Dear Constituent:

I wanted to update you on three important issues impacting our community. One is the exciting idea of bringing much needed commercial development to Kingsbridge; the second is the terrible situation of parking in the community; and the third is the wonderful news regarding the minimum wage.

We need commercial development at West 230th Street and Broadway

I've been a longtime supporter of developing a shopping center, including stores, office space and parking, in Kingsbridge at West 230th Street and Broadway. I've been a leading advocate of developing this tract of land where a parking lot currently exists. I've been working on this concept for several years with the Kingsbridge-Riverdale-Van Cortlandt Development Corporation and its Executive Director, Janet Golovner. Once Oliver Koppell was elected to the City Council he joined us in supporting this concept.

I strongly believe that the development of the West 230th Street/Broadway area is crucial to the long-term viability of the Kingsbridge shopping district as well as the revitalization of Kingsbridge and Marble Hill. It's been two years since I called on Community Board 8 to reconsider its support of building both an EMS garage and a new firehouse on that site, because I felt that such construction would take away valuable space from commercial development. At that time, some members of the board ridiculed the idea of commercial development on this site, asking where are all the proposals for commercial development.

The location, between West 231st Street/Broadway and the new shopping mall on West 225th Street, is ideally situated to attract major economic development for our community. Now that several proposals have been put forth, it appears that my hopes will be realized. How wonderful for our community! I look forward to working with our elected officials, community leaders and the community board to ensure that the best possible development will take place in Kingsbridge. This development will be a significant step in increasing the number of jobs in our community and making the Kingsbridge and Marble Hill communities stronger and more attractive than ever. I will continue to support the construction of a new EMS garage in our community as well, hopefully at a location near the Bailey Avenue firehouse.

We need more parking

Another key issue impacting our community is parking - or the lack thereof. With a huge increase in the construction of apartment buildings taking place in our community - some good, some bad - finding a parking space is becoming even more difficult for many people. I believe that all new developments, both apartment and commercial buildings, should provide adequate parking. New residential buildings should be required to provide at least one parking spot for each apartment. But to my dismay, that's not happening. Some buildings in fact are not adding any new parking spaces due to exemptions in New York City's zoning codes, which determine the number of parking spaces buildings are required to provide.

I have requested that New York City's zoning resolution relating to the regulation of the number of public parking spaces required by apartment buildings be amended. These zoning regulations are a hodgepodge of exemptions, reductions and waivers, whereby the parking space requirements for many developments is woefully inadequate or virtually non-existent. And this not only affects the communities I represent, but I suspect many, many communities throughout the City; we are facing a major assault on the quality of life, resulting from the increase of residential units in the absence of the addition of significant amounts of parking. I have asked Community Board 8 to take up this issue and will ask other community boards to do so as well.

Minimum Wage Increase - At Last!

As of January 1, 2005, New York's minimum wage rose from $5.15 an hour to $6.00 an hour. By January 1, 2007 it will rise to $7.15 an hour. I have been advocating for years for an increase. In fact, the Assembly passed such increases several times over the past few years only to be stymied by the State Senate and the Governor, who refused to do anything up until 2004. Finally, they came to their senses to understand that no one can earn a decent living on $5.15. But they did not do so without putting up another fight.

The Assembly passed the minimum wage bill in July, and shortly thereafter, the Senate passed it. The Governor, however, vetoed the bill. The Assembly immediately overrode the Governor's veto, but the Senate stalled for months. Finally in the first week of December, the Senate overrode the veto, putting the wage hike into effect. This is significant, as it will impact an estimated 1.2 million New Yorkers, directly or indirectly. I am proud to say that it was the Assembly that took the lead and forced the Governor and the Senate to do the right thing, and I am proud to have been one of the sponsors of this important law.