Chin Pushes Back Against Senior Cuts
City Councilwoman Margaret Chin (D-Battery Park City, Chinatown) spoke at a City Council hearing yesterday to fight back against a proposed $2 million cut in funding for senior services.
Chin, chair of the Council’s Committee on Aging, argued that now is not the time to be skimping on senior programs, citing rising rates of poverty among elderly New Yorkers – particularly Latino, Asian and African-American ones.
“With revenues down across our city and economic instability on the rise, we are hearing a lot about how the city cannot afford to provide services for those in need. I say we cannot afford not to adequately fund these essential programs, which pay for themselves and then some,” said Chin. “All seniors, particularly seniors of color, immigrants, and women, are bearing the brunt of rising poverty rates. Higher rates of poverty mean that paying rent, buying medication, and putting food on the table are all much more difficult. Today, we learned that the Administration’s answer to the brewing crisis facing older adults is a deep cut to the city’s already minuscule budget for senior services. If City Hall wants to make New York the fairest big city in the country, it will need to create a fair city for all ages.”
Johnson’s Bill to Strengthen Lead Testing Requirements Passes Council
A bill that will impose stricter limits on lead contamination in city building materials, sponsored by City Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D-Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen), passed in the City Council yesterday.
Johnson’s bill, Introduction 865, was part of a larger package designed to expand the scope of the City’s lead poisoning prevention efforts. Among other measures, it will redefine “lead paint” as any paint with a lead content of at least 0.5 mg/cm2 (down from the previous limit of 1.0 mg/cm2).
“This Council is committed to protecting the most vulnerable among us, our children,” said Johnson. “Lead poisoning isn’t just a public health issue – it is a racial and economic justice issue because low-income communities and children of color are the most at risk to lead exposure. This package of bills is a big step forward in our fight to ensure existing lead laws protect our children from lead poisoning. I thank all my colleagues for their work to pass these bills today and for their commitment to this Council’s ongoing efforts to create the strongest and most protective anti-lead poisoning regulatory framework in the country here in New York City.”
Rivera Stands with East Village Tenants
City Councilwoman Carlina Rivera (D-East Village, Gramercy Park) rallied yesterday to protect the tenants of 444 East 13th Street from being evicted.
The landlord of the building, Raphael Toledano, has recently filed for bankruptcy on the building. According to reports from the office of Attorney General Letitia James (D), Toledano is attempting to use bankruptcy court as a means of rejecting his tenants’ rent-stabilized leases and forcing them out.
Rivera said she was incensed but unsurprised, given Toledano’s long history of harassing tenants.
“The owner of 444 East 13th St. has spent years illegally harassing the tenants living in these rent-stabilized apartments, and this legal maneuver is just the latest shady tactic to remove these long-time New Yorkers from their homes,” Rivera said in a statement. “Bad actors across New York need to be put on notice — our government is in the business of protecting and expanding rent-regulated apartments, and I certainly will not sit idly by while harassment takes place in my District.”
