City Council acknowledges that city residents own cars and need parking

From the Observer:

Another bill—sponsored by Upper Manhattan Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, chairman of the Council’s Committee on Transportation, as well as Levine and Queens Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer—calls on DOT to establish and implement RPP citywide.

Rodriguez referred to a study conducted by the City University of New York (CUNY) and New York University (NYU) that found more than 50 percent of New Yorkers surveyed were willing to pay an annual fee for RPP.

“We would like to see a system in place where 80 percent of the area will be reserved to the residents of the local community that we would like to bring the parking system,” Rodriguez said at a rally on Wednesday afternoon. “We also feel that by paying a small fee every year, those local residents, they will not have to compete with anybody else.”

At the Council’s monthly pre-stated meeting on Wednesday afternoon, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson said he plans to review the bills with all of the Council members.

“I understand that there are many folks that live in communities across the city who find it very frustrating that they can’t find parking in their neighborhoods,” Johnson said. “We also are trying to disincentivize cars in New York City. We’re trying to get people to use cars less in New York City.”

He said state law empowers the city to enact RPP.

“State law says that municipalities with a population of over one million people are allowed to enact residential parking, and so I believe we do have the authority to do this,” Johnson continued.

New York City is one of the only major cities in the United States that does not have some version of an RPP. Such a system currently exists in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Albany and Buffalo.

Illegal conversion bill introduced by Brooklyn City Council member

From Brooklyn Daily:

Brooklyn lawmakers introduced a long-awaited bill on June 21 to combat illegal home construction that activists say is tearing apart Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights, but critics say it could put immigrant families in a bind. A legal snag significantly delayed the legislation, so lawmakers dropped a sticky provision that created a relief fund for residents of diced-up homes who are displaced by city-issued vacate orders. But cracking down on illegal housing without a safety net will drive tenants — many of whom are immigrants — onto the streets or into overcrowded housing conditions, critics say.

“Given that the city has very little affordable housing options, where are they going to go?” said Aniqa Nawabi a spokeswoman for Chhaya Community Development Corporation, which advocates for Asian immigrants. “There can be overcrowding in other apartments, because people will go to live with family, 10 to an apartment.”

But legislators had to cut the provision, because it was holding up the works, according to the bill’s primary sponsor, who argued the plan would lead to few evictions, because the city only issues vacate orders on “immediately hazardous” buildings.

“It gives the commi ssioner the option if they find a fire is about to erupt or there’s smoke conditions or gas,” Councilman Vincent Gentile (D-Bay Ridge) said. “So not everyone will be displaced — the owner will get fined, the fine will go through, and they’ll financially suffer, but that doesn’t mean there will be a vacate order.”

The legislation, announced to great fanfare in March last year, would create a building violation called “aggravated illegal conversion” — denoting a flippant attempt to subdivide a house against code — that comes with a $15,000-per-unit fine for smaller homes with three or more illegal units. It would also let the Department of Buildings obtain warrants for suspected conversions and put liens on buildings whose owners do not pay up.

It does not affect buildings with fewer than three illegal units to protect otherwise compliant property owners who create basement apartments. Nawabi and Chhaya say the city should go a step further on that front and legalize basement apartments so it can better regulate them.

Paul Vallone's year in review

Front page story: Vallone brings back historic budget. Actually, the council's rules were changed, so everyone got the same-sized slice of budget pie with adjustments based on poverty level. Vallone's district is one of the wealthier ones, so he actually got a smaller amount of funding than many other council members.

At least he included something useful in this taxpayer funded waste of paper. The rest can be used as a bird cage liner.

(Click for larger version)

Now here is what he's really been up to: Sponsoring a handful of meaningless resolutions and not getting any of his 9 introductions passed. What a legislator!