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 28, 2008 11 Start: 3:30 p.m. Recess: 4:45 p.m. 12 City Hall 13 Council Chambers New York, New York 14 15 B E F O R E: 16 BETSY GOTBAUM Public Advocate 17 18 COUNCIL MEMBERS: Speaker Christine Quinn Joseph Addabbo 19 Maria Arroyo Tony Avella 20 Charles Barron Gale Brewer 21 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 Erik Martin-Dilan 5 Matthew Eugene Simcha Felder 6 Lewis Fidler Helen Foster 7 Daniel Garodnick James Gennaro 8 Vincent Gentile Alan Gerson 9 Eric Gioia Sara Gonzalez 10 Vincent Ignizio Robert Jackson 11 Letitia James Melinda Katz 12 G. Oliver Koppell Jessica Lappin 13 John Liu Miguel Martinez 14 Michael McMahon Darlene Mealy 15 Rosie Mendez Hiram Monserrate 16 Michael Nelson James Oddo 17 Domenic Recchia Diana Reyna 18 Joel Rivera James Sanders 19 Larry Seabrook Helen Sears 20 Kendall Stewart James Vacca 21 Peter Vallone, Jr. Albert Vann 22 Melissa Mark Viverito David Weprin 23 Thomas White David Yassky 24 25 3 1 2 A P P E A R A N C E S (CONTINUED) 3 STAFF: Hecter 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 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Ladies and 3 gentlemen, please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. 4 (Pledge of Allegiance.) 5 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Roll call. 6 CITY CLERK: Addabbo. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER ADDABBO: Here. 8 CITY CLERK: Arroyo. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER ARROYO: Here. 10 CITY CLERK: Avella. 11 COUNCIL MEMBER AVELLA: Here. 12 CITY CLERK: Baez. 13 (No response.) 14 CITY CLERK: Barron. 15 COUNCIL MEMBER BARRON: Right here. 16 CITY CLERK: Brewer. 17 COUNCIL MEMBER BREWER: Here. 18 CITY CLERK: Comrie. 19 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: Here. 20 CITY CLERK: DeBlasio. 21 COUNCIL MEMBER DEBLASIO: Here. 22 CITY CLERK: Dickens. 23 (No response.) 24 CITY CLERK: Dilan. 25 COUNCIL MEMBER DILAN: Here. 5 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 CITY CLERK: Eugene. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER EUGENE: Here. 4 CITY CLERK: Felder. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER FELDER: Yes. 6 CITY CLERK: Fidler. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: Here. 8 CITY CLERK: Foster. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER FOSTER: Here. 10 CITY CLERK: Garodnick. 11 COUNCIL MEMBER GARODNICK: Here. 12 CITY CLERK: Gennaro. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER GENNARO: Here. 14 CITY CLERK: Gentile. 15 COUNCIL MEMBER GENTILE: Here. 16 CITY CLERK: Gerson. 17 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: Here. 18 CITY CLERK: Gioia. 19 COUNCIL MEMBER GIOIA: Here. 20 CITY CLERK: Gonzalez. 21 COUNCIL MEMBER GONZALEZ: Here. 22 CITY CLERK: Ignizio. 23 COUNCIL MEMBER IGNIZIO: Here. 24 CITY CLERK: Jackson. 25 COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON: Here. 6 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 CITY CLERK: James. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER JAMES: Here. 4 CITY CLERK: Katz. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER KATZ: Here. 6 CITY CLERK: Koppell. 7 (No response.) 8 CITY CLERK: Lappin. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER LAPPIN: Here. 10 CITY CLERK: Liu. 11 COUNCIL MEMBER LIU: Here. 12 CITY CLERK: Mark-Viverito. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER MARK-VIVERITO: Here. 14 CITY CLERK: Martinez. 15 COUNCIL MEMBER MARTINEZ: Here. 16 CITY CLERK: McMahon. 17 COUNCIL MEMBER McMAHON: Here. 18 CITY CLERK: Mealy. 19 COUNCIL MEMBER MEALY: Here. 20 CITY CLERK: Mendez. 21 COUNCIL MEMBER MENDEZ: Here. 22 CITY CLERK: Monserrate. 23 COUNCIL MEMBER MONSERRATE: Here. 24 CITY CLERK: Koppell. 25 COUNCIL MEMBER KOPPELL: Here. 7 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 CITY CLERK: Nelson. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER NELSON: Here. 4 CITY CLERK: Palma. 5 (No response.) 6 CITY CLERK: Recchia. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER RECCHIA: Here. 8 CITY CLERK: Reyna. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER REYNA: Here. 10 CITY CLERK: Sanders. 11 COUNCIL MEMBER SANDERS: Here. 12 CITY CLERK: Seabrook. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER SEABROOK: Here. 14 CITY CLERK: Sears. 15 COUNCIL MEMBER SEARS: Here. 16 CITY CLERK: Stewart. 17 COUNCIL MEMBER STEWART: Here. 18 CITY CLERK: Vacca. 19 COUNCIL MEMBER VACCA: Here. 20 CITY CLERK: Vallone. 21 COUNCIL MEMBER VALLONE: Here. 22 CITY CLERK: Vann. 23 COUNCIL MEMBER VANN: Here. 24 CITY CLERK: Weprin. 25 COUNCIL MEMBER WEPRIN: Here. 8 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 CITY CLERK: White. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER WHITE: Here. 4 CITY CLERK: Yassky. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER YASSKY: Here. 6 CITY CLERK: Oddo. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER ODDO: Here. 8 CITY CLERK: Rivera. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER RIVERA: I vote aye. 10 CITY CLERK: Speaker Quinn. 11 SPEAKER QUINN: Yes, here. 12 CITY CLERK: We have a quorum. 13 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: We have a 14 quorum. 15 All rise by the Invocation by 16 Reverend Eric Turner. 17 REVEREND TURNER: Let us pray. 18 Oh, Thou, in whose presence our soul 19 takes delight, in whom affliction we call, our 20 comfort by day and our song by night, our hope, our 21 salvation, our all. 22 We come to you today and we say, 23 thank you, for Your meaningful blessings that You 24 have bestowed upon us, Your grace and Your mercy 25 that has kept us to this very moment. 9 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 Now we ask that You would be with us. 3 Allow the words of our mouth and the meditation of 4 our heart to be acceptable in Your sight; 5 Allow our going out and our coming 6 in, all our words to be fruitful and prosperous to 7 these, Your people; 8 Allow us to be focused on our task 9 that is before us; allow all distractions to be shut 10 down; allow all negative naysayers to be closed in 11 the name of the only true and living Lord, Eloheme, 12 our God, Ishua, the Messiah, Eloheme, Yahweh, Jesus, 13 the Christ, Allah, in your name we pray and we give 14 thanks. 15 Amen. 16 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Amen. 17 Motion to spread the Invocation. By 18 Council Member Jackson. 19 COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON: Madam Chair, 20 I motion to spread the invocation in full upon the 21 record. 22 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: So ordered. 23 Adoption of the minutes. 24 COUNCIL CLERK: None. 25 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Messages and 10 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 Papers from the Mayor. 3 COUNCIL CLERK: None. 4 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: 5 Communication from City, County and Borough Offices. 6 SPEAKER QUINN: Madam Public Advocate, 7 just before I respond to Communications from City, 8 County and Borough Offices, I just want to explain 9 to my colleagues that some folks have laptops on 10 their desk, in case you have questions on the Fire 11 Code before you vote there are disks on your desk. 12 They're not laptops on everyone's desk, but you 13 could share if you want to take a look at the Fire 14 Code. It's not a gift that randomly has fallen on 15 your desk. 16 And also, I just wanted to note, 17 Madam Public Advocate, if it's okay, because I know 18 some folks, since we started late may vote and 19 leave, I just wanted to note two quick things before 20 we do that: One, we wanted to welcome our newest mom 21 back to the City Council, Council Member Melinda 22 Katz. 23 She has some wonderful pictures of 24 Carter with her, so you should go see them. He 25 already has a baseball outfit on, so I think he'll 11 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 be accompanying her to sing the National Anthem at 3 Shea Stadium very soon. 4 And also, on the wonderful family 5 news, I want to congratulate Council Member Helen 6 Diane Foster on her recent engagement. 7 And, Helen, when Jimmy comes in I'm 8 going to announce it again. 9 Okay, fine. That said, preconsidered 10 M 1064 has been referred to Finance. 11 COUNCIL CLERK: Preconsidered M 1065, 12 new revenues, Fiscal Year 2008. 13 SPEAKER QUINN: Also to Finance. 14 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Quiet, 15 please. I can't hear. 16 SPEAKER QUINN: Go ahead. 17 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Petitions 18 and Communications. 19 SPEAKER QUINN: None. 20 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Land Use 21 Call-Ups. 22 COUNCIL CLERK: M 1066 through M 1068. 23 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Quiet, 24 please. We can't hear. 25 SPEAKER QUINN: All of those items 12 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 have been coupled on a Land Use Call-Up vote, and 3 just so folks know, we're going to vote on the Land 4 Use Call-Ups, some folks have to vote and leave, 5 then we're going to, prior to the roll call, break 6 for a moment and do a ceremonial with Council Member 7 Seabrook, and then we will do the Communications 8 from the Speaker, et cetera, et cetera. 9 COUNCIL CLERK: Arroyo. 10 COUNCIL MEMBER ARROYO: Aye. And with 11 permission, aye on all General Order items. 12 COUNCIL CLERK: Nelson. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER NELSON: I request 14 unanimous consent to vote aye on all Land Use items, 15 and General Calendar orders. 16 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: So ordered. 17 COUNCIL CLERK: Katz. 18 COUNCIL MEMBER KATZ: I would like to 19 take this moment to thank everyone for their well 20 wishes from Carter and I. I came in on a very, very 21 limited schedule to vote today for 20 minutes. It's 22 now two and a half, three hours later. 23 So, I request unanimous consent to 24 vote aye on all Land Use, General Order Calendars 25 and any resolutions there may be. 13 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: So ordered. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER KATZ: Thank you. 4 I thank you. Carter thanks you. 5 COUNCIL CLERK: Rivera. 6 COUNCIL MEMBER RIVERA: Thank you very 7 much. I vote aye on all Land Use items on today's 8 calendar, and ask unanimous consent to vote aye on 9 all general coupled orders for today. 10 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: So ordered. 11 COUNCIL MEMBER RIVERA: Thank you very 12 much. I vote aye. 13 COUNCIL CLERK: Addabbo. 14 COUNCIL MEMBER ADDABBO: Aye. 15 COUNCIL CLERK: Avella. 16 COUNCIL MEMBER AVELLA: Aye. 17 COUNCIL CLERK: Baez. 18 (No response.) 19 COUNCIL CLERK: Barron. 20 COUNCIL MEMBER BARRON: Aye on all. 21 COUNCIL CLERK: Brewer. 22 COUNCIL MEMBER BREWER: Aye. 23 COUNCIL CLERK: Comrie. 24 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: Aye. 25 COUNCIL CLERK: DeBlasio. 14 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 COUNCIL MEMBER DEBLASIO: Aye. 3 COUNCIL CLERK: Dickens. 4 (No response.) 5 COUNCIL CLERK: Dilan. 6 COUNCIL MEMBER DILAN: Aye. 7 COUNCIL CLERK: Eugene. 8 COUNCIL MEMBER EUGENE: Aye. 9 COUNCIL CLERK: Felder. 10 COUNCIL MEMBER FELDER: I vote yes and 11 request permission to vote on all the other items, 12 and I vote yes. Thank you. 13 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: So ordered. 14 COUNCIL CLERK: Fidler. 15 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: Aye. 16 COUNCIL CLERK: Foster. 17 COUNCIL MEMBER FOSTER: Aye. 18 COUNCIL CLERK: Garodnick. 19 COUNCIL MEMBER GARODNICK: Aye. 20 COUNCIL CLERK: Gennaro. 21 COUNCIL MEMBER GENNARO: I vote yes on 22 the Land Use Call-Ups and request consent to vote on 23 all items on the coupled General Orders and 24 resolutions. May I have that consent? 25 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: So ordered. 15 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 COUNCIL MEMBER GENNARO: I vote yes. 3 COUNCIL CLERK: Gentile. 4 COUNCIL MEMBER GENTILE: I vote aye. 5 COUNCIL CLERK: Gerson. 6 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: Aye. 7 COUNCIL CLERK: Gioia. 8 (No response.) 9 COUNCIL CLERK: Gonzalez. 10 COUNCIL MEMBER GONZALEZ: Aye. 11 COUNCIL CLERK: Ignizio. 12 COUNCIL MEMBER IGNIZIO: Yes. 13 COUNCIL CLERK: Jackson. 14 COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON: Aye on all. 15 COUNCIL CLERK: James. 16 COUNCIL MEMBER JAMES: Aye on all. 17 COUNCIL CLERK: Koppell. 18 COUNCIL MEMBER KOPPELL: Yes. 19 COUNCIL CLERK: Lappin. 20 COUNCIL MEMBER LAPPIN: Yes. 21 COUNCIL CLERK: Liu. 22 COUNCIL MEMBER LIU: Yes. 23 COUNCIL CLERK: Mark-Viverito. 24 COUNCIL MEMBER MARK-VIVERITO: Aye on 25 all. 16 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 COUNCIL CLERK: Martinez. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER MARTINEZ: Aye on all. 4 COUNCIL CLERK: McMahon. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER McMAHON: Aye. 6 COUNCIL CLERK: Mealy. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER MEALY: Here. Aye. 8 COUNCIL CLERK: Mendez. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER MENDEZ: Aye. 10 COUNCIL CLERK: Monserrate. 11 (No response.) 12 COUNCIL CLERK: Palma. 13 (No response.) 14 COUNCIL CLERK: Recchia. 15 (No response.) 16 COUNCIL CLERK: Reyna. 17 COUNCIL MEMBER REYNA: Aye. 18 COUNCIL CLERK: Sanders. 19 COUNCIL MEMBER SANDERS: Aye. 20 COUNCIL CLERK: Seabrook. 21 COUNCIL MEMBER SEABROOK: Aye. 22 COUNCIL CLERK: Sears. 23 COUNCIL MEMBER SEARS: Aye. 24 COUNCIL CLERK: Stewart. 25 COUNCIL MEMBER STEWART: Aye. 17 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 COUNCIL CLERK: Vacca. 3 (No response.) 4 COUNCIL CLERK: Vallone. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER VALLONE: Aye. 6 COUNCIL CLERK: Vann. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER VANN: Yes. 8 COUNCIL CLERK: Weprin. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER WEPRIN: Aye. 10 COUNCIL CLERK: White. 11 (No response.) 12 COUNCIL CLERK: Yassky. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER YASSKY: Aye. 14 COUNCIL CLERK: Oddo. 15 COUNCIL MEMBER ODDO: Yes. 16 COUNCIL CLERK: Speaker Quinn. 17 SPEAKER QUINN: Aye. 18 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Thank you. 19 Today's Land Use Call-Ups were 20 adopted by a vote of 41 in the affirmative and zero 21 in the negative. 22 Okay, let's break now for the 23 ceremonials. 24 SPEAKER QUINN: And now we're going to 25 just take a break for a second from the vote, and we 18 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 have a ceremonial. 3 I want to call up Council Member 4 Larry Seabrook. 5 And Council Member Seabrook, if you 6 could lead us in this very important ceremonial. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER SEABROOK: Thank you 8 very much, Madam Speaker. 9 Today is a very important day because 10 there are very few of us who will reach the age of a 11 century and above. 12 We have here two great citizens of 13 this City and this State who have reached above 100 14 years of age, and they've actually aged another 100 15 by sitting here and waiting. And they do it all and 16 they're still here. 17 And we wanted to make sure, you know, 18 we had the opportunity, because each and every 19 Mother's Day Celebration we pick out seniors who 20 have reached 100 years or better and honor them. 21 So, we wanted to make sure that in 22 the community we recognize these people, but it is 23 important that we recognize them in City Hall. And, 24 so, we wanted to bring them here so that they could 25 be really recognized today. And we're going to bring 19 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 up the first one, Mrs. Henson, who is 101 years of 3 age. 4 Mrs. Henson has been here, she is 5 101. Hey, where is Bill? Where is Bill? We wanted to 6 make sure, she's one of my constituents, lives in 7 the community, very active, very involved with the 8 retirees and still out there doing what's best for 9 the community, and we wanted her to be recognized 10 here today, and she says all good living will allow 11 you to live to 101. 12 The next honoree that we have here 13 today is older than her, and you know, and he is 14 here today and I must confess -- 15 SPEAKER QUINN: Disclose. 16 COUNCIL MEMBER SEABROOK: Disclose. 17 Disclose. Because this proclamation, how much does 18 it cost, because this is my uncle. And he's 103 19 years of age, and I'm going to pay for the plaque 20 myself, because I don't want you writing a story. 21 So, he's 103 years of age, my uncle, 22 and he is here, and they are Al Vann's constituents 23 and Tish James. 24 So, they're there, and I make sure 25 that the service in which they have been here and 20 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 for the number of years, and I wanted to recognize 3 them for all of the years and they're here. He said 4 he's going to ask somebody for a dance now. You 5 know, that's my uncle, he's something else. 6 So, I'm going to let the Speaker say 7 something here. 8 SPEAKER QUINN: I just want to say on 9 behalf of all of us, congratulations. Thank you for 10 waiting and bearing with us to get this part of the 11 meeting started. This will no doubt be the most 12 important part of today's meeting, so we just want 13 to say congratulations, God bless, and we hope we 14 have you back for every birthday you celebrate as 15 long as we're all in office. So, congratulations. 16 COUNCIL MEMBER SEABROOK: Al. 17 COUNCIL MEMBER VANN: I would only add 18 to my constituent, can we hang out? What are you 19 doing Saturday? But let me disclose I'm married, for 20 the press. 21 I would like to add a heart-felt 22 appreciation for you being here with us. It's all 23 inspiring to see you looking as well as you do, as 24 healthy as you are, let us all know that if we do 25 the right thing and think the right thoughts and 21 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 live the right life, that we, too, might be in an 3 opportunity to live as long as you have lived. 4 God bless you, and happy birthday to 5 each and every one of you. 6 (singing happy birthday.) 7 COUNCIL MEMBER JAMES: I just wanted 8 to say happy birthday. We stand on your shoulders. 9 God bless you. And let us let you come back next 10 year so that we can celebrate you're 103rd and 104th 11 respectively. God bless you. 12 SPEAKER QUINN: Thank you. 13 Congratulations. 14 And now back to the less important 15 part. 16 (Recess taken.) 17 SPEAKER QUINN: I think we could 18 resume the meeting. 19 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: 20 Communication from the Speaker. 21 SPEAKER QUINN: Thank you. 22 Today we are voting on a number of 23 important items, but we are voting perhaps most 24 significantly on Intro 732-A, which is a complete 25 overhaul to the New York City Fire Code. 22 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 I want to thank the Chair of our Fire 3 and Criminal Justice Committee, Council Member 4 Miguel Martinez, for his work on this. 5 I want to thank Rob Calandra who did 6 a tremendous amount of work on this. Rob really 7 deserves a round of applause for his work on the 8 Fire Code. Also, Alex Pastilnick. And I want to 9 note and thank everyone in the Fire Department for 10 all of their work on the Update of the Fire Code. 11 This has been a three- to four-year 12 effort to overhaul the City's Fire Code. The City's 13 Fire Code, the Code we have right now, up until we 14 passed this law, is close to 100 years old. 15 My grandfather joined the New York 16 City Fire Department in 1922. That means the Fire 17 Code that was in the law books the day he was a 18 firefighter, is the very same Fire Code that is on 19 the books today. 20 It's a Fire Code that speaks to 21 regulations relating to cuts and their proximity to 22 Fire Alarm system. It's a Fire Code that speaks to 23 regulations about wagons and their behavior. 24 Obviously, in the 21st Century, given 25 the level of development we have and the technology 23 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 we have, we need a 21st Century Fire Code. And 3 through the leadership of Council Member Martinez, 4 Commissioner Nick Scoppetta, Chief Cassano, and many 5 other folks in our Fire Department and in the 6 Bloomberg Administration today, we will do the first 7 soup to nuts overhaul of our Fire Code. 8 This comes a few months after, under 9 the leadership of Chairperson Dilan, we overhauled 10 the Building Code. 11 Both of these codes will go into 12 effect almost simultaneously, which means that now 13 when buildings are built, when buildings are 14 inspected they will be looked at in the most 21st 15 century comprehensive way. 16 It's also important to note that both 17 the Fire Code and the Building Code will be reviewed 18 comprehensively every three years. 19 This means we will never fall behind 20 again as we did with this Fire Code. Our action 21 today means that buildings will be safer for those 22 who build them, buildings will be safer for those 23 who live and work in them, and perhaps most 24 importantly, buildings will be safer for the men and 25 women who rush into them when there is a fire or 24 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 another emergency situation. This rehab of the Fire 3 Code will literally save lives in the City of New 4 York and I want to thank everyone who worked so hard 5 on it, but in particular the Chair of our Fire and 6 Criminal Justice Committee, Council Member Miguel 7 Martinez, and I want to call on him to speak to 8 Intro. 732-A. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER MARTINEZ: Thank you, 10 Madam Speaker. I also want to thank the Rob Calandra 11 and the staff of the Committee and particularly the 12 Fire Department for their willingness to listen and 13 to take under consideration many of the issues that 14 came up as we conducted our hearing. 15 Today we're going to vote on the 16 resolution adopting the negative declaration of the 17 Fire Code, and we will vote on the Fire Code itself, 18 which is Intro. 732-A. 19 The Fire Department held a public 20 forum on the proposed code at the end of last year, 21 and our Committee held hearings on April 1st and 22 April 15th of this year. 23 Intro. 732-A repealed the existing 24 Fire Prevention Code and replaced it with a new Fire 25 Code based on modified versions of the International 25 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 Fire Code that reflect the unique nature of New York 3 City. 4 In 2003 and 2004, our Committee 5 conducted a series of oversight hearings which 6 examined the provision of the Fire Prevention Code 7 and called on the Fire Department to modernize the 8 Code by undertaking a comprehensive review of its 9 provision. 10 The Fire Code hadn't gone under such 11 review in almost 100 years. The new Fire Code is 12 intending to promote and enhance fire safety by 13 adopting a more modern and comprehensive fire safety 14 regulations. 15 The new Code contains new permanent 16 requirement for the storage, handling and use of 17 certain materials. It regulates and conducts in 18 certain businesses an operation, and maintains a 19 certain facility resulting in a Department regularly 20 inspecting and verifying the compliance with the 21 provision of the Fire Code. 22 The Fire Code makes provision for 23 rooftop access and eliminates rooftop obstruction. 24 It requires fire apparatus access roads in private 25 development, and regulates toxic and other hazardous 26 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 materials that present hazard to emergency 3 responders during the emergency's operation. 4 It goes without saying that the Fire 5 Department -- 6 SPEAKER QUINN: I'm sorry, Mr. 7 Chairman. 8 If we could get a little quiet in the 9 Chambers, particularly in the back of the Chambers? 10 Thank you. 11 COUNCIL MEMBER MARTINEZ: Thank you, 12 Madam Speaker. 13 It goes without saying that the Fire 14 -- it goes without saying that the Department has 15 gone through a tremendous amount of work in 16 evaluating the model code, it made the modification 17 to suit the unique needs of the City. 18 We have also made some modification 19 based on comments received or detailed in our 20 Committee report. At this time we have a 21 comprehensive Fire Code for the City of New York. 22 And I believe we'll make our City a safer place to 23 live in and work. 24 Therefore, I recommend that my 25 colleagues vote in an affirmative position on the 27 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 new Fire Code for the City of New York. And, again, 3 I want to thank you, Madam Speaker, for the support 4 that your staff provided us while we held these 5 hearings and ensure that all New Yorkers that came 6 to our Committee hearings were heard and I again 7 thank the Fire Commissioner and his staff for 8 listening and adopting the changes that were 9 recommended and came forward during the hearing. 10 SPEAKER QUINN: Thank you, again, 11 Chairman Martinez. And again, thank you for your 12 work on this effort. And thank you, this is another 13 piece of legislation that I think really speaks to a 14 long list of bills that you've shepherded through 15 the Committee that do a lot of important things, but 16 not the least of which takes steps to protect the 17 lives of firefighters in the City of New York. So, 18 thank you for that. 19 I just want to make, before I talk 20 briefly about a couple of items, I what to say happy 21 birthday to Shirley LaMonche from our Press Office. 22 Today is Shirley's birthday, so we want to wish her 23 a happy birthday. 24 And also wanted to let folks know we 25 have another addition to the Council family. Molly 28 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 Murphy, the Counsel to Bill DeBlasio's Committee, 3 had a beautiful baby boy last week. So, folks should 4 be wishing her congratulations. 5 And Jimmy, our Minority Leader, you 6 were out of the Chambers when we announced that 7 Council Member Helen Diane Foster has gotten 8 engaged. So, we know you like to know all of these 9 developments first and foremost. 10 We're also voting today on a number 11 of appointments through our Rules Committee, members 12 of the Tax Commission and also the reappointment of 13 Dennis deLeon to the Civilian Complaint Review Board 14 by the Manhattan Delegation. 15 I want to thank Chairperson Reyna for 16 all of her work on these appointments, and 17 particularly, the reappointment of Dennis deLeon, 18 who is a friend of mine, who I believe has done and 19 will do a terrific job on behalf of New Yorkers on 20 the Civilian Complaint Review Board. 21 We are also voting today on a budget 22 modification that prepays money to pay down next 23 year and the year after's debt, and also a 24 transparency resolution relating to funds that have 25 been allocated to different organizations. One set 29 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 of funds through an RFP, other funds through the 3 discretion of Council members. 4 And that concludes Communications 5 from the Speaker. 6 Oh, I'm sorry, there is one other 7 item I forgot. Thank God Gary reminded me. And the 8 important item that Gary wants everyone to know is 9 that members should check the meeting schedule 10 attached to the agenda. The Stated, Finance, State 11 and Federal Legislative Committees will stand in 12 recess. So, this is actually very important to know, 13 because we're coming near the end of, or potentially 14 near the end of the session in Albany, because we're 15 coming near when we have to pass the budget, this 16 Stated, the Finance Committee, and the State and 17 Federal Leg Committee will be standing in recess, 18 which means you can be called back at any time for a 19 full Stated, a Finance Committee or State and 20 Federal Leg, if we need to send legislation or a 21 Home Rule to Albany, or if we need to take action on 22 the budget. 23 The June 5th Stated has been moved to 24 June 12th. That's the regularly scheduled Stated, 25 it's not the 5th anymore, it's the 12th. But you 30 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 need to know that all members need to be within one 3 hour's notice from now on until budget adoption -- 4 COUNCIL MEMBER ODDO: From Staten 5 Island? 6 SPEAKER QUINN: Oh, stop complaining 7 Jimmy Oddo. 8 So, the regularly scheduled Stated is 9 the 12th. Jimmy, stop, please. Take the bus to the 10 ferry, we'll reimburse you when you get here. 11 But you need to be within an hour of 12 the Stated Meeting. And Jimmy, you better be on time 13 and early because we're happy to vote, you know, 14 with less people here. 15 All right, anyway, that concludes 16 Communications with the Speaker, and I think it 17 concludes the complaining from the Minority Leader? 18 COUNCIL MEMBER ODDO: No, not by a 19 longshot. 20 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Okay, 21 Discussion of General Orders. 22 Council Member Gonzalez. 23 COUNCIL MEMBER GONZALEZ: Good 24 afternoon. 25 Madam Public Advocate, I just want to 31 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 express a few points in respect to Land Use 772 and 3 Reso 1449. 4 I'd like to thank a lot of people, 5 but I want to start by thanking Speaker Quinn, Chuck 6 Meara, Ramon Martinez, the Chair of the Land Use 7 Committee, Melinda Katz. And congratulations again. 8 Chair of the Landmarks and Maritime Use 9 Subcommittee, Jessica Lappin, and of course, Gail 10 Benjamin, who has been an incredible person in 11 response to Land Use. Peter Janosek, and the entire 12 Land Use staff. 13 SPEAKER QUINN: Can we get a little 14 quiet in the Chambers for Council Member Gonzalez, 15 please? 16 COUNCIL MEMBER GONZALEZ: For the past 17 three and a half years I have been working steadfast 18 with SIMS, EDC and a lot of people who are vested in 19 our community in respect to the future. 20 I want to say that they have been 21 very forthcoming. I met with Commissioner of the 22 Department of Sanitation, the residents, and, of 23 course, a lot of community-based organizations, and 24 my environmental experts in my community as well. 25 The project SIMS, which is a 32 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 recycling facility, and an 11-acre project on 30th 3 Street in Sunset Park, brings 160 construction jobs, 4 but at least 75 percent will be union. 5 Sunset Park residents will be given 6 preference for 100 permanent jobs. 7 I just want to say that this is an 8 incredible opportunity to revitalize Brooklyn's 9 working waterfront. Other community benefits include 10 beautification of the site, and its surroundings and 11 environmental education center on the site. 12 Our biggest, biggest issue was the 13 trucks and Department of Sanitation worked closely 14 with us so that we now have a schedule so that these 15 trucks will avoid the areas where children are 16 living and also the routes were made specific to 17 non-peak hours. 18 I want to say that there have been 19 many, many issues in respect to recycling in the 20 City of New York and Sanitation. But we have stepped 21 to the plate in being responsible. So, I want to say 22 that I hold SIMS accountable and I will be vigilant 23 and our community will be vigilant because the 24 responsibility of garbage belongs to all of us. 25 Thank you. 33 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 And I urge my colleagues to vote yes. 3 SPEAKER QUINN: And Sara, 4 congratulations. Your daughter graduated from 5 college today. So, congratulations on both the 6 recycling and your daughter's graduation. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER GONZALEZ: Thank you. 8 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Council 9 Member Fidler. 10 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: Yes, to 11 follow-up on Councilwoman Gonzalez's remarks 12 regarding LU 772. We are also in possession of a 13 letter from the Department of Sanitation, and you 14 know, credit to Chairwoman Gonzalez, and Brooklyn 15 Co-Chair, Council Member Dilan, we wanted to be sure 16 that if the Legislature continued to be 17 intransigent, as regards to the Gansevoort site, 18 that those trucks wouldn't be coming to Brooklyn, 19 and that letter is a commitment from DOS that that 20 will not happen, and we will continue only to be 21 getting the recyclables that we've been getting up 22 to now. So, I think that was very important and I 23 wanted to lay that on the record, because it is a 24 promise that, frankly, my vote is predicated on. 25 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Council 34 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 Member Gerson. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: Yes, thank 4 you, Madam Public Advocate. 5 My colleagues, with the approval of 6 Land Use Item 768, we will today approve a site for 7 a very needed new, state-of-the-art all green school 8 building located in Lower Manhattan, in the Battery 9 Park City area. 10 This building will alleviate 11 significant overcrowding in Lower Manhattan, and 12 that need in this project is a testament to the 13 resiliency of Lower Manhattan in the aftermath of 14 9/11, this new building being situated just a few 15 blocks south of Ground Zero. 16 As we approve, as I urge all my 17 colleagues to support and vote for Land Use 768, we 18 approve this with the recognition that our Education 19 Chair Bob Jackson is always reminding us of properly 20 and as we all know that we are far from meeting the 21 capital needs of the children of our school system, 22 with needs for new gymnasium or new school 23 facilities throughout the City. 24 So, we go forward with 768 with a 25 pledge to go forward to meet the needs Citywide. 35 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 I want to thank Jessica Lappin, Chair 3 of the Land Use Committee, Melinda Katz, and our 4 Speaker Christine Quinn, for their support in this, 5 and thank our community for working so hard, and I 6 urge all of my colleagues to vote for this item. 7 Thank you. 8 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Council 9 Member Recchia. 10 COUNCIL MEMBER RECCHIA: Yes, with 11 permission I would like to vote on all coupled 12 General Orders, and Land Use Call-Ups. I vote aye on 13 all. 14 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: So ordered. 15 Seeing nobody, is there anybody else? 16 General Discussion? 17 Report of Special Committees. 18 COUNCIL CLERK: None. 19 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Reports of 20 Standing Committees. 21 COUNCIL CLERK: Report of the 22 Committee on Finance. Intro. 724. Park Slope Fifth 23 Avenue Business Improvement District. 24 SPEAKER QUINN: Coupled on General 25 Orders. 36 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 COUNCIL CLERK: Preconsidered Reso 3 1437. 4 SPEAKER QUINN: Coupled on General 5 Orders. 6 COUNCIL CLERK: Preconsidered M 1064 7 and Reso 1438. City's Expense Budget. 8 SPEAKER QUINN: Coupled on General 9 Orders. 10 COUNCIL CLERK: Preconsidered M 1065 11 and Reso 1439. New revenues. 12 SPEAKER QUINN: Coupled on General 13 Orders. 14 COUNCIL CLERK: LU 755 and Reso 1440. 15 Lafayette Morrison apartments. 16 SPEAKER QUINN: Coupled on General 17 Orders. 18 COUNCIL CLERK: Report of the 19 Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice Services. 20 Intro. 732-A. New York City Fire 21 Code. 22 SPEAKER QUINN: Amended and coupled on 23 General Orders. 24 COUNCIL CLERK: Preconsidered Reso 25 1436. 37 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 SPEAKER QUINN: Coupled on General 3 Orders. 4 COUNCIL CLERK: Report on the 5 Committee on Land Use. LU 706 and Reso 1441 through 6 LU 764 and Reso 1445 on page four. 7 SPEAKER QUINN: Coupled on General 8 Orders. 9 COUNCIL CLERK: LU 766 and Reso 1446 10 through LU 768 and Reso 1448. School facilities. 11 SPEAKER QUINN: Coupled on General 12 Orders. 13 COUNCIL CLERK: Preconsidered LU 772 14 and Reso 1449, South Brooklyn Marine Terminal. 15 SPEAKER QUINN: Coupled on General 16 Orders. 17 COUNCIL CLERK: Report of the 18 Committee on Rules, Privileges and Elections. 19 Preconsidered Reso 1450, changes to 20 certain committees. 21 SPEAKER QUINN: Coupled on General 22 Orders. 23 COUNCIL CLERK: M 991 and Reso 1451, 24 approving the reappointment of Glenn Newman, New 25 York City Tax Commission. 38 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 SPEAKER QUINN: Coupled on General 3 Orders. 4 COUNCIL CLERK: M 992 and Reso 1452, 5 approving the reappointment of Aladar G. Gyimesi. 6 New York City Tax Commission. 7 SPEAKER QUINN: Coupled on General 8 Orders. 9 COUNCIL CLERK: M 993 and Reso 1453. 10 Approving the reappointment of Alice D. Olick. New 11 York City Tax Commission. 12 SPEAKER QUINN: Coupled on General 13 Orders. 14 COUNCIL CLERK: Preconsidered M 1069 15 and Reso 1454. Approving the redesignation of Dennis 16 deLeon, New York City Civilian Complaint Review 17 Board. 18 SPEAKER QUINN: Coupled on General 19 Orders. 20 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Sorry. 21 General Order Calendar. 22 COUNCIL CLERK: Resolution appointing 23 various persons Commissioner of Deeds. 24 SPEAKER QUINN: Coupled on General 25 Orders, and at this time I ask for a roll call on 39 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 all items that have been coupled on the General 3 Order calendar, please. 4 COUNCIL CLERK: Monserrate. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER MONSERRATE: Yes, I 6 would like to vote in the affirmative on all the 7 Land Use Call-Ups and in the affirmative on 8 everything in today's agenda and the resolutions. 9 Thank you. 10 COUNCIL CLERK: Addabbo. 11 COUNCIL MEMBER ADDABBO: Aye. 12 COUNCIL CLERK: Avella. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER AVELLA: Aye. 14 COUNCIL CLERK: Baez. 15 (No response.) 16 COUNCIL CLERK: Barron. 17 COUNCIL MEMBER BARRON: Aye on all. 18 COUNCIL CLERK: Brewer. 19 COUNCIL MEMBER BREWER: Aye. And I 20 want to also join the Speaker in thanking Dennis 21 deLeon for his incredible service at CCRB, 22 incredible service to the City, and Manhattan 23 Delegation is proud to recommend him to be 24 reappointed. 25 Thank you. 40 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 COUNCIL CLERK: Comrie. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: Aye on all. 4 Congratulations to Council Member Gonzalez on her 5 smart siting of a necessary piece of the sanitation 6 overall reduction for waste in the City. I want to 7 congratulate her for her efforts. I want to also 8 thank Dennis deLeon and Glenn Newman for their 9 desire to continue to serve on CCRB and the Tax 10 Commission. 11 Aye on all. 12 COUNCIL CLERK: DeBlasio. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER DEBLASIO: Aye on all. 14 COUNCIL CLERK: Dilan. 15 COUNCIL MEMBER DILAN: Aye. 16 COUNCIL CLERK: Eugene. 17 COUNCIL MEMBER EUGENE: Aye. 18 COUNCIL CLERK: Fidler. 19 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: May I be 20 briefly excused to explain my vote? 21 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: So ordered. 22 COUNCIL MEMBER FIDLER: Amongst the 23 items we're voting on today is the budget 24 modification, and we had a great deal of discussion 25 about it in the Finance Committee and I'd like to 41 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 just reiterate one thing I said in there. 3 We are recognizing over $2 billion in 4 new revenue, and before we get too giddy about it, I 5 think we should remind ourselves of the advice we 6 got from our own Finance staff that a lot of that is 7 Safe Harbor tax payments that may well have to be 8 refunded as Wall Street recognizes the losses that 9 we all know are being taken in the subprime lending 10 crisis. 11 We find ourselves in the position of 12 having gotten our paycheck but not yet having gotten 13 the credit card bill. And, so, I think we need to be 14 mindful of that. 15 But as Council Member Gentile pointed 16 out, this represents a continued pattern of OMB 17 underestimating revenue. And I am far more confident 18 in either IBO or even more so in the Council Finance 19 staff estimate of revenue. 20 And, so, as we move forward in this 21 budget and we look at our priorities in education 22 and the classroom, summer jobs, youth programs, 23 homeless shelter beds, that we be mindful of the 24 budget dance that OMB plays with us, that every year 25 we seem to have to acknowledge in April or May, that 42 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 revenues are, in fact, stronger than they tell us. 3 And with that, I vote aye on all. 4 COUNCIL CLERK: Foster. 5 (No response.) 6 COUNCIL CLERK: Garodnick. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER GARODNICK: Aye. 8 COUNCIL CLERK: Gentile. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER GENTILE: May I be 10 excused to explain my vote? 11 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: So ordered. 12 COUNCIL MEMBER GENTILE: Again, with 13 regard to the budget modification, we stand here as 14 we have stood in years past, recognizing extra 15 revenue that has come in since the adoption of the 16 budget. This year almost $3 billion, and every year, 17 since I've been here, billions of dollars more. In 18 2004, $2.7 billion more in revenue than when 19 adopted. In 2005, $3.7 billion more after adoption. 20 In Fiscal Year 2006, $3.5 billion more, and in 21 Fiscal Year 2007, $5.3 billion more. And today we do 22 the same thing over and over again, recognize 23 additional revenue that has come in after the 24 adoption. 25 Now, I hear Council Member Fidler 43 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 very, very well about the cautionary approach we 3 should take, but nevertheless, those numbers 4 suggest, each and every year, that the forecasting 5 that we are dealing with from OMB is inaccurate and 6 under-forecasted so that we could come back every 7 year at this time and add billions to the budget. We 8 need to use those billions with a better forecasting 9 at the beginning of the process, not at the end of 10 the process, so that we could take care of 11 education, we can take care of police on the street, 12 we can take care of six-day library service, and not 13 have to be out on the front steps of City Hall 14 advocating for those things. We should be doing it 15 in the budget, we should be doing it with real 16 numbers, and we should do it this year. Thank you. 17 I vote yes. 18 COUNCIL CLERK: Foster. 19 COUNCIL MEMBER FOSTER: Aye. 20 COUNCIL CLERK: Gerson. 21 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: Aye on all. 22 COUNCIL CLERK: Gioia. 23 COUNCIL MEMBER GIOIA: Yes. 24 COUNCIL CLERK: Gonzalez. 25 COUNCIL MEMBER GONZALEZ: Aye on all. 44 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 COUNCIL CLERK: Ignizio. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER IGNIZIO: Yes. 4 COUNCIL CLERK: Jackson. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON: Aye on all. 6 COUNCIL CLERK: James. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER JAMES: Aye on all, and 8 let's honor our promises and continue to keep our 9 promise to the children of the City of New York, to 10 the residents of NYCHA, and let us not close any day 11 care centers. I vote aye on all. 12 COUNCIL CLERK: Koppell. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER KOPPELL: Aye on all. 14 COUNCIL CLERK: Lappin. 15 COUNCIL MEMBER LAPPIN: Aye on all. 16 And I, too, think we should keep our promise and 17 restore funding for education. 18 COUNCIL CLERK: Liu. 19 COUNCIL MEMBER LIU: Thank you very 20 much. I vote yes on all, and I think Councilman 21 Fidler said it best, that there is no question that 22 the revenue estimates will increase in the next 23 couple of weeks and we should use all of it to 24 fulfill the promises that we made as a City and 25 State government in order to fund our schools fully. 45 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 Thank you. 3 COUNCIL CLERK: Mark-Viverito. 4 COUNCIL MEMBER MARK-VIVERITO: I vote 5 aye on all, but I do want to just say that what 6 colleague Gentile and Fidler have brought up are 7 very important points that we should really keep in 8 mind and what we must, as has been stated before, 9 commit and keep our commitments to public housing, 10 to our education, to our day care. 11 So, I say aye on all. Thank you. 12 COUNCIL CLERK: Martinez. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER MARTINEZ: I will be 14 voting aye on all, but as we move forward in the 15 process, we must be mindful that we cannot produce a 16 budget that will have cuts to the classroom in 17 essential services in education. We must keep the 18 promise, and the promise is our children. 19 I vote aye. 20 COUNCIL CLERK: McMahon. 21 COUNCIL MEMBER McMAHON: Madam Public 22 Advocate, I request leave to explain my vote. 23 A very important item is on the 24 agenda today, it's been spoken to, and that is the 25 Land Use application for the pier in Sunset Park to 46 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 allow the recycling facility and education facility 3 to be built. 4 I commend City Council Member Sara 5 Gonzalez for having the vision to understand that a 6 project like this can be a benefit not only to the 7 district but to the City as a whole. 8 And I also commend the Land Use staff 9 who worked on it, and, of course, Carmen Cognetta 10 from the Sanitation Committee, as well, and the 11 Speaker for her leadership on this issue. 12 Regarding perhaps a more imminent and 13 urgent matter, that is the budget modification upon 14 which we are asked to vote. 15 And as my colleagues have already 16 eloquently said, it seems to strike a very stark 17 juxtaposition that in one moment we are recognizing 18 billions of dollars in surpluses, and, yet, at the 19 same time, we cannot get clarity of purpose to make 20 sure that the children in our schools do not face 21 cuts that they don't have to face and they don't 22 need to face. 23 At a rally at PS 36 in my district, 24 with my City Council colleagues, we heard from each 25 and every school on Staten Island, and what those 47 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 cuts would mean, and that is unacceptable to us. 3 Together I think we need to send a 4 loud and clear message to Chancellor Klein that we 5 will not allow these cuts to go forward, and we will 6 use everything and every breath in our beings to 7 make sure of that, it's our number one priority, and 8 we will fight to the end to make sure that we keep 9 the promises that collectively we made to our 10 children. 11 I vote aye on all matters. 12 Thank you. 13 COUNCIL CLERK: Mealy. 14 COUNCIL MEMBER MEALY: Aye on all. 15 COUNCIL CLERK: Mendez. 16 COUNCIL MEMBER MENDEZ: Aye on all. 17 And I'd like to say that my colleagues have so 18 eloquently said it, so I will just say I join them 19 in keeping the promises. 20 COUNCIL CLERK: Reyna. 21 COUNCIL MEMBER REYNA: I vote aye on 22 all. 23 COUNCIL CLERK: Seabrook. 24 COUNCIL MEMBER SEABROOK: I vote aye 25 on all. 48 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 COUNCIL CLERK: Sears. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER SEARS: I vote aye on 4 all and urge everyone to remember that we must keep 5 our promises to the children. 6 COUNCIL CLERK: Stewart. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER STEWART: Aye on all. 8 COUNCIL CLERK: Vacca. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER VACCA: May I first ask 10 permission to vote aye on all Land Use items? 11 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: So ordered. 12 COUNCIL MEMBER VACCA: Secondly, to 13 explain my vote, I want to first bring up that I 14 have reviewed all of the proposed cuts to schools in 15 my district, and those cuts are devastating, and I 16 think as we go over the budget I join my colleagues 17 in echoing their requests so we keep our promise to 18 our kids and that we adequately fund education and 19 not subject them to further cuts. 20 My second statement concerns an 21 increase in water rates that does not have to take 22 place. 23 I want people to know that even 24 though the Water Board has acted, we have a 25 responsibility -- I know it's not up for a vote, I 49 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 don't care -- and we can do something about it. And 3 I hope that people understand that this Council 4 enacted a lien sale, and the money from the lien 5 sale has yet to come in and we are raising rates 6 again. 7 I think if we're looking at 8 resources, we should remember the little people out 9 there who are paying water rates that are too high 10 and are excessive. 11 But I vote aye on all other items. 12 COUNCIL CLERK: Recchia. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER RECCHIA: I'd like to 14 vote aye on all. But before that, I'd like to join 15 my colleagues in sending a message with the surplus 16 that we should put it towards education. And we have 17 to stop with this, you know, with this game plan and 18 just put the money back, because the children are 19 suffering. My kids go to public school, I see the 20 cuts, and we have to send a message. 21 I vote aye on all. 22 COUNCIL CLERK: Vallone. 23 COUNCIL MEMBER VALLONE: Aye on all. 24 COUNCIL CLERK: Vann. 25 COUNCIL MEMBER VANN: Can I explain my 50 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 vote? 3 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: So ordered. 4 COUNCIL MEMBER VANN: I've been an 5 advocate for public education more than 40 years, 6 but I'm not just an advocate, I'm also a client. 7 I attended the public school system 8 myself. I didn't turn out too badly. All of my 9 children attended public schools and they're doing 10 well in their adult lives, and I have children, 11 grandchildren in public schools, and they are doing 12 well. So, I feel very strongly that we should keep 13 our promise and make sure that's number one. Our 14 children are first. And I vote aye on all. 15 COUNCIL CLERK: Weprin. 16 COUNCIL MEMBER WEPRIN: May I be 17 temporarily excused to explain my vote? 18 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: So ordered. 19 COUNCIL MEMBER WEPRIN: With this 20 recognition of $2.9 billion in revenue, it makes the 21 ten hours of hearing that I went through yesterday 22 and heard from all of our teachers, our parents and 23 our students, how devastating some of these proposed 24 cuts to education can be, and it's so important that 25 we not pit one school against another school, or one 51 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 neighborhood against another neighborhood, that's 3 why I'm pretty confident that in this budget process 4 we will fully fund our schools. 5 I vote aye on all. 6 COUNCIL CLERK: Yassky. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER YASSKY: I'm voting aye 8 on all the General Orders, but I am doing so with 9 some reluctance on the budget modification for the 10 following reason, and that is, that this 11 modification incorporates cuts to schools, including 12 cuts to classrooms, that were announced by the 13 Administration months ago and were never presented 14 to the Council until now, and by now they're a fait 15 accompli. They've been done, there's a couple of 16 weeks left in the school year, so there's no -- we 17 can't go back and say, well, put those after school 18 programs in place back in May, in March and in 19 April, and put the reading specialists back in place 20 in March and in April, because those are done 21 already. 22 But the practice of implementing a 23 mid-year budget cut without presenting it to the 24 Council, I think does take the Council out of the 25 budgeting process, and we're supposed to be right in 52 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 it. So, with reluctance, I do vote for all the 3 coupled General Orders. 4 COUNCIL CLERK: Oddo. 5 COUNCIL MEMBER ODDO: May I be 6 temporarily excused to explain my vote? 7 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: So ordered. 8 COUNCIL MEMBER ODDO: Thank you. 9 I just would like to vote yes on all 10 and say two things: one is that as we get into the 11 frenzy season of budget and we fight for different 12 things, I just want to share with all my colleagues 13 that we have such a strong fight for our senior 14 citizens, and our senior centers, in the back, Jimmy 15 Vacca. Council Member Vacca came down from the Bronx 16 to spend some time in my district at the South Beach 17 Senior Center, and I think they want him to be their 18 Councilperson now, because he was a big hit. If he 19 wants to run on a republican line, he just might be 20 able to run for Congress. But I just want to thank 21 Jimmy Vacca for everything he's done, fighting for 22 our senior centers and our senior citizens. It's a 23 wonderful asset. 24 And let me just say that as a member 25 of the Staten Island Delegation, which represents 53 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 six percent of our City's school children, but who 3 are staring at 11 percent of the education cuts, you 4 can rest assured that McMahon, Ignizio and Oddo will 5 fight to keep the promises. 6 Thank you. 7 COUNCIL CLERK: Speaker Quinn. 8 SPEAKER QUINN: Thank you. 9 Just before I vote, I mentioned today 10 that we are voting on a budget transparency 11 resolution. The budget transparency resolution that 12 we're considering today, contains funding for a 13 number of non-profit organizations in the City, 14 including the Hetrick Martin Institute, an 15 organization that provides services to LGBTQ youth. 16 In the interest of full disclosure, I want to state 17 for the record that my domestic partner serves as a 18 volunteer on the Board of Directors of this 19 organization. The funding allocation to the Hetrick 20 Martin Institute was determined through a 21 competitive RFP process, in which I did not 22 participate but I will be voting on it today. 23 That said, I vote aye on all matters. 24 And who doesn't love Hetrick Martin getting a clap. 25 There you go. 54 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: All items on 3 today's General Order Calendar were adopted by a 4 vote of 45 in the affirmative, zero negative, zero 5 abstentions. 6 Revised Land Use Call-Ups were 7 adopted by a vote of 45 in the affirmative, zero 8 negative. 9 Introduction and Reading of Bills. 10 SPEAKER QUINN: All bills are referred 11 as indicated on the agenda. 12 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Discussion 13 of resolutions. 14 And no resolutions. 15 General Discussion. 16 Council Member Jackson. 17 COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON: Thank you, 18 Madam Public Advocate, and my colleagues. I rise 19 today, in which many of you spoke about in voting on 20 today's business about keeping the promise. 21 Let me just tell you a quick story in 22 the one-minute and forty-six seconds that I have 23 left. 24 Mayor Bloomberg and Joel Klein went 25 up to Albany, when the joint Budget Committee 55 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 hearings (sic) and asked the legislators up in 3 Albany to do not cut over $200 million to education 4 in New York City, and they asked him to keep a 5 promise. And in fact, many of you attended a press 6 conference held by the Speaker of the State 7 Assembly, Shelly Silver, and many State Assembly 8 Members urging, this was two weeks ago, urging the 9 Mayor and the City Council to keep the promise, just 10 like they were asked to keep the promise and they 11 kept the promise. 12 New York City is facing a $4-$5 13 billion surplus and I don't understand why we can't 14 keep the promise when we have such a huge surplus? 15 Now, I said approximately six weeks 16 ago at a rally that I will not, as the Chair of the 17 Education Committee, as a member of the City 18 Council, and as the lead plaintiff in CFE, I cannot 19 vote on a budget that does not restore money back to 20 education. 21 Let me speak specifically. Until the 22 money that is proposed to be cut from the classrooms 23 and other essential services are put back in the 24 budget, I, as a member of the City Council, I have 25 no alternative but to vote no. And I ask all my 56 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 colleagues that are present today that stand with 3 this position to please rise in a symbolic showing 4 that you support this position. 5 Thank you. 6 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Quiet, 7 please. 8 Council Member Barron. 9 COUNCIL MEMBER BARRON: Thank you very 10 much, Madam Chair. 11 I just want to encourage our 12 colleagues to realize that the power is in our 13 hands. 14 We could ask the Mayor to keep the 15 promise, we could ask Klein to keep the promise, but 16 I promise you, if we keep the promise the power is 17 in our hands to say no to a budget that will gladly 18 build Yankee Stadium, that will gladly build the 19 Mets Stadium, that would gladly give Ratner money, 20 but when it comes to our children, then they don't 21 have money to keep children first. That's 22 hypocritical. Stop shutting down fire houses, 23 shutting down hospitals, shutting down day care 24 centers, telling us we've got to tighten our belts, 25 and now you have the nerve, with a $18 billion 57 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 school budget, a $60 billion City budget, to say no 3 to the children, it's time for us not to reach out 4 our hand to the Mayor, but to close your fists and 5 let's stick together and say no to a budget that 6 cuts money for our children. 7 And I want to also add that a high 8 school diploma is not enough. So when they start 9 cutting CUNY money, and cutting money from Fiterman 10 Hall, just because the Mayor is upset with Shelly 11 Silver, he now took money out of Fiterman Hall. This 12 is a hall that was destroyed during 9/11 and BMCC 13 students have to be packed in classrooms and 14 bathrooms because the Mayor took 20 million out 15 because he's mad at Shelly Silver who didn't support 16 his congestion pricing. 17 Say no to the CUNY cuts, no to the 18 cuts for Board of Education, yes to our children, 19 yes to Higher Education. 20 Thank you very much. 21 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Okay, quiet, 22 please. Quiet, please. 23 Council Member DeBlasio. 24 COUNCIL MEMBER DeBLASIO: Thank you, 25 Madam Public Advocate. 58 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 As a parent of two children in public 3 schools, I want to affirm as well that I cannot vote 4 for a budget that does not restore funding to our 5 classrooms and essential services. And it's just as 6 simple, we have to find the money. 7 You know, a lot of attention is 8 finally being paid to the consultants, to the 9 testing programs, to the administration levels at 10 the Department of Education, and what I'm hearing 11 from parents in my district and beyond is tremendous 12 frustration. 13 You know, we will spend every dollar 14 it takes to test our children more and more, we'll 15 spend every dollar it takes for computer programs 16 and consultants, but we're taking money away from 17 the classroom. It's happening already. It's not 18 acceptable to parents. It's just that simple. What 19 parents are demanding of us is that we find a way to 20 get that money back to a classroom and to essential 21 services. Even if we have to cut elsewhere in DOE to 22 make that happen. 23 So, I think we've gotten a clear 24 mandate from the people we represent. And I do want 25 to thank all of my colleagues, all 46 members who 59 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 signed on to the resolution three months ago that 3 we've been working on to make sure that these cuts 4 are rescinded. 5 Thank you very much. 6 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Council 7 Member Ignizio. 8 COUNCIL MEMBER IGNIZIO: Yes, thank 9 you very much, Madam Public Advocate. 10 I wanted to stand up and speak to one 11 part of this fight that's going on right now, and 12 that is to pitting higher-need schools against 13 lower-need schools, lower need schools against 14 Staten Island schools, against Brooklyn schools, 15 Queens schools against Bronx schools. It's got to 16 stop. 17 There is no more conservative or 18 republican or liberal or democratic way of educating 19 kids. The reality must be that all children deserve 20 a sound, basic education and under this plan, I 21 could tell you in my district it's not happening. 22 Quite frankly, we were sold a bill of 23 goods that there would be no cuts to the classroom. 24 Well, friends, you all know, my colleagues here in 25 government know, and perhaps those at Tweed don't 60 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 know, but we have to raise our voices and let them 3 know, this is affecting the classroom, friends. We 4 can't let it happen. We must stand up and say, we're 5 not yelling for money for school's sake just to 6 throw more money into it like people tend to say. 7 It's affecting the classrooms. They are cutting 8 teachers. They are cutting S status, they are 9 cutting programs which some kids only want to go to 10 school for. I say it all the time, I wasn't the 11 greatest student in school, but I loved to go 12 because I loved the sports, and I love the arts and 13 that's what kept me going and let me sit through 14 math class because I knew after that I was going to 15 get to play sports or do art and whatnot. 16 So, cutting that, you're cutting the 17 potential for every child in this City. And what we 18 need to stand up and say, what we need to stand up 19 and say to the Chancellor is that, it's not keep the 20 promises the State and the City, the State kept its 21 side; it's our turn now. And this body does need to 22 stand up and assure the people that I represent and 23 the people that we all represent, that education 24 really is our priority. It's not just a political 25 slogan in November. It is what we're going to do 61 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 right here. The reality meets the rhetoric. 3 So, as we go forward in this budget 4 discussion, we need to keep that in mind. 5 There is money available in the 6 budget. Budgets are about priorities. And let's make 7 this the number one priority of this City Council. I 8 proudly stand with all of my colleagues on this 9 issue. 10 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Council 11 Member Comrie. 12 COUNCIL MEMBER COMRIE: I join all of 13 my colleagues that have spoken today to talk about 14 the fact that we need to make sure that those that 15 are in most need, those that are at the bottom of 16 the barrel, those that need the first ladder to 17 stand up on, still have that rung available for 18 them, still have the ability to take the opportunity 19 to use public education and move up the ladder, 20 still take the opportunity to use the community 21 college education to be -- and to take themselves 22 into gainful employment and gainful opportunity. 23 The Mayor's budget will cut off the 24 bottom of the ladder, remove the rungs for the 25 people that most need it. We need to keep the 62 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 promises and protect those people in most need. We 3 need to keep the promises and protect the Education 4 budget, to protect the CUNY budget, to protect the 5 Out of School Time and the youth budget, to make 6 sure that all of those things that are necessary to 7 keep this City moving, to keep young people engaged, 8 to keep young people in summer school jobs, to keep 9 people, to give them real opportunities are 10 maintained in the budget. Keep the promises. 11 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Council 12 Member James. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER JAMES: As someone who 14 came from humble beginnings who recognizes that 15 education is the key to success and that education 16 is the great equalizer, education is the best way to 17 overcome racism and discrimination in this City of 18 New York and throughout this country. 19 I recognize that so many people have 20 a low expectation for children of color, and it's 21 critical that we restore and we provide all that we 22 can in our school so that children can be the great 23 successes that they are. 24 And if we again believe in the hope 25 that Barack Obama talks about, if we believe in the 63 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 future of this City and of this nation, we have got 3 to make our education the best that it could 4 possibly be. 5 And as we, again, are in the midst of 6 a great surplus, and as the constellation of events 7 are upon us, and as a City Council that is 8 organized, as lobbyists and as advocates who are 9 with us in this struggle, we say to the Mayor of the 10 City of New York, that we are going to honor our 11 promise. Not keep our promise, but honor our 12 promise, and restore the funds to education for the 13 children of New York and make the public school 14 system in this City and in this City the best that 15 it can possibly be, not the 21st, but the 22nd, and 16 compete with nations across the globe, because it's 17 inherent, it's inherent and it's in the future and 18 it's apparent, and I know that we will keep the 19 promise. 20 And let me also say that we have to 21 restore the funds to NYCHA, truly affordable housing 22 in the City of New York. We've got to stand up for 23 the residents of NYCHA all across this country, 24 people who are constantly ignored, people who are in 25 the shadow, and people who often times are ignored 64 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 by the Mayor of this City of New York and others in 3 great places. 4 I say keep the promises. My children 5 are going to go far. I know they will go far. I 6 refuse to vote for a budget that does not honor the 7 promise to our children. 8 Thank you. 9 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Thank you. 10 Council Member Martinez. 11 COUNCIL MEMBER MARTINEZ: Thank you, 12 Madam Speaker. 13 I also want to say that I will be 14 standing with my colleague, our leader in the area 15 of education, Robert Jackson, in ensuring that we do 16 produce a budget that does not have any cuts to 17 essential services, and in the classroom. And for 18 that reason, Madam Chair, as a product of the public 19 education in the City of New York, as an immigrant, 20 it was the public education and the services and the 21 resources that allowed me to be here when I first 22 arrived in this country. 23 And we cannot turn our back to the 24 new arrivals and the hundreds of children, thousands 25 of children to the City of New York that need, and 65 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 desperately need, the services that are provided in 3 our schools, whether for language acquisition, 4 whether for sports, whether for the arts, whether 5 for the culture, we need to ensure that we put the 6 money in the budget to make sure that our children 7 stay in school. 8 And for that reason, Madam Chair, I 9 will not be voting for a budget that has those cuts 10 in them. 11 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Quiet, 12 please. 13 Council Member Gerson. 14 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: Thank you, 15 Madam Public Advocate. 16 My colleagues, when we say "keep the 17 promise" let us keep in mind that we're not just 18 talking about a promise of one group of politicians 19 to another, not just about the promise of the City 20 to the State, not just about the promise of 21 government leaders to the high court of this State, 22 and not even just about the promise of adult 23 leadership to our young people. 24 When we say "keep the promise," we 25 are talking about the promise of each and every one 66 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 of the 1.1 million plus students, young people, who 3 comprise our future, the promise of our future, the 4 promise of their potential, which deserves better 5 than one guidance counselor to 550 students, which 6 requires the support of physical education teachers 7 to develop their young bodies which requires 8 reasonable class sizes in all of their subjects to 9 develop their thinking, which requires art and music 10 and performing arts to develop their talent and 11 their spirit. We must, for the sake of keeping their 12 promise, keep to our future, keep the promise we 13 have made to them. 14 And, so, I join in stating that I 15 will oppose any budget, and it's not just a question 16 of the surplus which makes this cutback more 17 dastardly than it would be if we didn't have it, but 18 it's a question of our priorities and it's a 19 question of our future. 20 So, I will vote no on any budget 21 which does not match the State restoration in 22 fulfillment of the CFE agreement. 23 And I also want to add in the time 24 remaining, on the Capital Budget side the City must 25 reinstate capital funding for the rebuilding of 67 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 Fiterman Hall at BMCC. If we don't do so, we will 3 shortchange those students, and we will create 4 another hole in the ground -- 5 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Council 6 member, time. 7 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: -- In Lower 8 Manhattan, and that is unacceptable. 9 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Time, 10 Council member. 11 COUNCIL MEMBER GERSON: Thank you. 12 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Council 13 Member Yassky. 14 Council Member Yassky. 15 COUNCIL MEMBER YASSKY: I stand with 16 Chair Jackson and our commitment to honor the 17 promises and I join with him in his eloquent 18 remarks. 19 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Council 20 Member Seabrook. 21 COUNCIL MEMBER SEABROOK: Yes, Madam 22 President, for full disclosure, my son is in the 23 public school system, for the reporters over there, 24 so I just want you to know I made a promise to him 25 for the rest of his life, and I'm going to keep the 68 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 promise, for the best education that he can have in 3 this public school system. 4 And, so, I stand with Robert Jackson 5 on his promise, and our promise, to do what is best 6 for the children, and there should be no cuts. 7 We have a surplus, let's give it to 8 the kids first. 9 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Thank you, 10 Council member. 11 Seeing nobody else -- oh, Council 12 Member Vann. 13 COUNCIL MEMBER VANN: Madam Public 14 Advocate, thank you very much. 15 I previously, when I explained my 16 vote, expressed my commitment to public education. 17 I've been in this struggle for a long time, and my 18 entire family, three generations of Vann's have all 19 attended public school, so I'm definitely committed 20 and will support your leadership, Brother Jackson, 21 around these issues. 22 There is a little notice Resolution 23 1450 that, thanks the Speaker, she created the 24 additional committee, Committee of Community 25 Development, which I will now chair. And I wish that 69 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 tomorrow we could say that poverty is ended, because 3 our Committee exists, or that we have set in place 4 those things that will eventually eliminate poverty, 5 but, obviously, that is unrealistic. But what is 6 realistic is that there has been a focus on poverty 7 in our City. Thanks to the vision of our Mayor and 8 our Speaker, there are things that we have done and 9 set in place that hopefully will have an impact. But 10 in the remaining time, whether it's a month, or six 11 months, or a year and a half that I will be Chair of 12 Community Development with our members, we will 13 focus, we will highlight those things that are 14 working. I've had a subcommittee, we've done a lot 15 of research, we know what the best practices are. 16 So, with the little time that is remaining, and 17 sometimes you can do a lot of things in a little 18 time, I think our Council will be proud of what we 19 will present to you to enact or to support because 20 it is not right that in a society, a country as rich 21 as our country, a City as powerful as our City, that 22 we tolerate poverty. And, so, I think in the little 23 time we have left, those of us who are leaving here 24 shortly, a year, year and a half or so, that we 25 spend some time, some resources and to make sure 70 1 STATED COUNCIL MEETING 2 that we do all that we can to set in place some 3 strategies, something to give people hope to know 4 that we have not forgotten them, and that no one 5 needs to be poor in a country and city as rich as we 6 have in New York City, United States of America. 7 Our Committee is going to do all that 8 we can to highlight those issues, those principles, 9 those things that can bring about in our look, a way 10 out for people who wish to be whole citizens in this 11 society. 12 Thank you very much. 13 Thank you, Madam Speaker. I 14 appreciate it. 15 PUBLIC ADVOCATE GOTBAUM: Seeing 16 nobody else, the Stated Meeting will stand in 17 recess. 18 (Hearing recessed at 4:45 p.m.) 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 71 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 28th day of May 2008. 19 20 21 22 23 --------------------- 24 CINDY MILLELOT, CSR. 25 72 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