102 HOUSE MEMBERS TO TILLERSON: RESIST TRUMP’S INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS BUDGET CUTS

Ranking Member Engel Leads Effort to Protect American Diplomacy & Development

   Representative Eliot L. Engel, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, today announced that a group of 102 House Democrats is calling on Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to push back against the Trump Administration’s dangerous and short-sighted budget cuts reportedly planned for American diplomatic and development efforts.  In a letter to Secretary Tillerson, the lawmakers decried thereported aim to cut the international affairs budget by 37 percent and underscored the importance of diplomacy and development in enhancing American security and advancing American interests.

“With instability and turmoil on the rise around the world, our international affairs efforts address the root causes of conflict and crisis.  Our diplomats settle disputes over conference tables and in quiet conversation so that they don’t need to be settled with bombs and bullets. Our development initiatives help countries lift themselves up, because areas mired in poverty often become hotbeds for instability and violence. This work also shows the world that the United States believes in opportunity, equality, and the rule of law for all people. As Ronald Reagan said, ‘America is a shining city upon a hill whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere.’  Those are the values we must continue to project across the world,” the members wrote.

“If we gut our foreign affairs budget, we signal that another country—maybe one with different values and priorities—can take center stage when it comes to global leadership.  And as far as preventing conflict and defusing crises, we’re saying that we’ll take our chances down the road.  We’re telling our sons and daughters that they may find themselves in harm’s way tomorrow at tremendous cost, because we’d rather not pay pennies on the dollar today to make the world safer.”

Text of the letter follows and a list of the members signing the letter can be found here.

The Honorable Rex W. Tillerson

Secretary of State

U.S. Department of State

Washington, DC 20520

Dear Mr. Secretary:

The Trump Administration is reportedly planning a 37 percent cut to the international affairs budget in Fiscal Year 2018. This massive reduction will undermine our diplomatic efforts and make the American people less safe. We urge you as our top diplomat to stop the White House from making these draconian and short-sighted cuts.

A month into your tenure, we hope you’ve had the opportunity to see firsthand the vital work our diplomats and development experts do to advance our national security.  In your prior career, you no doubt learned that long-term goals and interests require sustained engagement and relationship building.  For generations, there has been widespread recognition that our alliances, partnerships, and connections with countries and people around the world require the enduring, persistent, and tireless efforts and proper resourcing of the State Department and USAID.  It's hard work to protect our country, strengthen ties with other nations, enhance stability across regions, and help build healthier more productive communities. It demands sustained, deep expertise, and an investment in resources.

It’s worth it.

With instability and turmoil on the rise around the world, our international affairs efforts address the root causes of conflict and crisis.  Our diplomats settle disputes over conference tables and in quiet conversation so that they don’t need to be settled with bombs and bullets.  Our development initiatives help countries lift themselves up, because areas mired in poverty often become hotbeds for instability and violence.  This work also shows the world that the United States believes in opportunity, equality, and the rule of law for all people. As Ronald Reagan said, “America is a shining city upon a hill whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere.”  Those are the values we must continue to project across the world.

On February 27th, 120 retired three-star and four-star generals and flag officers from our country’s armed forces sent a letter to House and Senate leaders urging them to “ensure that resources for the International Affairs Budget keep pace with the growing global threats and opportunities we face.” We could not agree more.

If we gut our foreign affairs budget, we signal that another country—maybe one with different values and priorities—can take center stage when it comes to global leadership.  And as far as preventing conflict and defusing crises, we’re saying that we’ll take our chances down the road.  We’re telling our sons and daughters that they may find themselves in harm’s way tomorrow at tremendous cost, because we’d rather not pay pennies on the dollar today to make the world safer.

Now more than ever, we must make smart investments in diplomacy and development. Buying more weapons simply isn’t enough to address the numerous challenges we face, from violent extremism, to nuclear proliferation, to climate change, to global health, to international illiteracy, or Vladimir Putin’s aggressive efforts to undermine our democracy.

We urge you to make every effort to counter White House efforts to slash support for diplomacy and development.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.

IN JANUARY, MAYOR’S PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT UNIT ENROLLED 14,028 NEW YORKERS IN HEALTH INSURANCE

Thousands of New Yorkers May Still Be Eligible to Enroll for 2017 Coverage

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Public Engagement Unit today announced that the GetCoveredNYC initiative enrolled 14,028 New Yorkers during the month of January. This new initiative contributed to the city’s overall increase in health insurance enrollment – 2,004,349 million New Yorkers enrolled through the New York State of Health Marketplace, which was an increase of 386,052 from the previous open enrollment period. In addition, all five boroughs saw an increase in enrollment with the largest increase in Queens. Although open enrollment closed on January 31, many New Yorkers may still qualify for low and no-cost health coverage for 2017. PEU’s GetCoveredNYC team continues to knock on doors, make phone calls and host outreach events in neighborhoods across the city to engage New Yorkers, schedule them for in-person enrollment appointments and help them through every step of the enrollment process.

Single adults who earn up to $23,760.00 per year, couples and single parents of one child who earn up to $32,040.00 per year and adults in a family of four who earn up to $48,600.00 per year qualify for the Essential Plan. All children up to age 18, regardless of immigration status, qualify for Child Health Plus. Single adults who earn up to $16,394.40 per year, couples and single parents who earn up to $22,107.60 per year, pregnant women who earn up to $35,524.00 per year and adults in a family of four earning up to $33,534.00 per year qualify for Medicaid. Individuals and families who have experienced a qualifying life event—such as giving birth to a baby, adopting a baby, moving to a new county, getting married, loss of coverage, exhaustion of COBRA, placement in foster care, aging out of family plan, getting pregnant, change in salary, change in immigration status or loss of employer coverage—all have access to the Qualified Health Plan. 

The City provides free in-person enrollment assistance in all five boroughs. For a list of enrollment locations, call 929-252-8912 to speak with a GetCoveredNYC specialist or text CoveredNYC or SeguroNYC to 877877 or visit NYStateofHealth.ny.gov to enroll online. In addition, PEU’s GetCoveredNYC Team will be available to help at the following locations:

The Bronx

Wednesday, March 8

11 A.M. - 3 P.M.

Assemblyman Blake’s Office

780 Concourse Village West

Bronx, NY 10451

   

Brooklyn

Wednesday, March 8

9 A.M. - 5 P.M.

Mermaid Family Health Center

2714 Mermaid Avenue

Brooklyn, NY 11224

Thursday, March 16

2 P.M. – 6 P.M.

State Senator Persaud’s Office

1222 East 96^th Street

Brooklyn, NY 11236

Bronx Borough President - REMINDER: RSVP for the African-American History Month Celebration

Assemblyman Mark Gjonaj - Women of Distinction 2017

Save the Date!

Assemblyman Mark Gjonaj  celebrates  Women's History Month In honor of the outstanding women in our district, the Assemblyman will be hosting the 3rd Annual Women of Distinction Breakfast Saturday, March 18th,2017 10:00am - 12:00pm F&J Pine Restaurant 1913 Bronxdale Avenue Bronx, NY 10462   RSVP is Mandatory For questions, please call 718-409-0109.

Dinowitz Calls on City to Review Bronx Half Mile of Danger

   Bronx Assemblymember writes to city Department of Transportation urging reexamination of dangerous half-mile stretch of West 230th Street in Kingsbridge, site of 131 independent accidents in 2016

Request follows recent inquiry into traffic conditions at Tibbett Ave and West 230th Street, entry point for nine local schools including 5,000-student John F. Kennedy campus

In response to reports showing a large concentration of accidents along a half-mile stretch of roadway leading to the Major Deegan Expressway in the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx, New York State Assemblymember Jeffrey Dinowitz is calling on the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) to conduct safety studies of the dangerous thoroughfare. This follows a recent request by Dinowitz to install additional traffic lights at an intersection on West 230th Street that serves as an entrance to nine local schools.

"Residents from all over the Bronx use West 230th Street to gain access to the Major Deegan and many of them deal with this hazardous situation daily," said Assemblymember Jeffrey Dinowitz. "With so many accidents happening along this corridor, the city needs to take steps to ensure the safety of drivers and pedestrians."

In a letter this week to DOT Bronx Borough Commissioner Nivardo Lopez, Assemblymember Dinowitz called for a reexamination of West 230th Street between Riverdale and Bailey Avenues on the border between Kingsbridge and Marble Hill. Dinowitz cited data from the NYPD's Vehicle Collision Data Reports showing that 131 independent accidents involving more than 250 vehicles occurred at intersections along the half-mile stretch in 2016. Nearly half of these collisions took place at the intersection of Broadway and West 230th Street, the letter noted.

Dinowitz attributed the statistics at least in part to the opening of the 133,000 square-foot Broadway Plaza mall in 2014. According to Dinowitz, the increased traffic from private motorists and commercial trucks, coupled with confusing street configurations in around the mega-center on Broadway, are adding to congestion on the roadway.

This latest request follows an earlier recent inquiry by Dinowitz into traffic signals at the intersection of West 230th Street and Tibbett Avenue. According to a letter sent to Borough Commissioner Lopez on February 3rd, Dinowitz requested the installation of a left-turn signal to allow westbound vehicles to turn onto Tibbett from West 230th Street.

In making the request, Dinowitz noted that nine schools in the area use Tibbett Avenue as an entry point during the school day. These include In-Tech Academy MS/HS 368, PS/MS 37, and the seven schools on the John F. Kennedy campus, a facility with a joint student population of over five thousand. This prompted parents, faculty and staff to contact Dinowitz's office to make the request for the turn signal. For Dinowitz, both the traffic signal request and the overall review of conditions on West 230th Street are an important part of ensuring the safety of Bronx commuters.

"Our borough is so limited in public transportation options that driving is a fact of life. We need to ensure that commuters can get safely from point A to point B," concluded Dinowitz.

Testimony of Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. Before the City Council Oversight Committee

RE: School Planning and Siting for New Capacity 

February 28, 2017

 

Good morning.

With the formation of a mayoral commission on school overcrowding, we can do a better job at school planning and siting.

The February 2017 proposed capital plan does not fund a sufficient number of seats, and this is a problem for both The Bronx and for New York City. There are thousands of “unfunded seats” in The Bronx alone, a borough with an educational system in need of better solutions. Not only does the number of funded seats not meet the Department of Education  (DOE)’s own stated needs, the methods for assessing need as well as the school siting process must be rectified. The current school planning and siting process is denying our students the opportunity for success they deserve. 

Our educational system is failing our students. Just 37 percent of students citywide graduate on time and meet CUNY college readiness standards in reading and math. 

The graduation rate for The Bronx is only 63 percent. We must seek better methods to educate our youth. One such widely accepted method is reducing class sizes and overcrowding in schools.  To do this, we need to change the School Construction Authority’s (SCA)’s and the DOE process, which has multiple serious flaws.

Overcrowding and too-large classes evince the failure of the current system. 

School overcrowding is a rampant problem.  A recent analysis found the following: School districts 8, 9, 10 and 11 in The Bronx all average over 100 percent capacity while District 12 was at 99 percent, according to the School Construction Authority. 

Many local schools in District 7 were also very overcrowded. P.S. 163 in District 9, with a population of  99 percent free lunch students, 98 percent Black and Latino students, and 33 percent English language learners was at an incredible 213 percent of capacity. 

The School Construction Authority has acknowledged, including before the Bronx Borough Board, that school overcrowding is a pervasive and ongoing problem and that we need to fund substantially more seats. Further, the DOE’s own projected need for seats demonstrates that New York City needs tens of thousands more seats than those approved in the capital plan. Prompt action is needed on this issue, especially in light of the increasing population density in New York City and the City’s affordable housing goals which would further increase density. 

Students are crammed into large classes throughout the city. Notably, an analysis found that more than 55,000 Bronx students were sitting in classes of 30 or more students. We know that smaller class sizes that allow for more individualized attention and participation and more physical space to provide resources makes a difference in educating students.  So, why not make every effort to provide the best education we can in our public schools? 

Bronx schools enroll a disproportionately high number of low-income students, children of color, and recent immigrants to this country.  At the same time, these students are crammed into classes with student-teacher ratios in substantial violation of the current teachers’ contract and into overburdened schools. These conditions make it extremely difficult for teachers to provide students with the close attention and support they need to learn and succeed.

The research is crystal clear that smaller classes are better for our children. They launch students, especially disadvantaged children, on a far better trajectory in life, offering them a significantly higher chance of graduating from high school on time and attending college. Yet, the needed classroom space is lacking.

To address the issues arising from new development, triggers for requirements to build more seats in a given district should better account for the proximity to capacity at which the school already stands. Currently, when rezoning occurs, building a new school in a community only has to be considered when the project is both predicted to increase school overcrowding by at least five percent and when the utilization rate is at or over 100 percent.  

A better approach that should be explored is that when a school has already exceeded capacity, any incremental increase should trigger further review. In other words, thresholds must better account for where a school is with regard to capacity prior to the rezoning. New construction is likely to exacerbate school overcrowding to even more critical levels, especially without a concurrent strategy to address the need to build schools along with new housing.

The current policies and practices with regard to school planning and siting are faulted. 

According to an analysis, the SCA has only three people on staff citywide looking for sites, and only one real estate firm on retainer per borough and fails to “cold call.” This low staffing level and deviation from common real estate practice may be a cause of the lack of alacrity with which they site and build schools. Multiple recent amendments of the five year capital plan were months overdue.

Further evidence of dysfunction is that in February 2014, SCA allocated $490 million to create an additional 4,900 seats under a new “class size reduction” program and took two years to identify any projects for the program. Still, this program has only identified three school expansion projects. We must improve the dilatory practices of the SCA to promote efficiency. 

This August, I wrote a letter to Mayor de Blasio urging him to form a commission on the school planning and siting process to address the aforementioned issues.  We look forward to action on this issue.

I once again urge the formation of a mayoral commission to reform the school planning process, with representation from the Borough Presidents, the City Council, advocates, parents and experts in the areas of school planning and construction.  For the future of The Bronx and the city, we must do better to create optimal learning environments for students. 

The above faults with DOE and SCA’s school planning and siting process underscore the need for the formation of a commission to rectify all the above issues. Together, we can do better at reducing class sizes, eliminating overcrowding, and providing new seats in our schools.

Thank you.

Bronx Borough President

Ruben Diaz Jr.

MAYOR DE BLASIO APPOINTS FREDERICK SCHAFFER AS CHAIR OF THE CAMPAIGN FINANCE BOARD

  Mayor Bill de Blasio today appointed Frederick Schaffer as the chair of the Campaign Finance Board (CFB). Utilizing his years of experience in the government and legal fields, Frederick Schaffer will be responsible for leading the CFB, which monitors City candidates' campaign contributions and expenditures and enforces the City's campaign finance law by providing public funding to candidates who participate in the City's public financing system. The Board also makes public disclosure of the candidates' campaign finances, publishes a non-partisan Voter Guide for each regularly scheduled City election, and administers a mandatory debate program for candidates for public office who seek public funding for their campaigns. This appointment was made in consultation with the City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito.

“The Campaign Finance Board is essential to the City’s electoral system and ensures a level of transparency in electoral proceedings,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “We are fortunate to have Frederick Schaffer as the new chair of the board as he demonstrates exactly the kind of intelligent, impartial and independent leadership that the CFB requires. He brings an abundance of experience and knowledge that will help the Board to properly apply the law and ensure the program’s integrity.”

About Frederick Schaffer

Frederick Schaffer most recently served as the General Counsel and Senior Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs at The City University of New York, a position that he held for 16 years. In this position, Schaffer was responsible for providing legal counsel to the Board of Trustees, the Chancellor and the University on a wide range of issues and supervising a legal department of 20 lawyers. Schaffer also served as General Counsel to the CUNY Construction Fund, a public authority that finances capital construction at the University. In addition, Schaffer was President of the CUNY Economic Development Corporation, an affiliated not-for profit corporation that oversees economic development projects at the University.

Prior to holding this position, Frederick Schaffer served for five years as an Assistant US Attorney in the Southern District of New York. He also worked in New York City Government for six years as a Chief Litigating Corporation Counsel and as Counsel to Mayor Ed Koch. Additionally, he served for ten years as a director of The Legal Aid Society, serving as chairman for two years. He has served as the Director of the Board of the Citizens Union since 2010.

Frederick Schaffer is also the recipient of one of the 2011 Awards for Excellence in Public Service from the New York State Bar Association. He graduated with his Bachelor of the Arts degree from Harvard College in 1968 and received his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1973.

A.G. Schneiderman Announces Arrest Of Manhattan Restaurant Owner Who Allegedly Failed To Pay Workers

Defendants Are Charged With Repeatedly Failing To Pay 34 Restaurant Workers

Hundreds Of Thousands In Wages

Schneiderman: My Office Will Take Aggressive Action Against Any Employer Who Breaks The Law By Cheating Their Workers

   Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced the arrest and arraignment today of Konstantinos Aronis, owner of K.M.S. Restaurant Corp. (“K.M.S.”), for allegedly failing to pay 34 workers hundreds of thousands of dollars in wages. It is charged that Aronis and K.M.S. stole tips from their employees and did not provide payment for overtime hours, while subsequently filing false documents with New York State in order to hide these violations and avoid the payment of unemployment insurance.

“This alleged scheme was a blatant attempt to steal from hard working New Yorkers, and then cover it up,” Attorney General Schneiderman said. “A worker’s most basic right is the right to be paid for his or her labor, and my office won’t hesitate to take action against any employer who breaks the law by cheating their employees.”

“New York State will not tolerate the mistreatment of workers,” said New York State Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon. “Under Governor Cuomo’s strong leadership, state agencies, including the New York State Department of Labor, continue to combat worker exploitation and misclassification to make sure all New York State workers are paid and treated fairly. I thank Attorney General Schneiderman and his team for working with us and for bringing Mr. Aronis to justice.”

According to the felony complaint and statements made in court at the arraignment, between May 2012 and May 2016, Aronis and K.M.S. employed workers at three restaurant/deli locations in Manhattan: Nations Café at 875 1st Avenue, Plaza Diner at 1066 2nd Avenue, and Hamilton Deli at 1072 2nd Avenue. The investigation revealed that most of the employees worked more than 60 hours per week -- but Aronis and K.M.S. paid the workers a weekly salary without the required overtime rate for their hours over forty each week, and also took a percentage of the tips that some of the workers earned. By carrying out this scheme, the defendants deprived workers of hundreds of thousands of dollars in wages earned.

In addition to refusing to pay their workers properly, the defendants allegedly created and filed false tax reporting documents.  It is charged that the defendants falsely omitted employees and wages from their New York State Quarterly Combined Withholding, Wage Reporting and Unemployment Insurance Returns and failed to pay the required New York State unemployment insurance contributions for all employees.

The felony complaint, filed in Manhattan Criminal Court, charges Aronis and K.M.S. with one count of Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree, an E felony; and one count of Failure to Pay Wages in Accordance with the Labor Law, an unclassified misdemeanor.

The defendants were released on their own recognizance. The charges are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. 

The Attorney General thanks the New York State Department of Labor Office of Special Investigations, Labor Standards Division, and Unemployment Insurance Division for their assistance in this investigation and prosecution.