Why is it important to Know Your NYC?
I’m just an average New Yorker trying to juggle my personal and professional life with little time in between. I am part of 8.8 million residents of New York City, a great city that buzzes with the people living in it. We’re busy living our lives trying to make it here but we also probably don’t realize how much of it is shaped by a political, regulatory, and economic structure that is controlled and crafted by our city and state levels of government. Our Mayor, City Council, State Assembly and Senators, along with the behemoth system of government agencies that support their policies are responsible for shaping the mundane but important details of our everyday lives from when trash can be picked up to how our children are to be educated in school. And don’t forget, it’s our property tax and tax dollars that we pay that are funding it.
Civic Education, which is the first steps to maintaining a healthy democracy is at a low—it is not required curriculum in schools across the country and many cannot name their local city, state, or congressional representative. Studies have shown that millennials and Gen Z feel disengaged in part because they feel that their voice does not matter. Combine that with all the distractions we have (hello Tiktok and life?) and we have a recipe for civic disengagement.
But the local/city-level government is truly the first levels of our democratic political system that affect our everyday lives and it’s so vitally important to be engaged and aware of what is happening around us. It’s where engaged citizens have the greatest chance of making a difference that impact them directly—you have the potential to make a change right in your neighborhood and also you have the best odds of having your voice heard directly to your local council member, state assemblymember and senator. If you want to start with keeping our systems of government accountable and representative of your interests—it is not just important to vote but to also stay informed of what you are voting for and who you are voting for.
I’m starting my journey into knowing my NYC and hope that you can too.
Money, Money, Money–Money! Budget Season and Big Issues
April 4, 2023
January-April of every year is the height of budgeting season in the City and State. No one wants to really delve in the nitty gritty of the $$–but who are we kidding—we talk about how we spend our money all the time. But in 2021-2022, 68% of the NYC budget came from tax revenue—like your personal, property, and sales tax—all the money that you spend and pay while living in the City. So don’t you think it’s worthwhile to understand how your money is being spent and on which issues?
NYC has a staggering proposed $102.7 Billion budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year—that’s more than the majority annual budget of over 30 states alone as well as other countries. For comparison, that’s the approximate annual budget for Saudi Arabia that has a population of about 35 million and Switzerland which has a population of about 8.7 million. New York State currently has a proposed budget of $227 billion for the 2023-2024 year.
Let’s start with a quick overview of New York City and State budgeting cycle and time frames—The fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30th of every calendar year. In January of every year, the Mayor and the Governor releases their preliminary executive budget for the next fiscal year and outlines his and her priorities and spending recommendations for the city.
Then each respective legislature, City Council and the New York State Assembly/Senate begins its review process, holds public hearings to gather input from members of the public and stakeholders and the Council may propose its own budget priorities and spending recommendations.
In March and April, the Council and the Mayor/Legislation and Governor will negotiate the final budget, (in the backrooms) where they will focus on areas of disagreement, such as funding levels for specific programs or tax policies. A final budget agreement must be reached by June 30th in order to avoid a government shutdown.
April 1, 2023 was the deadline for the State to agree on the budget but (of course, no surprise) an agreement hasn’t been reached. The City also just came out with their counterproposals to the Mayor’s preliminary budget, so it looks like unlike the first budget before, that there are going to be a lot of backdoor negotiations until the eleventh hour and eleventh minute.
SO WHAT IS GOING ON RIGHT NOW WITH NEW YORK AND WHAT ARE THE MAJOR ISSUES THAT NEED TO BE ADDRESSED?
- Housing and Homelessness: We all know how ridiculous housing costs have soared and affordable housing is a huge topic not only on the city but also the state. The governor has pledged to build 800,000 units in the next ten years and NYC is the center of that discussion. There are so many incremental reforms being proposed in the city-level to build a system in place to make it easier and more flexible for developers to build bigger buildings with affordable housing—a central theme is to change the way we approve zoning/building changes and affordable housing calculations to allow for more units and importantly, more affordable units to be available to new Yorkers.
- Immigrants and Funding: NYC faced an influx of migrants in 2022, thanks to the political shenanigans of some of the southern border states. NYC received over 50,000 new migrants and their families for which housing and social services support has been provided by the city. Mayor Adams claims that even with the help of federal funds, has stated that it presents an “unsustainable” drain on the city’s resources. The City may have to incorporate additional funding for long term job training, language, and education resources for these new New Yorkers who can all play a role in our city.
- Public Safety and Mental Illness: Rising crime (especially as perceived on the subways) as well as concerns about the increase in homelessness for the mentally-ill are concerns. The City recently enacted an initiative that authorizes law enforcement to commit people, even involuntarily, they determine to be mentally-ill but the move has been challenged by advocates. The State on the other hand, has been trying to address the issue of public safety through bail reform—the Governor is seeking to make amendments to the historical 2019 reforms that allowed those arrested for certain offenses to be released without posting bail. Some blame the bail reform for the increase of crime (although data may suggest otherwise) in the City, and the Governor is now in a fight with the legislature in rolling back some of the reforms. It’s not exactly part of the budget but it’s clearly being used as a political tool to influence the budget negotiations between the two.
- Elder Care/Community Organizations: In the past year, the aging population in New York City has seen an increase in need of care and a sharp demand for home care workers, a profession that requires long hours and low minimum wage. If you add that this with increasing nursing shortage in New York, you have a recipe for an elder care and generational disaster. Many community organizations, such as elder care centers, home care worker businesses, and nursing homes that provide these services, rely heavily on funding from the state and so they have been rallying and lobbying hard for the State to increase the wages for these necessary services.
Whether you’re poor, rich, young, old, whatever your occupation is, you may not feel it or see it immediately in your wallet or walk around the block, but these are incremental changes and future investments that are made here structurally will shape what the City will look like in 1, 2, 5, and 10 years—economically, socially, and demographically. For example, the difference between an affordable housing development designed for middle class families and a luxury condominium will have a drastic effect on your surrounding area. The lady that sells the frozen Italian ices at the park may be someday be able to open a store of her own with the right help.
Staying educated of these discussions that seek to shape the City and how your money is being spent on changing it is the first step to becoming an engaged New Yorker!
#TennesseeThree: A Dangerous Precedent for our Democracy
April 10, 2023
What the #TennesseeThree saga means for democracy—I wanted to take a moment from New York issues because this event is too important to ignore. I want to acknowledge the horror that is the Tennessee legislature right now. If you don’t know already, two democrat Tennessee State house of representatives (equivalent of New York State Assemblymembers) were expelled from the legislature by the Republican majority-a third democrat house rep was spared. The Tennessee Republicans control the house 75-22 and the basis for expelling the two black democrats while sparing the one white democrat representative was that they did not follow the “House Rules” of leading a protest against gun violence on the house floor.
The Tennessee Constitution allows the House to set its own rules and “punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member.” In its entire 157-year history, members were expelled was from 1980 (rep was found guilty of bribery) and 2016 (allegations of sexual harassment).
It’s also important to note that the two House reps that were expelled were freshmen representatives and also men of color while the third House rep was a white woman who has held office since 2019. These three representatives advocated for gun control and an end to gun violence and the grounds for their expulsion were by far and away from any crime but a violation of internal rules of process. Apparently, the third representative was spared because she did not use a megaphone in the protest of the house floor. They were basically punished by the opposing party majority for holding dissenting political views.
The greatest threat is that the House was able to remove duly elected representatives on the basis of political dissent by using their republican majority. The Tennessee State Constitution has allowed such a low threshold that has permitted party politics to result in disenfranchisement of voters. As a result of the two representative’s expulsion—130,000 voters are currently unrepresented. To allow other legislative members the authority to remove duly elected representatives is a threat to representative democracy and suppressing dissenting viewpoints.
Thankfully, New York does not have a similar provision that allows elected officials to be removed by a majority vote—the Governor is empowered to remove a limited set of local officials, like the local district attorney or Sheriff.
But Tennessee is just a microcosm of where political polarization has led to extreme results that are the very antithesis of our representative democracy. Local politics at the state level is the first avenue where we can help set the tone of dialogue among citizens but instead we become entrenched in our own positions and continue to elect people that are setting dangerous, authoritarian consequences that further political and cultural polarization.
The First step we can do is stay informed and engage our electeds and each other, especially those with different viewpoints. Regardless of whether you are Democrat or Republican, everyone should recognize the danger that this precedence sets.
Getting Really REALLY Local 101: Community Boards and Borough Presidents
April 24, 2023
Many of us know that NYC has a Mayor (currently Eric Adams) and the City Council but did you know there are other avenues through which you can stay informed about NYC issues, especially on the most local level, your neighborhood, which arguably has the most impact on you? We can start with the Community Boards level and work our way to the City-wide level structures of local government. Community Boards are a great starting point to understand how New York City residents can engage with their community and keep informed of the priority and issues within each neighborhood.
Community Boards
There are 59 Community Boards across the 5 boroughs (12 in the Bronx, 18 in Brooklyn, 12 in Manhattan, 14 in Queens and 3 in Staten Island)—they’re served by 50 volunteer board members who are appointed by the Borough President and also nominated by the local city council member for 2-year terms. Anyone who lives within the Community Board district is eligible to apply for vacancies—usually the applications open January-February in a given year.
So what do they do exactly? Community Boards serve as liaison of the district (neighborhoods) they represent and provide advisory recommendations to City agencies (who represent the Mayor’s policy priorities) and City Council members on matters related to land use, street use, and the district needs for the budget. They’re the first line of approval if you want to, for example, 1) vote on special street use permits (you want to have that block party on the street?) 2) liquor licenses for restaurants, and 3) need to have approval to do construction on your historically designated townhome.
They also vote to approve/disapprove proposals to rezone and land in the City through the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), so if a developer wants to rezone a land lot or block to build a taller building they would have to follow the ULURP process that requires approvals ultimately through the City Council and the Mayor. The first line of recommendation would be through the Community Board which would recommend approval or not.
The value of Community Boards to our local democracy is that the City agencies and electeds use them as a public engagement platform to provide important updates to projects that affect the neighborhoods and they provide opportunity for the communities in their district to provide their input and comment not just limited to the items listed above. For example, if the MTA is installing an elevator in your nearest station or if there is going to be a long-term street closure in your area, the Community Board is a good forum for you to learn more and comment as well as gauge public interest.
TIP #1: SIGN UP FOR YOUR COMMUNITY BOARD NEWSLETTER. The newsletters are a useful place to get regular updates on services available to you in your neighborhood (do you need free job training? Are the trash pick up times changing? is there a meeting about business development on the street you live in? is there a public workshop for summer student employment?)
Even if you can’t be everything everywhere all at once, staying informed and knowing when the Community Board is meeting is the first step to go from interested to engaged.
Borough Presidents (BPs): Leader of the Community Boards
We have five borough presidents (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, and Staten Island) who lead the community boards and advocate for the borough’s interests to the Mayor and City Council in areas of the annual city budget and land use/development proposals. They are elected positions (every 5 years) but they do not have any voting power to pass legislation. Nevertheless, their position gives them a platform to a wide audience, kind of like British Monarchy.
Therefore, community Boards are still cogs in the political machine because the board members are considered public officials of the city and they are appointed by the BPs. Thus, through the community boards, the BP will try to set the narrative for his/her priorities and policies. The pitfall is that a Community Board, which should in theory represent different voices of the neighborhood could also be stacked with members who favor the Borough President and City Council members interests. This could result in Community Boards being filled with individuals who cater to the elected/BP’s interests as opposed to allowing a diversity of community positions to be heard. However, that is all the more reason for individual New Yorkers to take a stance and be involved in their Community Board—we need to have people with different perspectives come to the table in these local discussions at the meetings and public hearings.
So, have you signed up for that newsletter yet?