5 the part that is separated into Intro. 729. 6 The first parts were in a piece of 7 legislation which the Mayor assigned. The second 8 Intro. 729, is a bill that legislates standards and 9 goals, how much recycling has to be conducted by the 10 entities that are producing these electronics. 11 We believe that this is a critically 12 important part of a really effective e-waste 13 recycling program. 14 We believe by doing this, New York 15 City will be leading, no longer following in the 16 area of e-waste recycling, and we believe that this 17 piece of legislation will actually set a standard 18 that we hope other cities and states will follow. 19 So, I urge all of my colleagues to 20 please vote to override this veto today. 21 I want to thank Staten Island's 22 Council Member McMahon for taking a lead and working 23 on this and passing this bill, and its many 24 iterations through his Committee. 25 I want to thank Jeff Haberman and 30 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 Carmen Cognetta, who worked long and hard on this 3 legislation. And I want to particularly thank and 4 call on him to speak, the Bill's sponsor, Bill 5 DeBlasio. He has worked long and hard on this issue 6 to get it to the point today where it will be the 7 law of the City of New York, and its led and worked 8 with a broad coalition of environmental 9 organizations who have worked hard to take New York 10 City, again, out of the position where we have been 11 following but move us into the position of an 12 environmental leader as it relates to e-waste where 13 we should be, and I just want to thank him so much 14 for all of his efforts. 15 Council Member DeBlasio. 16 COUNCIL MEMBER DeBLASIO: Thank you, 17 Madam Speaker. And thank you for your leadership, 18 it's been a long road. But, you know, it has been 19 worth all the work. The earth can't wait while we 20 continue to pollute it, and we have to acknowledge 21 the reality. We're a consumer society. We are buying 22 more and more electronics. There is a tsunami of 23 electronic waste hitting this City and this country, 24 and the figures are sobering, 25,000 tons of 25 electronic waste annually being picked up by the 31 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 Sanitation Department right now at taxpayer expense. 3 That figure would only go up if we were not taking 4 this action. Over 12 million electronic devices 5 purchased each year in this City, again, that's 6 going to go up with HD TV and all the other changes 7 in the industry. 8 So, we can't wait, and we need to 9 act, and performance standards are so crucial 10 because they make the industry move forward and 11 recycle and manufacture a greener product. 12 And we have a fundamental 13 disagreement on the Mayor with this issue, and I 14 want to thank the Speaker and all of my colleagues 15 and Chair McMahon, everyone who has supported this 16 aggressive approach, because without performance 17 standards, we just won't help the environment and 18 protect the people of New York City in the way we 19 need to. 20 And I'd also like to add that 21 sometimes the Legislative Branch is just ahead of 22 the Executive Branch, and we're right to approach 23 this in a progressive way. I think the Mayor, 24 unfortunately, made a mistake with this veto, but I 25 do believe whether through litigation or whether 32 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 through the election of our next Mayor we're going 3 to see this performance standard policy come into 4 law. 5 And, finally, I just want to say, so 6 many people worked so hard -- 7 SPEAKER QUINN: If we could just get a 8 little quiet in the Chamber, please. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER DeBLASIO: Thank you. 10 So many people worked so hard from 11 the Speaker's staff and the Committee staff and all 12 of the advocates, tremendous effort went into this 13 because I think everyone felt it was not only 14 something we were doing for the people in New York 15 City, it was something we were doing to help move 16 the national debate forward and show that 17 municipalities would lead the way. 18 And, so, I'm very, very proud of the 19 effort we've all put in here, and thank my 20 colleagues for their support. 21 SPEAKER QUINN: Thank you very much. 22 Lastly, we're voting today on Intro. 23 547-A. This is a piece of legislation that is part 24 of an ongoing effort by both the Bloomberg 25 Administration and the City Council to improve site 33 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 safety at construction sites in our City, and 3 improve the safety of the neighborhoods where that 4 work is going on. 5 It's a piece of legislation that came 6 out of our Housing and Buildings Committee, 7 introduced at the Mayor's request, but with the 8 support of our Housing and Buildings Chair, Council 9 Member Dilan, and I want to thank him. I also want 10 to thank the Administration for working so closely 11 with the Council on this bill and on the overall 12 issue of construction site safety. 547-A quite 13 simply raises the standard as it relates to what the 14 training someone has to go through to be certified 15 to assemble scaffolding in the City of New York. 16 It requires now that the training you 17 will have to go through in the City of New York is 18 higher and has more components than the national 19 OSHA standard. It also requires refresher training, 20 and we believe this is a piece of legislation that 21 will help make sure that sites in the City of New 22 York which are using scaffolding, buildings that has 23 scaffolding on them, are safer, and that the 24 individuals who are assembling and bracing, et 25 cetera, the scaffolding, have had a higher level of 34 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 training, a training that really tracks with the 3 amount of development that's going on in our five 4 boroughs. 5 I want to thank Baaba Halm, Ben 6 Goodman, Jeff Haberman, Rick Arbella, from Council 7 Member Dilan's office, and everyone in the Mayor's 8 Office of Legislative Affairs, for their work on 9 this piece of legislation. And this will certainly 10 not be the last piece of legislation you see from 11 the Bloomberg Administration or the City Council as 12 it relates to construction safety in the City. 13 And that concludes Communications 14 from the Speaker. 15 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: Thank you 16 very much, Madam Speaker. 17 Before we go on to the Discussion of 18 General Orders, I just want to introduce a group who 19 is here from the Bronx, the Northwest Bronx 20 Community and Clergy Coalition. They are up in the 21 balcony. They are here to make sure that the City 22 keeps its promises. 23 Thank you very much. 24 Discussion of General Orders. 25 Reports of Special Committees. 35 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 COUNCIL CLERK: None. 3 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: Reports of 4 Standing Committees. 5 COUNCIL CLERK: Report of the 6 Committee on Housing and Buildings. 7 Intro. 547-A, supported scaffolds. 8 SPEAKER QUINN: Amended and coupled on 9 General Orders. 10 COUNCIL CLERK: Report of the 11 Committee on Land Use. 12 LU 671 and Reso 1424, through LU 707 13 and Reso 1426, various UDAAPs. 14 SPEAKER QUINN: Coupled on General 15 Orders. 16 COUNCIL CLERK: LU 712 and Reso 1427 17 through LU 741 and Reso 1432. Various ULURPs. 18 SPEAKER QUINN: Coupled on General 19 Orders. 20 COUNCIL CLERK: LU 746 and Reso 1433. 21 Public parking garage. 22 SPEAKER QUINN: Coupled on General 23 Orders. 24 COUNCIL CLERK: Report of the 25 Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management. 36 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 Intro. 729. Electronic equipment 3 collection. 4 SPEAKER QUINN: Coupled on General 5 Orders. 6 COUNCIL CLERK: M 994. Mayor's veto of 7 Introductory No. 729. 8 SPEAKER QUINN: Coupled on General 9 Orders. 10 COUNCIL CLERK: Report of the 11 Committee on Transportation. 12 SPEAKER QUINN: Oh, I'm sorry. M 994 13 was coupled to be filed. I apologize. 14 COUNCIL CLERK: Report of the 15 Committee on Transportation. 16 Intro. 199-A. Transportation 17 performance measures. 18 SPEAKER QUINN: Amended and coupled on 19 General Orders. 20 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: General Order 21 Calendar. 22 COUNCIL CLERK: Resolution appointing 23 various persons Commissioner of Deeds. 24 SPEAKER QUINN: Coupled on General 25 Orders. And at this point I ask for a roll call on 37 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 all items that have been coupled on the General 3 Order Calendar, please. 4 COUNCIL CLERK: Addabbo. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER ADDABBO: Aye. 6 COUNCIL CLERK: Arroyo. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER ARROYO: Aye. 8 COUNCIL CLERK: Seabrook. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER SEABROOK: Yes, 10 Majority Leader, I'd like to have permission to vote 11 aye on all Land Use Call-Ups and aye on all coupled 12 orders and to be voting aye. 13 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: So ordered. 14 COUNCIL MEMBER SEABROOK: So ordered. 15 COUNCIL CLERK: Avella. 16 COUNCIL MEMBER AVELLA: Can I have a 17 moment to explain my vote? 18 Since you forgot to recognize me 19 under a personal privilege, I'd like to recognize 20 that the UFT and CSA is here also to make sure that 21 we keep the promises. 22 And I have to say that we're all 23 wearing the buttons and the "Keep The Promises" 24 stickers, but I did ask both agencies to come up 25 with a new button saying Joel Klein must go. So, 38 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 I'll wait for that button. 3 I vote yes on all items. 4 COUNCIL CLERK: Baez. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER BAEZ: Aye. 6 COUNCIL CLERK: Brewer. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER BREWER: Aye. 8 COUNCIL CLERK: DeBlasio. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER DEBLASIO: Aye. 10 COUNCIL CLERK: Dickens. 11 COUNCIL MEMBER DICKENS: Aye. 12 COUNCIL CLERK: Dilan. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER DILAN: I vote aye. 14 COUNCIL CLERK: Eugene. 15 COUNCIL MEMBER EUGENE: Aye. 16 COUNCIL CLERK: Felder. 17 COUNCIL MEMBER FELDER: I vote yes on 18 all, except for Intro. 729, and on that, I vote no. 19 COUNCIL CLERK: Fidler. 20 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: Mr. Majority 21 Leader, if I could also take this opportunity to 22 acknowledge a group that's here with us today that 23 is also leading the fight to keep the promises to 24 our kids, the Alliance for Quality Education. 25 And I vote aye on all. 39 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 COUNCIL CLERK: Foster. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER FOSTER: Aye on all. 4 COUNCIL CLERK: Gennaro. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER GENNARO: Yes. 6 COUNCIL CLERK: Gentile. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER GENTILE: Aye on all. 8 COUNCIL CLERK: Gerson. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: With 10 acknowledgment to Council Members DeBlasio and 11 Brewer for continuing to push the bar to make our 12 environment as wonderful as possible, I vote aye on 13 all. 14 COUNCIL CLERK: Gonzalez. 15 COUNCIL MEMBER GONZALEZ: Aye on all. 16 COUNCIL CLERK: Ignizio. 17 COUNCIL MEMBER IGNIZIO: Yes, I'd like 18 to point out, first of all, the Coalition for 19 Economic Justice, who is here fighting for Keep The 20 Promises, and I want to record my vote in the 21 negative for 729, aye on all others. 22 And also for Mike McMahon, Staten 23 Island PTA members. 24 COUNCIL CLERK: Jackson. 25 COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON: May I be 40 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 excused to explain my vote? 3 Thank you, Mr. Chair. 4 As a co-founder for the Campaign for 5 Fiscal Equity, I want to recognize that in the 6 audience upstairs we have members of the Campaign 7 for Fiscal Equity that's fighting with the Coalition 8 to Save Our Schools, and the name of it is Keep The 9 Promises Coalition. And with that, I vote aye on all 10 items. 11 COUNCIL CLERK: Koppell. 12 COUNCIL MEMBER KOPPELL: Permission to 13 explain my vote? 14 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: So ordered. 15 COUNCIL MEMBER KOPPELL: Thank you, 16 Majority Leader. 17 While I recognize the value of 18 gathering statistics on traffic that the Brewer Bill 19 seeks to encourage, I have had the terrible 20 experience with the current transportation 21 Commissioner, Ms. Sadik-Khan, in terms of reducing 22 congestion in my district and allowing traffic to 23 move more freely, notwithstanding unanimous 24 agreement with respect to what ought to happen at 25 one particular intersection. 41 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 So, Council Member Brewer, I fear 3 that those statistics will be relatively useless 4 until we have a new Transportation Commissioner. 5 Nonetheless, I'm happy to support 6 gathering of the statistics. And, so, I remove my 7 request and I vote aye on the General Orders 8 Calendar. 9 COUNCIL CLERK: Lappin. 10 COUNCIL MEMBER LAPPIN: With a hearty 11 Keep The Promise, I vote aye. 12 COUNCIL CLERK: Liu. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER LIU: Yes. 14 COUNCIL CLERK: Mark-Viverito. 15 COUNCIL MEMBER MARK-VIVERITO: I, too, 16 would like to recognize the Coalition members that 17 are here, and really strongly urge all of us to work 18 diligently to ensure that the $450 million is put 19 back in the budget. 20 So, with that, I vote aye on all 21 items. 22 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: Okay, before 23 we continue, I think we are all supporting the Keep 24 The Promises, but if we could keep the applause 25 down, so we can move forward. 42 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 Thank you. 3 COUNCIL CLERK: Martinez. 4 COUNCIL MEMBER MARTINEZ: I vote aye 5 and I also support LaPromesa. 6 COUNCIL CLERK: Mealy. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER MEALY: Aye on all. And 8 you know I support and I will always keep my 9 promise. 10 Thank you. 11 COUNCIL CLERK: Mendez. 12 COUNCIL MEMBER MENDEZ: I vote aye on 13 all. And I want to give a shout out to the 14 Immigration Coalition who is here. And for all my 15 friends up in the balcony. (Speaking in Spanish.) 16 COUNCIL CLERK: Monserrate. 17 COUNCIL MEMBER MONSERRATE: Thank you. 18 I proudly vote aye on all, and on 19 behalf of the constituents of the 21st Council 20 District, we are encouraging the Administration to 21 keep the promises. 22 Thank you very much. 23 COUNCIL CLERK: Palma. 24 COUNCIL MEMBER PALMA: Congratulations 25 to Bill DeBlasio and Brewer for their excellent 43 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 work. And I also want to acknowledge the Class Size 3 Matters Coalition up on the balcony. I vote aye on 4 all. 5 COUNCIL CLERK: Recchia. 6 COUNCIL MEMBER RECCHIA: Aye on all. 7 COUNCIL CLERK: Reyna. 8 COUNCIL MEMBER REYNA: Aye on all. 9 COUNCIL CLERK: Sanders. 10 COUNCIL MEMBER SANDERS: Permission to 11 vote on the Land Use Call Ups? 12 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: So ordered. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER SANDERS: I vote aye. I 14 vote aye on all. We shall keep our promise. 15 COUNCIL CLERK: Sears. 16 COUNCIL MEMBER SEARS: Aye on all. And 17 I support all the promises that are to be kept in 18 education. 19 COUNCIL CLERK: Stewart. 20 COUNCIL MEMBER STEWART: Aye on all. 21 COUNCIL CLERK: Vacca. 22 COUNCIL MEMBER VACCA: I'd like to 23 recognize the parents and all the professionals that 24 are here today and ask that we keep the promise. And 25 I vote yes on all. 44 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 COUNCIL CLERK: Vallone. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER VALLONE: Aye on all. 4 COUNCIL CLERK: Vann. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER VANN: Aye on all, and 6 keep the promise. 7 COUNCIL CLERK: Weprin. 8 COUNCIL MEMBER WEPRIN: I, too, 9 welcome the Keep The Promises Coalition. I vote aye 10 on all. 11 COUNCIL CLERK: Yassky. 12 COUNCIL MEMBER YASSKY: I request 13 permission to vote on Land Use Call-Ups. 14 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: So ordered. 15 COUNCIL MEMBER YASSKY: I vote aye on 16 all the Land Use Call-Ups. I want to thank the CPAC 17 and the rest of the Keep The Promises Coalition for 18 being here to support us as we fight to keep the 19 promise. And I want to vote aye on all coupled 20 General Orders. 21 COUNCIL CLERK: James. 22 COUNCIL MEMBER JAMES: I'd like 23 permission to vote aye on all Land Use Call-Ups. 24 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: So ordered. 25 COUNCIL MEMBER JAMES: I vote aye, and 45 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 I want to keep the promise particularly for school 3 districts in Brooklyn, 13, 16, and 17. Yes, thank 4 you. I vote aye. 5 COUNCIL CLERK: Oddo. 6 COUNCIL MEMBER ODDO: I vote no on 729 7 and yes on all others. 8 And I want to point out a very 9 important entity here for the Keep The Promises. 10 That's myself. Thank you very much. 11 COUNCIL CLERK: Rivera. 12 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: I vote aye. 13 COUNCIL CLERK: Speaker Quinn. 14 SPEAKER QUINN: Yes. 15 COUNCIL CLERK: Comrie. 16 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: Aye on all. 17 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: Okay, all 18 items on today's General Order Calendar were adopted 19 by a vote of 47 in the affirmative, zero in the 20 negative, zero abstentions, with the exception of 21 Intro. 729, which was adopted by a vote of 44 in the 22 affirmative, three in the negative, zero 23 abstentions. 24 Revised Land Use Call Ups were 25 adopted by a vote of 46 in the affirmative, zero in 46 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 the negative. 3 Introduction and Reading of the 4 Bills. 5 SPEAKER QUINN: All bills are referred 6 to committees as indicated on the agenda, please. 7 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: Discussion of 8 Resolutions. 9 Council Member Reyna. 10 COUNCIL MEMBER REYNA: I rise today to 11 call upon my colleagues to support Resolution 1420. 12 It's calling upon the Bloomberg Administration to 13 place a moratorium on the implementation of the 14 Project Full Enrollment Initiative. 15 This Initiative is going to devastate 16 the -- I apologize, wrong resolution. It's the 17 preconsidered Resolution 1419, the Resolution 18 calling upon the State Legislature to amend the 19 Hudson River Park Act to authorize a marine transfer 20 station and environmental education center in the 21 Gansevoort Peninsula in Lower Manhattan. 22 This was a bill that was passed in 23 the Senate, and we're calling upon the Assembly to 24 do its part. The Solid Waste Management Plan is 25 stalled because of many different factors, but this, 47 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 in particular, is an act upon our Legislature. 3 Without doing so, we cannot implement the 4 environmental justices that neighborhoods, such as 5 my district in Williamsburg and Bushwick deserve and 6 are entitled to, as well as the South Bronx, where 7 asthma rates are rising, where our children are 8 suffering, where families have no other air to 9 breathe, other than the ones that have been claimed 10 by the putrescible waste process by waste transfer 11 facilities. 12 So, I urge my colleagues to vote in 13 favor of Resolution 1419. I apologize, 1419. 14 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: Thank you 15 very much. 16 Council Member Fidler. 17 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: Yes. I am sure 18 that we had all hoped last year when we were 19 successful in getting the Administration to baseline 20 the funding for summer jobs that we wouldn't be 21 engaging in the ritual dance, much to our 22 disappointment, the Mayor's Executive Budget calls 23 for a reduction in spending on summer jobs that will 24 cost us over 6,000 summer jobs this summer. 25 Senator Patton Murray has introduced 48 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 a bill in Washington, it's actually been introduced 3 in both houses, called the Summer Job Stimulus Act 4 of 2008, that would get the federal government back 5 into the business of funding summer jobs, something 6 they haven't done in about eight years. It would 7 provide for a funding stream of a billion dollars, 8 everybody knows that that money gets spent 9 immediately, immediately in our neighborhoods by the 10 kids who get these jobs. And I urge my colleagues to 11 support the reso today that urges Congress to pass 12 the Summer Jobs Stimulus Act of 2008 and to do it 13 now. 14 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: Thank you 15 very much. 16 Council Member Gioia, for a vote. 17 COUNCIL MEMBER GIOIA: Thank you, 18 Council member. 19 I would like to vote yes on all 20 matters before us today. 21 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: So ordered. 22 COUNCIL MEMBER GIOIA: Thank you. 23 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: Council 24 Member Mealy. 25 COUNCIL MEMBER MEALY: Hi. I want to 49 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 let my friends and everyone today and my colleagues, 3 the anticipated resolution that I'm doing, 1351, I 4 ask everyone to sign on, which seeks to declare May 5 15th, Hutchinson's Disease Awareness Day in this 6 great City of New York. 7 I must say, if we would have said 8 this is the slush disease, I believe press would 9 have came out today. 10 This is a disease that has killed so 11 many people that is unaware of (sic), and I want to 12 just amplify, I must say the most single, most 13 exciting thing about my job is when I talk, at least 14 someone will listen. And this thing I'm most 15 grateful for is the opportunity that it provides me 16 to amplify the voices of my constituents so immersed 17 in a great daily struggle that their important 18 voices might go unheard, where it is not for some 19 outside voice. 20 Well, the voice is here, and it is 21 mine. Help is here. 22 The voices of my constituents is a 23 friend, Bertha Johnson, that is here today who lost 24 two children from this disease. This is a personal 25 friend, and she is here right now with her last son 50 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 that still had this disease, and I know he can't 3 stand up but I felt the press should have been there 4 to at least let this be awareness. And I thank them. 5 And I just hope that we can all make sure this 6 disease is well known out here in this great City of 7 New York. And thank you, Ms. Bertha Johnson. My 8 prayers are with you and your family, and I know 9 this great City of New York will recognize 10 Hutchinson Disease for now on every May. 11 Thank you. 12 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: Thank you 13 very much. 14 Okay, now, General Discussion. Oh, 15 no, before we vote on resolutions, let me announce 16 the revised vote count for today. 17 All items on today's General Order 18 calendar were adopted by a vote of 48 in the 19 affirmative, zero in the negative, with the 20 exception of Intro. 729, which was adopted by a vote 21 of 45 in the affirmative, three in the negative; and 22 the revised Land Use Call-Ups were adopted by a vote 23 of 48 in the affirmative, zero in the negative. 24 Can I get, all in favor of the 25 proposed resolutions say aye. 51 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 Okay, I apologize, we're going to 3 vote separately on the resolutions. 4 Resolution 1170-A. 5 All in favor say aye. 6 All opposed, say nay. 7 The ayes have it. 8 Vote on Resolution 1351. 9 All in the affirmative, say aye. 10 All in the affirmative (sic) say nay? 11 The ayes have it. 12 Resolution 1389-A. 13 All in favor, vote aye. 14 All opposed, vote no. 15 The ayes have it. 16 Preconsidered Resolution 1419. 17 All in favor, say aye. 18 All opposed say nay. 19 Okay, the ayes have it. 20 General Discussion. 21 Council Member Gennaro. 22 COUNCIL MEMBER GENNARO: Thank you. 23 Thank you, Mr. Acting Public 24 Advocate. I just want -- 25 SPEAKER QUINN: If we could just get a 52 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 little quiet in the Chamber for the General 3 Discussions, please. 4 COUNCIL MEMBER GENNARO: Thank you. I 5 just wanted to thank my colleagues, most of my 6 colleagues here today, I visited most of you, and 7 have signed on to two letters that relate to water 8 rates, one going to Mayor Bloomberg, one going to 9 the Water Board itself. 10 The Water Board is poised to vote 11 this Friday on a water rate increase of 14 and a 12 half percent. The Water Board basically agrees with 13 many of the people in this body, that the only 14 reason water rates would go to 14 and a half percent 15 is because the Bloomberg Administration is 16 exercising its legal option to take water and sewer 17 monies out of the water and sewer til and use those 18 monies to subsidize the rest of City government. We 19 think this is a practice that should stop and change 20 this rental agreement formula so that new future 21 Mayor will be able to do this. The letter to the 22 Water Board asks them not to do this rate setting on 23 Friday to work with us to make more of an issue of 24 this, and if we all work together, we have an 25 opportunity to bring rates down from 14 and a half 53 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 percent to less than three percent. 3 So, anyone who hasn't signed the 4 sign-on letters, I do have them with me. 5 More than 40 of you have already 6 signed on. I'm very grateful for that, but I'll be 7 coming around to talk to those that have not yet 8 signed on. 9 Thank you very much for your great 10 support. 11 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: Thank you. 12 Council Member Jackson. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON: Thank you, 14 Majority Leader. 15 My colleagues, many of you are 16 wearing the Keep the Promises sticker, and you know 17 what that's about, trying to restore the monies that 18 are proposed to be cut in this year's budget, 19 approximately $450 million to education, and the 20 Speaker has already made the issue of restoring 21 money that is proposed to be cut out of the 22 classrooms back in the budget. 23 And if you don't know, at a rally 24 approximately two weeks ago, I made a commitment 25 that I will not vote on a budget in New York City 54 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 this June that does not restore the money back for 3 education, more specifically, to the classroom. 4 And, so, as you know, the Coalition 5 is asking all of you to stand up for our children, 6 the 1.1 million school children in New York City, 7 because the Mayor went up to Albany and said to the 8 Albany State Legislators, which faced a $5 billion 9 deficit, to keep the promises to the children of New 10 York City and do not cut the dollars to education. 11 And you know what? They came through 12 on behalf of the children of New York City. 13 And I saw Speaker Silver last week 14 and I thanked him on behalf of the children of New 15 York City. And, so, I ask Mayor Bloomberg to keep 16 the promise to our children that you ask the State 17 Legislators to keep. And restore the money back for 18 education, knowing that New York City does not have 19 a $5 billion deficit, but is expected to have a 20 four- to five-billion dollar surplus this year, and 21 considering the fact that our children have been 22 denied the opportunity for an adequate education for 23 decades, they deserve it. So, keep the promise and 24 keep the faith and vote yes on items to restore the 25 money back to education. 55 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: Council 3 Member Reyna. 4 COUNCIL MEMBER REYNA: Thank you. 5 I wanted to call upon my colleagues 6 on Resolution 1420. It's a resolution calling upon 7 the Bloomberg Administration to place a moratorium 8 on the implementation of the new initiative that 9 they're trying to impose this September 2008. 10 Project Full Enrollment Initiative 11 will impose responsibility on day care centers for 12 reimbursement of tracking enrollment and eligibility 13 of making sure that they will only get payment if 14 there is a monthly enrollment and attendance. 15 This will leave centers throughout 16 our City devastated. On a monthly basis they would 17 have to guarantee a certain number of students in 18 order to run effectively. 19 We call upon the Administration for a 20 moratorium to exhaust all the other resources that 21 ACS has the power to do so at this time. They must 22 raise the cap to 275 percent. They must revamp the 23 resource centers that are placed in each borough. 24 They must try to have better 25 technology. Just the technology that they have now 56 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 would continue to provide an imposition on families 3 who currently do not get processed timely, and that 4 will continue. 5 It's an antiquated system. And 6 without the proper resources at ACS, we will 7 continue to see an under-enrollment in every center. 8 So, I implore upon my colleagues, raise this issue. 9 Raise it with your centers, raise it with your 10 parents, but raise it, more importantly, with the 11 Administration, because this will be taking effect 12 in September this year. 13 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: Thank you 14 very much. 15 Council Member DeBlasio. 16 COUNCIL MEMBER DeBLASIO: Thank you 17 very much. 18 Well, first of all, I want to say so 19 many of my colleagues have rightfully said, we all 20 need to keep the promises, and I want to thank all 21 of the folks in attendance here today who are saying 22 that, and particularly thank one of the 23 organizations that members have worked so hard on 24 this, which is ACORN, and we all need to keep the 25 promises together. So, thank you to them. 57 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 And I want to thank all of my 3 colleagues who have signed onto my resolution 4 calling upon the Mayor to rescind his cuts in the 5 education budget. 6 I also want to note that today I'm 7 introducing Resolution 1415 and it very much 8 responds to the point that Council Member Reyna just 9 made about child care. 10 You know, ACS has done a very good 11 job over the years providing child care, but now 12 they have a new plan, Project Full Enrollment, which 13 seeks to do something good, which is to make sure 14 every child care seat is filled, but the way they're 15 doing it has I think the chance of some very 16 unfortunate, unintended consequences, including the 17 potential of seeing some child care centers closed 18 in our communities. 19 And obviously, we cannot afford to 20 take that chance. 21 And so what I have in this 22 resolution, and I urge you all to support it, is a 23 very clear plan that ACS would have to respond to 24 publicly in which the public would know where seats 25 were available in case they, themselves, any 58 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 individuals needed child care, they would understand 3 what the state of our waiting list was, they would 4 understand how each center was doing with filling 5 its seats, and most importantly, if any center were 6 potentially threatened with closure by the City, if 7 there would be a clear, written procedure that ACS 8 would have to follow, including involving the 9 Council and the community, before any center could 10 possibly be closed. 11 I need your support on this, because, 12 again, I think ACS's intentions may be good, but if 13 they take the chance of seeing any centers close in 14 our community, we all know what a horrible impact 15 that would have on the children and families of our 16 districts. 17 Thank you very much. 18 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: Thank you, 19 Council Member Dilan. 20 COUNCIL MEMBER DILAN: I also want to 21 speak up, although I didn't make any specific 22 promise to anybody about anything, it seems to me, 23 based on the numbers that I've been given, the 24 children of Bushwick and Cypress Hills are going to 25 lose anywhere from 65- to 75,000 dollars out of 59 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 their school's budget for each and every school in 3 my district and throughout the City this entire 4 year. 5 Now, I think obviously as a 6 Legislature, we made a pretty strong statement 7 today, that this money needs to be restored in our 8 budget. 9 And I know there's tons of priorities 10 and tons of problems in this budget, in this year's 11 budget and the outyears, but I think in a budget the 12 size of the Department of Education's budget, that 13 there is still some administrative things that this 14 City could look at to cut and keep these cuts out of 15 the classroom. 16 Just by half of my district alone, 17 the Cypress Hills area estimates are somewhere to 18 around six- to seven-hundred thousand dollars being 19 cut out of the classrooms, just in one geographic 20 area. 21 That doesn't even include my entire 22 Council district. If we did so, I'd say the number 23 would be slightly higher. So, you're looking at one 24 of the poorest districts economically throughout the 25 City where education needs to improve, and even 60 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 though it has a ton of money, more money needs to be 3 put in. 4 We're looking at one of the poorest 5 districts in the City, about 1.4 million to come 6 directly out of the classroom, and I say that's a 7 terrible policy statement to make, and I will work 8 my damdest to make sure that every penny gets put 9 back into the classroom. I think it's something that 10 we owe the kids of this City of New York. And I'd 11 say, you know, for the record and for full 12 disclosure, every single member of my family goes to 13 public school, and I'm proud to put that money in 14 the budget. 15 None of my kids go to private school, 16 none of my family kids. And I'm pretty sure that 17 most of us here don't have kids in private school. 18 We all have kids here in public schools, and we 19 clearly, we're the body that supports it and we'll 20 be there for them. 21 Thank you. 22 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: Thank you. 23 Council Member Mealy. 24 COUNCIL MEMBER MEALY: Dear colleagues 25 and friends, again I stand to address you on a good 61 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 note. No, I say on a bad note about our Mayor and a 3 good note about our Mayor. 4 To Mayor Bloomberg, shame on him for 5 doing the cuts. I feel he should rescind the cuts 6 and put it back in our schools. 7 If he really says youth are the 8 future of this America, he should put the cuts back 9 in. And on a good note of our Mayor, I must say 10 thank you. Thank you. He has now put it where our 11 young youth, if they are arrested on the weekend, 12 they will be able to come home and not stay in jail 13 for the whole weekend. And it is majority, out of 14 12,000 youth, at least 800 would have to stay in a 15 juvenile detention with adults. So, he has put a 16 safe guard on our youth and our future. And I must, 17 I have to say, yes, let's give him a hand, he's 18 thinking about the future of America. 19 And now, for New York State is the 20 first jurisdiction in the State to try this new 21 court program that on Sunday they could come out or 22 on Saturday. 23 So, I want to thank Mayor Bloomberg. 24 Thank you. 25 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: Thank you. 62 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 Council Member Gerson. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: Thank you. 4 I, too, stand to join my colleagues 5 in calling upon the Mayor to keep the promises, to 6 keep the promises to our future. There are 1.1 7 million very good reasons to keep these promises, 8 and those are the 1.1 million or so young people who 9 are students in our public school system of which I 10 am a proud graduate. 11 Within those 1.1 reasons, there are 12 many, many, many pressing critical needs. I will 13 cite one, which along with each other, says it all. 14 The ratio of one to 550, one to 550 in our school 15 system from first grade through 12th grade, there 16 are only, there is only one guidance counselor for 17 550 students. That is an unconscionable number 18 ratio, when you realize the important front-line 19 role that guidance counselors play in providing 20 essential emotional and educational support to our 21 developing students. 22 Front lines in protecting against 23 bullying, front lines in intervening in a number of 24 youthful crises, and even within this ridiculous 25 ratio, a disproportionate amount of time of these 63 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 counselors is spent on paperwork and required 3 admissions related administrative activities and 4 other required legal mandates. 5 So, decreasing the ratio is just one 6 of the many imperatives, one of the many 1.1 million 7 reasons why we must keep the promises. 8 Thank you. 9 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: Council 10 Member Brewer. 11 COUNCIL MEMBER BREWER: Thank you very 12 much. I just want to mention Reso 1414, which we 13 introduced, and guess what? It talks about bed bugs, 14 and it has to do with getting the New York State 15 Department of State to set standards, as they are 16 supposed to about the sanitation of mattresses. 17 I won't go further, but we need to 18 get rid of them, and I hope you sign on. 19 Number two, thanks to Council Member 20 Addabbo, who mentioned this to me, I think Time Out 21 For Testing, probably Jane and the others are in 22 balcony, we want to give them a shout out and thank 23 them for all their good work. 24 Thank you. 25 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: Thank you. 64 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 Council Member Mark-Viverito. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER MARK-VIVERITO: Thank 4 you. 5 I just obviously echo the sentiments 6 that have been expressed on the issue of the 7 education cuts. We've got to work very hard towards 8 that and on the issue of the day cares, as well. 9 But I also rise to ask my colleagues 10 to sign on to Intro. 774, which I have introduced 11 today. An unfortunate reality that continues to be 12 pervasive in our communities, and that is the issue 13 of domestic violence, and the issue of too many 14 times women, children who are survivors, and in many 15 cases there are now as well men that are really 16 suffering death or suffering severely at the hands 17 of their loved ones. 18 And we need to make sure that the 19 NYPD makes these statistics open, public and as 20 transparent as possible. We have a Mayor's Office on 21 Domestic Violence. We have a Commissioner. We have 22 domestic violence officers in our precincts. Yet, to 23 get data on the number of incidences, whether it's 24 assaults, whether it is violations of orders of 25 protection, whether it's murders, to get that 65 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 information, it is not readily available. The more 3 information we have, we need to be constantly 4 reminded of this issue so that we can work very 5 aggressively as a City to really curtail this and to 6 make sure that all of our communities are safe from 7 domestic violence. 8 So, I really would ask my colleagues 9 to sign up to Intro 774 and to really join me in 10 ensuring that we work diligently to stem this awful 11 these awful incidences in our communities. 12 Thank you. 13 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: Thank you. 14 Council Member Mendez. 15 COUNCIL MEMBER MENDEZ: Thank you, Mr. 16 Majority Leader. 17 I rise today among my colleagues to 18 raise the issue once again of public housing. 19 As a public servant I will make a 20 public disclosure that I was born and raised in 21 public housing. 22 I attended public schools and 23 benefitted from the public health clinics, and I 24 want to keep the public in public. 25 Particularly with public housing, 66 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 last year this body considered giving money to the 3 Housing Authority, which has a budget crisis and has 4 had one for the last couple of years, and what is at 5 stake here is affordable housing. The last resort 6 for many people in this City. 7 We need to do our part and at all 8 levels of government and I want my colleagues and I 9 to make a promise, to keep our promise from last 10 year, and to provide funding for the Public Housing 11 Authority here in New York City. 12 Thank you. 13 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: Thank you. 14 Council Member James. 15 COUNCIL MEMBER JAMES: I join with 16 Council Member Mendez and urge my colleagues to keep 17 the promise to residents of NYCHA, and also to keep 18 our promise to restore the cuts in education. 19 I'd like to have my colleagues turn 20 to Reso 1418 which calls upon the Mayor of the City 21 of New York to declare a state of emergency with 22 respect to the HIV/AIDS crisis in the black gay male 23 community in New York City. Eighty percent of new 24 infections are occurring in the black gay male 25 community, and I know individuals tend to shy away 67 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 from this issue, but we address our homophobia. This 3 is a reality and there is a state of emergency and 4 people are dying. 5 Let me also talk a little bit about 6 Council Member Mealy's congratulations to the Mayor 7 of the City of New York. But let me add that the 8 Mayor of the City of New York would not have gone 9 forward with a weekend arraignment but for Legal 10 Aid. So, I say shout out to Legal Aid. 11 And last, but not least, to my 12 colleagues in City Council, it's been a rough two or 13 three weeks. I stand proudly with you. I stand 14 proudly with you as we go forward with our member 15 items. Our member items in support of Little 16 Leagues, block associations, member items in support 17 of our senior centers, and all of the organizations 18 that continue to support us and desperately need the 19 money and that are left out of the eye of the Mayor 20 of the City of New York. 21 So, I stand proudly to say I look 22 forward to distributing my member item this year, 23 and I hope that you do the same. 24 Thank you. 25 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: Thank you. 68 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 Council Member Martinez. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER MARTINEZ: Thank you, 4 Mr. Majority Leader. 5 I want to speak in support of Council 6 Member Melissa Mark-Viverito's Intro. 774, which is 7 extremely important for us in the City and the 8 communities to have access to the information in 9 terms of domestic violence and response by the 10 police. 11 Particularly as many of my colleagues 12 know and you know, here at the Council we've been 13 proactive in addressing the issues of domestic 14 violence in our community, and the informations that 15 are made available are crucial for the DOV 16 Initiative (phonetic) in ensuring that we are 17 addressing the domestic violence needs in 18 communities that have high needs and high incidence 19 of violence. 20 And making this information available 21 is extremely important for the Council and for many 22 of the non-for-profits and City agencies that work 23 with the Department of Domestic Violence, to have 24 the resources available to provide services to this 25 community. 69 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 So, I want to commend Council Member 3 Viverito for her intro and I'm asking my colleagues 4 also to join in in supporting this important piece 5 of legislation. 6 MAJORITY LEADER RIVERA: Thank you 7 very much. 8 Seeing no others to talk on the 9 General Discussions, this hearing is adjourned. 10 (Hearing concluded at 3:19 p.m.) 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 70 1 2 CERTIFICATION 3 4 5 STATE OF NEW YORK ) 6 COUNTY OF NEW YORK ) 7 8 9 I, CINDY MILLELOT, a Certified 10 Shorthand Reporter, do hereby certify that the 11 foregoing is a true and accurate transcript of the 12 within proceeding. 13 I further certify that I am not 14 related to any of the parties to this action by 15 blood or marriage, and that I am in no way 16 interested in the outcome of this matter. 17 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto 18 set my hand this 14th day of May 2008. 19 20 21 22 23 --------------------- 24 CINDY MILLELOT, CSR. 25 71 1 2 C E R T I F I C A T I O N 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 I, CINDY MILLELOT, a Certified Shorthand 10 Reporter and a Notary Public in and for the State of 11 New York, do hereby certify the aforesaid to be a 12 true and accurate copy of the transcription of the 13 audio tapes of this hearing. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 ----------------------- CINDY MILLELOT, CSR. 25