State Senator Liz Krueger COMMUNITY BULLETIN - April 2002

Message from Liz . . .

It's been six weeks since I was sworn into office -- and to quote one long-time Albany Senate staff person - it's already clear that I am in for "quite a ride." The bad, but not surprising news is that: the budget is late for the 18th year in a row, deals are being done in secret, and critical legislation is never allowed to reach the floor of the Senate for debate.

The good news is the desire for a better democratic process in Albany is alive and kicking: thousands of people who care about broad-based issues that matter to our community and to the City and State arrive each week to advocate and lobby for their concerns. The disappointing side is how little attention these important issues receive.

I am constantly asking the question "why are things done this way or not done better?"

People then try to explain to me that my questions are logical and reasonable, but that I just don't understand "the culture of Albany." What I do understand is that this "culture" defies logic and is failing the people of our State. It must be changed. This will not happen overnight, but with the right political will and coordination of efforts, there is a real opportunity to change this culture and refocus the role of our State government to meet the needs of the 21st century.

"The Senator is In"

Rotating Office Hours In the District

As of April 27th, I will continually schedule rotating district office hours, where I spend time in different areas of the district.

Stuyvesant Town Upper East Side
Date: Saturday, April 27, 2002 Date: Saturday, May 4, 2002
Time: 10:00am-1:00pm Time: 12:00 - 3:00pm
Place: 16th St. & 1st Ave Place: SW corner, 79th St at 1st Ave
Raindate: Sunday, April 28th Raindate: Sunday, May 5th
(same time & place) (same time & place)

How To Reach Senator Liz Krueger in Her offices:
Temporary NYC mailing address: Albany:
1562 First Avenue, PMB#357 Legislative Office Building, Rm 302
New York, NY 10028 Albany, NY 12247
Phone: 212-689-5901 Phone: 518-455-2297

District Office (moving week of April 15th):
211 East 43rd Street, Room 1300
New York, NY 10017
Community Spotlight

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Update

On Tuesday evening, Memorial Sloan-Kettering held a Cancer Center construction update meeting. Two permits have been approved by the Department of Buildings; allowing for the demolition of the existing rectory and for the installation of a sidewalk bridge. MSK representatives will be attending the May Community Board 8 meeting to give a progress report on the project and discuss the issuing of additional permits.

Major Community Victory in Settlement with Con Ed

The East River Environmental Coalition (EREC) announced an important victory that has ended the 2-year battle over Con Ed's expansion of the 14th Street plant. A $3.7 million settlement reached between EREC and Con Edison on March 13 will bring air quality improvements to the community surrounding the plant to offset emissions from the plant expansion. Community Boards 3 and 6 and New York Public Interest Research Group signed onto the settlement. Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association is a founding member of EREC.

This environmental victory highlights the importance of strong and organized community participation and should set a precedent for establishing a system that guarantees community involvement.

The community has been fighting for over two years to mitigate environmental dangers posed by Con Ed's planned expansion, or 'repowering' of its East River plant. Under terms of the agreement, Con Ed agreed to pay a settlement of $3,730,000. $2,750,000 of it is earmarked for increasing the use of natural gas rather than oil in two units in the old plant. $500,000 will be used to install a nozzle in a smokestack to reduce the immediate impact of fine particulates on the buildings closest to the plant, and $480,000 will go to convert some residential buildings in the vicinity that now burn oil to steam.

An earlier stipulation also sets aside $500,000 to widen the East River esplanade from 12th to 15th Street.

The settlement removes an obstacle to Con Ed's decommissioning of the Waterside plant on 38th Street. I am committed to working with Community Board 6 and East Midtown Coalition for Sensible Development and with other elected officials to ensure that our community has a voice in the density and scale of proposed development and that it respects the character of surrounding neighborhood. I will work for open space and waterfront access to meet our community's needs.

Mitchell-Lama Albany Day

I was thrilled to discuss pending legislation and lobbying strategies with more than 700 residents who made the trip from New York City. One of the most active organizations fighting for new legislation to protect Mitchell-Lama housing units, the Mitchell-Lama Residents' Coalition, held its largest ever annual Lobby Day in Albany on Tuesday, April 9th because thousands of middle-income residents living in Mitchell-Lama buildings are threatened by the prospect of being forced out of their homes.

The Mitchell-Lama housing initiative, which began in the 1950s, was one of New York State's most successful attempts to address the affordable housing crisis. Vibrant dynamic new multi-ethnic communities were created throughout the state that attracted new businesses and stimulated economic activity. Unfortunately, subsequent legislation permitted developers of Mitchell-Lama housing to "buyout" of the program and its regulations after 20 years. At present, no laws exist to prevent developers who pre-pay their mortgages from hiking rents to levels which current residents could never afford. Numerous common-sense solutions have been proposed by the State Assembly, such as prohibiting future buyouts for the term of the original mortgages or making all "bought out" buildings rent-stabilized, but they have been repeatedly voted down by the State Senate.

While a number of Mitchell-Lama rental buildings have already gone through the buyout process, the future of a significant number are now being decided. Therefore, it is imperative that community members make their voices heard in Albany, especially to those State Senators who have repeatedly voted against tenant protections. If landlords are able to continue to opt out of the Mitchell-Lama regulations, the City's housing crisis will be exacerbated. I want to commend the hard work of the Mitchell-Lama Residents' Coalition and urge other residents to be similarly vocal.

Spotlight on Policy

Campaign Finance Reform

The federal government is taking steps to bolster confidence in our electoral system and reduce the perceived influence of special interests; New York State should do the same.

We need to limit the power of money in politics and government, which is why I support a comprehensive campaign finance reform bill (S. 2543). This bill bans unlimited "soft money" donations; sets monetary limits on campaign contributions to individual candidates and party committees, and requires that more information be disclosed about campaign contributors.

I voted for a "motion to discharge" which would bring the campaign finance reform bill (S.2643) out of the Senate Elections Committee to the Senate floor for a vote by the full chamber. Unfortunately, Senator Majority Republicans voted unanimously against the motion, preventing the bill from being released from committee.

Campaign contributions by well-funded special interest groups wields undue influence over the electoral process. As a result, people begin to believe that their votes don't count, and talented individuals who don't have ready access to significant campaign cash, become ineligible to participate. This bill begins to level the playing field and reduces advantages of special interests. Additionally, lower campaign contribution limits will encourage candidates to focus on building a broad base of support, rather than relying on smaller number of wealthy contributors.

Restructuring Governance of the NYC School System

I support the concept of Mayoral control - and accountability - for NYC's public school system. This change is long overdue. But as with all significant restructuring of government responsibility, the devil is in the details. Closing down the Board of Education without a new plan for governance will result in Mayoral control in a vacuum. Absent the Board of Education, there must still be structures that guarantee City Council and Borough-based oversight and a formalized mechanism for parental involvement to balance Mayoral authority.

The real opportunity in restructuring the governance of our school system is not in changing titles (Chancellor vs. Commissioner), but in decreasing political micro-management and rethinking the functions of what makes a school system work or fail. How the spending of public education funds is prioritized should be based on fair and transparent standards. Educators should focus on what happens in the classroom, and not be required to focus on bulk purchase vendor contracts or evaluating school construction budgets. Those important functions should be managed by experts in those fields.

We must not get trapped in the rhetoric that ending the Board of Education is any panacea for the problems of our school system. The real focus of changing the governance of our school system must be based on evidence that these changes will improve educational outcomes by increasing financial investments in our classrooms, providing more qualified teachers and principals, smaller class size and decreased overcrowding.

No decisions about changing school governance in NYC should be separated from mandates that require the City to maintain its financial commitment to our schools, including when the State increases school aid to the City. The fact is that our schools are under funded in comparison to other school systems throughout our State, and that both the City and State governments have been complicit in worsening this situation over the last decade by decreasing their financial contributions to public education.

For just this current year, NYC has over $500 million less than it expected to have when this school year's budget was approved. This continues a decade long trend: where the City's schools absorbed budget cuts of nearly 2.7 billion dollars at a time when student enrollment increased by nearly 115,000 students (a 12 percent increase).

We have some of the worst and some of the best schools in the country. It is disappointing that NYC has frequently been unable to learn from its own success. Any change in school governance must assure new mechanisms for ensuring the ability to replicate in poor performing schools the programs and strategies that have been working in good schools. We know what works - good teachers and good principals with the resources and autonomy to do their jobs, and a system of accountability that ensures that those who are not qualified are given help to improve, and if they fail, are required to move on.

The tests that should be applied to evaluate any proposals to change the governance of the NYC School system are will these changes lead to:

-- Addressing the shortage of qualified, certified teachers who are willing to remain in our school system for more than a few years is the most critical measurement for evaluating any proposed change in school governance.

-- Increasing the numbers of talented and effective school principals and assistant principals. Anyone who has ever watched a school move from bad to good, or the reverse, knows that the leadership of each school is the engine for improvement or the recipe for disaster. NYC must recruit, train and supply highly qualified principals and assistant principals.

-- Reducing class size, which results in better educational outcomes. Too many NYC schools can't reduce class sizes because they don't have available space to accommodate the new classrooms nor do they have the funds for additional classroom teachers.

-- Decreasing school overcrowding. Three out of five public school students attend overcrowded schools. Solving this problem requires building new schools more quickly and cost-effectively than our record to date. Changing school governance must include re-structuring the role and responsibilities of the School Construction Authority.