ENGEL STATEMENT ON DNI COATS’S PREDICTION OF RUSSIAN ELECTION INTERFERENCE

    Representative Eliot L. Engel, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, today made the following statement regarding comments by Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats and other officials that Russia will likely interfere in the 2018 American elections:

“President Trump’s most senior advisors appear unanimous in their assessment that Russia is set to meddle in our elections again, reiterated today by DNI Coats. Yet the Administration has done nothing to protect our democracy. At this point, I’m growing concerned that the Administration actually welcomes this foreign interference. Russia worked to benefit President Trump before, and it’s a safe guess that Putin continues to support his political objectives. That means Republican leaders in Congress face a choice: act where the Administration hasn’t to stop this attack on American democracy, or accept Russian help in the upcoming election.”

Council Approves Affordable Housing for 425 Grand Concourse

Today the Council voted to approve 425 Grand Concourse, an affordable housing development in Councilman Salamanca's district that will be the first major new building on the lower Grand Concourse in fifty years.

This site is important to a lot of Bronxites because for over one hundred years it was the site of PS 31, also known as the Castle on the Concourse. Over the years, thousands of Bronx students attended school at PS 31 before it was ultimately shuttered and demolished.

Because of the site’s significance to the community, Councilman Salamanca worked to ensure that any development to replace PS 31 would be built to be a proud part of the community and would provide needed services to all of those who currently call the South Bronx home.  

After many months of negotiation, we have succeeded in bringing a great project to the district. The new building, rising 27 stories, will house a grocery store, a charter school, a clinic and other community space on the lower floors.

The building will be designed to Passive House standards, consuming significantly less energy than a conventional housing project.

The building also is directly next to Garrison Playground, park space that is slated to benefit from $1.5 million in Council capital funds that Councilman Salamanca secured a few years ago. Councilman Salamanca worked to ensure that the developer and management company of 425 Grand Concourse will pay to staff a full time maintenance worker $52,000 annually to maintain the playground into perpetuity.  

And finally, 425 Grand Concourse works to help address the need of affordable housing for families in the South Bronx. 277 units will be 100% affordable ranging from 30% to 100% of AMI. Many of those units will be permanently affordable.

As always, the importance of delivering affordable housing for the community through quality developments is incredibly important Councilman Salamanca.  It is particularly important today in my his capacity as the Council Land Use Chair that one of the first big land use actions taken this session was to approve this important project.

Two Defendants Charged In Manhattan Federal Court With Sex Trafficking And Other Offenses

  Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, William F. Sweeney Jr., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and James P. O’Neill, the Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), announced the arrests of LAVELLEOUS PURCELL, a/k/a “King Casino,” a/k/a “Mike Hill,” and GLORIA PALMER, a/k/a “Gloria Hearn.” PURCELL is charged with sex trafficking and related offenses.  PALMER is charged with conspiracy to use interstate commerce to promote PURCELL’s illegal sex trafficking activity.  PURCELL was presented Friday in Manhattan federal court before United States Magistrate Judge Stewart D. Aaron and detained.  PALMER was presented Friday in federal court in Rochester and released on bail.  The case has been assigned to United States District Judge Denise L. Cote. 

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said:  “As alleged, Lavelleous Purcell’s conduct was exploitive, forcing women to engage in sex for money, and keeping the money for himself.  Thanks to the FBI and NYPD, Purcell and his alleged accomplice, Gloria Palmer, are in custody.”

FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney Jr. said:  “The subject in this case allegedly forced women to have sex for money.  Our FBI agents and law enforcement partner detectives won’t ever stop pursuing pimps who profit from using women not as human beings, but as objects and as a way to make money.  However, the practice isn’t going to ever go away unless the demand goes away.  We ask anyone with information about this case, or any other situation they suspect may be human trafficking, to call us.”

According to the Indictment unsealed today in Manhattan federal court,[1] and statements made in court during the defendants’ presentments:

For the past several years, PURCELL has worked as a sex trafficker and pimp under the alias “King Casino.”  From 2012 to 2016, PURCELL trafficked women, forcing them to engage in commercial sex, for which he was paid.  Since at least 2015, PURCELL has recruited women to travel in interstate commerce to engage in prostitution and has transported women across state lines to engage in prostitution.  PALMER used the facilities of interstate commerce to promote the prostitution business by booking hotel rooms for PURCELL and the women.

To date, law enforcement agents have identified over 50 women who appear to have engaged in commercial sex at PURCELL’s direction.

PALMER assisted in PURCELL’s sex trafficking business by, among other things, booking hotel rooms for PURCELL and the women he trafficked, for which PURCELL paid PALMER a monthly fee.

The charges in the Indictment against LAVELLEOUS PURCELL, 39, of Hempstead, New York, and GLORIA PALMER, 26, of Rochester, New York, are included in the chart below.  The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge.

Any individuals who believe they have information that may be relevant to the investigation should contact the FBI at 1-212-384-1000 or https://tips.fbi.gov/.

Mr. Berman thanked the FBI and NYPD for their outstanding investigative work in this matter.  Mr. Berman also thanked the New York County District Attorney’s Office for its assistance with this investigation. 

The charges and allegations contained in the Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

 [1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Indictment and the description of the Indictment set forth below constitute only allegations and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.

Three Defendants Charged In White Plains Federal Court With New City Armed Robbery

  Geoffrey S. Berman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, William F. Sweeney Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and Raymond McCullagh, Chief of the Clarkstown Police Department, announced today the filing of a complaint charging three defendants with robbing a KeyBank branch located in New City, New York, on February 9, 2018.  Two of the defendants were also charged with brandishing a firearm during the robbery.  All three defendants were taken into custody on February 9, 2018, shortly after the robbery, and were presented in White Plains federal court the following morning before United States Magistrate Judge Lisa M. Smith.

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said:  “As alleged, Jason Parris and Demetrice Young, wearing masks, robbed a bank while brandishing a gun.  Then after threatening the bank employees, they made their way to Iyibia Brown, who was driving the getaway car.  They didn’t make it far, however, before law enforcement arrested all three.” 

FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney Jr. said:  “This case is the perfect example of great police work.  The alleged robbers put customers’ and employees’ lives in danger by flashing a gun, and vaulting the counter during the robbery, but they didn’t get far.  The FBI Westchester Safe Streets Gang Task Force wants to thank our law enforcement partners at the Clarkstown Police Department and the fast action they took to get armed criminals off the streets.”

Clarkstown Police Chief Raymond McCullagh said:  “This arrest was a direct result of the entire law enforcement community working together to ensure the public's safety and to bring these suspects to justice.”

As alleged in the complaint filed on February 10, 2018, in White Plains federal court[1]:

On February 9, 2018, JASON PARRIS, DEMETRICE YOUNG, and IYIBIA BROWN conspired to rob, and did rob, a branch of KeyBank, located at 270 Little Tor Road, New City, New York.  PARRIS and YOUNG entered the bank in masks and, using a firearm, threatened numerous bank employees.  PARRIS and YOUNG then fled the bank on foot with cash taken from the bank, meeting up with BROWN, who then drove PARRIS and YOUNG away from the scene of the robbery.  PARRIS, YOUNG, and BROWN were apprehended by law enforcement shortly thereafter.  Money from the bank was found on PARRIS and in the car, and a firearm was found in the car, as well.

PARRIS, 34, of Nyack, New York, YOUNG, 27, of Spring Valley, New York, and BROWN, 24, of Monsey, New York, are each charged with one count of bank robbery conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and one count of bank robbery, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.  In addition, PARRIS and YOUNG are each charged with one count of brandishing a firearm during the robbery, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of seven years in prison.  The statutory maximum penalties are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencings of the defendants would be determined by the judge.

Mr. Berman praised the outstanding, coordinated investigative work of the FBI, the Clarkstown Police Department, the Ramapo Police Department, the Rockland County Sheriff’s Department, and the New York State Police.

The charges contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

 [1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Indictments and the descriptions of the Indictments set forth below constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.

A.G. Schneiderman Leads Coalition Of 19 AGs Opposing Citizenship Question On 2020 Census

Citizenship Question Would Directly Threaten States’ Fair Representation in Congress and Electoral College, Billions in Critical Federal Funding, By Undermining Census Participation among Immigrants – Causing Population Undercounts in State and Cities with Large Immigrant Communities, Like New York

  Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, leading a coalition of 19 Attorneys General and the State of Colorado, today urged the U.S. Department of Commerce to reject the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 decennial Census, which would directly threaten states’ fair representation in Congress and the Electoral College, as well as billions of dollars in critical federal funds for programs like Medicaid.

Under the Constitution, the Census Bureau has an obligation to determine “the whole number of persons in each state.” Yet the addition of a citizenship question to the Census is expected to depress participation among immigrants, causing a population undercount that would disproportionately harm states and cities with large immigrant communities. Non-citizens are counted in the Census for the purposes of federal funds, apportioning of congressional seats and Electoral College votes, and the drawing of state and local districts.

“Fair representation is at the heart of our democracy. Yet DOJ’s effort to add a citizenship question to our Census directly targets state like New York that have large, thriving immigrant populations – threatening our representation in Congress and the Electoral College and billions of dollars in federal funds on which New Yorkers rely,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “With fear on the rise in immigrant communities, it’s no surprise that many families would be frightened to participate in a Census that asked about citizenship. Our coalition will continue to fight back against these sorts of draconian polices that seek to punish states like New York that embrace and celebrate our diversity.”

The letter was led by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, and signed by the Attorneys General of New York, Massachusetts, California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, and the Governor of the State of Colorado. The letter is available here.

On December 12, 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice requested that the Census Bureau include a citizenship question on the 2020 census form sent to every household in the United States, even though the Census is supposed to count all persons—citizens and non-citizens alike. The Department of Justice argued that the collection of such information was necessary to ensure proper enforcement of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Yet as the Attorneys General explain in today’s letter, the Justice Department’s proposal would have precisely the opposite effect by driving down participation in immigrant communities—a concern that is even more acute in today’s political climate. The resulting undercount would deprive immigrant communities of fair representation when legislative seats are apportioned and district lines are drawn. 

To the extent that the Voting Rights Act requires a calculation of the number of eligible voters in a given jurisdiction, the Census Bureau provides an adequate—and far less intrusive—source of citizenship information based on sampling, including the American Community Survey.

The letter emphasizes the irreparable harm that will result from inaccuracies in the 2020 Census caused by the inclusion of a citizenship question. The decennial census is used to apportion seats in the House of Representatives, and to determine the total number of delegates each state receives in the Electoral College. As a result, an undercount of population in states that are home to large immigrant communities will impair fair representation, a principle fundamental to the fabric of our democracy. In addition, hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funds are directly tied to demographic information obtained through the census, including Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program and Title I funding for local educational agencies. Consequently, inaccurate counts can potentially deprive states of much-needed funds designed to protect low-income and vulnerable communities.

The letter also explains that the threat to the accuracy of the 2020 Census is magnified by the extreme lateness of the Justice Department’s proposal. The Census Bureau is considering the addition of a citizenship question only three months before it is required to send a list of final questions to Congress. This short timeframe is not nearly enough to adequately test the full impact of the citizenship question, as required by the Census Bureau’s standards on data collection. These concerns are heightened by the Bureau’s already precarious fiscal position. The Bureau is dramatically underfunded, and the additional of a citizenship question would significantly increase the overall cost of completing the Census.

Comptroller Stringer: City Dragging its Feet on Over 1,000 City-Owned Properties, Despite Housing Crisis

While tens of thousands of permanently affordable homes could be built on city property, HPD is failing to act

Hundreds of city-owned properties sit vacant for up to 50 years

Stringer renews call for NYC land bank/land trust to build the next generation of affordable housing 

  As New York City faces an extraordinary housing crisis, Comptroller Scott M. Stringer released a new report today that revealed that the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) is dragging its feet on building new affordable units on hundreds of empty, City-owned lots. Despite rents rising at a record pace, the Comptroller’s follow-up review found that more than 1,000 city-owned properties—most of which the agency earmarked for residential development—continue to sit vacant, and that HPD is moving at a glacial pace in developing that land. Lacking realistic schedules to develop its own property, the City has owned up to 900 of these empty lots for at least 20 years and up to a half century.

Today’s report is a follow-up to a groundbreaking 2016 audit by the Comptroller’s Office on vacant lots owned by HPD, which found more than 1,100 City-owned properties, including many that could be used to build affordable housing were instead languishing, often vacant, and often eyesores in local neighborhoods. In 2016, the Comptroller also issued a report, Building an Affordable Future: The Promise of a New York City Land Bank, which outlined how the City could use a land bank to develop an estimated 57,000 units of permanently affordable housing units on those vacant lots and a smaller number of privately-owned, tax-delinquent properties. Those properties, through a land bank/land trust, could be used to develop housing, mitigate the homelessness crisis, and improve the availability of truly affordable units across the five boroughs. 

“New Yorkers are struggling in an affordability crisis that touches us all. We’re no longer just a tale of two cities – we’re becoming a tale of two blocks, with luxury towers on one corner and struggling families on another. That means we need to leverage every resource we have to help working families get by. Our idea to engage non-profit developers to build 100 percent, permanently affordable units on city land could build the next generation of housing in New York City. We have the tools, but we just need the will from our own government. The ticket to the middle class cannot be a million dollar condo,” Comptroller Stringer said. “Two years ago, as rents were skyrocketing, we counted vacant properties and gave the world a blueprint for what to do with them. HPD promised the public that hundreds of those properties would be developed in two years. Now, we’ve come back two years later, and we’ve uncovered that the agency’s promises were as empty as these vacant lots. At a time when we face an affordability crisis, HPD is sitting on precious resources. And to make matters worse, we know that it has been willfully avoiding the truth for years.”

Today’s report showed that the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the city agency charged with increasing the supply of affordable housing units across the city, sets specific time schedules for properties within their inventory to be developed. The review found, between September 2015 and September 2017:

• Nearly 90 percent—of the vacant lots that were in its inventory two years ago remain undeveloped.
• 1,007 lots in our audit sample have remained in HPD’s inventory, and have not been transferred to developers.
• HPD transferred only 64 of the 1,125 lots for development.
• HPD transferred only 54 of the 1,125 lots to other City agencies for use.

While HPD has previously claimed it had plans to develop several hundred lots, the agency did not meet its own target dates for nearly 80 percent of the properties that it projected would be transferred to developers through June 2017. Instead, it pushed most of the target dates for development further into the future. At the rate established in the past two years, it will take HPD approximately 17 years to transfer all 1,007 lots either for development or to another agency.

That track record directly contradicts the agency’s response to Comptroller Stringer’s audit in 2016, in which HPD said, “approximately 670 of these properties are suitable and feasible for residential development. Roughly 400 of these have been designated or are earmarked for developer designation within the next two years.”

Based on the alarming findings, Comptroller Stringer reiterated his recommendation from two years ago that HPD set realistic timeframes for the transfer of vacant land in its inventory for residential development and document any delays in their schedules. Further, as the City faces a mounting affordability crisis and as more than 60,000 New Yorkers sleep nightly in homeless shelters, Comptroller Stringer called for the creation of a New York City land bank that could be used as a vehicle for the creation of tens of thousands of permanently affordable housing units. Specifically, a land bank could:

• Make use of over 1,007 parcels of vacant City-owned land on persistently underutilized sites for residential development;
• Create at least 50,000 units of permanent affordable housing;

The review also included recommendations for HPD:

1 - HPD should develop and propose a realistic time schedule for transferring the City-owned lots in its inventory to developers or other City-agencies.

2 - HPD should take into consideration the required interim steps and the time frames in which they should be completed when determining the time schedule for the transfers of the lots in its inventory.  Those steps should include:

• Selection of a developer for a specific site;
• Submission of architectural plans by developer;
• Approval of architectural plans;
• Meeting with community representatives;
• ULURP process;
• Obtaining financing; and
• Obtaining all necessary approvals from within HPD to proceed with the project and transfer the lots.

3 - As it establishes a realistic schedule for the transfer and development of the vacant City-owned lots in its inventory, HPD should systematically track its progress in completing the required steps, document the reasons for deferrals of projected transfer dates, when applicable, and adjust the schedule based on the interim steps that remain to be completed and the time frames in which they should be completed.

Engel Responds to President Trump's Budget Proposal and Infrastructure Plan

  Congressman Eliot L. Engel, a top member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, issued the following statement in response to President Trump’s budget proposal:

“Years ago, President Trump proudly declared himself ‘the King of Debt.’ Today, he lived up to that moniker in a big way, by unveiling a budget proposal that would explode the national debt to an unheard of degree. This once again proves that the GOP is not, and never has been, the party of ‘fiscal responsibility.’ 

“This proposal rehashes many of the tired battles the GOP has already lost: repealing the Affordable Care Act, radically restructuring Medicaid, cutting off funding for Planned Parenthood. The President’s budget would further decimate departments like the EPA and State Department, while eliminating completely programs such as the National Endowment for the Arts, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the NASA Office of Education, just to name a few.

“Then there is the infrastructure element of this proposal, which calls for a $1.5 trillion investment to rebuild our crumbling nation. Except, the President is only offering to pay for a small fraction of that $1.5 trillion, and expects state and local governments—already struggling to meet their own financial needs—to pay for the rest. Needless to say, that just isn’t going to work.

“This whole budget is a ridiculous proposal. Thankfully, Congress has the power of the purse, not the President.”

Statement from IDC Leader Jeff Klein RE: Sexual Predators Near PreK Sites

  For years, I have worked on legislation and issued numerous reports to protect the state’s most vulnerable children from convicted, high level sexual predators who have been allowed to reside near preschools and inside family shelters. It is unbelievable that the law doesn’t protect all children through 1,000 feet residency restrictions because pre-kindergartens are not considered ‘schools’ under the law or continues to allow these ticking time bombs to reside next door to children in shelters. The Senate has passed my bills year after year to remedy these serious issues. I applaud Governor Cuomo for including this in his 30-day budget amendments and protecting our youngest, most vulnerable children.