City & State August 31, 2015 _ Labor issue by City & State

August 31, 2015

CIT YANDSTATENY.COM

@CIT YANDSTATENY

UP4NYC APPL AUDS

GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO, MAJORITY LEADER JOHN FLANAGAN, SPEAKER CARL HEASTIE & MEMBERS OF THE SENATE & ASSEMBLY

Greater New York LECET

For supporting an agenda for working families. Because of their efforts, 421a projects will pay construction workers middle class wages and build more affordable housing.

New York City & Vicinity Carpenters Labor Management Corporation PAID FOR BY UP4NYC

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

CONTENTS

10.......

CITY

District leader races could shape heated

20.......

2016 contest By Michael Gareth Johnson Nonprofits have high praise for de Blasio By Jeff Stein from New York Nonprofit What the test scores mean for the city’s Renewal program By Patrick Wall from Chalkbeat New York

16.......

STATE

The debate over how to fix I-81 in

18.......

FORUM: ON EDUCATION

48.......

GRAD SCHOOL SUPPLEMENT

52.......

OPINION

58.......

BACK & FORTH

BUFFALO

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie’s history with Buffalo By Justin Sondel

Cover: Illustration by Guillaume Federighi

cit yandstateny.com

How Labor Day was born in New York … a look at the upcoming PEF negotiations … an overview of the fast food wage hike … the latest on the 421-a standoff … city officials let living wage laws slide … the outlook for Buffalo’s job market … Q&As with Thomas Perez, Peter Abbate, Marty Golden, I. Daneek Miller, Bob Linn

40.......

Syracuse By Michael Gareth Johnson

SPOTLIGHT: LABOR

Education experts on how to make schools better

Nick Powell on housing for the homeless … Gerson Borrero on Jorge Ramos and Donald Trump … Alexis Grenell on paid family leave for fathers … Melissa MarkViverito and Keith Mestrich on IDNYC … Steven Malanga and Allison Sesso share conflicting views on nonprofits

A Q&A with “Show Me a Hero” author Lisa Belkin

Michael Gareth Johnson Executive Editor

According to the International Labor Organization, Americans work 137 hours more per year, on average, than Japanese workers; 260 hours more than Brits; and 499 hours more than the French. I am guessing none of this surprises our readers. Hard work is a value that is praised and promoted across America, and definitely here in New York. But there is another value that is pervasive in the Empire State – a sense of dignity that leads laborers to demand fairer wages and safer working conditions. Unlike some other states, politicians here often have to balance BOTH of these values when crafting policy and making budget decisions. It’s not enough to just create jobs; there is an expectation that they will be good, high-paying and safe jobs. Whether debating construction of affordable housing, increasing salaries or bringing jobs to economically depressed areas, the voices of the workers are always present and rarely go unheard in New York politics. For our special Labor Day edition of the magazine, we highlighted some timely topics where we see these values at work. Our Sarina Trangle writes about lax oversight of New York City’s living wage laws. Our Justin Sondel looks at the efforts to educate the Western New York workforce. And our Ashley Hupfl previews the upcoming contract talks between PEF and the state, looking at how the election of a new union president may impact those talks. Plus we have stories about the 421-a talks and the hike in pay for fast food workers. The magazine also features a story about Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie’s ties to Buffalo and how this long personal history could impact legislation. This piece by Justin Sondel also provides interesting insight into the differences between Heastie and his predecessor Sheldon Silver, from a Western New York perspective. You will also notice at the back of the issue we have vastly expanded our opinion section following the hiring of our new Opinion Editor Nick Powell. His addition to our team is part of a larger commitment we are making to cultivating and publishing interesting opinion pieces in addition to our top-notch journalism. So stay tuned – we’ll be bringing you much more from this space in the coming months. And a quick note about the cover. As I mentioned at the top of this note, Americans work hard. And that is why Labor Day has become such a meaningful holiday – a time when kicking back and relaxing, hitting the beach or firing up the barbeque is a way to honor all that hard work. For us, playfully highlighting the joy of the holiday was our way to honor the millions who put in 40 hours (or more) each and every week.

city & state — August 31, 2015

August 31, 2015

61 Broadway, Suite 2235 New York, NY 10006 Editorial (212) 894-5417 General (646) 517-2740 Advertising (212) 894-5422 info@cityandstateny.com CITY AND STATE, LLC Chairman Steve Farbman President/CEO Tom Allon tallon@cityandstateny.com

PUBLISHING

Check out what everyone was saying at City & State’s On Education event on Aug. 13, featuring Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch, New York City Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña and new state Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia:

Publisher Andrew A. Holt aholt@cityandstateny.com Vice President of Advertising Jim Katocin jkatocin@cityandstateny.com Events Director Jasmin Freeman jfreeman@cityandstateny.com Director of Marketing Samantha Diliberti sdiliberti@cityandstateny.com

STEPHANIE PLACHY ‫@‏‬StephaniePlachy 16% of students in my last school were #homeless or in #temporaryhousing. Happy to see @ICPH_homeless addressing this. #OnEducation CITY & STATE NY ‫@‏‬CityAndStateNY Audience answers @ashleyhupfl’s Q if #NY is moving in right direction w/ #teacherevaluation: “No.” #OnEducation RICHARD ROBBINS ‫@‏‬rich1 Manhattan, NY “Students are moving away from critical learning to learning how to ‘bubble in’ for test.” @UFT’s Janella Hinds @CityAndStateNY #OnEducation RUBEN BROSBE ‫@‏‬blogsbe Merryl Tisch blames opt out rate on rhetoric and says 40% eval based on tests is a “small fraction”. Hm. #OnEducation DAVID FRANK ‫@‏‬dfranknyc Farina: DOE is investing $23 million in arts education because joy and rigor in schools leads to better outcomes 4 all #OnEducation #nycdoe

city & state — July 17, 2015

CORY KRALL ‫@‏‬cory_krall Merryl Tisch on the failing schools crisis: “Parent voice is critical!” #OnEducation KATE YOURKE ‫@‏‬KYourke @MaryEllenElia and Merryl Tisch say Opt-Outs are a result of poor communication with parents who don’t understand new math. Yah #OnEducation BETH FERTIG ‫@‏‬bethfertig NY State Ed Commish Elia says we “need to rethink” amount of time spent on test prep #OnEducation @WNYC

Business Development Scott Augustine saugustine@cityandstateny.com EDITORIAL Executive Editor Michael Johnson mjohnson@cityandstateny.com Associate Editor / Senior Correspondent Jon Lentz jlentz@cityandstateny.com Web Editor/Reporter Wilder Fleming wfleming@cityandstateny.com Albany Reporter Ashley Hupfl ahupfl@cityandstateny.com Buffalo Reporter Justin Sondel jsondel@cityandstateny.com Staff Reporter Sarina Trangle strangle@cityandstateny.com Editor-at-Large Gerson Borrero gborrero@cityandstateny.com Copy Editor Ryan Somers rsomers@cityandstateny.com Editorial Assistant Jeremy Unger junger@cityandstateny.com

PRODUCTION Creative Director Guillaume Federighi gfederighi@cityandstateny.com Digital Strategist Zanub Saeed zsaeed@cityandstateny.com Multimedia Director Bryan Terry bterry@cityandstateny.com Senior Designer Michelle Yang myang@cityandstateny.com Marketing Graphic Designer Charles Flores cflores@cityandstateny.com Illustrator Danilo Agutoli

For more on the On Education event, turn to Page 40.

cit yandstateny.com

Let

Plan Your Next Event

Whether you’re planning a half-day conference, cocktail reception, awards ceremony or industry panel discussion, City & State can offer all the services you’re looking for-- and all within reasonably priced packages to fit your budget. City & State Event Packages come with unique collateral advertising opportunities in City & State Newsmagazine, our First Read and Last Read e-newsletters and at www.cityandstateny.com

We Specialize In: • • • •

Promotion to our Engaged Audience Strategic Speaker Selection Securing Venues and Caterers On-Site Logistics

• • • •

Moderating Panel Discussions Photography and Videography Entertainment Packaged Event Takeaways & Much More!

For more information on our unique and customizable packages, please call Jasmin Freeman at 646.442.1662 or email jfreeman@cityandstateny.com

EMPIRE STATE

SM ACKDOWN CUOMO vs. De BLASIO 6

city & state — August 31, 2015

ANDREW the “Prince of Darkness”

Big, Bad BILL

The showdown between Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio has been brewing for months, and this summer it boiled over. But it’s not the first clash in the Empire State, and it’s certainly not the worst. So before the state’s two heavyweights finish battering and bloodying each other, City & State presents the biggest, baddest political rivalries in the history of New York.

cit yandstateny.com

ROOSEVELT vs. PLATT

Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr 1791-1804

Teddy “Rough Rider” Roosevelt and “Boss” Thomas Platt 1898-1900

The most notorious rivalry in the history of the state – if not the entire country – began back in 1791, when Aaron Burr knocked Philip Schuyler, Alexander Hamilton’s father-in-law, out of office and took his seat in the U.S. Senate. Hamilton and Burr had much in common: Both served admirably in the Revolutionary War, won elected office in New York and went on to national prominence, Burr as vice president and Hamilton as the first secretary of the Treasury. In 1801, when Burr was tied with Thomas Jefferson for the presidency, Hamilton felt that Burr was unfit for the role and sided with Jefferson, the eventual winner. Hamilton later opposed Burr’s candidacy for governor, spurring their infamous duel in 1804 in which Hamilton was killed.

Teddy Roosevelt was one of the country’s most pioneering presidents, but earlier in his career he was outmaneuvered by one of New York City’s famed political bosses, Thomas Platt. Boss Platt, the leader of the state Republican machine, supported Roosevelt’s first run for governor in 1898, and took credit for his victory. But Platt was taken aback by Roosevelt’s independent streak and his goodgovernment crusades. So the wily Platt conspired to have Roosevelt nominated as the party’s pick for the vice presidency. Roosevelt reluctantly accepted, and his ticket went on to win. But the joke was on Platt: When President William McKinley was assassinated, Roosevelt succeeded him, and spent his presidency busting trusts and fighting corruption.

LINDSAY vs. ROCKEFELLER

KOCH vs. CUOMO

John V. Lindsay and Nelson “Rocky” Rockefeller 1966-1973

Like Cuomo and de Blasio, Gov. Nelson Rockefeller and Mayor John Lindsay were members of the same party – but the fact that both men were Republicans didn’t exactly make them best of friends. Rockefeller was governor when Lindsay became mayor, and the relationship began to deteriorate almost as soon as Lindsay began campaigning. In office, the two men attacked each other in the press, sought to outdo each other and clashed repeatedly over funding for New York City. Both men wanted control of the GOP not only in New York but beyond, as each one harbored ambitions on the White House. Lindsay went so far as to back a challenger during one of Rockefeller’s re-election bids, and threatened to have New York City secede from the state. Meanwhile Rockefeller set up a commission to investigate the city. By the time both men left office, the city was on the brink of financial disaster.

cit yandstateny.com

Ed Koch and Mario Cuomo 1977-1981

Mario Cuomo, a Queens lawyer who had recently been elected lieutenant governor, and Ed Koch, a Manhattan congressman, were two relative newcomers who found themselves the last candidates standing in a crowded race for mayor of New York City in 1977, a tumultuous time in the city. The bitter campaign stood out for its name-calling and mud-slinging: In what may be little more than an apocryphal tale, the Cuomo camp was accused of using the slogan “Vote for Cuomo, not the homo” to criticize Koch, who was rumored to be gay. After Koch won the primary, he faced Cuomo again – and won – in the general election. The two battled a third time a few years later when Cuomo beat Koch in the Democratic gubernatorial primary and went on to win in 1982.

city & state — August 31, 2015

HAMILTON vs. BURR

LAWMAKERS / LAWBREAKERS

WHICH CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS HAVE BEEN ARRESTED FOR PROTESTING? By SARINA TRANGLE

Today’s banner headlines are quick to trumpet politicians’ arrests for malfeasance, but City Council members are more frequently quietly cuffed for old-fashioned civil disobedience. City legislators seem to be prime suspects when it comes to union rallies, protests against unfair wages or labor practices, and other advocacy work. Here’s a look at who has been arrested for civil disobedience:

MELISSA MARK-VIVERITO, Occupy Wall Street protest, November 2011

DANIEL DROMM, immigration reform rally, June 2010

RUBEN WILLS, LaGuardia Airport worker rally for wage increases, January 2014

LAURIE CUMBO, rent control law protest, June 2015

JULISSA FERRERAS-COPELAND, Arizona immigration law protest and three-day fast, June 2010

I. DANEEK MILLER, LaGuardia Airport worker rally for wage increases, January 2014

city & state — August 31, 2015

JIMMY VAN BRAMER, Council Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer and many of his colleagues were arrested while joining LaGuardia Airport workers and their counterparts across the country in marching on Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2014 to demand higher wages. Van Bramer applauded Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union for working to organize and bolster wages for those who handle baggage, those who escort wheelchair users and other workers. 32BJ recently announced it and the airport contractor have agreed to a process for permitting personnel to vote on its union representation. “Civil disobedience has a very long history in this country, and no one did it more powerfully than Martin Luther King Jr.,” Van Bramer said, noting politicians’ arrests generate media attention and show employers that elected officials are serious about supporting a movement. “There is a minor inconvenience – you’re arrested and detained for a few hours. But it is nothing compared to the workers who are being taken advantage of and who are desperately trying to earn a living wage. … That demonstration helped put on pressure and inspire the workers to keep going.”

BRAD LANDER, protesting the closure of Long Island College Hospital, July 2013; protesting with car wash workers seeking to unionize and claiming they were facing unfair compensation and labor practices, March 2015; immigration reform rally, June 201 cit yandstateny.com

WILLIAM ALATRISTE FOR THE CITY COUNCIL

ANNABEL PALMA, rally for security guards at Empire State Building who contended they were not receiving fair wages, 2006

RITCHIE TORRES, LaGuardia Airport worker rally for wage increases, January 2014

STEPHEN LEVIN, Councilman Stephen Levin was arrested at a July 2013 protest against the closure of the University Hospital of Brooklyn at Long Island College Hospital along with several nurses and then-mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio, who has since characterized the incident as “the most choreographed thing on earth.” “What I remember most,” Levin said, “is how especially gracious my cellmate, Mayor de Blasio, was to our NYPD personnel at Midtown South and how reassuring he was to our co-arrestees. They were very nervous about being arrested!”

9 CARLOS MENCHACA, LaGuardia Airport worker rally for wage increases, January 2014; protesting with car wash workers seeking to unionize and claiming they were facing unfair compensation and labor practices, March 2015

COREY JOHNSON, rent control law protest, June 2015; protesting Spectra natural gas pipeline November 2013 cit yandstateny.com

ANTONIO REYNOSO, LaGuardia Airport worker rally for wage increases, January 2014; protest of the city’s inaction in preventing north Brooklyn day care center closures, August 2015

YDANIS RODRIGUEZ, while NYPD cleared out Zuccotti Park amid Occupy Wall Street protests, January 2014; LaGuardia Airport worker rally for wage increases, January 2014; Arizona immigration law protest, May 2010

INDEZ DICKENS, LaGuardia Airport worker rally for wage increases, January 2014

FERNANDO CABRERA, Councilman Fernando Cabrera was arrested in January 2012 while participating in a prayer gathering in support of the Right to Worship movement, which argues religious groups should be permitted to rent public spaces for worship. Cabrera’s press person said he was “definitely surprised” he was arrested because “he did not consider joining the other pastors in prayer as an outright act of civil disobedience.”

JUMAANE WILLIAMS, rent control law protest, June 2015; Occupy Wall Street protest, November 2011; Arizona immigration law protest, May 2010

city & state — August 31, 2015

Note: City & State contacted every member of the City Council to ask whether they have been arrested for civil disobedience. Every other council member said they have not been arrested, except for Darlene Mealy, who did not respond to repeated inquiries.

MARK LEVINE, LaGuardia Airport worker rally for wage increases, January 2014

CIT Y

COMING ATTRACTIONS DISTRICT LEADER RACES COULD SHAPE A HEATED 2016 CONGRESSIONAL CONTEST By MICHAEL GARETH JOHNSON

city & state — August 31, 2015

State Sen. Bill Perkins; Adam Clayton Powell IV; state Sen. Adriano Espaillat; Suzan Johnson Cook; and Assemblyman Keith Wright

By most accounts, 2015 is a boring election year. The only contested races are smaller ones where relatively few voters are paying attention. But in New York City there are serious fights being waged over Democratic district leader seats – most interestingly in northern Manhattan and the Bronx, where those elections could impact next year’s heavily anticipated race for the congressional seat currently held by retiring U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel. During a recent City & State TV segment, political and media consultant Michael Oliva discussed some of the more intriguing races, outlining how they could affect the 2016 elections that are sure to garner more attention. There are already several likely Democratic primary candidates for the 13th Congressional District. Among them are: Assemblyman Keith Wright, who has already actively started to campaign for the seat; state Sen. Adriano Espaillat, who ran

twice unsuccessfully against Rangel; state Sen. Bill Perkins; Adam Clayton Powell IV, son of former Congressman Adam Clayton Powell; and Suzan Johnson Cook, a former policy adviser to President Bill Clinton. The district is a mix of traditional African-American power centers in Harlem and large pockets of Dominican and Puerto Rican populations, as well as a number of more gentrified areas, so the contest is shaping up to be a complicated one, in which racial and identity politics will likely play a key role. A good guide to where the hardcore Democratic voters live and who they will support come 2016 is to track several district leader races coming up this September. Arguably the most intriguing is the 70th Assembly District, Part A, in the heart of Harlem – where there is a long tradition of black leaders. The incumbent is Yasmin Cornelius, who has close ties with Wright. She is

facing a challenge from Cordell Cleare, who is a supporter of Bill Perkins. There is also a third candidate, Afua Atta-Mensah, who doesn’t have any clear allegiances. “This one is integral,” Oliva said. “It is roughly Eighth Avenue to Fifth Avenue, from (Central) Park to 125th Street. Black Harlem. A little bit of white Harlem now. This is the base, so whoever comes out of this … it’s perception. So people say, hey, he’s got some power. I am going to support him because he has that kinetic energy.” Another race of note is the 72nd Assembly District, Part A, where incumbent Maria Morillo is being challenged by Yudy Valdez. Morillo is supported by Espaillat, and Valdez is supported by Robert Jackson, who ran against Espaillat for state Senate in 2014. The outcome of this race could impact the congressional race, hurting Espaillat’s chances if Morillo loses, but could also affect the state Senate race in 2016.

RACES TO WATCH 70th Assembly District, Part A: Incumbent Yasmin Cornelius (supported by Wright) vs. Cordell Cleare (supported by Bill Perkins) vs. Afua Atta-Mensah 70th Assembly District, Part D (Female): Incumbent Marisol Alcantara (supported by Espaillat) vs. Alicia Barksdale (supported by Wright) 70th Assembly District, Part D (Male): Incumbent Landon Dais (supported by Espaillat) vs. Dan Clark (supported by Wright) 71st Assembly District, Part A: Incumbent Juan Rosa (supported by Espaillat) vs. Robert Jackson. 72nd Assembly District, Part A: Incumbent Maria Morillo (supported by Espaillat) vs. Yudy Valdez (supported by Jackson) vs. Francesca Castellanos

cit yandstateny.com

Carlo Scissura, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce

Commissioner Loree Sutton, Mayor’s Office of Veteran’s Affairs

Ritchie Torres, Councilman

Suri Kasirer, Kasirer Consulting

Mike Klein, McKenna Long, Aldridge

Andrea Stewart Cousins

ADVERTISE WITH CITY & STATE TO:

Reach elected officials Educate NY’s most engaged leaders Raise awareness and shape legislation For advertising information, please contact Jim Katocin at 212.284.9714 or JKatocin@CityandStateNY.com

CIT Y

WORRIES RENEWED TEST SCORES UNDERSCORE THE CHALLENGES AHEAD FOR THE CITY’S SCHOOL TURNAROUND PROGRAM

city & state — August 31, 2015

The state Education Department is poised to seize control of struggling schools in de Blasio’s Renewal program if they don’t rapidly improve.

This year’s state test results showed New York City’s school system creeping forward, but they also told another story: The city’s new schoolimprovement program has a grueling climb ahead of it. Schools were chosen for the Renewal turnaround program largely because of their low test scores, and while many made minor gains and some pulled significant shares of students out of the lowest score bracket this year, their results remained strikingly far below the city average, according to the testing data released earlier this month.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has promised to revamp rather than replace those schools, whose troubles predate his administration. The latest test results underscore just how ambitious a threeyear turnaround plan is, especially since the first year was mainly devoted to helping the Renewal schools craft improvement plans. As de Blasio tries to pull off this feat, skeptical state lawmakers will be scrutinizing the program’s progress, and the state Education Department will be poised to seize control of struggling schools that don’t rapidly improve. “The Renewal schools obviously

are schools that didn’t get enough investment in the past and had a lot of problems,” de Blasio said earlier this month. “We expect that it’s going to take a lot of work and investment to get them where they need to be, but we’re confident they will move.” The average passing rate for the 63 Renewal schools on the third- through eighth-grade state English exams was 7.5 percent this year, compared with the city’s 30 percent average. In math, the Renewal passing rate was about 7 percent, compared with 35 percent for the city. Only about a quarter of Renewal schools had

English passing rates in the double digits (the highest rate was 18 percent), while just one-fifth saw double-digit passing rates in math (with a high of 21 percent). Though extremely low, those average Renewal passing rates reflect increases over 2014: a 1.4 point boost in English, and a 1.1 point hike in math. Forty-one schools made slight English proficiency gains, and 36 saw bumps in math. Meanwhile, 20 schools saw their English passing rates slip slightly, as did 27 schools in math. Renewal schools have much lower test scores than the city average, but they also enroll more students that, statistically, tend to score poorly. The 94 schools in the program serve larger shares of non-native English speakers, students with disabilities, students in temporary housing, and black and Hispanic students than the city average, according to an analysis by the city’s Independent Budget Office. (They are also more likely to have low-rated teachers and funding shortfalls, which de Blasio has tried to address by boosting their budgets.) Considering how far behind many students are when they enter these schools, another measure of their progress is how many students they can push out of the bottom score zone (Level 1 out of 4). In both subjects, roughly half of the schools managed to shrink their share of bottom scores. P.S. 154 in the Bronx managed to downsize its group of Level 1 students in English by 17 percentage points, while that borough’s Academy for Personal Leadership and Excellence reduced its Level 1 math cohort by 14 percentage points. In meetings with Renewal school leaders, Education Department officials have said such progress is an important accomplishment. During the city’s test-score release cit yandstateny.com

DEMETRIUS FREEMAN/MAYORAL PHOTOGRAPHY OFFICE

By PATRICK WALL from CHALKBEAT NEW YORK

CIT Y

Our Our Perspective Perspective Legislation Legislation Would Would Protect Protect Grocery Grocery Store Store Workers Workers and and Our Our Communities Communities By Stuart Appelbaum, President, Retail, Wholesale and Department By Stuart Appelbaum, President, Store Union, RWDSU, UFCW and Department Store Union, Retail, Wholesale RWDSU, UFCW

announcement, Chancellor Carmen Fariña suggested that pushing students in reading can have a ripple effect. “If you can’t read, you can’t do social studies, you can’t do science, you can’t do anything else,” she said. “So being able to move those Level 1s to Level 2s is crucial.” That step-by-step approach to improvement is reflected in the goals the city gave each Renewal school in May and June. One elementary school was told to raise its students’ average math test proficiency scores to a 2.14 on the Level 1 to 4 scale by 2016 — a 0.03 bump from the school’s 2014 average, according to the principal. A middle school was told to increase its students’ average English score by 0.15 points on that four-point scale by 2017, according to a goal-setting document obtained by Chalkbeat. “We were pleased that they were as low as they were,” an administrator from that middle school said of the goals, which he said seemed reasonable since the school has many students still learning English. In an op-ed in the New York Post expressing concern over de Blasio’s handling of the city school system, state Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan said he had “unanswered questions” cit yandstateny.com

about the Renewal program. He added that while the city’s schools should set up every student to succeed, “I have serious doubts about whether that mission is being fulfilled.” (Flanagan, a Republican, has sparred before with de Blasio, a Democrat who tried to help his party take control of the Senate.) Whether state officials keeping close tabs on the Renewal program will be content with modest gains, or if they will expect those schools to make greater strides toward the city averages, remains to be seen. Speaking at a recent education conference that Fariña also attended, state Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch said the city and its partners face a choice with its bottomranked schools. “I think they’ve got to make a decision,” she said. “How long do you stick with a failing school?”

Sarah Darville and Stephanie Snyder contributed to this report. Chalkbeat New York is a nonprofit news organization covering educational change efforts. Visit ny.chalkbeat.org. See what the experts had to say at City & State’s On Education forum on Page 40.

For more information, visit For more information, visit www.rwdsu.org

www.rwdsu.org

city & state — August 31, 2015

Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña discuss education policy.

n December, 2013, workers at the Trade Fair Supermarket in Queens found be n December, 2013, workers at out the they’d Trade Fair getting coal for holidays. The hardworking Supermarket inthe Queens found out50 they’d be men and women the store reported work, only getting coal forat the holidays. The 50 to hardworking to find outwomen that the had suddenly been sold – men and atstore the store reported to work, only and that they and hadbeen to leave to find out thatwere the now storejobless had suddenly soldthe – was no property new owner and that immediately. they were nowThe jobless and had tounder leave the obligation to hire themThe back, and longtime shoppers owner was under no property immediately. new at the storetonow unfamiliar handling their obligation hirehad them back, andfaces longtime shoppers food tasked with unfamiliar keeping the storehandling clean. their at theand store now had faces Thistasked is justwith one keeping examplethe of how food and storegrocery clean. store workers can be left out in the cold supermarkets change hands, and This is when just one example of how grocery store how working andleft health in oursupermarkets communities can suddenly workers can be out instandards the cold when change hands,take and a hit working when new moves ininatour oldcommunities stores. how andownership health standards can suddenly take Now,new we have an opportunity a hit when ownership moves in to at old stores. protectNow, workers froman this type of to we have opportunity By requiring that grocery injusticeworkers in New from York City, as well protect this type of as stores retainthat theirgrocery By requiring protect consumers and their injustice in New York City, as families well as in employees, workers stores retain their would our communities. The Grocery Worker protect consumers and their families in be protectedworkers during change Retention Act, legislation that isWorker employees, would our communities. The Grocery currently before the New York City of ownership, and shoppers be protected during change Retention Act, legislation that is Council, would currently beforemandate the Newthat Yorkwhen City a would know that of ownership, andtheir shoppers grocery store sold, the that new when a Council, wouldismandate grocery storethat would would know their ownership would keepthe current grocery store is sold, new store continuestore to bewould staffed by grocery employees would for a 90-day transitional ownership keep current store experienced employees. continue to be staffed by muchperiod. Thefor lawawould employees 90-daybring transitional experienced employees. needed job security to bring the over 50,000 muchperiod. The law would New Yorkers who work in the supermarket industry and give consumers needed job security to the over 50,000 confidence a priority in grocery New Yorkersthat whofood worksafety in theissupermarket industrystores. and give consumers By requiring that grocery their employees, workers confidence that food safety is astores priorityretain in grocery stores. would By be requiring protectedthat during the transition period. be ableworkers to show grocery stores retain theirThey’d employees, the new thatduring their familiarity withperiod. the jobThey’d and the would beowners protected the transition bestore’s able to show And, they’d bewith given to look other work customers is an that asset. the new owners their familiarity thetime job and thefor store’s while remaining a sudden harshwork they’dwouldn’t be givenbe time to look and for other customers is an employed. asset. And,There deprivation of wages like those atwouldn’t Fair Trade while remaining employed. There besuffered. a sudden and harsh Shoppers at these would know that their grocery store would deprivation of wages like stores those at Fair Trade suffered. continue to be staffed by stores workers who know understand the grocery industrystore and are Shoppers at these would that their would good at their Experienced grocery workers have of proper continue to bejobs. staffed by workers who understand theknowledge industry and are and understanding of the sanitation procedures, health regulations, good at their jobs. Experienced grocery workers have knowledge of proper clientele and communities they serve. That’s for grocery regulations, andinvaluable understanding of thestore sanitation procedures, health shoppers. clientele and communities they serve. That’s invaluable for grocery store A similar law has been in place in Los Angeles since 2005, and a shoppers. statewide grocery worker law Angeles just wentsince into 2005, effect and a A similar lawstore has been inretention place in Los statewide in California summer. Newlaw Yorkjust Citywent needs join the grocery storethis worker retention intotoeffect movement protectingthis workers andNew communities in an to join the statewide inofCalifornia summer. York City needs industry that seen too much and exploitation, wagein an movement of has protecting workers communities theft, andthat unfair of a largely immigrant exploitation, wage industry hastreatment seen too much workforce. theft, and unfair treatment of a largely immigrant workforce.

CIT Y

THE NONPROFIT REVIEW DESPITE DE BLASIO’S BAD PRESS, HUMAN SERVICES GROUPS PRAISE HIS ‘CRITICAL AND SMART MOVES’

ROB BENNETT/ED REED/MAYORAL PHOTOGRAPHY OFFICE

By JEFF STEIN from NEW YORK NONPROFIT

city & state — August 31, 2015

Nonprofit leaders across the human services spectrum, from homeless services to education advocacy, say de Blasio’s budgetary changes have translated into substantial gains in programming.

This has not been the Summer of de Blasio. Among the most biting criticisms that the mayor currently faces – on the Legionnaire’s outbreak, the Uber fight, his feud with the governor – are those focused on his handling of New York City’s social services. The New York Post’s editorial page has recently been decrying the city’s “surging vagrant population” and the publication has lampooned those who prioritize housing for the homeless over mental health considerations. National television pundit Joe Scarborough reinforced this narrative on Tuesday, blaming the mayor’s “misguided liberalism” for the city’s “homeless epidemic.” But in spite of the recent bad press, leaders of the city’s human services nonprofits remain largely committed to

the mayor and his vision. James Parrott, deputy director and chief economist of the Fiscal Policy Institute, says this broad support stems from the administration’s overhaul of the annual budget process as it relates to nonprofit organizations. “For the last several years under Mayor Bloomberg, nonprofits complained bitterly – and justly so – about the annual ‘budget dance’ in which the mayor dropped from his proposal hundreds of millions of dollars in social service contracts that the council had secured in the prior year’s budget,” Parrott explained. “Advocates were then forced to lobby and rally throughout the spring to get the council to restore the cuts. Mayor de Blasio has not only done away with all of that, but he’s boosted funding by hundreds

of millions of dollars for enhanced programming in a number of areas.” Parrott says the Fiscal Policy Institute’s recent tallies show that city funding for human services has increased 14 percent since de Blasio took office, compared with a 5.5 percent increase in federal funding and a 2.9 percent decrease in state funding. “The contrast with the previous administration – as well as with the state government – in this regard could not be more stark,” Parrott said. Nonprofit leaders across the human services spectrum, from homeless services to education advocacy, say the budgetary changes have translated into substantial gains in programming. “This administration has made significant progress toward ensuring that all New York City children have

access to high-quality, affordable early childhood education and after-school programs – opportunities that we know help close the achievement gap and lift families out of poverty,” said Michelle Yanche, assistant executive director of Good Shepherd Services, a nonprofit that offers school-based services and has been a vocal advocate for after-school education funding. “In conjunction with community-based organizations, an expected 70,000 kids will be enrolled in pre-K this year, and more than 100,000 middle school students will have access to enriching after-school programs,” Yanche said. Christy Parque, executive director of Homeless Services United, also says that her agency has recognized a remarkably positive shift, despite public perception that the homeless cit yandstateny.com

cit yandstateny.com

to get a sense of the details because without them, nonprofits are unable to put the changes into their budgets.” Jackson was also concerned that the cost of living adjustment implementation could have unintended consequences for nonprofits. “We’re concerned that there could be unfunded reporting requirements,” Jackson said. “Nonprofits have limited ability to meet new administrative requirements, especially when contracts provide low overhead rates.” City officials maintain that the implementation is being handled methodically to ensure maximum efficacy, and that the changes will be retroactive to the beginning of the fiscal year. “The city is actively working with the nonprofit service provider community and the appropriate city agencies to ensure that implementation covers all the intended employees and programs, and that it is done in an efficient manner that doesn’t place any undue burden on providers,” said Amy Spitalnick, director of public affairs for the city Office of Management and Budget. “We take these concerns very seriously and are addressing them at the beginning of the process. By working upfront with the providers, we are ensuring the easiest and most efficient implementation process – rather than months of review after the

fact.” Parque agreed that process has not appeared to be completely seamless to nonprofits, but expressed understanding for the challenges involved in adjusting thousands of contracts. “Yes, more clarity on the rollout process would have been helpful,” Parque said. “To be fair, though, I remember similar challenges the last time we had a cost of living adjustment.” Parrott added that the administration should be cut some slack, given the scope of its achievements with human services nonprofits. “Like many others, I would like to see things happen faster,” Parrott said. “But I also have the luxury of looking across the entire city budget and seeing what’s going on. While I may feel impatient at times, I understand that there has been very ambitious implementation, from universal pre-K to housing. This administration is taking on huge problem areas.”

New York Nonprofit is the state’s mustread news source for the nonprofit industry. Read City & State Opinion Editor Nick Powell’s take on the need for housing for the homeless, Page 52.

Advocates were befuddled at the mayor’s decision not to expand a universal free lunch pilot program for middle school students.

CIT Y

In his executive budget briefing, the mayor said the city would “continue to work on the pilot program from the first year and hopefully get better results,” with the hopes of expansion by fiscal year 2018. Accles says the administration’s prolonged path to expansion is confusing, and a missed opportunity to lead. “Leading up to the final budget, we were stunned that the administration had such a different interpretation of the data,” Accles said. “I do think that they are philosophically aligned with us, which is actually the core of the frustration. Expansion of the program will actually save money for the city, due to available federal subsidies. … Why wouldn’t the city want to fully embrace the clear blueprint provided by the success of the pilot program?” Nonprofit leaders have also expressed concerns about the implementation of the recently won cost of living adjustment for contracts with the city. While the 2.5 percent increase for city contracts was welcomed as a victory by the sector, details of its rollout have yet to emerge. “While we were very excited to get the commitment, the implementation details have been slow,” said Michelle Jackson, associate director and general counsel of the Human Services Council. “Providers have been waiting

city & state — August 31, 2015

population is growing. “The expansion of Homebase, the consolidation of legal services at the Human Resources Administration, the expansion of funding for eviction services – these have been critical and smart moves by the administration to stop the growth of homelessness in New York City,” she said. Parque argued that these expansions should not be forgotten in the face of questions from the media about the efficacy of the city’s efforts to decrease the homeless population. “The barrage by the tabloid press has simply perpetuated the myths and stereotypes about who is homeless, defining the problem incorrectly,” Parque said. “In reality, we have made huge gains with this administration. We are within arm’s reach of solving veterans homelessness in New York City, for example.” However, while human services leaders praise the mayor’s overarching progress, many have raised specific questions about the administration’s management of funding and program implementation. Yanche cited a recent battle to restore $24 million in grants to community organizations – including Good Shepherd Services – that was initially removed from the mayor’s executive budget. While the funding was restored in June, allowing programming for thousands of underserved middle school students to go forward, it took a massive mobilization on the part of advocates and providers, including rallies and letter-writing campaigns. “There is still progress that our city needs to make to ensure that summer programs continue and are not forced to fight for funding, as they were this year,” Yanche said. Human services nonprofits have sparred with the administration on many issues on which they were previously aligned. Advocates for universal free lunch for middle school students, for instance, have expressed befuddlement at the mayor’s decision not to expand this past year’s pilot program. “The participation in middle schools this past year was really strong – 10,000 more students eating per day, which is a 9 percent increase in participation,” said Liz Accles, executive director of Community Food Advocates, a nonprofit that led the Lunch 4 Learning campaign for free universal lunch. “We saw those numbers as a great success and were very surprised that the administration did not decide to expand the program in the final budget.”

STATE

DIVERGING ROADS THE DEBATE OVER HOW TO FIX I-81 IN SYRACUSE

city & state — A u g u s t 31, 2015

Anyone who drives into the center of Syracuse makes the same observation: Interstate 81 just cuts the city in two. Downtown is divided by a series of elevated highways with massive concrete deserts below them. Walking or biking from one side of the city to the other is at best a massive hassle. For many, it is impossible. The 1.4-mile viaduct that separates University Hill from downtown is now more than 60 years old and the state Department of Transportation says something must be done to address the aging structure. Politicians have lined up to share their thoughts, and one thing is clear – they all understand the stakes. U.S. Rep. John Katko has said the final decision “will shape our city and regional transportation infrastructure for years to come, it is critical that we get this right the first time around.” Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner told City & State the project is “a complex, once-in-ageneration opportunity that requires us to make a carefully considered, data-oriented decision.” The company hired to develop the options for the public to consider, in conjunction with the state Department of Transportation, is Parsons Corp. In a recent City & State TV interview, Parsons Executive Vice President Michael Johnson outlined the proposals that are being examined. “Right now we are in a scoping program where all alternatives are being considered,” Johnson said, “everything from a null alternative or do nothing, through what I will call a community grid program to another viaduct and of course studying the tunnel as well.” The tunnel is likely the most expensive option. The DOT reviewed four tunnel options and dismissed them from further consideration, but after the public comment period yielded alternative tunnel proposals the idea is back on the table. The DOT is reviewing the alternatives, so there

SYRACUSE METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION COUNCIL

By MICHAEL GARETH JOHNSON

Downtown Syracuse is divided by a series of elevated highways. Traveling from one side of the city to the other can be a nightmare. is no cost estimate at this time. The agency has also developed three separate plans to rebuild the existing elevated viaduct, with new designs to be make the area more pedestrianfriendly. The cost of implementing one of those plans would be roughly $1.4 billion. And two community grid plans have been proposed. These would eliminate the viaduct altogether and turn the stretch of road that is currently underneath the highway into a boulevard with pedestrian and bike crossings. The cost of this would be about $1 billion. Ultimately the federal and state

governments will be picking up the tab, but Johnson said money is not impacting the process right now. “At this phase of the study … the cost component is not a driving factor,” Johnson said. “It is what is in the best interest of the community itself, and what is going to have the longest lasting ability to move services and goods throughout the area. And cost comes really in to factor at the end of the alternatives analysis phase.” What is driving the discussion is a difference in opinion on priorities. Some feel the project should focus on making the city more connected and livable and lean toward the boulevard

options. Others fear that route would make navigating through the region difficult, hurting business and increasing commute times for those who live in the suburbs. And passions are running high. Anyone who lives in Central New York and wants to stay in the area knows that this project will impact their lives for decades. Elected officials and policymakers are surely aware of this as well, and know their legacies are on the line. For the next few years, there will be a heated political fight surrounding this issue. If you are not paying attention yet, it’s a good time to start tuning in. cit yandstateny.com

The Must-Read Morning Roundup of New York Politics and Government Our morning email delivers daily exclusives from City & State, as well as a curated summary of the dayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most pertinent headlines, editorials, news tidbits, schedules and milestones from across the political landscape in New Yorkâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;all before 7 a.m.

Be the first to know. www.cityandstateny.com/subscribe

BUFFALO

HEASTIE’S OLD HAUNT THE SPEAKER’S LONG HISTORY WITH BUFFALO COULD GIVE THE CITY AN UNEXPECTED LEG UP

Carl Heastie is well familiar with the Queen City. In fact, the Assembly speaker has been making regular trips to Buffalo since 1999. “I’ve been to Buffalo 20 or 30 times,” Heastie – wearing New York state flag cufflinks, one of three pairs of state-themed cufflinks he owns – told me between stops on a tour of Buffalo’s West Side in mid-August. The jaunt was part of a three-day trip to Western New York, the most recent leg of his summer fact-finding mission that has had him traveling across upstate. “When I came here before it was more for personal reasons,” Heastie said. “It wasn’t in an official capacity.” Indeed, his earlier trips to Western New York started because of a longdistance relationship, but during those trips he formed a political network and friendships that have kept him coming back for more than 15 years. This trip was different. On most of his previous journeys he had been in town to see friends or connect with fellow Assembly members. He had never really spent time taking in the sites or sitting down with community leaders. “I am seeing a lot of the changes that my colleagues have pointed out to me,” Heastie said. “Yet I’m still seeing my fair share of the challenges we need to work on.”

city & state — August 31, 2015

THE TIES THAT BIND One of the friendships that consistently brings Heastie back to Buffalo is his relationship with Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes. They’ve known each other since before either of them were elected to the Assembly. They met when Heastie first started visiting Buffalo. His girlfriend at the time and the assemblywoman had

PHOTOS BY JUSTIN SONDEL

By JUSTIN SONDEL

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes, right, at the Colored Musicians Club museum in Buffalo.

mutual friends through the East Side organization Grassroots, the political machine that has helped launch the careers of many of the city’s AfricanAmerican elected officials, including Peoples-Stokes and Mayor Byron Brown. Peoples-Stokes and Heastie grew closer after they became members of the Assembly, and some of his trips to Buffalo were specifically to visit the assemblywoman and her family. So when Sheldon Silver relinquished his long-held speakership after being brought up on corruption charges earlier this year, PeoplesStokes knew who she would support as his replacement. She says she voted for Heastie not

only because they have been close over the years, but because she believes he has the leadership style the Legislature needs. “I know that Speaker Heastie is interested in what’s going on in the community,” Peoples-Stokes said. Heastie’s 72-hour whirlwind tour of the city included 20 stops, meeting with leaders from the business, nonprofit and development communities, with Democratic members of the state Legislature’s Western New York delegation – Peoples-Stokes, Assemblyman Sean Ryan, Assemblyman Robin Schimminger – playing host. He often rested his chin in his palm, eyes intent, but unable to hide his exhaustion. His trip started with a

4 a.m. wake-up call for an early flight into Buffalo. Intermittently he would get texts or phone calls, rapidly firing back notes or excusing himself for brief, curt conversations. Throughout the trip, Heastie rarely spoke, and instead spent hours listening as he traversed the city. This is indicative of his style of leadership: one that puts his longtime friend Peoples-Stokes and other members of the Assembly in positions to have their concerns heard by the chamber’s head honcho. “He is a listener and sometimes to lead you have to be able to listen,” Peoples-Stokes said. “He’s definitely good at that.”

cit yandstateny.com

Heastie tours Buffalo with Assemblyman Sean Ryan, center.

While much has been made of Heastie’s historic rise as the first African-American to hold the speakership, his elevation was also conventional in that he was yet another downstate Democrat to assume the post. Other than two upstate Assembly members who held the position in the interim after their predecessors resigned, no member from outside the five boroughs and Long Island has been speaker since 1937, and only two of those were Republican, the last leaving office in 1975. But that upstate-downstate division has been far overstated, the speaker and his hosts told me. “For me, in my 15 years in the Assembly, as a New York City member I was always supportive of my colleagues’ desires in upstate New York, and we tend to do that,” Heastie said. “They’ll defer to us on New York City issues and we try to defer to them (on upstate issues).” Ryan, also a Buffalo Democrat, said that blaming New York City for upstate woes has long been a game with no positive outcome for legislators looking to shift the focus from their lack of results. “That’s sort of the easy way out and sometimes that’s really good press,” Ryan said. “But I think the work we’ve done in Buffalo has demonstrated that if you do your homework, you do your lobbying with your colleagues, you’ll discover that you can get some traction.” And while upstaters often paint downstate in broad strokes, Ryan added, the downstate constituencies cit yandstateny.com

can be just as different from district to district as in the rest of New York. “Long Island and the Bronx,” Ryan said, “they don’t have a lot in common.” He added that it was important to showcase some of the positives that have made the city a turnaround story. “We know a lot of that tax money comes from New York City so we need to keep working with our colleagues from New York City to show them the wisdom of having a state that is strong in every city, not just one,” Ryan said. He said the visit from the speaker also provided an opportunity for the delegation to show where all that Buffalo Billion money has been going. “Spending money in upstate, turns out it’s really good for our economy,” he said. But while downtown Buffalo is booming, with cranes in the air for the first time in decades, the city’s school system consistently graduates about half its students, poverty rates remain obscenely high and the city’s public housing agency is near broke. “Amidst all the development and all the good things, there’s still some big problems that have to be solved,” Heastie said.

STEPPING UP Peoples-Stokes knows her close relationship with the speaker could be good for her career and for the Western New York delegation. The assemblywoman has been considered a rising star in the Assembly for some

BUFFALO

time, but with her longtime friend now positioned as one of the vaunted three men in a room, her access to leadership seems solidified. “I think it’s helpful to have a good relationship with the speaker because we have so many needs in Buffalo,” Peoples-Stokes said. “A lot of the needs that get taken care of with the broader delegation are broader needs and don’t really focus on the East Side. I think the fact that I have this relationship with him (means) that we can pay a little more attention to things that happen on the East Side and move things along.” Ryan agrees, though he feels that Heastie’s disposition is advantageous to anyone willing to step up and push a cause. Under Silver, everything ran through the speaker’s office, Ryan pointed out; if you wanted to get a bill passed, no matter how innocuous, you went to Shelly first. But Heastie doesn’t want to hear about legislation until it’s out of committee, Ryan said. “No one goes to the speaker now,” Ryan said. “The only thing a bill will come to the speaker’s attention is if it’s a bill that’s going to cause division within the conference.” And that, Ryan said, puts more of an onus on individual members to work hard to get things done in the Legislature. “Members are now vested with a tremendous amount of responsibility, certainly the responsibility that was envisioned by the state constitution and by our constituents all along,” Ryan said. “You can no longer gnash your teeth and say upstate doesn’t get anything. Under this speaker, upstate will get what its representatives demand.”

NOT ALL FUN AND GAMES The leg of the tour during which Peoples-Stokes played host – far and away the most extensive, beginning on Thursday and stretching into Friday – started with a showcase of the storied Colored Musicians Club, which was launched by African-American players shut out of the white musicians union. Danny Williams, the club’s vice presi-

Heastie and Ryan speak with Niagara District Common Council member David Rivera.

city & state — August 31, 2015

UPSTATE-DOWNSTATE

dent, welcomed the lawmakers before the contingent watched a video and looked around the club’s museum. On their way out, Heastie stopped to marvel at the AMI Rowe jukebox near the front door, its chrome speaker glistening in the afternoon sun streaming through the windows. “I don’t think I’ve seen one of these since I was a little boy,” Heastie said. “A record player with an actual record in it.” On a commandeered Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority bus, the cohort then made its way around Peoples-Stokes’ district, which includes many of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. Poverty has long been a problem for Buffalo, with a third of its adults and half its children currently living at or below the poverty line. During a meeting with the Community Action Organization of Buffalo, an outfit that advocates on issues related to housing, education and access to services, Heastie sat listening to about a dozen people describe the work they do and the challenges they face carrying out their respective missions. Heastie’s home, the Bronx, includes the two poorest districts in the Assembly, and at one point during the presentation Heastie broke in with an observation. “These issues of poverty and families are things that I see every day back home,” he said.

L A B O R

city & state — August June 15,31, 2015 2015

NEW YORK IS BACK TO WORK.

The latest figures show that 5.4 percent of the state is out of work and looking for a job. That translates to 9.2 million New Yorkers who have jobs and 529,100 who don’t and are actively seeking employment. The state has increased jobs by 171,400 since last year, and by more than 700,000 since 2010. This economic growth has led to a change in the discussion about labor. Following the Great Recession, unions were not in a position to demand much, and politicians didn’t have the revenue to help them out. We saw that in New York City, where the city’s workers went without contracts for years. On the state level, we saw many of the public employees unions settle for minimal or no raises. Any talk of good jobs or better benefits was drowned out by calls for jobs of any kind. In recent years the narrative has changed. The government in New York City is more progressive and labor-friendly and Mayor Bill de Blasio has made it a priority to get all workers under contract. On the state level, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has taken tangible steps to win back many unions who have opposed him ever since he took office. This revitalized power of labor shapes our spotlight section, which features stories about increased wages, construction workers’ added voice in the renewal of a major tax credit, and much more.

CONTENTS: 22 … New York City: The home of Labor Day 24 … PEF’s new leadership is a clean slate By Ashley Hupfl 25 … Who will the fast food wage hike leave behind? By Wilder Fleming 26 … Will anyone win in the 421-a negotiations? By Will Brunelle 32 … City officials let living wage laws slide By Sarina Trangle 36 … Will there be jobs in Buffalo once the construction’s done? By Justin Sondel

cit yandstateny.com

This Labor Day, Remember “If any man tells you he loves America, yet hates labor, he is a liar... All that harms labor is treason to America.” — Abraham Lincoln

Local 46 Metallic Lathers & Reinforcing Ironworkers Business Manager: Terrence Moore Business Agents: Kevin Kelly, Ronnie Richardson, John Coffey and Michael Anderson President: John Skinner

1322 Third Ave. New York, NY 212-737-0500 www.ml46.org

B O R

NEW YORK CITY:

HOME OF LABOR DAY

Labor Day is now observed all across the country, but New York City is widely credited as the host of the first celebration of the holiday. On Sept. 5, 1882, thousands of workers participated in a parade of labor unions in Manhattan that ended with a picnic and speeches. The event, organized by an umbrella group called the Central Labor Union, reflected the growing strength of the labor movement. The march also served a specific purpose: to demonstrate for an eight-hour workday. The second Labor Day was celebrated in New York City exactly one year later, on Sept. 5, 1883. The following year organizers set the date as the first Monday in September, and in 1885 other cities began to hold their own Labor Day events to honor workers. In 1887, Oregon became the first state to make Labor Day an official holiday, followed shortly by New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Colorado.

Some labor groups at the time called for the holiday to be held instead on May 1 – a date many countries around the world have since adopted – to commemorate a bloody worker rally in Chicago’s Haymarket Square in May of 1886 in which a number of protesters and police were killed. But in 1894, President Grover Cleveland officially established the national holiday as the first Monday in September. Cleveland was facing a backlash for another bloody confrontation after he deployed the Army to suppress a strike against the Pullman Palace Car Co. Creating the official national holiday was an effort to mend ties, but he wanted to pick a more neutral date than May 1. This year’s New York City Labor Day Parade, scheduled for Sept. 12, will take place on Fifth Avenue between 44th and 67th streets. It will feature 1199 SEIU President George Gresham as the grand marshal and Teamsters Joint Council 16 President George Miranda as the parade chairman.

city & state — August 31, 2015

The Must-Read Afternoon Roundup of New York Politics and Government Last Read keeps its readers up-to-the minute on all the day’s top stories with an afternoon update that hits inboxes before 5 p.m. The afternoon email highlights newly released reports, crucial in-depth analysis pieces and long-form profiles, as well as calling attention to some of the day’s top tweets from city and state politicians and the reporters who cover them.

Be the first to know. www.cityandstateny.com/subscribe for more information.

cit yandstateny.com

L A B O R

Standing UNITED with our UNION sisters and brothers

Karen E. Magee, President Andrew Pallotta, Executive Vice President Catalina R. Fortino, Vice President Paul Pecorale, Vice President Martin Messner, Secretary-Treasurer

Representing more than 600,000 professionals in education, human services and health care 800 Troy-Schenectady Road, Latham, NY 12110-2455 n 518-213-6000 / 800-342-9810 www.nysut.org n Affiliated with AFT / NEA / AFL-CIO

cit yandstateny.com

city & state â&#x20AC;&#x201D; August 31, 2015

www.nysut.org

L A B

A CLEAN SLATE

PEF TO SEND NEW LEADERSHIP TO THE NEGOTIATING TABLE

By ASHLEY HUPFL

“

A pay freeze and zeroes across the board does not reflect the current economic climate of New York state. PEF president Wayne Spence

city & state — August 31, 2015

In 2011, after contentious and difficult negotiations, the state employees unions made a huge concession to the Cuomo administration. Like the rest of the country, the state was still recovering from the recession, so the major unions accepted a pay freeze. “There is no question that in 2011 there was a very real economic challenge in the state of New York, and our members stepped up in a big way to try to help the state deal with that,” said Stephen Madarasz, communications director for the Civil Service Employees Association. “We don’t have quite the same circumstances now, but that doesn’t mean it’s not going to be a challenging negotiation either.” With New York in a better economic condition, state unions are hopeful for a better agreement this time around. The Public Employees Federation contract expired in April and the state union has already

“

begun negotiations with the Cuomo administration. CSEA’s contract expires March 31 next year. While each union is unique, the governor’s office will likely try to establish increases that are consistent across the board, so state unions will be closely watching PEF’s contract negotiations. “The state’s goal is to keep the contracts within an economic number that they’re trying to do and the unions’ goal is to try to push out beyond that number and to create the unique items that relate directly to their members,” said Ed Draves, a labor lobbyist for Bolton-St. Johns. “Something that is very important to a CSEA member may be not important at all to a (New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association) member or a PEF member.” One roadblock PEF may face, observers say, is retribution after the union, under the leadership of then-PEF President Susan Kent,

endorsed Zephyr Teachout last fall as a Democratic primary candidate against Gov. Andrew Cuomo. “I’ve been hearing through various sources, none from the second floor, that the governor was very upset with my union … with the Zephyr Teachout endorsement and as a result was going to not play nice with us at the bargain table,” newly elected PEF President Wayne Spence said. “I am optimistic that is not that case.” Draves said PEF’s change in leadership would allow the union to have a clean slate with the Cuomo administration. “They basically changed the entire leadership team in preparation for these negotiations,” Draves said. “If the governor’s office and the PEF leadership jointly choose to forge a new relationship, they can do that.” Spence remains hopeful his union and the Cuomo administration will be able to come to an agreement, but said he would not walk away from the

negotiating table until he got a contract he believes reflects the value and the self-worth of the workforce. “A pay freeze and zeroes across the board does not reflect the current economic climate of New York state,” Spence said. “No state union that has negotiated with the governor thus far – including TWU 100 and the various divisions within the state police system – have taken a pay freeze. So, I would say that would be a sign of disrespect from the governor if the governor put that on the table.” Nonetheless, Spence told City & State he is up to the task of negotiating with Cuomo. “I’m not saying being a president isn’t difficult, but it’s actually a cakewalk compared to my job as a parole officer,” he said. “I think the job gave me 200 percent preparation for this. If I wasn’t afraid to go into murderers’ homes, sex offenders’ homes, why am I going to be afraid of some guys in suits?” cit yandstateny.com

WHO GETS LEFT BEHIND? RAISING THE WAGE: AN OVERVIEW

A B O

By WILDER FLEMING

When a state board appointed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo recommend raising the minimum wage for fast food workers in New York state to $15 an hour last month, it reinvigorated an ongoing national conversation about the wisdom of such an increase and its potential ramifications. Supporters of the hike, including labor unions and fast food workers, were overjoyed by the board’s decision, which is widely expected to be approved – wholly or in part – by New York’s acting labor commissioner, Mario Musolino, before Sept. 14. If enacted, the increase would take full effect in New York City by 2018 and throughout the rest of the state by 2021. But the plan’s narrow nature has a lot of people asking questions, not least of which – what about everyone else? The fast food wage increase in New York would affect some 136,000 people. (New York’s minimum wage, currently $8.75 an hour, is set to increase to $9 an cit yandstateny.com

hour on Dec. 31.) But it will leave behind another 3.1 million workers making less than $15 an hour who don’t work in fast food, according to an analysis from the Fiscal Policy Institute. Their professions include retail, health and child care, social services, government, and those restaurants not included in the hike. “I don’t like it,” said Harry Holzer, a professor of public policy at Georgetown University, who served as chief economist for the U.S. Department of Labor in the Clinton administration. “Most economists think that if you’re going to do these things, you’re going to want to do it more broadly. And so targeting a specific industry – I mean why would you do that? Why would you not want to include other restaurant workers and retail workers?” Economists like Holzer worry about the distortions such narrowly focused policies create in the economy: Not only are some workers left behind,

but outsized burdens are placed on businesses as well, which can lead to price hikes, layoffs and perhaps even fleeing of the market. Placing the burden on business might not seem like such a bad thing if you’re talking about chipping away at the profits of a huge corporation like McDonald’s. But McDonald’s, along with 116 other fast food chains in New York that would fall under the wage board’s proposed criteria (a chain that operates in at least 30 locations nationwide), is a franchise, meaning the individual operators of its 760-plus locations around the state would be the first to take the hit. The Wall Street Journal has reported that McDonald’s, which has been experiencing a dramatic slump in sales, charges its franchisees as much as 16 percent of sales, far higher than the 6 to 10 percent industry average. So how might franchisees, along with directly owned chains like Chipotle and Shake Shack, react to the extra

city & state — August 31, 2015

Fast food workers and advocates celebrate the wage board’s recommendation for a $15 per hour minimum wage.

costs incurred by the wage hike? They will surely raise their prices – but just how much is up for debate. They could also seek to streamline their staffing. “The way employers deal with this may not be to cut back on unemployment in the short term, but they might raise their hiring standards a bit,” Holzer said. “So any workers who lose their employment because of this also share in the burden.” Holzer pointed out that fast food chains typically employ a mix of three types of workers: parents struggling to support a household in part or in whole; second earners – people who have other, more primary responsibilities, who are looking to earn some extra income on the side working 10 to 20 hours a week; and young people in the 16-to-24 range – a group that already has a higher unemployment rate than the rest of the state, usually averaging over 20 percent. In the longer term, there is an expectation that fast food chains will begin to adopt robotic ordering methods as well, further reducing the need for workers. As for how high prices could rise, researchers have estimated anywhere from 4 percent – according to the findings of a recent Purdue study – to as high as 38 percent, if analysts at the Heritage Foundation are to be believed. (The Heritage Foundation’s James Sherk disputes the methodology used by the Purdue researchers.) The pay raise will remain narrowly focused for now. But what are the odds of seeing wage increases in other industries – retail for example – seeking to remain competitive? “It is possible that could happen, especially if the labor market continues to tighten,” Holzer said. “But, given the narrowness of the industry, I’m not sure how many businesses would feel that pressure – maybe other restaurants, rather than all of hospitality/leisure or retail.”

L A B

THE STANDOFF

WILL ANYONE WIN IN THE 421-A NEGOTIATIONS?

By WILL BRUNELLE

city & state — August 31, 2015

MICHAEL GARETH JOHNSON

Despite a steadily approaching deadline to cut a pivotal deal on construction incentives and wages for construction workers, New York City’s real estate industry and building trades unions are keeping mum on the upcoming negotiations. The two groups will need to hammer out wage agreements before the end of the year to satisfy requirements set by the state Legislature for extending the 421-a tax abatement program, which offers breaks to developers who build enough affordable housing in new buildings. The incentives could be extended another five years, but

without an agreement the program will end abruptly at the end of December. The negotiations are a high-stakes game for the unions and for the Real Estate Board of New York, which represents real estate developers. The unions want higher wages while developers want to keep construction costs in check, but both groups stand to lose a great deal if the 421-a program disappears completely. “The stakes for both the development community and the unions are pretty high, to the extent that some have described this as mutually assured destruction doctrine

similar to when the U.S. and Russia had a standoff where each party could inflict damage on the other but both of them would wind up getting hurt,” said Kenneth Fisher, a land use and real estate lawyer with Cozen O’Connor. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, which has set ambitious affordable housing goals that could hinge on the outcome of the negotiations, is optimistic that the circumstances will prod the two sides to reach a compromise. “We are hopeful they will reach a workable agreement,” said Wiley Norvell, a spokesman for the mayor.

“Everyone clearly has an interest in seeing this new, stronger program take effect. The administration has a strong track record of using every opportunity to secure good-paying jobs as we undertake our ambitious affordable housing plan.” Sources on each side of the negotiations confirmed that talks will formally start after Labor Day, but not much else is known about the proceedings. Neither side revealed who exactly will be at the table, nor would they reveal any of their goals or strategies for the talks. John Banks, who took over as cit yandstateny.com

L governor, with Cuomo taking repeated shots at de Blasio in the media as the session neared its end. At the end of the overtime session, the final legislative package mandated that REBNY and the unions would have six months to find a middle ground on wages, or else the 421-a abatement would permanently expire. “(Cuomo) kind of scrambled the status quo by insisting that wage issues be brought into the 421-a negotiations, but it happened at the last minute

the time being, he’ll steer clear of the negotiations and let the two parties duke it out without interference. But that Cuomo interfered at all, according to one expert, was inappropriate and unnecessary. “I don’t think (Cuomo) should have intervened in that fashion,” said John Goering, a professor of public affairs and real estate at the City University of New York’s Baruch College. “The city has a direct interest in this. I don’t believe it’s appropriate for (Cuomo) to

A B O R

A LABOR DAY MESSAGE FROM CSEA PRESIDENT DANNY DONOHUE

Raising the wages of undervalued workers means

A Better New York For All “A rising tide lifts all boats.” This has long been a cornerstone reason for Labor’s commitment to improving working conditions for union members and all working people. There is ample evidence that the rising tide is good for individuals, families, communities, business and our economy as a whole. Recently, fast food workers, with significant help from Labor and other community allies mounted an impressive campaign for fairness and respect. They did a great job making their case and convinced Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Wage Board that a raise is in order. They deserve it but so do a whole lot of other undervalued workers including many working in public service.

WHEN PEOPLE SHARE IN PROSPERITY IT’S GOOD FOR EVERYONE IN A LOT OF DIFFERENT WAYS.

Gov. Cuomo has stated repeatedly that income inequality, which plagues New York more than any other state, is a serious problem that must be addressed. I give the Governor the benefit of the doubt that the actions of his wage board were not simply an isolated political stunt.

DA N N Y D O N O H U E , P R E S I D E N T

Danny Donohue is president of the nearly 300,000 member CSEA – New York’s Leading Union – representing workers doing every kind of job, in every part of New York.

9173_Advertorial Wages 7.485x10 CS.indd 1 cit yandstateny.com

when it was too late for the parties to try to work it out,” Fisher said. “What you have now is a very strange situation where both sides run the risk of the entire 421-a program falling by the wayside, which would mean, at least in the short term, a dramatic drop in construction activity all over the city. It could take years for that to shake itself out.” The Cuomo administration offered no comment. His office has previously indicated that, at least for

The Governor doesn’t need a wage board to make a bigger dent in this economic injustice. Leading by example would be a good starting place:

• Raise the wages of state workers making federal minimum wage because they aren’t included under state minimum wage law.

• Address the state’s scandalous disregard of low-wage human services employees of not-for-profit agencies under state contract who received a cost-of-living increase this year after enduring years without one. These actions don’t even begin to address the needs of child care providers or the thousands of undervalued state, local government and school employees - many work for much less than $15 per hour - who take care of our kids, maintain our roads, water and sewer systems and do a whole lot more necessary work. You can be sure that CSEA will be pursuing fair pay in every way possible because it is not only good for our members, it will help build a better New York for all.

8/24/15 3:33 PM

city & state — August 31, 2015

REBNY president earlier this year, did say he has already had initial conversations with Gary LaBarbera, the president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, an umbrella labor group. “We look forward to the beginning of negotiations in earnest next month,” Banks said. “These negotiations mark a great opportunity to engage in frank and honest discussions about how we can build much more affordable housing, ensure construction workers are treated fairly and create job opportunities for residents of the city.” Carpenters Labor Management and Greater New York LaborersEmployers Cooperation and Education Trust, two labor groups that have spearheaded the push for higher construction worker wages, also offered an optimistic take ahead of the talks. “Thanks to the leadership of Governor Cuomo, Majority Leader Flanagan, Speaker Heastie and members of the Senate and Assembly, it is now the law that there will be strong wage standards for the working men and women who build projects receiving 421a tax abatements,” the construction unions said in a statement. “Carpenters Labor Management and GNY LECET look forward to the completion of the memorandum of understanding referenced in the law so that 421a can move forward in 2016 with the creation of good construction jobs and more affordable housing.” But the upbeat comments belie a fundamental disagreement. Labor unions began fighting for mandated wage increases in May, forming the Up4NYC coalition to lobby lawmakers to insist that any extension of the city’s rent regulations and the 421-a program include provisions to increase wages for construction workers.x De Blasio came out closer to the side of the developers, who argued that wage increases would make building affordable housing far more difficult. The mayor has fought long and hard to increase the amount of affordable housing built in New York City, and REBNY has been largely on his side, favoring the tax breaks developers can receive in exchange for increasing how many units are designated for low- and middle-income tenants. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, meanwhile, took the side of workers, arguing in favor of higher wages and insisting on legislation that would make it happen. In what has become a trend, the mayor found himself sharply at odds with the

L A B O R

VICTOR MASCHEK

city & state — August 31, 2015

“I don’t think (Cuomo) should have intervened in that fashion. The city has a direct interest in this. I don’t believe it’s appropriate for (Cuomo) to interfere in a political process that is central to the city.” - John Goering, Baruch College public affairs professor

interfere in a political process that is central to the city.” Goering said he fears that the pressure injected into the negotiations by state officials endangers the ability of both REBNY and the unions to focus solely on reaching an agreement that will promote the construction of affordable housing. “I think these ad hoc political solutions … don’t make a great deal of sense, certainly not in producing affordable housing in New York City,” Goering said. There have also been rumblings of a potential legal challenge to the unusual decision to allow private sector players to determine state policy, although some observers say a lawsuit would take too long to be a threat to the future of the 421-a program. The bigger threat, Fisher said, is the impact of the negotiations on the continued construction of affordable housing. He said a deal constitutes a “gamble” for de Blasio. “The mayor is already gambling that developers will continue to build

mixed developments with a substantial affordable housing component in them, and I think the concern is that if labor costs go up, then at least some buildings will be deferred until the market is in a position to be able to absorb the additional costs,” Fisher said. “Potentially you could wind up with another wave of zombie development sites.” For the unions, Cuomo’s intervention signaled a significant vote of confidence, despite de Blasio’s and REBNY’s objections. The governor’s insistence on a wage discussion was the only reason the 421-a program saw any modifications, Fisher said, instead of remaining a simple five-year extension of the existing law. “That was both a policy and political judgement he made,” Fisher said, “and without his positive and affirmative intervention, the Legislature would not have included the city’s requests. If you’re the unions you have to feel pretty good about that, but it’s kind of like catching a tiger by the tail. What do you do with it now?” cit yandstateny.com

PETER ABBATE Chairman, Assembly Governmental Employees Committee City & State: What was the biggest or most important labor-related bill passed last session? Peter Abbate: One of the most important bills to pass through the Governmental Employees Committee was the Veterans Equality Act, which provides credit to members of public retirement systems of the state for military service rendered during certain periods of peacetime and several combat operations. All veterans should get the opportunity to buy back their service time and I am hopeful the governor will sign the bill into law this year. C&S: Was there any labor-related legislation that didn’t get done that you wish had? PA: One of my top priorities this past year was the three-quarters disability bill (A6046/S4269). Currently, our newest uniformed forces, including police and fire officers, only receive $27 a day in disability pay when they are injured on the job, a figure that is not appropriate for their sacrifice. This bill would have restored their three-quarters disability to the level that older officers receive. I was very disappointed in the mayor and especially the City Council for not passing a home rule for this legislation that had bipartisan support in the Assembly and Senate. C&S: What is your reaction to the proposed $15-an-hour minimum wage for fast food workers? Some say it should be expanded to all state workers. Do you agree? PA: I think the $15 minimum wage for fast food workers is a step in the right direction but the minimum wage across the state needs to be increased. C&S: Should minimum wages vary between upstate and downstate? PA: This past session the Assembly passed legislation that would have brought the state minimum wage up to $12.60 an hour and $15 an hour for downstate. I’m sure there will be more discussions on this issue next cit yandstateny.com

MARTIN GOLDEN Chairman, State Senate Civil Service and Pensions Committee

City & State: What was the biggest or most important labor-related bill that was passed last session? Martin Golden: From my committee, which is Civil Service and Pensions, there are two bills. First, S4559, which I sponsored, fixes the current inequities that exist when a law enforcement agency is faced with a reduction in its workforce. Currently, when a law enforcement agency must reduce its workforce, employees are demoted based upon their total number of years in the classified service, not their total number of years in their current title. This inequity could lead to the demotion of a person who served as a sergeant for eight years before a person who served as a sergeant for one year because the person with the eight years as a sergeant was promoted after three years of classified service, while it took the other person 15 years to be promoted. Second, S4628, which was introduced by Sen. Andrew Lanza, removes a significant obstacle for those public employees whose supervisor is engaged in improper practices and want to comply with the whistleblower law. Currently, these employees are required to report the improper practice to their supervisor. When the bad actor is the employee’s supervisor, employees are less likely to comply with the law because they fear retribution from their supervisor. By removing the employee’s supervisor from the reporting requirement, many more employees may feel comfortable becoming whistleblowers and exposing those whose improper acts are harming this state. C&S: Was there any labor-related legislation that didn’t get done that you wish had? MG: For my Committee, the three-

quarters accidental disability benefits for police officers and firefighters. C&S: What is your top priority for the 2016 session for labor? MG: Three-quarters accidental disability benefits for police officers and firefighters. We need to make sure that the people who put their lives on the line to protect us are not impoverished if they are injured on the job and can no longer work. We also need to make sure that the vital 421-a program continues. Right now, its continuation hinges on the unions and employers reaching an agreement regarding wages by Jan. 15. C&S: What is your reaction to the proposed $15 minimum wage for fast food workers? Some, including the governor, say it should be expanded to all state workers. Do you agree? MG: As a supporter of the current minimum wage increase law, I recognize the need for increased wages. However, I do feel that the Legislature must be an equal participant in the decision-making process on proposals affecting workers, employers and consumers and taxpayers alike. The threat of litigation over recent actions by an executive panel raises concerns over the process that circumvented the Legislature. We need to look at the impact of an

increased minimum wage on the fast food sector before making any decisions. If that sector does not fare well, then we need to re-evaluate minimum wage plans. C&S: Should minimum wages vary between upstate and downstate? Why or why not? MG: We need to look at the cost of living in various parts of the state to determine the appropriate wage rate and the impact of increased wage rates on the economy. We do not want to force businesses to have to close because they cannot afford to pay their employees a higher wage rate. C&S: Both PEF and CSEA are about to enter into contract negotiations with the Cuomo administration. After the three-year wage freeze agreed to in 2011, should the state unions receive a pay raise? MG: The three-year wage freeze ended on March 26, 2014, for CSEA and PEF. Beginning March 27, 2014, employees represented by CSEA or PEF received a 2 percent wage increase. Because CSEA’s contract does not expire until 2016, CSEA-represented employees received a 2 percent wage increase in 2015. Unions have been asked to share the pain in economically stressful times. When it is economically feasible, they should be able to negotiate raises during the collective bargaining process.

A B O R

We are 2.5 million members speaking with one voice to ensure a better life for working men and women.

Mario Cilento President

Terrence L. Melvin Secretary-Treasurer

New York State

AFL-CIO

Helping Working Families Achieve A Better Life 50 Broadway, 35th Floor, New York, NY 10004 - 212.777.6040 100 South Swan Street, Albany, NY 12210 - 518.436.8516

www.nysaflcio.org

city & state — August 31, 2015

session with the new wage board recommendations, but the result must ensure that the minimum wage is adequate and equitable to all workers across the state.

city & state â&#x20AC;&#x201D; August 31, 2015

A B

O R

cit yandstateny.com

L A B O R

city & state — August 31, 2015

IRON WORKERS CONSTRUCT THE ESSO BUILDING IN NEW YORK CITY, 1954. cit yandstateny.com

L A B O

WAGES WAYLAID

AMID PUSH FOR MINIMUM WAGE HIKE, CITY OFFICIALS HAVE LET LIVING WAGE LAWS SLIDE By SARINA TRANGLE

SOUTH BRONX UNITE

city & state — August 31, 2015

Members of South Bronx Unite protest Fresh Direct’s plan to move its headquarters from Queens to the Bronx. Critics say the city should require the company to pay a living wage.

While New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was dining with his wife and son at La Morada restaurant in the Bronx’s Port Morris neighborhood this spring, a crowd of protesters gathered on the sidewalk outside, chanting a riff on his campaign slogan – “No more tale of two cities!” – and confronted him about government subsidies for Fresh Direct’s new Bronx headquarters. The mayor told the protesters that his administration “really tried” to halt a deal, which was inked under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and maligned by de Blasio on the campaign

trail because it did not include a living wage mandate. All his administration could do now, the mayor said, was avoid similar arrangements in the future – but he pledged to have “someone set something up” with the coalition. Three months later, the South Bronx Unite coalition said it is still waiting for a meeting with the mayor – and for an explanation about why his administration cannot seize on an estimated increase in government subsidies to reopen the project’s contract and demand higher pay for personnel. City law requires projects

receiving substantial government benefits to pay workers a so-called living wage, currently set at $11.65 an hour with benefits or $13.30 without, but Fresh Direct and other projects received exemptions when the law was passed in 2012. Now, activists question whether de Blasio and city officials are using all the tools provided by the living wage law when it comes to increasing income for workers like Fresh Direct personnel. Buoyed by support from many New York City politicians and advocates, de Blasio has taken several steps to elevate wages. He even made a $15-an-hour

federal minimum wage the headlining item in his national policy platform and extolled its virtues in speeches from Washington, D.C., to Des Moines. City Comptroller Scott Stringer shares the mayor’s enthusiasm for the $15-an-hour campaign and living wage expansion and has questioned living wage policy changes he said stripped monitoring duties from the Comptroller’s Office and handed them to an agency less prepared to handle alleged violations. Yet advocates contend the administration and comptroller are not utilizing two living wage laws already cit yandstateny.com

New York City has two measures referred to as living wage laws. The first, enacted in 2002, requires city agencies contracting out services in certain sectors, such as home care and day care, to select firms that agree to pay personnel a so-called living wage – currently $10 an hour with health benefits or $11.50 without – or prevailing wage, whichever is higher. The city comptroller sets a prevailing wage for several industries every year. The second measure, the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, enacted by the City Council in 2012, mandates that projects receiving $1 million or more in city subsidies pay a living wage. The law applies to benefits doled out on a discretionary basis by the New York City Economic Development Corporation and the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and resulted in the even higher $11.65-to-$13.30 pay rate. The measure, however, was not enforced until de Blasio dropped a court challenge initiated by Bloomberg. De Blasio then signed an executive order nine months into his mayoralty raising the pay rate and broadening its scope to include future developments in the Hudson Yards district as well as commercial tenants in subsidized sites. But some elected officials and advocates are urging the city to revisit the measure. They say the exemption rate for New York City Economic Development Corporation projects suggests not all contracted organizations that can afford to boost pay are obligated to do so. In fact, cit yandstateny.com

about 76 percent of EDC projects signed off on from de Blasio’s inauguration until mid-May were not subject to living wage rules because they involve nonprofit organizations, spanning everything from elite prep schools to social services organizations whose sole revenue comes from city contracts. The de Blasio administration did not directly respond to an inquiry about whether the city plans to study shoring up living wage measures.

Mayoral spokesman Wiley Norvell said it would take time for the benefits of the 2012 law to become evident. “Analyzing the impact of the living wage law and the subsequent executive order will take time,” Norvell said in a statement. “The universe to which the former applied was limited, and projects subject to the executive order won’t be constructed or tenanted for some time.” The de Blasio administration has committed to bolstering wages for

nothing nothing

“In politics... “In politics...

many city contractors, though not via the living wage law. The administration announced it is raising wages to $11.50 an hour – the city contractor living wage rate – for all nonprofits hired to perform work for city agencies. Still, some City Council members and advocates, including the Fiscal Policy Institute and the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, want the whole spectrum of human services workers, such as those in foster care and homeless services, added to the

A B O R

happens by accident.” happens by accident.”

- Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Pitta GiblinLLC LLC PittaBishop Bishop Del Del Giorno Giorno &&Giblin

Lobbying,Consulting, Consulting,Strategic Strategic Planning, Lobbying, Planning,Business BusinessDevelopment, Development, CrisisManagement, Management, Fire Fire Safety Safety and Crisis andEmergency EmergencyResponse, Response, Community and Public Relations Public Relations Albany Community and New York Staten Island 111 Washington Avenue, Suite 401 Albany

Albany, NY 12210 111 Washington Avenue, Suite 401 Telephone: Albany, NY518.449.3320 12210 Facsimile: 518.449.5812 Telephone: 518.449.3320 Facsimile: 518.449.5812

120 Broadway, 28th Floor New York

York, NY28th 10271 120New Broadway, Floor Telephone: New York,212.652.3890 NY 10271 Facsimile: 212.897.8001 Telephone: 212.652.3890 info@pittabishop.com Facsimile: 212.897.8001 info@pittabishop.com

25 Hyatt Street, Suite 202 Staten Island Staten Island, NY 10301 25 Hyatt Street, Suite 202 Telephone: 718.943.1050 Staten Island, NY 10301 Facsimile: 718.943.1051 Telephone: 718.943.1050

Facsimile: 718.943.1051

city & state — August 31, 2015

on the books to minimize income inequality and elevate pay rates for as much of the city’s workforce as possible. Required reviews have not been conducted. The Comptroller’s Office, for example, only recently began producing annual reports on living wage among contracted personnel, even though such studies have been required for more than a decade. Similarly, the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development is still setting up living wage compliance procedures for projects. And the sheer frequency of living wage exemptions in the city has raised eyebrows. “Many of us want to see the minimum wage increase, so we are trying to figure out all the tools we can use,” City Councilman Brad Lander said. “It’s a bunch of patchwork. We need to come back and do a pretty comprehensive look into where things stand.”

related reports, since the agency only implemented the measure once de Blasio required it to do so. Given that de Blasio is relying on HPD to fulfill his ambitious affordable housing expansion plans, clarifying how its work intersects with living wage should be a priority, Koppell said. “HPD should be able to answer these questions,” he said. “This is supposedly central to the mayor’s philosophy, to increase the pay of low-income workers, reduce the disparity, eliminate the ‘two cities’ situation. This definitely should be looked at carefully.”

A B O R

Mayor Bill de Blasio announces an executive order expanding New York City’s living wage law last year.

city & state — August 31, 2015

seven industries currently covered by the living wage law’s contracting provision: home care, building services, day care, Head Start, food services, temporary services and those assisting those with cerebral palsy. They are also pushing for the administration to enact a $15-an-hour pay floor for municipal workers and contractors. James Parrott, chief economist at the Fiscal Policy Institute, estimated this expansion would involve between 60,000 and 80,000 people. “Nassau County’s living wage is like $15.54,” Parrott said. “That’s a county where the county Legislature and the county executive are controlled by Republicans. … In New York City, the contract living wage is $11.50 an hour. That’s pretty stark.” In July 2013, an EDC subsidiary called the New York City Industrial Development Agency approved an estimated $84.47 million in tax exemptions, a mortgage recording fee waiver and other city and state benefits to assist Fresh Direct in moving from Queens to the Bronx. But advocates like South Bronx Unite and Good Jobs New York, a research organization focused on public subsidy deals, noticed the estimated value shifted shortly after de Blasio was elected to $94.94 million in benefits, according to a map on the EDC’s website. The two organizations met with economic development and

administration officials twice, but said they were unable to get a coherent sense of what was driving the increase in the projections. They contend that the city may be missing an opportunity to compel Fresh Direct to revise the terms of its agreement, and therefore commit to paying a living wage. But the EDC said Fresh Direct has not requested any changes to its contract since the project closed in December 2013. According to the EDC, substantial revisions to the original agreement would require approval from the city’s Industrial Development Agency, but the living wage law would only be triggered if the changes resulted in an additional $1 million or more of financial assistance from the city. The EDC indicated that the anticipated value of benefits often changes as projects evolve. “Benefits are a function of the value of the project,” EDC spokeswoman Kelly Magee said in a statement. “When the cost estimates to build a project go up, so does the amount of benefits the project receives.” De Blasio’s office stressed that it met multiple times with South Bronx Unite and informed the group that the Fresh Direct contract cannot be amended. “It’s been very clear that the mayor would not have inked this deal as it was done in the previous (administration),” a de Blasio spokesperson said. “But unless the company comes back to seek additional city subsidy, it is not

possible to reopen and renegotiate the deal’s terms – that’s just a simple matter of fact.” Details are even more scarce when it comes to how the law applies to projects administered by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Because the legislation includes exemptions for affordable housing projects and construction and building service contractors, lawmakers and advocates say they do not understand why the pay mandate would apply to the HPD’s work creating and preserving units for lower- and middleincome New Yorkers. One of the law’s prime sponsors, former City Councilman Oliver Koppell, said he never anticipated it would cover HPD developments. Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Rohlfing declined to give an example of exactly when HPD would be obligated to pay a living wage, saying, “How the law does or does not relate to all of the various entities operating at the project site can and will vary.” Understanding the rationale for HPD’s living wage mandate is complicated by the fact that required public documents are not available – HPD is in the middle of setting up procedures for identifying covered projects, notifying developers, monitoring compliance and compiling

Although 12 years have elapsed since the initial living wage law was enacted, the government has rarely reviewed it. The measure requires firms to submit a certificate of compliance on an annual basis indicating it agrees to pay living wages and detailing how it plans to do so. The comptroller is charged with using these submissions to compile an annual report for the administration and lawmakers summarizing and assessing implementation and enforcement. About a month after City & State began requesting recent reports, Stringer’s office said it realized the review had never been compiled and retroactively produced a dozen of them. “We can’t speak for previous administrations,” Stringer spokesman Eric Sumberg said in a statement. “With that being said, the comptroller began a review of the reporting requirements of the office last year, and the staff identified this report as one that had not been completed. The data found in the annual reports show that violations have been limited.” Former Comptroller John Liu said he did not recall the particulars of the report in question and referred City & State to Stringer’s office. Liu’s predecessor, Bill Thompson, said he did not know relevant details offhand. The de Blasio administration did not respond to inquiries about whether agencies have been soliciting and archiving the certificates in question. The mayor’s office also did not answer questions about whether City & State could review the documents or would need to submit Freedom of Information Law requests to obtain them. Stringer’s office said the database it uses cannot compile information by certificate, and officials did not independently notice a trend in how often the certificates have been submitted. The Comptroller’s Office suggested enforcement activity may have slowed cit yandstateny.com

ROB BENNETT/MAYORAL PHOTOGRAPHY OFFICE

L because compensation rates in the market have risen above benchmarks written into the law for many sectors. For instance, the push to support Medicaid home health aides was an impetus for the law, according to Paul Sonn, program director and general counsel at the National Employment Law Project. He said many of those aides and others have since moved into a state regulatory scheme, so they are less concerned about the city’s law. Still, Sonn and other advocates say it would be worthwhile for the city to beef up its oversight of the measure. “Most of these are non-union sectors, where there’s not an organizer stakeholder group kind of watchdogging it, so you’d definitely want to improve monitoring and enforcement,” Sonn said. “Once there are complaints, the comptroller can deal with those effectively, but there are various best practices to getting there.”

A B O R

city & state — August 31, 2015

SOUTH BRONX UNITE

Such policy changes, however, are unlikely to be driven by politics, according to political consultant Hank Sheinkopf. He said analysis of the living wage laws’ effectiveness will seem academic to the average voter.

Sheinkopf added that many of the unions and other supporters of such measures will back de Blasio regardless of the living wage laws’ successes because his comprehensive platform appeals to them. The mayor must balance the desires of the entire city with the demographics that turn out to vote, which do not traditionally include large numbers of low-income New Yorkers, according to Christina Greer, assistant professor of political science at Fordham University. “That’s why it’s so important for poor people to vote, because everyone looks at the numbers,” she said. In the Bronx, those who are tuned in to the living wage rollout maintain an allegiance to de Blasio, despite a sense of being jilted. “The candidate Bill de Blasio spoke wonderfully and committed to a variety of progressive things,” said Harry Bubbins, director of Friends of Brook Park, one of several groups affiliated with South Bronx Unite. “He’s alienated almost all of the people who got him elected in the first place. … But it is far from too late for him to live up to the commitments he made and reinvigorate the populace that got him elected.”

cit yandstateny.com

L A B

BUILDING BUFFALO

WILL THERE BE JOBS FOR THE CITY ONCE ALL THE CONSTRUCTION’S DONE?

By JUSTIN SONDEL

PHOTOS BY PHILIP KAMRASS/ THE OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

city & state — August 31, 2015

Workers watch as the final steel beam is placed at the RiverBend site in Buffalo. The project has employed more than 1,000 workers.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo stood at a podium at the RiverBend site in Buffalo early this month to proclaim a victory for the city’s economic turnaround. Cuomo told the crowd of construction workers, developers and government types that for too long Buffalo and the rest of upstate had been neglected. His administration, through his Regional Economic Development Council, the Buffalo Billion initiative and other programs, was able to reverse that trend, he said, and the RiverBend site, soon to be home to one of the world’s largest solar panel manufacturing facilities, was proof of that sea change. “It was an infusion to make up for all the years of abandonment,” Cuomo said during the topping-off ceremony marking the placement of the final steel beam at the 1 million-square-foot plant. “But at the end of the day, it’s

working. It’s working. You see it here today. You see it all over the region.” And indeed, construction at the site has kept the trades unions busy, with well over 1,000 men and women at work on that job alone. Meanwhile, construction continues at multiple sites on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus and other sections of the city. Many of the unions report being at or near full employment. But some have asked whether the permanent jobs at these sites will go to people from the area or if people with specialized skills will need to be brought in from outside to handle the work at places like the SolarCity plant. Chris Schoepflin, Western New York’s regional director for Empire State Development, said he believes the region’s workforce, one of its selling points, is highly adaptable and will be able to handle the shift in

industry focus. Some of the more advanced industries that are coming to the area – like solar and biomedical – will require workers with specialized skill sets, but training programs for those jobs are taking shape, Schoepflin said. “I think, largely, we have a ready and able workforce to fill the vast majority of the jobs being created,” he said. Richard Lipsitz Jr., the Western New York Area Labor Federation president, said the construction boom has been great for members of his organization, an umbrella group that brings together many of the area’s unions. And it doesn’t appear that work for the trades will be slowing anytime soon, with more work on the medical campus, SolarCity-related projects and presumably more large-scale

developments on the way. “This is not minor construction,” Lipsitz said. “These are major, major building projects. That’s a lot of work and they are all going to take quite a while.” More importantly, he added, the buildings they are putting up will be filled with employees working at jobs with good salaries and benefits. “There’s going to be thousands of permanent jobs in all this stuff,” Lipsitz said. “Thousands of permanent jobs and many of them are going to be good-paying jobs. This is not something to sneeze at.” The RiverBend site alone is expected to create almost 3,000 permanent manufacturing jobs. And Cuomo’s office projects that between now and 2020, between jobs created and those left vacant through retirement, about 17,000 manufacturing openings will cit yandstateny.com

L A B O R

become available in the area for those with the required skills. Still, Lipsitz said, his group will remain vigilant, working to provide opportunities for workers at these new facilities to unionize and making sure that the state follows through on the promises of delivering quality employment. “You can rest assured that the union movement is very interested in making sure that those become permanent, good-paying, good-benefitted jobs that will improve the economy of the entire region,” Lipsitz said. “That’s our job.” But several community groups like PUSH Buffalo and Community Action Organization of Buffalo have raised concerns that those jobs will only benefit people already solidly in the middle class. People living at or near the cit yandstateny.com

poverty line will not have the skills to qualify for the advanced manufacturing jobs and may be left out of all the economic activity, the groups have said during several recent community meetings. But Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes, whose district includes some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods, pointed to a variety of programs being built up or already underway that offer training opportunities to people from all socioeconomic backgrounds that will make them eligible for the new jobs. She cited the Workforce Development Center, set to open in her district in 2017, and the nanotechnology and semiconductor programs at Erie Community College. SolarCity has been working

with Erie Community College to form a pipeline from the school to employment, and ECC recently received a $5.75 million grant for new equipment and labs to speed along the growth of its programs and ensure students are accustomed to state-of-the-art facilities. While there are only 35 students enrolled in the nanotechnology and semiconductor programs, college officials say interest has skyrocketed, with more than 150 people attending a recent open house. All of this gives people access to an affordable education that can help them get into the new job markets being created, Peoples-Stokes said. “There have been a number of initiatives that focus on preparing the workforce that the school system didn’t prepare to go to work in the

new economy that we’re building,” she said. The purpose of the Buffalo Billion and other economic development programs is not to solve societal problems in the region, the assemblywoman said – the county runs a social services system to handle those things. The purpose of the state’s economic development efforts, she said, is to bring in work so that people can use the educational services provided to lift themselves out of poverty – something that could not happen at all if these companies were locating elsewhere. The purpose, Peoples-Stokes said, is “to go around the country, the world actually, and find businesses that will come here and build on the economy that we’ve created as the result of a specific strategy that came out of the Regional Economic Development Council.”

city & state — August 31, 2015

Gov. Andrew Cuomo addresses workers at the RiverBend topping-off ceremony.

L responsibly compensate workers performing critical public services.

A B O I. DANEEK MILLER

Chairman, New York City Council Committee on Civil Service and Labor

City & State: Given the state’s decision to end the 421-a tax abatement if a deal isn’t reached by January, what sort of viable options do you think the administration has to pursue its affordable housing agenda? I. Daneek Miller: Any city administration retains tremendous tools to build and leverage private and nonprofit development of affordable housing. This includes zoning and land-use tools, financing, reduction on non-property taxes. It makes sense to work with organized labor to ensure qualified and competent folks build safe and secure affordable housing that lasts.

city & state — August 31, 2015

C&S: What do you think the proposed agreement with the Uniformed Firefighters Association means for the arbitration case with the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association? DM: Pattern bargaining plays a role, but each union seeks correctly to address those circumstances unique to their members’ duties and needs. That remains for the collective bargaining process. As a former labor leader, I recognize my role as a legislator is to not inject myself into that process. What I do know, and studies demonstrate, is that fairly compensated workers remain very productive and loyal. C&S: What does the administration’s goal of a $15-an-hour minimum wage mean for personnel, including contracted workers? DM: We need to understand that contracted workers – even the nonprofit agencies – represent some form of privatization. Generally, better pay cuts into the profits of management and ownership. A goal of a $15-perhour minimum wage helps lift folks who often lack the ability to organize successfully for a fair and honest wage. Our goal should be to lift people up and not protect the enrichment of a few, especially when public dollars are involved. We need to assure agencies

C&S: Some have suggested efforts to reduce provisional employees, as required under state law, may be causing a brain drain among the government workforce. Is this a valid concern? DM: Provisional employment gets used to end-run civil service rules and can lead to cronyism. No brain drain issue exists in the civil service. It represents mismanagement where agency managers failed to ensure that qualified personnel secure appropriate permanent employment within the civil service system.

ROBERT LINN Commissioner, New York City Office of Labor Relations

C&S: The Citizens Budget Commission and the Manhattan Institute have expressed concerns about how municipal contracts rely on health care savings concessions and described this as unpredictable or unstable. How would you respond to these concerns? Robert Linn: The unprecedented agreement reached with the Municipal Labor Committee last year marked a significant and positive shift, for the first time bringing the city and labor together to work to bend the health care cost curve. The $3.4 billion in savings – and $1.3 billion every year after – are not just guaranteed by the agreement, but enforceable by arbitration. Since reaching the agreement, we’ve been working collaboratively with the Municipal Labor Committee, meeting our fiscal year 2015 target of $400 million in savings and putting us on the path to achieve even more this fiscal year and beyond. C&S: What sorts of actions and initiatives seem likely to be included in the health cost savings required next year? RL: We are on track to meet our full

fiscal year 2016 savings target of $700 million and continue to grow savings on an annual basis to achieve a total of $3.4 billion through fiscal year 2019 and $1.3 billion recurring every year. In particular, we’ve detailed a number of new programs and initiatives to bend the health care cost curve, including reducing emergency room visits, expanding care management to include outpatient authorization, implementing diabetes programs, increasing incentives for opting out of the city’s health plan for employees with other coverage, expanding utilization of the 24-hour nurse line, expanding our flu shot program, and additional innovative approaches. C&S: With most major municipal contracts settled, what does that free you up to do? RL: We are incredibly proud of the work the de Blasio administration has done to bring 83 percent of the workforce under contract. We are also implementing the mayor’s commitment to provide employees at nonprofits contracted by the city with a living wage and cost of living increase. The broader goal of our work is to change the dialogue between city and labor from one of confrontation and deadlock to one of collaboration and problem solving. We’ve made dramatic strides forward, and New Yorkers – from employees to taxpayers – are seeing the great results.

THOMAS PEREZ U.S. Labor Secretary

City & State: A New York state wage board recently recommended increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour for fast food workers. With a national increase in minimum wage unlikely, are you seeing more of a move toward this piecemeal approach? Thomas Perez: You shouldn’t have to win the boss lottery, or the geographic lottery, in order to earn a fair day’s

pay for an honest day’s work. No one who works full time should have to raise their family in poverty, and so President Barack Obama will continue to press Congress to raise the national minimum wage, a step they haven’t taken in eight years. Until they do, however, we encourage all states and local governments not to wait for congressional leadership and to lift their own minimum wages. Seventeen states, in fact, have done so since the beginning of 2013. C&S: Are there side effects or downsides to only increasing the minimum wage for specific industries? TP: If a minimum wage increase is industrywide, that means all businesses within the industry are competing on a level playing field, so the increase won’t generate unintended consequences. That said, it would be great to go further than increasing the minimum wage just for isolated industries. Low-wage workers across the board deserve a raise. C&S: Historically there have been cycles of growth and decline in the economy. We are experiencing steady growth now. How long do you expect that to continue and is the Labor Department preparing for a potential recession? TP: I don’t have a crystal ball, but I feel pretty bullish about the trajectory of the U.S. economy. Thanks to the ingenuity of our businesses, the resilience of our workers and leadership from President Obama, we have emerged from the worst economic crisis in generations. As of the end of July, private employers have created 13 million new jobs over the last 65 consecutive months of job growth. The fundamentals of the economy are strong. C&S: You have taken an active role in the debate on paid family leave. We have seen some movement in New York City on this. Is the path forward on this issue through state and city action, or is there a path to a national paid family leave act? TP: It is simply not right that we’re the only advanced economy on earth with no national paid family leave law. But we’re seeing a clear momentum shift now, with growing public support and a broader understanding that paid leave is good for workers, good for businesses and good for the economy. I believe a national paid leave law is a question of “when,” not “if.” And as is so often the case, today’s forward progress at the state and local level – like New York City’s new paid sick day law – will eventually lead to congressional action and national reform. Sometimes, change comes to Washington, not from Washington. cit yandstateny.com

EDUCATION

ore than 6 million children attend public or private schools in New York state, which spends more than $23 billion to educate them. It works out to be a little under $20,000 per student – the highest investment in the country. This financial commitment brings with it high tensions and higher stakes when it comes to the allocation of resources and the expectations of achievement. All invested parties want students to perform better, but how to go about reaching that goal differs greatly.

On Aug. 13, City & State hosted its annual On Education forum. More than 400 people crowded into The New School auditorium in Manhattan to hear from some of the top education officials in the state and New York City as they debated salient issues, from the recent release of test scores and the high number of students who opted out of taking those tests to the larger conversation about the Common Core standards, which many feel are leading to the overtesting of students. The conference also touched on

the need to improve science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, known as STEM, by better training teachers on how to use rapidly evolving technology, while also counseling them to embrace their students’ affinity and aptitude for tech. The panel discussions, interviews and speeches were entertaining, insightful and at times combative. Ultimately, they helped to move forward the ongoing conversation of how to make our schools better.

CONTENTS 42 …. Fariña a fan of Common Core 44 … The future of state standards 46 … Tech in the classroom

city & state — August 31, 2015

cit yandstateny.com

UNITED FEDERATION OF TEACHERS salutes City & State Magazine for helping to improve New York public schools by facilitating dialogue among the stakeholders at its events and providing thoughtful coverage of the issues and challenges

A Union of Professionals Michael Mulgrew, President 52 Broadway, NY 10004 â&#x20AC;˘ www.uft.org

EDUCATION

NEW YORK CITY

A FIRM BELIEVER

FARIÑA SAYS COMMON CORE PREPARES KIDS FOR THE JOBS OF THE FUTURE

By SARINA TRANGLE

NOMINATIONS ARE OPEN! Do you know a Rising Star in the New York City political community? Nominate your friends, colleagues, family or other associates for City & State’s 2015 top 40 Rising Stars under the age of 40 in New York City government, politics, advocacy and media. City & State will close the submissions process Thursday, Sept. 10, with selections to be announced at the end of September. City & State will celebrate the Rising Stars at a reception in New York City, location and date to be announced shortly.

city & state — August 31, 2015

Nomination Deadline:

THURSDAY, SEPT. 10

For more info contact Jasmin Freeman at jfreeman@cityandstateny.com or call 646-442-1662.

New York City Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña speaks at the On Education forum.

cit yandstateny.com

EDUCATION

training or teaching materials before pupils began taking state exams based on the standards, which are used to measure educators’ and students’ progress. Others say Common Core’s more word-heavy math problems are more difficult for English language learners and students with special needs. Fariña called the lack of teacher preparation one of the biggest mistakes of the Common Core rollout. As a remedy, she said the city Department of Education worked with the United Federation of Teachers to add 80 minutes a week of professional development for school staff. Similarly, schools are adding 40 minutes of parent engagement a week. Fariña said she has instructed educators to target parents of children learning English or with special needs. “We need to let these parents know they have a special place at the table,” she said. “Without that expectation … we’re also saying to parents, ‘Oh well, if you don’t speak English, you’re really not good at this.’ My mother never learned to speak English well. And I thought she was an excellent parent, and even more importantly she made sure that we valued education, and that has to be something we make sure we respect.” Fariña glossed over a debate in the state Legislature about whether mayoral control of city public schools should be the long-term school governance structure, saying the education reform movement is focused too much on structure and not enough on classroom technique. She described several initiatives underway to improve what transpires in the classroom, including her one-onone meetings with an “army” of hand-picked superintendents this summer; compensating educators for collaborating with their peers on teaching techniques; the School Renewal Program, which will pour more resources into and add learning time at struggling schools; and Mayor Bill de Blasio’s signature universal prekindergarten expansion, which she called a gift to those learning English. “They need to be successful academically so they have choices in life,” Fariña said. “I stand before you as a first-generation American – first in my family to go to college, someone who takes pride in being not only bilingual, but bicultural. And I want that opportunity for every single student in New York City.”

Steps To Literacy® is one of

the nation’s leading suppliers of elementary educational materials and classroom libraries. Our offering includes:

Hundreds of Exclusive Classroom Products • Our products have been carefully developed to provide a unique and enjoyable learning experience

Over 5,000 Prebuilt Curriculum Collections

• Collections cover a wide variety of subject matter and reading levels

Titles Available from Over 150 Publishers • We work with leading publishers to offer our customers the highest quality books

Custom Classroom Library Development • At no additional charge, our consultants can tailor collections to a specific subject or curriculum • Call us at 800-895-2804 for more information

Innovative Tools for Traveling the Road to Literacy®

www.stepstoliteracy.com

•

800-895-2804

city & state — August 31, 2015

New York City Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña praised Common Core as a pathway toward the jobs of the future during an education forum hosted by City & State this month. Fariña described the education standards being phased in across most of the country as a mechanism for ensuring students of all backgrounds are learning the analytical and presentational skills necessary to thrive in the future job market. “I am a firm believer in Common Core,” she said. “Our students cannot learn by skill or by rote memorization. It doesn’t work. There’s no jobs in the future that expect that.” “Our kids need to be analytical thinkers; they need to be researchers; they need to be able to talk in front of an office,” Fariña added. “Our kids need to have that skill, and it’s not just kids in middle-class neighborhoods, who would be able to talk ad nauseam about anything. It’s all our kids.” The Common Core standards have proved controversial. Some educators contend they were not given adequate

EDUCATION

Tools to achieve more... Our materials aim to bridge home and school by providing parents with important informaƟon on the latest issues in educaƟon and parenƟng.

CORE COMPROMISE EDUCATION OFFICIALS SAY STATE STANDARDS NEED TO ‘EVOLVE’

By JON LENTZ

We address InstrucƟonal Topics ranging from Common Core State Standards and STEM EducaƟon to Homework Tips, as well as Social and EmoƟonal Topics ranging from NutriƟon and Cyberbullying to Internet Safety and Self-Esteem.

city & state — August 31, 2015

MaryEllen Elia is the state’s new education commissioner

www.sussmansales.com

(800) 350-7180

info@sussmansales.com

A day after state figures showed that 1 in 5 students in New York had opted not to take standardized exams, top state education officials struck a conciliatory tone, emphasizing the need for more collaboration with teachers and parents. And while the officials insisted that the state’s oft-maligned education standards and teacher evaluations are here to stay, they said there is plenty

of room for compromise and improvement. “We’ve got to go back and rethink some of the ways we’ve done things in the past in New York,” state Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia said this month during a Q&A at City & State’s annual On Education event. “We’ve got to look at the standards and review them. We’ve got to look at assessments. Certainly we need to cit yandstateny.com

cit yandstateny.com

Coding is the New Literacy

EDUCATION

dards, required changes to their pedagogical approaches and teacher evaluations increasingly tied to the new assessments. “So you take each of those, and each of them is a major shift,” Elia said, “and after moving through all of that, the last comment to me was, ‘But we really like the standards.’” Responding to concerns about the time spent on test preparation, Elia said, “The big issue is we don’t have enough time for the kids as it is. We have to have it be as productive as possible. And I’m not sure how much test prep is going to be productive for students. So I think we have to rethink that and that whole idea of getting ready for the assessment.” Elia earlier this year announced a review of the Common Core standards and the associated student exams, a step also required by a state law enacted this year. “I support the Common Core, but I support Common Core as it evolves,” Elia said. “We need to have high standards. Does it have to be ‘the Common Core’? Does it have to be those high standards are exactly the sequence? Should we be looking at whether or not they are age-appropriate in kindergarten through fourth grade? Absolutely we should. And we should expect those people who are experts in the field, practitioners every day, to come in and use the involvement they’ve had with the standards to this point to evolve the standards to where they should be.” Elia and state Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch also sought to press a reset button, saying the rollout of the Common Core standards had been flawed but that the overheated political rhetoric had become damaging. Tisch, who also spoke at the City & State conference, attributed the problems with Common Core primarily to a “communications failure” at every level of government about the value and importance of standardized testing. “To the extent that people found the testing punitive rather than helpful,” she said, “I think that was a failure on our part to communicate effectively about the relevance of testing and the importance of culling data for the purpose of improving instructional practice.” Later, Tisch added, “I would encourage us in the great state of New York to be patient, stay the course, adjust appropriately, but never back down from the movement to higher standards.”

“Learning to code makes kids feel empowered, creative, and confident.” —Susan Wojcicki, CEO, YouTube

Help kids go from browsing to building

Learn more at www.dk.com/code

A WORLD OF IDEAS: SEE ALL THERE IS TO KNOW www.dk.com

city & state — August 31, 2015

review assessments. And I think the whole system of evaluation, we need to review in the context of changes that come with standards and with the assessments.” Elia, who took office last month, has already displayed a more open and collaborative tone than her predecessor, even as she continues to prioritize the same reforms. Her appointment came amid growing criticism of the state’s Common Core education standards, tougher standardized tests and, particularly among teachers unions, how those tests increasingly factor into teacher evaluations. This week the state released its 2015 student exam scores, which showed slight increases, but the backlash had resulted in a growing number of students opting out. This year 20 percent of students in grades three through eight in the state declined to take at least one test – a substantial increase from last year’s 5 percent. This year’s 80 percent participation rate is well below the 95 percent federal minimum. Elia told reporters the day before the conference that the state is in talks with the federal government and that school districts with high opt-out rates could be sanctioned, although it is unclear what the specific repercussions might be. Janella Hinds, vice president of academic high schools at the United Federation of Teachers, said during an earlier panel at the On Education conference that the opt-out movement is a “symptom of the crisis … we’re facing in our system today.” Hinds, who is also a teacher in Brooklyn, ventured further than her boss, UFT President Michael Mulgrew, in openly criticizing the state standards and tests, arguing that teachers have to spend too much time teaching to the tests and that the scores would be more helpful if they came earlier, instead of in August, just before the start of the new school year. “Teachers are very concerned about assessment that doesn’t measure what students know and need to be able to do,” Hinds said. “Teachers are also very concerned about the amount of time that’s invested by the system on preparing for the test.” Elia acknowledged the concerns while insisting on maintaining higher standards. She noted that several teachers told her recently that they had been overwhelmed by several education policy changes taking place at once: the new Common Core standards, new tests linked to the stan-

EDUCATION

HIGH TECH, HIGH STAKES EDUCATION

EXPERTS SAY EDUCATORS NEED TO BE CAREFUL ABOUT HOW THEY IMPLEMENT TECHNOLOGY

By JEFF COLTIN

city & state — August 31, 2015

lank smartboards taking up space along classroom walls. Stacks of unused iPads gathering dust. Botched rollouts and canceled contracts. With horror stories like these, it’s no surprise that the “Big Ideas in Education” panelists at City & State’s On Education event chose to focus on what comes next: damage control when those big ideas run into big problems. “I’ve been to dozens and dozens of schools and I know a couple of years ago, they were very proud of their smartboards,” said Clara Hemphill, editor of Inside Schools. “And I go back this past year and all the lightbulbs have burned out and they cost $400 to replace, so smartboards are not working anymore.” Hemphill moderated the panel on this month at The New School, featuring experts from all corners of the proverbial classroom: Carol MosessonTeig, director of student achievement at the New York City Department of Education; Rashid Davis, principal of P-Tech in Crown Heights; Bryan Thompson, president of educational materials provider Steps to Literacy; Steve Sussman, curriculum division president of materials provider Sussman Sales; and Guy Vardi, CEO of the math games developer Matific. The discussion was not limited to smartboards, but rather about the “big idea” of technology in the classroom. “Students are digital natives,” Davis said. “So we need to tell teachers that they need to understand how to leverage, and not be fearful of, the knowledge students have with technology. And allow them to learn and relearn because that’s what they’re going to be doing for the rest of their lives.” But Sussman was quick to warn that tech cannot be adopted too quickly. “It’s so important to know the capabilities and to test programs to make sure you know what you want to do before you go out and buy a bunch of

The Big Ideas panel focused on technology in the classroom.

devices that may not run smoothly with the type of programs you’re trying to implement.” Thompson cited the failed adoption of iPads by the Los Angeles Unified School District, saying they put the cart before the horse. “They didn’t look at what they wanted to achieve,” he said, “and instead they said, if we have the technology we can worry about everything else after, and that’s not really the case.” Thompson said teachers and administrators implementing new technologies have to be ready to adjust on the fly. “If we sit down with technology, whether that’s smartboards or iPads, and we let that run the entire lesson for the day, we’re not actually interacting with the students,” he said. “I think smartboards and iPads have a fantastic place in our classroom, be it now or in the future. But I think we need to integrate (them) in a way that is thoughtful from the start.” Mosesson-Teig was careful to note the city’s view on technology’s role in another big idea: getting kids interested in mathematics. She said no piece of technology could take the

place of teachers who understand math. “And furthermore we believe strongly that mathematics has to be taught in community,” she said. “You cannot learn mathematics in isolation, and there needs to be conversation happening between students and teachers to ensure there’s a depth of understanding.” Math was cited as a particular challenge for teachers and students alike. Hemphill shared a chart showing the proportion of the student body receiving an advanced Regents diploma has remained steady around 18 percent over the past decade, even as the percentage of students receiving the standard Regents diploma trended upward. She blamed the “algebra whirlpool,” the phenomenon where students have to take the algebra I Regents exam multiple times before passing it. Those students then run out of the time – or desire – to study higher-level subjects like algebra II, chemistry or physics. New York students’ math performance has come under scrutiny after the release of statewide test scores this month showed just 38.1 percent of test takers were proficient in math. A silver lining:

That’s a 2 percent increase from 2014, and a 7 percent rise from 2013. Davis presented an optimistic picture, asking the crowd “that you be patient” about math scores and the algebra whirlpool, and emphasizing the significance of the slow and steady “incremental gains” in test scores. Vardi responded with pragmatism. “Teachers in elementary school are the Swiss army knives of teaching. They are not necessarily experts at math,” he said – one of his many zingers of the session as he pushed for new, innovative ways of teaching. Vardi and Davis’ differing perspectives show what make big ideas in education so complicated. What works in one classroom will not necessarily work in one down the hall. There is, after all, a certain cadre of teachers who will be standing in front of classrooms this fall who learned on smartboards throughout middle school and high school. For instance, one self-described millennial teacher at the conference, Stephanie Plachy, didn’t like the panel’s smartboard insults. She tweeted, “Woah, throwing shade at @SMART_Tech #SMARTboards at #OnEducation... I love mine!” cit yandstateny.com

GRADUATE SCHOOLS SUPPLEMENT

city & state â&#x20AC;&#x201D; August 31, 2015

City & State magazine presents its Graduate and Continuing Education Series in an effort to inform our readers, the leaders and future leaders of New York, about the many educational opportunities the state has to offer. Whether a government staffer, business executive or nonprofit advocate, graduate and continuing education programs abound to assist you in attaining applicable training and knowledge. The articles featured in this section outline the benefits of continuing education programs as well as what to look out for when applying. This series features four installments throughout the year, so stay tuned for additional helpful information in future editions.

cit yandstateny.com

By PETERSON’S STAFF

he United States has numerous schools to choose from, and graduate programs are no exception. Determining which ones are best suited for you can be confusing. However, it can be done! Keep in mind that there are web resources that can help you gather graduate school information, including graduate school search tools and grad school ranking lists CREATE YOUR OWN GRADUATE SCHOOL RANKINGS LIST About 18 months before you plan to enroll, you should start conducting a graduate school search and develop

a list of schools that interest you by gathering graduate school information from a variety of sources. Get leads on specific schools by checking with professors or professional colleagues, or by reading current articles, papers and journals in your field of interest and noting where the authors attended school. Join Internet discussion groups on your intended subject to see what others have to say. Read through reliable lists of grad school rankings. These are all good resources to help you identify appropriate schools, especially if you’re not sure where to start.

offer programs in your specific field of study and start requesting application materials and further details about curriculum and faculty. If possible, you should also find out if any of the schools on your list are involved in research or projects that match with any of your own endeavors and interests. Thoroughly review the details about each school and eliminate those that don’t offer what you are looking for. From the remaining list, choose 7 to 10 institutions to which you think you might want to apply—and make sure they are accredited.

Using the information you gather, develop a list of 10 to 20 schools that

UNDERSTAND THE COSTS Universities in the United States

are either public (state supported) or private (independent), and where you live has a significant bearing on how much you’ll pay to attend them. American students who reside in the same state as a public institution pay significantly less to attend it than those who live elsewhere. At private schools, tuition is generally higher than at most public schools, and everyone pays the same rates, regardless of where they’re from.

GRADUATE SCHOOLS SUPPLEMENT

CREATE A GRADUATE SCHOOL RANKING TO FIND THE SCHOOL THAT’S RIGHT FOR YOU

Tuition rates for international students attending public schools in the United States tend to be less than what they would pay at a private school, and contrary to popular

Urban Policy and Planning at HUnter college A SmArt ChoiCe

The hunter College Department of Urban Policy and Planning offers an MS degree in Urban Policy and leadership, an MUP in Urban Planning, and an undergraduate major in Urban Studies. The department’s distinguished faculty are affiliated with the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter, one of New York City’s premier venues for public affairs discourse and debate. http://www.hunteruap.org

cit yandstateny.com

city & state — August 31, 2015

With 66% of the world’s population expected to be living in cities by 2050, there is no better time than now to study urban policy, leadership and planning. And no better place to do it than at Hunter College, located in the heart of New York, the most dynamic city in the world.

GRADUATE SCHOOLS SUPPLEMENT

belief, there isn’t necessarily a correlation between the cost of a school and its quality as an academic institution. Tuition costs usually increase annually and may vary from school to school or from department to department. When you’re checking out the estimated costs of attending a particular school, remember that there’s more than just tuition, books and student fees to think about. You also need to account for health insurance, housing, food, moving costs, living expenses. Depending on where you choose to attend school, all of these additional costs can vary as the cost of living varies from place to place. One option that might work for you, and that avoids a number of the costs listed above, is an online grad school (see a list of online graduate schools). Online graduate programs are increasingly being offered by traditional public and private universities, but many are also offered by career universities. CONSIDER THE ACADEMIC REQUIREMENTS Most schools have similar admis-

sion requirements as far as the paperwork and testing involved, but be sure you know exactly what each school requires in terms of which tests you need to take, the minimum required scores, GPA requirements, deadline dates for admission and financial aid, essay and/or resume requirements, and the number of letters of recommendation you need. Before you commit to a school, make sure you know what you need to complete in order to graduate, such as credit hours, internships, a thesis, or oral exams. Some programs have optional theses and some may grant you credit for work experience or other degrees you have already earned. Whatever is required, if you’re clear on what you need to do, your academic studies will go more smoothly. RESEARCH SPECIFIC GRADUATE SCHOOL INFORMATION Academics are important, but don’t neglect your personal needs when it comes to choosing a school that is the right fit for you, especially if you’re going to be a long way from

City and State / Quarter page: 4.875 x 6 inches / Due Aug 10, 2015

Experience your MPA at Cornell University Prepare to become a public policy leader. Our dynamic program offers unparalleled flexibility. Choose from a broad range of concentrations:

Go online and learn more today: www.cipa.cornell.edu

city & state — August 31, 2015

Or call us at: (607) 255-8018 Cornell Institute for Public Affairs 294 Caldwell Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853-2602 Samantha Cherney MPA 2014, Project Associate, RAND Corporation Cornell University Photography

• Economic & Financial Policy • Environmental Policy • Government, Politics & Policy Studies • Human Rights & Social Justice • International Development Studies • Public & Nonprofit Management • Science, Technology & Infrastructure Policy • Social Policy Take courses that tackle real world policy challenges. Spend a semester studying off-campus in Washington, DC, or at one of our international sites in India, Nepal or Italy.

Cornell Institute for Public Affairs

home. Where and how you live, your quality of life, friends you make and the activities available to you will all influence your well-being and happiness. Find out as much as you can about each school’s campus environment, the lifestyle of the area where each school is located, and the types of health and recreational facilities available at both the school and in the surrounding community. Most schools should have an office that provides services and information to international students and you might try contacting them to get additional information. They will also be a great help to you after you arrive. Most can provide assistance with immigration and visa issues, financial support and cultural and social transitions.

tives and who can fit well into their research and training programs. If you do your school research thoroughly, you should be able to find the school that fits best for you and increase your chances of being admitted by applying to those that best match your personal and professional requirements. And then, if you want to further maximize your chances to get into your graduate school of choice, you can use the expert essay editing services of EssayEdge to perfect your graduate admissions essay.

This article originally appeared on www.Petersons.com, a Nelnet company.

BE PATIENT THROUGHOUT YOUR GRADUATE SCHOOL SEARCH Choosing the right school takes time and energy, but rest assured there is one out there for you. Graduate schools in the United States look for international students who have clear, defined academic objec-

cit yandstateny.com

NEW

You have the passion...we have the tools. Gain the skills to fight social injustice. FULL-TIME & PART-TIME EVENING PROGRAMS AVAILABLE

law.cuny.edu/prospective

OPINION

THERE’S A CRISIS ON OUR STREETS, AND IT ISN’T TOPLESSNESS By NICK POWELL

city & state — August 31, 2015

As is his wont, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has recently taken a keen interest in muscling his way into New York City issues. Cuomo demonstrated his crisismanagement acumen by elbowing Mayor Bill de Blasio and the city Department of Health to take control of a Legionnaire’s outbreak in the south Bronx. He then felt the need to weigh in on the “desnudas” – the topless, painted women who take selfies with Times Square tourists for money, saying this bare-chested menace “needs to be stopped” and warning of a return to the Times Square of yesteryear, replete with porn and prostitutes. With due respect to the governor’s courageous stance on protecting tourists from bare nipples, there is a far more pressing issue to which the state would do well to lend a hand: a supportive housing plan for the tens of thousands of homeless people living in New York City. The number living in city shelters has reached 58,761, according to the most recent census by the Coalition for the Homeless, but it is most certainly higher than that, considering the homeless men, women and children squeezed out of the shelter system and forced to live on the streets. Building supportive housing would not require a Herculean legislative effort between the city and Albany, nor would it necessitate a supplemental proposal to de Blasio’s robust affordable housing plan; a comprehensive agreement between the city and the state has already been in place for 25 years, thanks to the NY/NY initiative, which has created 50,000 units of supportive housing statewide since its inception in 1990. Yet the program is set to expire in June. “(NY/NY) is a big piece of the puzzle,” says City Council member Steve Levin, the chairman of the Committee on General Welfare. “It all adds up to a bigger picture, this happens to be a big piece of that. Historically, this has been part of our system now for 25 years, and this is our shot at it for this decade.”

Indeed, the NY/NY program is the rare city and state collaboration that has endured through both Democratic and Republican administrations and leadership upheaval in the Assembly and Senate. The program contains traces of both Cuomo’s and de Blasio’s political lineages, and was crafted in response to the deinstitutionalization movement of the 1960s that swelled shelter populations beyond capacity and led to a wave of mentally ill people living in destitute conditions on the street. It wasn’t until the winter of 1989, when the shelter rolls grew to frighteningly high numbers, that Cuomo’s father, then-Gov. Mario Cuomo, and then-Mayor David Dinkins, with whom de Blasio began his political career as a mayoral aide, hammered out a jointly funded agreement to get 5,225

mentally ill and homeless individuals off the streets by creating 3,314 units of licensed housing and a voluntary support services system to help them stay there. The initial plan was largely successful, hitting its housing benchmarks and then some: 3,615 statewide units were created, which in turn reduced the financial burdens incurred by the city and state from soaring incarceration, hospitalization and other health care costs associated with buttressing the homeless population. After the first year of the program, 73 percent of the formerly homeless NY/NY residents remained in their placements, and 60 percent remained after two years. Despite being the brainchild of a Democratic mayor and governor, the program’s success was so pronounced that it would be twice renewed by Republican city and state administrations

– once by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Gov. George Pataki in 1997, and again by Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2005. The latter agreement reduced homelessness by 47 percent in the first five years. But in the wake of a crippling economic crisis, Bloomberg and Gov. Andrew Cuomo discontinued the Advantage program in 2011, which provided rental subsidies for homeless families seeking to transition to supportive housing. The homeless population has since skyrocketed. De Blasio is fond of using the loss of the Advantage program as a crutch to explain away the dramatic increase of homeless families in the city since he took office 18 months ago. In a recent interview on “The Brian Lehrer Show,” the mayor said the city and state “made a huge mistake” in canceling the program, and attributed the rise in homelessness over the past four years to that decision. Yet that same passing of the buck is what girds the current debate between the city and state on renewing the NY/ NY initiative, underscoring the fact that de Blasio’s and Cuomo’s own initiatives (including $1 billion in the state budget for homelessness prevention programs) have been ineffective at reducing the actual numbers on the ground. While admirable, they are reminiscent of the city and state’s piecemeal efforts to stem the homeless boom of the 1980s, prior to the first NY/NY agreement. “The bottom line is that we have a steady presence of people with serious mental illnesses and other serious disabilities who are unable to live independently in the housing market,” says Shelly Nortz, deputy director of policy at the Coalition for the Homeless. “And we’re just not producing enough of that to meet the demand.” Of course, the well-documented tensions between Cuomo and de Blasio loom over any and every negotiation between the city and state, but NY/NY seems to be the rare wedge issue where the stalemate is a matter of dollars and cit yandstateny.com

Nick Powell is City & State’s opinion editor. Email him at NPowell@ cityandstateny.com or find him on Twitter: @nickpowellbkny

cit yandstateny.com

OPINION

FREE THE WORKING FATHERS By ALEXIS GRENELL

In the fight for paid family leave, the driving narrative behind the policy is how it will benefit women. And it’s true – women are uniquely harmed by social expectations placed on them for unpaid care work, like child rearing and elder care. The fact that there is no male equivalent for the awkward trope of “working mother” is proof alone that women still spend disproportionately more time on care work than men. Companies that do not offer paternity leave and punish women who take maternity leave by mommy-tracking them out of career advancement reinforce this inequality. The end result is a yawning wage gap, fewer women ascending to senior positions, and continued hand-wringing about what women can do to succeed in the workforce. However, the point of paid leave is not simply to compensate women, but to reduce and redistribute the workload so that men become true partners in care. The current paradigm conceives of fathers as support players, who occasionally help out by relieving mothers of their duties. Women lose, and men do too. Take Andy, for example. He took two weeks of personal vacation to be home after the recent birth of his daughter. “Looking back, the pregnancy was the easy part; everything after is an emotional

apocalypse,” he explains. Because Andy works at one of the 80 percent of U.S. companies that do not offer paternity leave, he’s relegated to an assistant caregiver role as a parent: “Watching my wife and what she has to deal with, she’s going to need help. Help with feedings, someone to take the baby off her hands so she can shower.” He wishes he could take an extended leave to be a full-time caregiver, a partner to his wife, but instead he has to “watch” and “help” her. Yet even when couples flip the gender script, men still confront the assumption that they’re bystanders to their own children. Ten months ago, Adam quit his job to raise his newborn son full time. His wife is the primary income earner (she took six weeks off after giving birth), and he handles all the responsibilities that make it possible for her to wear clean clothes to work, have food in the refrigerator, and keep more of her earnings for the family because they’re not spending it on domestic help. “When I go to the supermarket in the middle of the day with the baby, there’s always this element of surprise. People, mostly older women, will come up to us and say, ‘Oh daddy has the day off today,’” Adam says. “There are definitely these moments where people are like, ‘What do you do?’ I’m like, ‘I’m a stay-at-home dad right

now.’ The phrase I hear most often is ‘Oh wow.’” Adam is choosing to be the primary caregiver to his child, a decision that women are forced into every day, because systems, institutions and social expectations deal fathers out of the caregiving equation. Even changing tables in women’s restrooms reflect these gender politics. State Sen. Brad Hoylman and his husband, David Sigal, spent years kneeling on dirty bathroom floors, crouched under the urinals, to change their daughter’s diaper. Sometimes they attempted to balance their writhing baby on the side of a sink. Other times they braved public disapproval to change her on a park bench. “It was a constant complaint that we heard from other gay parents, but also straight men,” Hoylman said. “This represents a lot more than just changing dirty diapers. It’s reflective of norms in society and the bias toward women as caregivers.” Earlier this year, Hoylman introduced a bill that would require all public buildings and places of public accommodation, like restaurants and retail shops, to offer changing tables in the men’s room. Thanks to the Republican-controlled Senate, it’s going nowhere fast. Whether it’s a lack of changing tables or lack of paternity leave, traditional gender roles deny fathers the right to be fully responsible caregivers, while patronizing them with excessive credit for work that women are, by default, expected to perform. “Up until she died, your grandmother still couldn’t believe I cooked,” my father griped in a recent conversation. “Strangers on the street used to congratulate me for being a good father, just for walking around with a baby!” Gender equality is not a zero-sum game, although men who are loath to relinquish their privilege receive it that way. However, for many more men, it’s just as frustrating to be trapped in an outdated definition of masculinity left over from the last century.

Alexis Grenell (@agrenell on Twitter) is a Democratic communications strategist based in New York. She handles nonprofit and political clients.

city & state — August 31, 2015

cents rather than petty politics. Previous iterations of the NY/NY agreement saw the state picking up 80 percent of the tab, and 100 percent of the cost to house mentally ill and homeless individuals, with the city splitting the cost of housing other target populations, such as young adults who have recently left the foster care system. But the Cuomo administration intends to tighten the state’s purse strings, pushing the de Blasio administration for closer to a 50/50 split for any units built in New York City, which, they contend, the city has the fiscal capacity to finance. When asked, city officials dismiss the idea that the city is running a surplus. They argue that the city already picks up the tab for many of the state’s homelessness prevention initiatives, including the majority of the rent cap program for HIV/AIDS patients, and homeless rental subsidy programs. Cuomo is also wary of repeating Pataki’s mistake: The erstwhile governor committed to building 9,000 supportive housing units in the third NY/NY agreement, without the necessary capital to bankroll the program. State officials tell me this is partly why Cuomo put forth such a tepid supportive housing proposal during the most recent budget negotiations – 5,000 units statewide over seven years – a figure that was scoffed at by city officials and homeless advocates, who point to a waiting list of over 20,000 individuals for housing placement. To be sure, the de Blasio administration’s counterproposal, 12,000 units statewide, also falls far short of the 35,000 units called for by the Campaign 4 NY/NY Housing, a coalition of advocacy organizations and city and state elected officials. But there are already rumblings in the advocacy community that the de Blasio administration will soon double down on its commitment to supportive housing by coming out with a proposal that inches closer to the 35,000 unit number – a plan that would at least give the appearance of a mayor doing more than finger-pointing and lending lip service when it comes to dealing with the homeless problem wholesale. The question is whether Cuomo will cede to the mayor and advocates’ demands in the name of tangible reductions to the homeless population. After all, it’s easy to swoop down from Albany in a chariot to “rescue” the city from hyper-local hiccups, but it’s more impressive to show you can play nice with the mayor to solve a major crisis.

OPINION

FIGHTING OVER PHILANTHROPY In an op-ed published on cityandstateny.com on Aug. 10, Steven Malanga, senior editor at the City Journal, criticized philanthropic organizations receiving government funding. Allison Sesso, the executive director of the Human Services Council, responded shortly thereafter.

CHARITIES ON THE DOLE By STEVEN MALANGA

city & state — August 31, 2015

FEGS, or Federation Employment and Guidance Service, was founded in 1934 as a small Jewish charity in New York. Over 80 years, it grew into a sprawling, $230 million social services nonprofit, helping welfare recipients find jobs, providing housing for people with disabilities, and offering home care for the poor. Its sudden collapse earlier this year – it filed for bankruptcy in March, owing $2.3 million to the New York State Office of Mental Health and another $12 million in construction loans – illustrates how government money has transformed religious and mutual-aid philanthropic organizations and the risks that such groups take when they chase public funding. FEGS’s messy collapse marks an inglorious end to an institution that began by using charitable money to provide vocational services to Jewish immigrants. This task grew broader and more urgent with the flight of Jews from Europe to America during the late 1930s. During World War II, FEGS, then called Federation Employment Service, expanded its mission to run recruiting drives for local manufacturers contributing to the war effort. After the war, FEGS helped place veterans in jobs.

Like many charities, FEGS’s mission began to change more dramatically with the rise of government-funded social services, starting with President Lyndon Johnson’s “war on poverty.” By the late 1960s, FEGS was operating federally funded Youth Corps summeremployment programs. In the 1970s, it took on government-financed programs to serve meals to the elderly and counsel troubled youths. By then, FEGS was part of a broader network of some 130 New York Jewish philanthropies with a collective budget of $200 million, over half of which government supplied. Today, FEGS essentially turned into a government contractor – in some ways, virtually indistinguishable from government agencies. The organization’s 2013 IRS filing, for instance, lists $227 million in total revenues – including $93 million in government grants and $119 million in program revenues, much of it from providing services funded by public-sector programs like Medicaid. By contrast, fundraising events and nongovernment grants and contributions brought in just $1 million and $4.3 million, respectively. FEGS’s evolution is fairly common among many other nonprofits that got

their start as charities. A 2014 examination of the funding sources of 3,600 Jewish nonprofits by the Forward estimated that 79 percent of the $5 billion that these groups generated for spending on social services came from government grants and program services. Just 15 percent originated from private contributions. Decades ago, these groups largely relied on private contributions and grants from organizations like UJAFederation. Jewish groups aren’t alone in their reliance on government funding. During the late 1990s, Catholic Charities USA opposed congressional efforts to slow federal welfare spending by instituting work requirements for recipients. At the time, the organization was receiving almost two-thirds of its revenues from government to run social services programs, prompting Senator Rick Santorum to observe that the organization “can do little that is uniquely Catholic. They have to do what the government dictates.” (See “How Catholic Charities Lost Its Soul.”) Groups such as FEGS and Catholic Charities wind up chasing public contracts for programs designed by government bureaucrats, rather than

responding to charitable directives generated by their community. FEGS appears to have bid so aggressively for contracts that it lost money on nearly three-quarters of the programs it ran. The nonprofit also used the borrowing power of the state and the collateral provided by government contracts to incur unwise obligations, including $14 million in future mortgage payments and $90 million in longterm operating leases. About two-thirds of FEGS employees were members of a government union – the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) – and some of the nonprofit’s pay practices reflect the kinds of questionable arrangements often found in the public sector. FEGS granted workers cash for unused vacation time – an expensive perk – as well as severance pay equal to up to 45 days for experienced workers. The nonprofit’s 990 forms show up to $10.8 million in liabilities for these accrued benefits. In July 2014, FEGS even signed a new collective bargaining agreement with AFSCME that reflected none of the financial realities that it was facing. That year, FEGS’s compensation costs rose by 14 cit yandstateny.com

Steven Malanga is the senior editor of City Journal, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and the author of Shakedown: The Continuing Conspiracy Against the American Taxpayer. cit yandstateny.com

OPINION

AN ANTIQUATED VIEW OF A MODERNIZED SECTOR By ALLISON SESSO

The conclusions Steven Malanga reaches in his piece “Charities on the Dole” demonstrate a real lack of appreciation for the history and complex relationship between government and mission-driven social services organizations. The mere fact that he uses the outdated term “charities” to refer to these multifaceted organizations offers insight into his limited understanding of how these groups have evolved and operate in the 21st century. Since the early 20th century, the human services sector has matured in size, scope and sophistication, and government has increasingly turned to these organizations for the delivery of services in communities. While many organizations contracting with government today have long histories steeped in philanthropy, spending on social services has grown well beyond the capacity of philanthropic giving. This is mostly due to the growing recognition that social programs are important ingredients of a prosperous society. This arrangement allows government to leverage the expertise and community connections nonprofit groups offer while providing services on the cheap. While collective spending has grown as public policies aimed at addressing social problems have expanded, individual programs are chronically underfunded, with as few as 14 percent of nonprofits reporting sufficient government reimbursement rates. Mission-driven organizations tend to take on government contracts that don’t pay the full cost because they can leverage private supplemental dollars. Government and taxpayers do well in this arrangement getting discounted services that would cost government a tremendous amount

of money to perform on their own. Pension costs alone would gobble up significant tax dollars. But this arrangement is taking its toll. Today, nonprofit human services agencies operate in the margins because the discounted rates they agree to are rarely adjusted over time, allowing the combination of inflation and rising costs to systematically undermine quality programming, weakening our ability to have the social impacts desired. Let’s say you operate a homeless shelter, and you know it costs you $110 per night to house an individual; your government contract might reimburse you $100. As a mission-focused nonprofit, you agree to this rate with the intent to privately raise funds to make up the rest. But five years later, your costs have gone up – food prices are higher, and specific nutritional regulations rightfully prevent you from serving cheaper meals, so you delay roof repairs to make up the difference; employee health insurance rates increase drastically, so you institute a higher employee contribution rate; your rent is raised, so you downsize staff, increasing the workload each remaining employee must bear, and at the same time you are struggling to convince your best employees to stay despite the lack of raises that you can’t afford. And the budget pressures grow as the years go on, yet your government reimbursement rates remain stagnant. This is not a system lending itself to the quality programming we need to make a difference in communities. So let’s do something about this. Not by pushing government away, but by reimagining the nonprofitgovernment partnership. Are there sister systems such as health care and education we can better leverage to

help transform and support human services? Should we adopt policies and approaches that incentivize government-led support for the longterm financial health of the nonprofit entities providing services? Can we develop and incentivize partnerships with businesses to bring nongovernment resources, technology systems and infrastructure to the table? The Human Services Council views the downfall of FEGS not as a call for nonprofits to abandon government, but as an opportunity to right the relationship and to look internally at practices that contribute to the problem. That’s why we set up a blue-ribbon commission to examine nonprofit closures. We are looking in depth at the contributing factors, from management and oversight to challenging fiscal environments, and are focusing in on the underlying systems and incentives that drive social services delivery to come up with recommendations for change. Malanga asserts, wrongfully, that we must “choose between the lure of government money and fidelity to their stated mission,” as if the two are fundamentally at odds. Government and nonprofits partner to create dynamic and critical programs, and the two groups should work in deeper collaboration, not part ways. We – government, nonprofits and philanthropy – need to think strategically about what outcomes we want, and design a system accordingly. The social services nonprofitgovernment partnership is a good thing; it just needs to be reworked a bit.

Allison Sesso is the executive director of the Human Services Council.

city & state — August 31, 2015

percent even as the nonprofit barreled toward insolvency. It also paid rich executive compensation, including $638,000 in 2013 to the president who presided over its decline, and to whom FEGS also owes $1.2 million in deferred compensation. The communities that once supported these groups now have less of a stake in their performance. Oversight subsequently suffers. FEGS’ board of trustees was filled with some of the leading figures in New York’s private sector. In the past, the larger community of donors to FEGS could have relied on such board members to protect their investment in the charity. Yet the FEGS board seemed to have little idea about what was going on. “Where were the board members?” one recent editorial lamented. They certainly weren’t looking out for the interests of taxpayers, who are now the biggest stakeholders in FEGS. For religious-affiliated nonprofits, the problem goes beyond the question of oversight. To what extent does government money ultimately undermine their mission? Defenders of the government deals argue that doing good, even with public money, is still worthwhile – but FEGS’s collapse after becoming a governmentcontracting giant suggests that it had lost its effectiveness at doing good. And increasingly, aggressive politicians use government money to bully groups into adopting policies contrary to their beliefs. The courts have already forced the Salvation Army to alter its hiring practice for programs that receive government funds – the organization can no longer give employment preference to evangelical Christians for such programs. Governments have also tangled with the Catholic Church, trying to require that programs receiving federal money offer health insurance that includes contraceptive coverage. Tired of the pressure, some groups, like Catholic Charities in Tulsa, Oklahoma, have withdrawn completely from accepting public funding. Sooner or later, charities will have to choose between the lure of government money and fidelity to their stated mission. But FEGS won’t be around when that day of reckoning comes.

OPINION

TRUMP AND RAMOS: BOTH WERE WRONG By GERSON BORRERO

city & state — August 31, 2015

The press corps covering the Donald Trump beat can’t possibly be happy with what happened in Iowa. Here you are, following the GOP’s worst nightmare, a candidate who is generating headlines by the hour, and he’s giving you a shot to get a question in that will make your editor smile – and in comes Jorge Ramos. Out of nowhere, the Univision anchor – who also happens to be one of the biggest names in Latino media – decided that since the poll-leading novice wasn’t granting him a one-onone interview, he would parachute into Iowa. Ramos left his comfy studio seat to do just that, and after patiently – he claims – waiting for two beat reporters to ask their questions he would try to show Trump up.

One thing is certain: Ramos made The Donald’s day. Ramos’ grandstanding served as a deterrent to the inevitable pin-down from reporters looking for specifics on the multitude of meaningless ideas Trump has spouted on the campaign trail – ideas that have been devoured like a tender steak by the red-blooded Republicans eager for Trump to be their nominee. To be clear, I think Donald Trump is a mojón (turd). My opinion of the self-promoting egomaniac is nothing new – I’ve always thought of Trump as a well-financed piece of fecal matter whose spewing of offensive, racially tinged and, at times, sexist remarks is part of his DNA. On the other hand, I’ve never been

much of a Ramos admirer either. I do recognize his standing as the most influential Latino journalist in the United States, and I have great respect for his uncompromising defense of undocumented immigrants. However, I do not believe that gives him – or any news anchor of similar stature – the right to crash the beat of journalists who, day in and day out, are following the Trump political phenomenon. Ramos can declare from the mountaintop that he has the right to ask tough questions of anyone. He’s also entitled to indignation at the fact that in his three-decade career he’s never before been thrown out of a press conference. He can play the victim all he wants. However, the fact

is that his conduct at the Trump press event was, at a minimum, arrogant. Ramos didn’t act like the anchor of one of the most viewed newscasts in the nation. What we witnessed was the behavior of an activist who acted as a provocateur. There’s nothing wrong with Ramos’ view that Trump’s xenophobia was directed at him. Ramos is, after all, a proud immigrant. My problem with Ramos’ posturing is that his actions shouldn’t be defended as being carried out by an objective news anchor doing his job. Ramos engaged in a verbal mano a mano with the potty-mouthed billionaire. Donald Trump relishes playing the bully. It’s clear that his now infamous nod to his security detail induced the Lurch-like thug to physically remove Ramos from the room. In doing so, Trump demonstrated his intolerance for tough questions. The problem, though, is that Ramos wasn’t simply asking tough questions. He was there to debate Trump the candidate, and that’s not the role of an objective journalist. How could Univision have allowed their flagship news anchor to do this? I believe it’s because they were in on this publicity-seeking stunt. How else can one explain this aberration? If Ramos was truly seeking a sit-down interview, this was not the way. Univision and other Latino media outlets have been excluded from hosting or sponsoring any of the Republican presidential primary debates. It is very possible that Ramos’ mission was to get his news organization some of the attention that Fox News and Megyn Kelly have received so far. I certainly hope not, as that would be a true disservice to the Latino community both Jorge and I care so deeply about.

Gerson Borrero is editor-at-large for City & State.

cit yandstateny.com

By MELISSA MARK-VIVERITO and KEITH MESTRICH

Nine months into the New York City municipal ID program’s existence, over 400,000 New Yorkers are now cardholders. While much has been made of the card’s high-profile benefits – including free memberships at museums and cultural institutions across the city – we’re confident that the IDNYC program’s most profound effect will be its ability to strengthen the city’s economy and bolster the financial security of our friends and neighbors. Until recently, the basic step of protecting and growing your savings by opening a bank account was often beyond the reach of undocumented New Yorkers. The municipal ID card has changed that, allowing people who previously lacked documentation to use the card to walk into a bank and receive the keys to economic opportunity. The effect of this simple change on the lives of working New Yorkers can be hard to estimate. A 2010 study from the Federal Reserve found that the cost of using check cashing stores – the only option for working people without a bank account – could rise as high as $1,200 per year. This is a huge sum for lowincome families. Now, people who once had no choice but to use these predatory services can instead make a quick stop at their bank’s ATM. They can develop real savings, save precious time, and put themselves on the path to building real credit. Sometimes, the effects are even more straightforward and immediate. We recently heard from Natasha, a young woman from Brooklyn, who was able to sign up for her first bank account after receiving her municipal ID. She said it’s easy for most people to take for granted the savings in time, money and energy that come with being able to shop online. From clothes to groceries, she can now place orders on the Internet, which would have cit yandstateny.com

been impossible without this program. Undocumented immigrants are not the only group benefiting from this program, just as they are not the only group that has been traditionally marginalized by the government ID system. Students, senior citizens, workers too poor to afford ID application fees and transgender individuals can all count on the municipal ID to help improve their access to our local economy and to broad-based financial opportunities for their families. The IDNYC program is making it easier for our neighbors and fellow New Yorkers to be a part of the economic engine of our city. Even after more than 400,000 New Yorkers have received their city ID, there is still room for expansion of this program. Though the New York City municipal ID easily meets bank requirements for a government-issued photo ID to start an account, some banks have been slow to embrace the IDNYC. All retail financial institutions in the city should make it abundantly clear that they welcome people carrying municipal ID cards. Alienating these potential clients is not only contrary to our city’s spirit of inclusion – it is bad business. By broadening New Yorkers’ access to banking, we are keeping money and jobs right here in our city. People are keeping their money safe in a bank instead of under a mattress or in the hands of check-cashing services. The municipal ID card has gone a long way toward bringing trust and security to New York City, and we hope to see even more people using it to establish their own personal economic opportunity. This is one program New Yorkers can bank on.

Melissa Mark-Viverito is the speaker of the New York City Council. Keith Mestrich is the president and CEO of Amalgamated Bank.

The following is a response from former City Council member Robert Jackson, who represented parts of upper Manhattan, to Sarina Trangle’s Aug. 13 article, “New York City Board of Elections Sends Out Premature Poll Site Notices,” (found on www. cityandstateny.com) which details how the city agency sent out misleading mailers notifying some residents that their poll site had moved. The lack of public hearings in communities on issues that will negatively impact thousands of voters is unacceptable. I understand federal standards for wheelchair accessibility, but the change of P.S. 187 at 349 Cabrini Blvd. to P.S. 48 at 186th Street and Broadway is insane! How does the Board of Elections believe this is helping? Voters in wheelchairs, seniors and many others with medical issues and others who feel the new location is too far WILL NOT travel over half a mile down steep hills to go and vote. I hope I’m wrong, but it’s crazy. Voters that have cars will not drive because there is NO place to park. For voters living at 99 Fort Washington Ave., a NYCHA senior housing facility with over 225 units, moving their polling location half a mile away where low-income seniors must navigate across Broadway and other busy avenues is UNREAL. The seniors will not walk half a mile and many will not be able to afford to pay a $16 cab fare. How is this helping democracy and increasing voter turnout? Considering Sept. 10 is a Thursday and NOT a Tuesday, our normal voting day, which means turnout will be EXTREMELY LOW, the decision to change these polling sites must be reversed. I have called the Board of Elections to complain and will be following up. Do the right thing to increase voter turnout and promote the democratic process. – former City Council member Robert Jackson

The following letter is a response to an opinion article, “Opting Out is the Only Option,” (published Aug. 18 on www.cityandstateny. com) written by Leonie Haimson and Jeanette Deutermann making the case that parents should boycott statewide standardized tests. The authors have it right. My special ed students will surely fail these tests, regardless of best teaching practices and test prep, or the lack thereof. Regardless of what is done to prepare these students throughout the year, they will fail because of several factors: 1) The tests are not developmentally appropriate. Asking students to read passages years above their grade level do not measure their ability to comprehend gradelevel text. It measures their inability to read higher-than-grade-level text. 2) The tests need prep – students don’t just know how to answer a short response

OPINION

NEW YORK CAN BANK ON IDNYC

Editor

or extended response question based on classroom experience. These methods might be taught over weeks at a time, but not in condensed periods, so yes, they need the prep to practice, much like a runner needs to prep for a race. 3) I have yet to receive any data on my students from New York state that is helpful. The data I have received just tells me if they are a 1-4. So all my special ed students were 1s last year. That means you can expect that they need a lot of remediation and basic skills. Great, that’s what I do. But when they score a 1 on the assessments, I’m still rated ineffective just by design. EVEN IF THEY MADE IMPROVEMENTS, I’m still ineffective because they didn’t pass overall. Is that fair? No. The authors have it right. They are accurate. They know what’s going on.

– Danielle, on www.cityandstateny.com

August 10, 2015

Does

NEW YORK

S t i l l L E A D t h e W AY ? By JON LENTZ

CIT YANDSTATENY.COM

@CIT YANDSTATENY

City & State’s Aug. 10 issue featured a cover story, “Does New York Still Lead the Way?” by Senior Correspondent Jon Lentz, which examined New York’s reputation as a national innovator and leader on key issues under Gov. Andrew Cuomo. You can count the amount of “progressive” things Cuomo has heralded in on one hand. The vast majority of his time has been spent picking fights with people on his left who disagree with him. It’s not just Bill de Blasio – he’s left Senate Democrats that aren’t in Jeff Klein’s merry band of sellouts out in the cold on multiple occasions, and Carl Heastie was clearly the less-equal Assembly partner in the end-ofsession negotiations. From a fiscal standpoint, Cuomo is the equivalent of his Republican counterpart across the Hudson, Chris Christie. Increasing taxes, even by a little bit, is completely out of the question, especially if it affects Cuomo’s precious millionaire donors. Alternative forms of revenue production (read: marijuana legalization and regulation, as well as a much less restrictive medical program) are also never entertained. He goes after public-sector workers and unions with just as much gusto as Christie, even if he isn’t as loud about it. And Start Up NY is an absolute disaster that has cost the state billions and has created less than 70 jobs. Andrew Cuomo is an actively harmful governor and New York state will never move forward until he’s given the boot.

– “Commish of Hangin’,” on www.cityandstateny.com

city & state — August 31, 2015

Letters to the

BACK & FORTH city & state — August 31, 2015

PROPERTY VALUES “Show Me a Hero,” the critically acclaimed miniseries that aired on HBO this month, brought to life the bitter fight over public housing in Yonkers in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The six-part series trackedthe tumultuous events that followed a judge’s order to build low-income housing to remedy the city’s long history of racial segregation. The basis for the show was a 1999 nonfiction book by Lisa Belkin, the senior national correspondent at Yahoo News and a former New York Times reporter who also served as an adviser during filming. Belkin’s book chronicles the relocation of minority families into new housing units spread throughout the affluent side of the city and the angry opposition of white, middle-class residents. At the center of the story is the unexpected courage of a young mayor named Nick Wasicsko amid the pandering and posturing of other elected officials. With the miniseries wrapped up and a new paperback edition of the book due out on Tuesday, Belkin spoke with City & State’s Jon Lentz about the ways Yonkers has changed, why the events didn’t spur similar action elsewhere and how the message of her book is now more important than ever. The following is an edited transcript. City & State: In your own words, what is this story really about? Lisa Belkin: Home. It’s about home. It’s always been about home. What everybody is fighting for is a feeling that they belong someplace and have someplace that’s theirs. Some of them aren’t doing it well and some of them aren’t doing it nicely, but that’s what it’s all about for all of them. C&S: How did you end up writing the book? LB: I had just bought my first home and it was 1992. I came into the book with the lottery. They literally put all the names of people who wanted to move into this new housing into a bingo drum from

present was also. Every day when people came to work there was another young black man shot by a white cop, another protest gone somewhat out of control, a president standing up and talking about race in a way that no president ever could before. So all of that has changed, and in that way the message of the book is more resonant today than when I wrote it.

A Q&A WITH

LISA BELKIN the Polish community center. They pulled names out and that’s how they decided who got to move. I had just moved into my home, which is a couple towns north of Yonkers, and I saw a small mention in the local paper. I had been living in Texas when this whole thing went down, and even there you heard the yelling. It made national headlines at the time. I was working for The New York Times and I thought it would be a New York Times Magazine piece. I went that night, and I think if it hadn’t been a bingo drum, I might have never written the book. But the metaphor, that symbolism, was mesmerizing. So I met almost all of the main characters, the actual women that moved, that night. I met dozens of them and gradually decided who to focus on. So my reporting started in 1992 with that moment. Then I followed them for seven years. I realized it wouldn’t be a magazine piece because it was going to take years to answer the remaining question, which is, how did it work? So I spent years

watching and also researching and reporting what had led up to that. In the back of my mind the entire time was, OK, so what if it was my neighborhood? What would I do? How would I feel? C&S: Has anything changed, either in Yonkers or in the attitude of the country as a whole? LB: If you were to script the context against which you wanted to release this miniseries or this book, if some PR person were to say here is the perfect backdrop for this piece, unfortunately it would be what’s going on in the country right now. None of us takes any happiness from that, but you can’t miss it. They filmed this during Ferguson. They edited it during Baltimore. It was a part of every scene. It’s not only about the past, which infuses every shot because it was filmed in the places where it actually happened and the people it actually happened to were often standing out of frame watching them film. So the past is really a part of all of this. But the

C&S: You wrote recently in the Times that the Yonkers housing case didn’t end up being the turning point you expected. Why wasn’t it? LB: I think because Yonkers absolutely exhausted everybody involved. The Justice Department originally brought the case, and it was supposed to be the first of many suits that would link school segregation to housing segregation. The reason your schools are segregated, people, is because your housing is segregated. And so we are not only going to work on your schools, we are going to work on your neighborhoods. This was supposed to be the first of those statements. The NAACP joined in also expecting that to be the first. It was such an absolutely bruising battle that even though they won the battle, they paused the war. It quietly made changes. They don’t build the huge blocks of brick public housing any more. They now build smaller townhousetype units that are designed to blend into the neighborhood but don’t overwhelm neighborhoods and are far more likely to “work.” That was a permanent change brought by this. But as far as the declaration that we are no longer going to use federal funds to segregate? That’s until now. And I really think it’s because nobody had the energy or the resources to fight that fight again.

To read the full interview, including Belkin’s thoughts on a similar case in Westchester County and what she’s working on next, go to cityandstateny.com.

cit yandstateny.com

FIND YOUR FIT

JOB SEEKERS

Find your next career opportunity! Sign up for the weekly e-newsletter

EMPLOYERS

Find your next stand-out hire! List your job opening for just $99/month

LABOR DAY DISCOUNT!

Only 30 packages available!

Feature your job in First Read or Last Read AND www.CityandState.Careers Contact Sdiliberti@CityandStateNY.com to secure this package

www.CityandState.Careers

Wednesday, September 23 | BNY Mellon, 101 Barclay St. Hosted by: