News from STATE SENATOR

Liz Krueger

New York State Senate, 26th District


COMMUNITY BULLETIN –

August/September 2003

 

Message from Liz . . .

The Senate is scheduled to return to Albany on September 16th, ostensibly to address some of the many pieces of business left unfinished when the legislature adjourned in June.  While it is always dangerous to predict what will emerge from negotiations between the “three men in a room,” one issue that we will potentially face is approval of 1.5 billion in bonds and tax breaks for the DestiNY USA mall project in Syracuse.  If approved, this project will represent a huge giveaway to private developers by the State.  And since the giveaway will be implemented through the Empire State Development Corporation and the Syracuse Industrial Development Corporation, the details of the giveaway will be shielded from public scrutiny.

 

It is extremely difficult to determine what the state would be getting for its 1.5 billion dollars.  The developers description of the project has morphed many times in the last 2 years.  Among the features of this mall mentioned at various times are a Mediterranean hillside town, “the worlds largest indoor water park,” a re-creation of the Erie Canal, a technology expo, and an 18 hole golf course.  Since no plans have ever been publicly presented, it remains unclear what will actually be built.  Why would the state approve a deal when they don’t actually know what they are approving?  Perhaps the hiring of well-placed lobbyists and campaign contributions by DestiNY parent company Pyramid, and its President, Robert Congel.  Pryamid has spent over $400,000 on lobbyists in the past 2 years, hiring, among others, Al D’Amato, Pataki political consultant Kiernan Mahoney, former Pataki administration employee Thomas Doherty, and Patricia Lynch, former senior aide to Speaker Shelly Silver.  In addition, Congel, his family members, and Pyramid have contributed at least $216,000 to political committees and campaigns since 2000 (since contributions can be funneled through county committees not required to report to the State, there may be additional, untraceable donations).  Such contributions were positively restrained compared to the $776,000 contributed by Pyramid to influence a 1985 local election in Poughkeepsie where Pyramid was seeking approval for a mall.  Pryamid’s actions in the 1985 election prompted an investigation and scathing report by the New York State Commission on Government Integrity.

 

Governor Pataki and supporters of the mall argue that it will bring jobs and money to the Syracuse economy, but the evidence does not suggest that mega-malls are really engines of economic growth.  The kinds of jobs they provide are mostly minimum or low wage.  I am generally suspicious of government giveaways to corporations in exchange for promises of job creation, but I think that even someone less cynical than myself about this model would question whether there were better “industries” to support than mega-mall development.

 

However, if this deal is approved despite the significant negative publicity it has attracted, we as New Yorkers will likely never know what we got for our $1.5 billion.  Since the money is funded through the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), the details of how the money is spent and any evaluation of the New York States’ return on investment need not be subject to any public review.  Operating under the same rules as a private corporation, ESDC is exempt from the kinds of disclosure that would be required of a State agency.  This in essence turns such public corporations and public authorities into private slush funds for whoever controls them – in this case Governor Pataki and ESDC head/ Pataki campaign fundraising coordinator Charles Gargano.  As we examine the current fiscal difficulties faced by our state, it is essential that legislators question this arrangement, which I believe results in the misappropriation of literally billions of state dollars.

 

 

 

East Side Education Town Hall Meeting

 

How are the Children’s First initiatives being implemented at the school level?

 

Panelists

Peter Heaney, Deputy Superintendent, Region 9

Jackie Kamin, Panel for Educational Policy

Additional Representatives from the DOE

 

Date:  Tuesday, September 30th

Time: 7pm –9pm                

Place: Robert Wagner Middle School

          220 East 76th Street b/t 2nd and 3rd Avenues

 

Call (212) 490-9535 for further information

 

 

 

Free Flu Shots and Health Resources Forum

 

·        Free Flu Shots for Seniors and others at risk for the Flu –

By appointment only – call 490-9535 for an appointment

                                                                                                                                                                            

Date:  Monday, October 20th

Time: 10:00am-1:00pm                

Place: Lenox Hill Senior Center at St. Peter’s Church

          619 Lexington Avenue at 54th Street

 

Call (212) 490-9535 to make an appointment for a flu shot        

 

Community Spotlight

 

Walk Against Breast Cancer:

On October 19th, the American Cancer Society is sponsoring Making Strides Against Breast Cancer in Central Park.  This is the 10th Anniversary of this walk, which raises money for the fight against breast cancer.  For more information, contact the American Cancer Society at 1-800-ACS-2345 or http://www.cancer.org/stridesonline.

 

Become a Foster Grandparent:

The Foster Grandparent Program is a volunteer program that offers seniors age 60 and older a paid non-taxable stipend to serve as mentors, tutors and caregivers for children and youth with special needs. Foster Grandparents serve 20 hours per week in community-based organizations such as elementary schools, hospitals, day care programs, after-school programs and Head Start programs.  If you meet federal income eligibility and other guidelines, you may be eligible to become a Foster Grandparent. To find out about becoming a Foster Grandparent please call the New York City Department for the Aging Foster Grandparent Program Office at: 1-212-442-3117.

 

Facts on Organ Donation:

Approximately 8,000 New Yorkers are presently on waiting lists for organ donation.  Close to 540 New Yorkers die each year due to a shortage of organ donors.  This year the legislature passed a bill to create the New York “Life- Pass It On” Trust Fund.  The bill permits the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to issue “Organ Donors Save Lives” license plates for an annual charge of $25.  The proceeds will be given to the trust fund, which will finance organ transplant research and education projects promoting organ and tissue donation.  Furthermore, the DMV will develop license renewal forms, which will solicit a one-dollar donation to be deposited in the trust fund.  This legislation is currently awaiting the Governor’s signature.

 

New York State faces a crisis with regard to our available organ supply.  I urge everyone to explore organ donation. For information on becoming an organ donor, go to www.donatelifeny.org, or call the 24 Hour Donor Hotline at 1-800-GIFT-4-NY

(1-800-443-8469).

 

 

Spotlight on Policy

 

Emergency Contraception

 

On the final day of the 2003 legislative session, the Senate and the Assembly passed the groundbreaking ‘Emergency Contraception in the Emergency Room’ bill (A.15-A), making New York the first state on the East Coast to have such a law.  I am thrilled that the Senate finally passed the landmark emergency contraception bill.  This piece of legislation has been one of my top priorities since I was first elected to office.  Sexual assault survivors throughout New York State will no longer have to live in fear of not being able to receive emergency contraception in hospital emergency rooms.

 

The Assembly has passed the "EC in the ER" legislation three years in a row, but Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno has blocked repeated attempts to bring the bill out of the Health Committee for a vote.  Passage was further slowed by the lobbying efforts of the New York State Catholic Conference. The Catholic Conference dropped its objections to the bill after a provision was added that freed hospitals from providing emergency contraception to a woman who has tested positive for pregnancy.

 

The “EC in the ER” bill was not the only emergency contraception related legislation to pass through both houses during the 2003 session.  Another bill, S.5690 provides for reimbursement by the crime victims board to hospitals that give forensic examinations to sexual assault survivors.  While this bill is of major significance, it is absurd that it allows the state a year and a half to create a mechanism for reimbursement.

 

Emergency contraception prevents a pregnancy before it is established.  If taken within 72 hours of a sexual assault, the emergency contraception pill can prevent pregnancy about 90 percent of the time.  Access to emergency contraception could prevent 22,000 of the 25,000 unwanted pregnancies caused by sexual assault nationally each year, according to the New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NYSCASA).  In addition, emergency contraception does not interrupt, disrupt or harm pregnancies that are already established.  Emergency contraception is not the same as RU-486 (a medical abortion pill).

 

The emergency contraception bill has been on the table for a few years now.  It is unthinkable that in this day and age a rape survivor would be denied emergency contraception.  The passage of this legislation is a major accomplishment for the rights of crime victims.