Archive for November, 2009

Mayor Signs $5.3B PLA’s: on Labor Press New York

Mayor Signs $5.3B PLA’s – READ MORE ON http://laborpress.org/

Traffic, revenue down for Port Authority

Recession inflicts harm on facilities in third quarter

by Judy Rife

NEW YORK — Traffic — and revenue — continued to decline at the Port Authority’s transportation facilities through the third quarter, a reflection of the national and global recession.

We “are not recession-proof and our numbers are down across the board,” said Chris Ward, the Port Authority’s executive director. “That is why we must continue to cut costs and prioritize projects to live within our means.”

The region’s other transportation agencies, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, NJ Transit and the New York State Thruway Authority, made similar reports at mid-year.

The recession’s impact is most readily seen at the Port Authority’s six bi-state crossings, where truck traffic is down 10.4 percent over the first nine months of last year — a loss of $20 million in tolls.

Truck traffic, the biggest generator of tolls, usually increases mid-year as retail and manufacturing outlets prepare for the holiday season, but volume has dropped steadily since January.

Traffic at crossings falls 2.1%

Overall traffic at the George Washington Bridge, Lincoln Tunnel and other crossings declined 2.1 percent, to 91.2 million vehicles. The Holland and Lincoln tunnels accounted for about half of the decline, reflecting, in part, job losses in Manhattan.

Similarly, PATH ridership declined 4 percent, to 54.1 million customers from 56.4 million in the first nine months of 2008, as employment in the financial district contracted.

The recession’s global reach, the Port Authority said, is demonstrated by the decline in traffic at its airports, which in turn affects travel and tourism throughout the region.

Overall passenger volume was down 6.4 percent through the third quarter, with domestic travel dropping 6.9 percent and international travel, 5.2 percent.

The agency, which receives no tax money from either New York or New Jersey, relies on revenue from tolls, fares and fees to operate its bridges, tunnels, airports, terminals and the PATH system.

New York Taxes Fall Hardest on Middle Class

Middle-income families in New York pay a higher share of their income in state and local taxes than do the state’s richest families, according to a new study by the Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy (ITEP) titled Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All
50 States.

When all New York’s state and local taxes are totaled up, the new ITEP study found that:

• New York families earning less than $16,000 — the poorest fifth of New York non-elderly taxpayers — pay 9.6% of their income in New York state and local taxes.

• Middle-income New York taxpayers — those earning between $33,000 and $56,000 — pay 12.0% of their income in New York state and local taxes.

• But the richest New York taxpayers — with average incomes of $3,065,800 — pay only 9.4% of their income in New York state and local taxes.

Read the entire document: NY TAXES

Paterson Prepares Wage Bill for Construction Sites

by Danny Hakim

ALBANY — In a bid to shore up his relations with labor unions, Gov. David A. Paterson is readying legislation that would require developers to pay prevailing wages on many construction projects that receive public financing, meaning that construction workers would have to be paid significantly more than minimum wage.

The legislation, which has the business community alarmed, would also impose wage requirements on large businesses that use space created by developments financed with public money, according to a draft of the bill. In New York City, those requirements would be $19.20 an hour — nearly three times the minimum wage — for a wide variety of workers.

The bill would exempt some projects, though it would cover a great many developments involving both private business and civic institutions. The governor’s proposal comes after labor unions and business leaders were unable to negotiate their own compromise earlier this year.

Labor advocates said the bill would ensure that fair wages are paid on projects financed with public money through industrial development agencies, which provide below-market-rate financing throughout the state, particularly in New York City, for hospitals, private schools, malls and any number of other development projects. But the business community said the changes would render the development agencies useless, effectively killing an important economic development tool amid a recession.

The importance of industrial development agencies has grown as the state phases out its Empire Zone program, another incentive for development.

“Why — in the middle of the worst crisis since the Great Depression — would the governor want to kill an economic development program that has created over 200,000 new jobs?” said Kenneth Adams, the president of the Business Council of New York State. “It’s a proposal that destroys hope for economic recovery in New York.”

But Stuart Appelbaum, president of the national Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, said, “If public resources are being used to finance development of any kind, there should be a notion that the community gets something back in return, and that notion is that we are creating good jobs.”

Mr. Appelbaum said of the governor: “Our group has been working with him and negotiating with him, but we haven’t seen final language.”

Mr. Paterson could introduce the legislation in the coming days, but little is certain as the governor’s office and the Legislature are consumed primarily by negotiations over how to close a budget deficit of more than $3 billion. The bill would need approval of the full Legislature, where labor interests have considerable clout.

“Governor Paterson is working to achieve I.D.A. reform that will create jobs, stimulate the economy and allow long-stalled civic facility projects to move forward,” said Peter E. Kauffmann, the governor’s communications director.

The issues at stake in the legislation are already being played out in the Bronx, where a $310 million development project would bring a new shopping mall to the Kingsbridge Armory. A coalition of community leaders has pushed for requirements that jobs at the mall pay a wage of $11.50 an hour, or $10 with benefits, as opposed to the $7.25 minimum wage. The governor is proposing a far higher wage rate. The developer of the Bronx project, the Related Companies, has said that it would give up the project if it faced such requirements.

The administration’s proposal would likely require the majority of for-profit projects in New York City financed through development agencies to pay prevailing wages to construction workers. The bill is particularly aimed at big-box stores. Under the plan, businesses that employ more than 100 workers and use publicly financed developments would also have to pay more than the minimum wage, though only for certain classes of workers — retail workers, janitors, elevator operators and cleaning people among them.

Nonprofit projects at institutions like colleges, hospitals or cultural organizations that have 500 or more employees would be required to pay the higher wage on projects above $10 million.

The pay scale would also vary depending on three regions laid out in the legislation — New York City, its suburbs and upstate. The Legislature’s ultimate support will depend on the fine print of the bill that the governor’s office produces.

A similar measure has been passed twice in the Assembly in recent years, but it will face a more uncertain path in the narrowly divided State Senate, which has had a hard time passing controversial legislation of any kind.

Hunger in the United States

Editorial

Congress should make a priority of expanding federal nutrition programs that are aimed at helping millions of struggling families feed their children. The need to bolster these programs was underscored again this week in a dismaying Department of Agriculture study showing that a record number of households had trouble getting sufficient food at one time or another last year.

These facts are troubling enough, but a separate federal study showed that even before the recession began, more than two-thirds of families with children who were defined as “food insecure” under federal guidelines contained one or more full-time worker. This suggests that millions of Americans were trapped in low-wage jobs before the downturn that made it more difficult for them to provide children with adequate nutrition.

Families were categorized as “food secure” or “food insecure” based how they answered several questions on their eating habits during the previous 12 months. Among other things, adults were asked whether they or any of their children had ever forgone eating for an entire day because the family lacked money for food.

According to the new federal data, the number of people in households that lacked consistent access to adequate nutrition rose to 49 million in 2008, 13 million more than in the previous year and the most since the federal government began keeping the data 14 years ago.

About a third of struggling households had what the researchers called “very low food security,” meaning that members of the household skipped meals, cut portions or passed on food at some point during the year because they lacked money. The other two-thirds managed to feed themselves by eating cheaper or less varied foods, relying on government aid like food stamps or resorting to food pantries and soup kitchens, which have been seeing heavier and heavier traffic in recent years.

Families with inadequate resources typically feed the children first, shielding them from hardship as much as possible. But the new data showed that the number of households in which children were exposed to “very low food security” rose to 506,000 from 323,000 in 2007.

The Bush administration tried to deep-six this annual survey. But President Obama has dealt with it openly and called the danger to children especially troubling.

Mr. Obama, who is traveling in Asia, has set himself the task of wiping out child hunger by 2015. To do that, Congress needs to get busy on a broad plan to expand and fully pay for a whole range of nutritional programs aimed at school-age children and their families. Only then will vulnerable children across the country get the nutrition they need.

Nurses Association Welcomes Suspension of Mandatory Flu Vaccinations

LATHAM, NY — The New York State Nurses Association today welcomed the suspension of the state regulation requiring healthcare workers to receive flu vaccinations.

“We agree that the flu vaccine must first be made available to those who need it most children, young adults, and pregnant women,” said Tina Gerardi, RN, chief executive officer of the New York State Nurses Association. “The suspension of this regulation also gives us the opportunity to work with the department to develop an effective program to prevent the spread of influenza in hospitals and other healthcare settings.”

NYSNA opposed the mandatory vaccinations as both an infringement on workers’ rights and an ineffective means of preventing the transmission of influenza from workers to patients. The association has advocated for voluntary immunization of healthcare personnel, coupled with comprehensive infection control policies and procedures.

To confirm this message to health department officials, the Nurses Association worked to form a coalition of more than 20 unions and occupational safety organizations. That group sent a letter to Commissioner Daines earlier this month urging him to rescind the regulation and work with stakeholders to develop an effective policy to protect both patients and healthcare personnel.

The New York State Nurses Association is the voice for nursing in the Empire State. With more than 37,000 members, it is the state’s largest union and professional association for registered nurses. It supports nurses and nursing practice through education, research, legislative advocacy, and collective bargaining.

BALCONY MEMBERS BATTLE STATE BUDGET DEFICIT

BALCONY members are closely monitoring this week’s legislative debate on the New York deficit, as Governor Paterson warns of a 4.3 billion deficit while proposing cuts education ,health care and state payments to the state pension funds.

NYSUT is already on record opposing the education cuts (click here: NYSUT)

The CSEA is concerned about fiscal responsibility and saving jobs. http://www.csealocal1000.org/.

The Public Employees Federation (PEF) is urging the state to save tax dollars by eliminating state consultants (link: PEF)

And finally The New York State Nurses Association urges state legislature to NOT enact interim budget cuts (link: NYSNA).

Link to the text of Governor David Paterson’s November 9th address to the legislature (Address).

New York Must Return to Budget Basics and
Align Spending With Revenue

Report Indicates Growing Gaps Require Corrective Action and Fiscal Discipline

New York state faces a cumulative General Fund gap of up to $27.5 billion through fiscal year 2011-12 even as the Governor and the Legislature confront a deficit in the state’s current budget that could exceed $4.1 billion, according to a spending and revenue report State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli released today as part of the state’s “Quick Start” budget process.

BALCONY ACCESS FOR SMALL BUSINESS FORUM

SET NOVEMBER 20th IN WHITE PLAINS

NEWLY ELECTED WHITE PLAINS MAYOR ADAM BRADLEY

AND NYS SMALL BUSINESS TASK FORCE CHAIR BILL GRINKER

For Immediate Release November 9, 2009

Small Businesses across New York State are facing the most challenging economy in our history as revenues decline, the cost of health care increases, access to capital diminishes, and markets shrink.

BALCONY, the Business and Labor Coalition of New York, with its business partner Verizon, media partner WCBS Newsradio880, health care partner the American Cancer Society, and small business partner The Greater New York Chamber of Commerce together seek to provide valuable solutions for small business at the

BALCONY ACCESS for Small Business Forum

November 20th

beginning at 8 :00 am

at the Crowne Plaza Hotel

66 Hale Avenue

White Plains, NY

“This event will focus on what can be done to help the more than 100,000 New York small businesses survive and prosper during this current economic crisis,” states BALCONY Business Co-Chairman Bruce Ventimiglia, “Small Businesses are the backbone of our state’s economy which employ more than one million people.”

White Plains Mayor Elect Adam Bradley will deliver the keynote address, and Bill Grinker, Chairman of the New York State Small Business Task Force, will provide an update on the major recommendations of the Task Force which are to be released before the end of 2009.

Other featured speakers include: Chris Levendos, Verizon FIOS; Pravina Raghavan, SBA New York District Director; Troy Oeschner, Deputy Superintendent for Health of the New York State Insurance Department; Peter Slocum of the American Cancer Society; Jim Maleski of ActionCOACH of CT; and Rosemarie Klotz of H & R Block.

The forum will feature timely and informative workshop discussions with experts, advocates and governmental officials on how small businesses can survive during the current, uncertain economic times. Specifically we will focus on

• Access to Capital

• Access to Health Care

• Access to Technology

• Access to Business Development

8:30 – 9:20 AM

Technology Challenges Facing Small Business

Chris Levendos, Verizon FIOS

Michael Ridley, NYSTAR

Heather O’Donnell, WCBS Newsradio 880

Chris Zawacki, GreenHouse IT

Ron Koff, Astoria Graphics

9:20 – 9:30 AM

Coffee Break

9:30 – 10:00 AM

Assemblyman –White Plains Mayor Elect Adam Bradley

10:00 – 10:50 AM

Business Development Solutions

William Grinker, NYS Small Business Task Force

Jim Malski, ActionCOACH

Brian Moran, Moran Media

Barbara Weltman, Big Ideas for Small Business

Rosemarie Klotz, H & R Block

10:50 – 11:40 AM

Access to Capital for Small Business

Pravina Raghavan, SBA New York

Bruce Ventimiglia, Saratoga Capital Management

David Kornfeld, Financial Advisor

Paul Quintero, Accion New York

Louis Scarmardella, Small Business Development Center

11:40 – 12:30 PM

Access to Healthcare for Small Business

Troy Oechsner, NYS Dept. of Insurance

Ben Geyerhan, Small Business Majority

Ernie Vitolo, Atlantis Health Plan

Vincent Ashton, HealthPass

Peter Slocum, American Cancer Society

12:30 – 1:00 PM

Closing Networking Reception

To register for the conference contact Allison Hirsch or Christine Serrano Glassner at BALCONY (212) 219-7777

or visit the BALCONY Website www.balconynewyork.com

For More Information contact Balcony Director Lou Gordon (212) 219-7777;  e-mail:   loug@balconynewyork.com