keys to the city
TRANSCRIPT
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KEYS TO THE CITY 64 Ideas to Keep New York the Capital of the Middle Class
Keys CityTOTHE
64 Ideas to Keep New Yorkthe Capital of the Middle Class
BY ANTHONY D. WEINER
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CONTENTS
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Education. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Hunger. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Transportation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Small Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
New York City / Albany / Washington. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Health Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Safety and Crime Prevention. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Reform and Transparency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Housing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Job Retention and Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Tax Reform. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Keys CityTOTHE
64 Ideas to Keep New Yorkthe Capital of the Middle Class
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KEYS TO THE CITY 64 Ideas to Keep New York the Capital of the Middle Class
INTRODUCTION
New York City staked its claim as the capital of the middle
class generations ago. Here, people with nothing more than
tenacity and perseverance can emerge from a hard-scrabble
start with an opportunity for a life in the middle class.
But the fact is, New Yorkers who work every day to
make a living are struggling. Housing prices are through the
roof. Health coverage is exorbitant and for more than
1.2 million New Yorkers, its literally unattainable.
Manufacturing jobs that once buttered the bread of
thousandsof families have all but disappeared.
To maintain New Yorks place as the capital of the mid-
dle class and to keep the promise of prosperity for genera-
tions to come we must meet todays challenges with fresh
ideas. Bold ideas. Substantive and practical ideas.
In these pages, I offer 64 ideas linked with a common
purpose: to keep our city the capital of the middle class.
is goes to my core philosophy that whats good for the
middle class is good for the city, and vice versa. ese ideas
are diverse, but what binds them is the help they offerto
the middle class and those struggling to make it there. Part
of being a New Yorker is looking at problems and figuring out
a better way. I put these ideas on the table to start the dialog
for a better way for our great city.
A VIEW FROM THE STOOP
ere is a unifying American ideal by which we mea-
sure success as a nation, a city and even a family: has one
generation done better than the one before? e answer has
always been yes. But for the first time, thats in jeopardy in
New York.e middle class and those struggling to make
it into the middle class facesa looming crisis. More New
Yorkers are getting caught between powerful forces beyond
their control. At the same time that our cost of living con-
tinues to climb, an economic slowdown is limiting growthand opportunity. Trapped in this tightening vise, the middle
class needs our policymakers to face the challenges head-on
and discuss practical ideas to propel our city forward.
e plight of the middle class is not an academic issue
for me. Its personal. I grew up in Brooklyn, the son of a
public school teacher and a lawyer who, aer earning his
degree through the G.I. Bill, literally hung a shingle near
our stoop. My mom and dad raised me and my brothers like
millions of other middle-class parents did: we went to publi
school I graduated from P.S. 39, my neighborhood ele-
mentary school;Junior High School 51; and Brooklyn Tech
We played stickball in the streets and rooted wildly for the
Mets whenever Dad could take us to Shea for a game.
My parents ingrained in me a belief in the citys basic
bargain that hardworking New Yorkers have a real
chance to raise their children into a better life.at has com-
pelled me to advocate for the middle class for 27 years: as an
aide to then-Congressman Chuck Schumer, as a City Coun-
cilman, and as a seven-term member of the House of Repre
tatives. I have always approached my endeavors from that
angle asking what can be done differently, smarter, and
more efficiently to help the citys great middle class thrive.
In 2011, my concern for New Yorks middle class took
on even greater personal meaning; my wife and I welcomed
our son into the world. I believe Jordan deserves to grow up
with the same, if not better, opportunities than I had. But
in just one generation, the promise of our city has faded
Incomes are flat,and poverty is up.e fear of too many resi
dents of the five boroughs is that they might not have rea
opportunity here or that they might do better elsewhere.
Below, I trace the history of how the middle class has
succeeded in New York City, describe some long-term obsta
cles to its future success, then offer a catalog of ideas that
we should pursue to tackle big issues like housing, educa-
tion, health care, hunger, and economic growth. It is time
that we take a hard look at the problems facing New Yorks
middle class and begin to outline an approach and mindset
we can all share.
I remain optimistic about the future of the city that
gave me my every opportunity, because the smarts, grit, and
determination that built the Big Apple into the worlds great-
est metropolis endure as our greatest assets.
NEW YORK CITY: CAPITAL
OF THE MIDDLE CLASS
New York has changed dramatically through the
years. Before Manhattan was entirely developed, a patch-
work of farmland dotted the outerboroughs.The rapid
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KEYS TO THE CITY 64 Ideas to Keep New York the Capital of the Middle Class
influx of immigrants before and aer the turn of the 20th
century spurred the rapid expansion of tenement hous-
ing. e development of Tammany Hall the notorious
political machine whose corruption fed off the vitality of
the growing city begat Robert Mosess emergence as the
regions foremost masterbuilder. e city sank into turmoil
through the dark days of a municipal fiscal crisis, an out-
moded police force, and a crack epidemic. Aer a rebound
for some following the financial crisis of 2008, New York
enjoyed a period of growth, the resurgence of the citys
transit system, and a turnaround in crime.
Public perceptions of New York have evolved. A teeming,
chaotic den of immigrants just through Ellis Island turned to
a staid, postwar corporate haven aer World War II. A crum-
bling, drug-ravaged slum in the 1970s became the safest big
city in the country by the turn of the new millennium.
Turn-of-the-century immigrants came to New Yorklooking for a better life and the same dream draws peo-
ple today. College grads gravitate to the city. People of all
races, genders, ethnicities, and religions come to New York,
because it offers them the opportunities they might not
haveif they lived elsewhere.
is brief summary does not capture the full complex-
ity. Certainly there were well-to-do families residing in the
five boroughs even during the periods of greatest challenge.
And today, a full fih of the city lives below the poverty line
in a metropolis that nevertheless glimmers with optimism
(and practically speaking, the poverty rate is more like 50%).But present throughout all of modern history through
boom and bust New York has maintained a unique qual-
ity. e can-do attitude, competitive spirit, and aggressive
nature rooted in New Yorkers have made the city a machine
of innovation and growth. eres no doubt that privilege
can provide an advantage, but what makes New York unique
is the chance it affords to anyone willing to sacrifice and pull
themselves up by their bootstraps.
For all the talk about glitz and glamour, wealth and privi-
lege, the corporate headquarters and skyrocketing real estate
prices, New York is less defined by its luxury than its com-mitment to opportunity. At closer inspection, it is a city built
for the middle class, and those aspiring to get there. More
than any other measure, its star rises and falls on the chances
it affords those willing to sacrifice in their drive to climb the
economic ladder. New York gives anyone willing to work
hard the chance to succeed, an opportunity that might not be
as available anywhere outside the citys five boroughs.
A NEW SET OF CHALLENGES
For all the citys successes over recent decades and
there have been plenty there are now signs that life has
become more difficult for middle- class New Yorkers and
those aspiring to get there. Aff
ordable housing is harder tofind, and quality health care is harder to afford.e schools
that have educated generations of middle- class children
no longer offer the same promise. While our infrastructure
calls out for investment and modernization, employers are
being tempted overseas or at least across the river.
We live in world that is faster-paced and more sophis-
ticated than the one in which I grew up. New Yorkers now
face a new set of challenges,from the specter of terrorism to
the complexities of global finance to competition from busi-
nesses around the world. e five boroughs are intertwined
like never before with the global economy.For every private equity firm that made a fortune, theres a
neighborhood pharmacist who has been put out of business by
a big chain. For every developer who has seen an investmen
turn into a real estate bonanza, theres a family in a neighbor-
hood like Sunnyside trying desperately to keep up with a rising
property tax bill. For every strip of stores that celebrated the
opening of a more convenient Starbucks, theres a hardwork-
ing middle class family struggling to put their kids through
college on the profits earned by a family-run business.
ats not to say that the city does not benefit when Wal
Street is bullish or that anyone hopes a real estate slump wilenvelop the five boroughs, or that New Yorkers in search
of a pick-me-up should be deprived of a venti iced double
shot skim latte. But those with an interest in seeing the city
continue to grow should not be blind to the effects recent
decades have had on the New Yorkers who have never man-
aged to swing a signing bonus, who struggle to cover their
tax burden, and who are just as happy to wake up with a
regular cup of Joe.
Neighborhoods like Bay Ridge, rogs Neck, Wash-
ington Heights, Jamaica, and West Brighton continue to be
neighborhoods. ey house middle-class families who arraising their kids in the great tradition of the Big Apple. Bu
ask around, and most will tell you, it is much more difficul
to carve out a comfortable living than it was a few years ago
and those who aspire to steward the city through the coming
years ought to be listening.
New Yorks mantle as the great gateway to the middle
class is in peril. But it need not be this way.
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KEYS TO THE CITY 64 Ideas to Keep New York the Capital of the Middle Class
EDUCATION
Our school system is a city unto itself; 1.1 million kids
in well over a thousand schools being cared for (dur-ing most of their young lives) by an army of teachers,supervisors, and support staff. But as any educatorwill tell you, teaching a child is often a painstaking,complex,and personal challenge that no one test or
single curriculum can tackle. Education is as much artas it is science.
When it comes to educating our kids, weve got toget back to basics.It means training and payingteachers well.It means holding the systems lead-ership accountable to the public. It means taking seri-
ously the discipline problems that diminish the learn-
ing experience of well-behaved students. It meansengaging parents in a meaningful and productive way.
And it means focusing more on early education andelementary school, so that high schools are not bur-
dened by the responsibility of teaching older studentswhat they should have learned earlier.
1Streamline the Process for Removing Trouble-
some Kids from the Classroom.e process that
must be followed by a principal to suspend a disruptive stu-
dent can take months. Due process must be preserved, butthe current multitiered, trial-like process must give way to
a clear benefit of the doubt for school leaders and teachers.
Keep in mind that a long-drawn-out process harms the child
in question as well.
2Pay Master Teachers More for Taking Tough
Assignments.e seniority system has many bene-
fits, but it oen serves to attract the most tenured and skilled
teachers to the most comfortable assignments. Incentives
for top teachers to choose challenging schools and needy
students should be part of all teacher contracts.
3
Create a Master Teacher Academy.We are suf-
fering through a brain drain in the public schoolsousands of our smartest and most skilled teachers are
retiring.is generation of teachers like my mother ha
lebefore their time because of the frustration with current
policies. Lets get them back in the game with the creation o
training and mentoring academies featuring the best of the
best. is is a much- needed opportunity for the city and
teachers union to work together.
4Eliminate Paid Parent Coordinators. Paren
involvement is important,and participation in the Par
ents Association should be a rite of every school mom and
dad. But the current policy of having paid parent coordina-
tors is a waste of money and misunderstands the importance
of parents being part of the oversight of a school not the
staff.
5Make Catholic School Preservation a Tweed
Mission. Between 2000 and 2011 the city lost 63 Cath
olic Schools,with another 24 eliminated in 2012. e Paris
school is not only an asset in the teaching of values that
underpin our society, but its also an important practical
circuit breaker on another major problem overcrowding
in our public schools. Considering how much attention wepay to the debate over charter schools, the lack of conversa
tion about disappearing Catholic Schools is disheartening.
6Help Private Schools Access Security Grants
Homeland security grants are available to religious
schools and nonprofit institutions, but the application pro-
cess is complicated.e NYPD should take an active lead in
helping these oen cashed-strapped organizations get things
like security cameras and emergency locking doors.
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KEYS TO THE CITY 64 Ideas to Keep New York the Capital of the Middle Class
7Reinvent Teacher Contracts for the New Work-
force Realities.Todays labor force is more transient
than at any time in our nations history. e old model of
heavy back-loaded incentives like pensions is not appealing
to many talented people considering teaching. New York
should explore the Denver model,which permits teachers totrade the defined benefit future for a higher pay today.
8Put a Kindle in Every Backpack.Kids today walk
around weighed down by backpacks full of outdated
books that cost taxpayers nearly $100 million per year and will
rise with new standards. EBooks would cost less, give teachers
access to millions of titles, and are never outofdate. I wrote
more about this idea in 2010 here: http://tinyurl.com/af6lsoj.
9Use Federal Standards for New Yorks Kids.
e argument over the troubling trend toward teach-
ing to the test is on the minds of many teachers and parents.To make matters worse, we are comparing our schools to the
wrong standards. We should be using the national bench-
marks so we compare ourselves to Seattle and Cincinnati,
not just to Syracuse.
10Let Empty Schools Bustle After Hours
Even for Churches.Given how much we ask of
our schools, it makes sense to keep them open as commu-
nity centers as much as possible. Civic groups should not be
charged to hold neighborhood meetings,and local churche
that need space should be able to use empty auditoriums fora fee.
11Expand Civic Service with Gotham Corps
Using the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps models
New York should make Where are you going to do your
service year? a commonly asked question among todays
young citizens. By capturing AmeriCorps funding and
matching with a year of free tuition at a CUNY or SUNY
college, the Gotham Corps would allow the city to harness
an army of volunteers to tackle our large urban challenges.
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KEYS TO THE CITY 64 Ideas to Keep New York the Capital of the Middle Class
HUNGER
More than 1.5 million New York City residents face
hunger every day,and a quarter of them are children.
It is a moral failing that our kids are going hungryyear after year. We need to expand awareness and
access to programs like the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as Food
Stamps) and make them more nutritious and benefi-
cial. And we need to create a coalition of the business,
charitable, and government sectors to get them work-
ing in unison on this crisis. We must reduce hunger in
our city and ensure that no child goes to bed hungry.
12
Eliminate Barriers to SNAP (Food Stamps).
e rise in the number of New Yorkers who are eli-gible to 1.8 million is a sign of how dire the need is in
our city, but it is also an opportunity for more to take advan-
tage of the single-most successful program in reducing hun-
ger. Now we have to change city policies that put obstacles in
the way of parents getting food for their hungry kids. Treat-
ing the needy like criminals is not just inhumane, its bad
economics. Food stamps are a federal benefit that cost city
taxpayers nothing additional.
13
Enlist Our Kids to Teach Their ParentsAbout
Food Stamps. e best place to attack child hun-
ger is in the schools. Its the place kids spend much of their
day. Its a place where they get two hot meals. And its a place
where they get an understanding about good nutrition. Its
also the ideal place to transmit information to their parents.
e Department of Education should be stuffing the back-
packs of kids with information and using school offices and
lobbies to help parents apply for SNAP. e federal govern-
ment has successfully used this strategy to increase partici-
pation in the Census.
14Double the Meals Served in City Schools
over the Summer.Teachers oen observe that
the summer months off from school are when kids forgetmuch of what they learned in class. But when kids leave the
structure of the school, they oen also lose access to free
breakfast and lunch. We need to dramatically increase the
number of meals that kids return to school for in July and
August.
15Create a Nonprofit Czar.For too long, govern-
ment, business, and the nonprofit sector hav
worked on common goals in their own silos.e city should
have a cabinet- level liaison to/facilitator of, the charitabl
organizations that serve our city. Whether it be a churchbasement soup kitchen or the Red Cross, we need to get civi
servants and servants of the city helping each other serve us
16Give Food Stamps 50% More Value When
Used for Fresh Produce.e sad truth is that
the least expensive foods are the ones with the least nutri-
tional value. Rather than punish the hungry by banning the
use of food stamps for bad foods, we should give a bonus
to families who buy fresh fruits and vegetables.
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KEYS TO THE CITY 64 Ideas to Keep New York the Capital of the Middle Class
TRANSPORTATION
For much of New York with important exceptions in
the outer boroughs the Metropolitan Transit Author-
ity (MTA) is the great equalizer, used by New Yorkers atevery point on the economic spectrum. An estimated
7.5 million times a day, New Yorkers swipe their Me-
troCard to ride on a subway system that is 108 years
old and to commute on a giant fleet of buses. Mod-
ernizing our infrastructure and transportation systems
needs to be a high priority. In the most densely popu-
lated region in the country, we need to look at alterna-
tive modes of moving people from Point A to Point B.
17
Launch Ferries in All Five Boroughs. No
water-bound city is as far behind the curve on ferryservice as New York City. e Department of Transporta-
tion is invested 100% for service to Staten Island, as they
should be. But what about Rockaway, Sheepshead Bay,
Riverdale, and Harlem? Ferries are good for the environ-
ment, reduce congestion,and are vital lifelines in an emer-
gency.
18Install Cell Service on Every Subway Plat-
form.What is commonplace in systems in other
cities has been a distant dream in the Big Apple. Going down
to catch the train should not mean you lose the ability to
check on a meeting, run an app, or report a crime.
19Give Breaks to Employers to Promote
Biking to Work. e IRS offers tax breaks to
employers who offer up to $20 a month to workers to buy,fixor store their bikes. For the employee, this is tax free compen
sation and a strong incentive to pedal to work. e city
should offer a similar deal.
20Replace Access-A-Ride with 2,000 New
Accessible Cab Medallions. e Access-A-
Ride program is a more than $600 million boondoggle. Tax
payers and the disabled alike are being taken for a ride (if the
car ever shows up, that is) at a cost of nearly $66 per ride.
e city should issue 2,000 new medallions only for handi
cap-accessible yellow cabs that can be dispatched in all fiveboroughs. We would raise revenue for the city, and raise
expectations for the disabled.
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KEYS TO THE CITY 64 Ideas to Keep New York the Capital of the Middle Class
SMALL BUSINESS
Starting a business anywhere is hard. Launching one
in New York City can be extra difficult because of the
myriad of forms, regulations, and applications. Oncelaunched, life doesnt get easier in the face of ticketing,
surprise inspections, and a relentless bureaucracy.
Small businesses are the pulse of the city. They com-
prise 98% of all business here and employ more than
50% of the workforce in the private sector. We need
to stop making life harder for small business owners
and start encouraging them by streamlining the start-
up and BID process, by setting up mobile offices to
facilitate communication with the city agencies, and
by promoting neighborhood businesses on the web
so that New Yorkers can shop locally.
21Roll Out Small Business Adjudication Vans.
Small businesses get hammered by tickets, surprise
inspections,and demands for information from city agencies
all the time. e engines of our economy oen have sand
thrown in the gears by an overbearing bureaucracy. To make
life easier the city should visit shopping strips with mobile
offices that let shopkeepers argue fines, settle tickets,and file
papers without having to shutter their stores for the day.
22 Make Big-Box and Chains Play by theRules.Lost in the fight over Walmart is the costthat is passed along by these big- box stores to taxpayers
when workers are underinsured and underpaid. ere
should be more transparency about the number of employ-
ees who need to use emergency rooms for their medical care
or food stamps for their meals. Only then will we know if
cheap goods really are such a good deal.
23Create www.shopnyc.com. e city has vast
amounts of data on businesses in all five boroughs
We should put this data to good use promoting neighbor-hood businesses in every conceivable field. A website and an
app should be created that allow people to shop in the digi-
tal world but spend their dollars locally. Insert your location
and the goods or service you want to purchase, and the web
site points you to businesses that may have no web presence
of their own.
24Streamline the Business Improvement Dis-
trict Process(BID). e BID program, which
permits businesses to tax themselves to invest in shopp
strip improvements, is a good program,but getting it up anning is way too hard especially for struggling shopkeepers
in the outer boroughs.e Department of Business Services
should shorten the process and designate personnel to help
understaffed businesses access the program.
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KEYS TO THE CITY 64 Ideas to Keep New York the Capital of the Middle Class
NEW YORK CITY / ALBANY / WASHINGTON
It was a huge victory for New York City to gain control
over our own school system. But it is remarkable that
being governed by our own local government is seenas extraordinary. It should be the rule that New York
City citizens control the fate of New York City, not the
exception.
25Give New York City the Control over Fees,
Fines, and Taxes.Perhaps most galling to resi-
dents of the Big Apple is the notion that to raise or lower
most taxes, fees,and fines, the City Council and the Mayor
have to get the permission of Albany. Giving legislators from
Western New York the authority to veto a tax cut for the
West Side or letting lawmakers from Kingston decide howmuch to charge forparking tickets on Kings Highway is ludi-
crous and should be challenged constantly.
26Require State Properties to Pay City Prop-
erty Taxes. In the category of adding insult to
injury, the state of New York refuses to pay property taxes on
the many state-owned buildings that are in the Big Apple. We
welcome state workers, as we do all workers to New York, but
the services that local government provides inures to the
benefit of the state.e state should pay like any other entity.
27Turn Rent Regulations over to New York
City.We casually accept the Urstadt Laws, because
too many elected city officials have been perfectly happy letting the responsibility for the thorny issue of rent regulation
rest with the obscure Rent Guidelines Board. But that
doesnt make it right that a state agency is in charge of the
most costly decision to so many New Yorkers their annua
rent. Just as we made it a priority to get mayoral control of
schools, we should fight for mayoral control of rents.
28Put Local Liquor Licenses in the Hands of
Local Citizens and Local Representatives
Oen the decision of government that impacts a block or an
entrepreneur the most is the issuance of a license to serveliquor at a bar or restaurant. Yet this most local of concerns
is in the hands of an Albany bureaucracy. It makes no sense
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KEYS TO THE CITY 64 Ideas to Keep New York the Capital of the Middle Class
HEALTH CARE
More than 1.2 million New Yorkers are uninsured.
Thats 16% of city residents under age 65, who can-
not afford health insurance and do not qualify for pro-grams like Medicare or Medicaid. Yet Big Apple tax-
payers spend $12 billion each year (17% of our total
budget) on providing health care for its citizens. For
too long this has all fallen under the rubric of non-
controllable costs to our city. Well its too big a chal-
lenge and too costly a status quo to keep doing things
the same way.
29Create a Single-Payer Laboratory in New
York City.Perhaps more than any other big prob-
lem, the need to provide aff
ordable, accessible, and qualityhealth care is within the reach of all New Yorkers. In this
laboratory, New Yorkers own and control the Health and
Hospitals Corporation,which in turn runs 11 acute-care hos-
pitals, 70 community clinics, 6 diagnostic treatment labs, 4
long- term- care facilities, and employs 3,300 doctors and
8,000 nurses. In addition, there is a buzzing economy of
pharmacists, laboratories,and senior centers. In short, every-
thing you need to structure a comprehensive universal health
care system is right here including the money. New York
passes along a large portion of the state cost of the Medicaid
program for the uninsured to localities like New York City.For a city of 8 million with over a fih of its residents living
below the poverty line this cost can be massive. In 2012,
New York City taxpayers spent $6.2 billion or 8.5% of our
budget on this cost.
e cost of Medicaid is only part of the health care
expense. We also spend $4.9 billion on health insurance
policies for more than 280,000 active and 290,000 retired
city employees. en there is the amount that taxpayers foot
in health care for the uninsured who are cared for in New York
City hospitals that is never reimbursed.
So the proposition is this: we ask the federal and stategovernments to continue to fund our Medicaid beneficiaries
at the level they are today and give us the flexibility to set up
a system that we know works, we know patients like, and we
know is less costly a single-payer program like Medicare
for all the uninsured and underinsured in our city.
If that sounds too ambitious, take a hard look at how
Local 6, the hotel workers union,does it. For $411, which i
about the price of the cheapest city HMO, the union hassalaried doctors at comprehensive health centers across the
city and includes coverage of dental and eye care, with no
co-pays or deductibles and minimal costs for prescriptions
ere is no reason why we cant use our communal buying
power and wealth of health care resources to improve health
care outcomes, while cutting out the health insurance mid-
dleman and save a lot of money in the process.
30End the City/County Medicaid Burden.New
York is one of very few states that passes a portion o
the cost of providing health care to the localities.
is is amassive regressive tax.e more poor residents, the more the
Medicaid expense.e cost for Big Apple taxpayers is a stag-
gering $6.2 billon.e time has never been better for reform
e state has undertaken a redesign of the Medicaid system
and the recent federal infusion of help under the stimulus bil
has helped create a solanding for the state budget.
31Let Local Prosecutors and Auditors Claim
100% in Fraud Bounty.e split responsibility
for funding Medicaid has made efforts to weed out waste
inefficient. Since local authorities get only a fraction of the
savings from prosecuting waste, the investigations are fre-
quently halfhearted. e solution is a bounty program that
puts incentives in the right place by giving 100% of the pro-
ceeds of found fraud to the locality that roots it out.
32Subsidize New Yorkers WhoAre Caregiver
at Home.Most aging and frail seniors would pre-
fer not to spend extended periods in an institution. Bill pay
ers and taxpayers would prefer to find cheaper options
than nursing homes. So oen, family members wind up tak-
ing care of parents and grandparents at home. is humane
option oen leaves families with a crushing burden emo-tionally and financially especially if the other side of the
vice is the cost of taking care of children. All levels of gov-
ernment should offer a caregivers tax credit to lighten the
load of these families.
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KEYS TO THE CITY 64 Ideas to Keep New York the Capital of the Middle Class
33Organize Community Pharmacists to Com-
pete with the Chains.New York City has pri-
mary health care providers on virtually every shopping strip
in all five boroughs.ey are called community pharmacies.
Policy-makers have recently seen the benefit of giving these
health care professionals more leeway to do things likeadminister flu shots. But the steady pressure from mail-
order drug distributors and chain pharmacies has caused
many neighborhood drug stores to close up.e city should
organize these mom-and-popstores to let them compete for
business and reduce costs as a group.
34Permit Gay Men to Donate Blood.Its a relic
from a time of fear and misinformation, but its a
dangerous one. Men who declare that they are gay on appli-
cations to donate blood are routinely denied, even though
all blood donors are screened for HIV.is not only stigma-
tizes a whole class of well-intentioned citizens, but it is fool-
ish in an era when blood shortages are routine.
35Ask City Workers to Pay a Small Portion of
Their Health Premiums. e employer-base
health care model with insurance company middlemen
taking a piece of the action is flawed and should be replaced
with a single-payer model like Medicare (see above). But our
present policy of having employees pay none of their pre-mium costs should change. It is a driver of an unsustainable
fiscal liability. It is out of line with virtually every other
municipal workforce in the nation. And it dilutes true
accountability, since beneficiaries dont feel the pinch of pre-
mium costs and demand efficiencies.
36Require Higher Premiums from City
Employees Who Smoke.e cost to taxpayer
of providing health insurance to city workers is higher
because of the cost of treating those who choose to smoke
e smoker should shoulder a portion of this cost and beincentivized to give up the habit.
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KEYS TO THE CITY 64 Ideas to Keep New York the Capital of the Middle Class
SAFETY AND CRIME PREVENTION
In 2012, New York City had its lowest number of ho-
micides in over halfacentury 414. Thanks to strat-
egies implemented by Mayors Dinkins, Giuliani, andBloomberg, and the day-to-day efforts of cops, vio-
lent crime is way down in recent decades.
The city needs to stay at the forefront of efforts to re-
duce crime by expanding its use of DNA technology,
growing our COPs program, and improving efforts to
track and neutralize sexual predators. 9/11 added a
new challenge to keeping our city safe combating
terrorism. More than a decade later, there are fewer
officers in the employ of One Police Plaza than there
wereon the day of that tragedy. We need to be
smart when protecting our city by taking measures
like upping the headcount of police officers and giving
them the training and tools to succeed.
37Expand the COPs Program.Doing more with
less is a laudable mantra that has been a way of life
at One Police Plaza in recent years. But the fact that we
have 6,000 fewer cops on the streets than we had on 9/11,
combined with a demographic cliff that has many officers
retiring in the coming years, argues for an aggressive effort
to get the federal government off the sidelines with a new
COPs program thathires local cops with federal dollars.
38Track Sex Offenders Using GPS Technol-
ogy. Most sex offenders are strictly limited on
where they can travel and who they may contact aer theyleave custody. Women with Orders of Protection against
abusers are safeguarded in their space by court order. But al
too oen sex offenders ignore the law and live and loiter
around schools and their victims. Now that GPS technology
is less expensive and less intrusive, all movement-limited
sex offenders and abusers should be required to keep a GPS
tag on their person that alerts the local precinct if they go
into restricted areas or near protected people.
39
Take DNA from More Arrestees.As a matter of
course, the NYPD takesfi
ngerprints from all peoplethey arrest.ey should also take a DNA swab from as many
of those under arrest as practicable.is commonsense step
would help solve cold cases and clear the innocent.
40Use the PACT Act to Stop Tobacco Smug-
gling.Congress has given local law enforcement a
powerful tool in the fight to stop black- market cigarette
from flooding New York City. e "PACT Act empowers
local authorities to make arrests and prosecutions of indi-
viduals and crime syndicates that buy tobacco in bulk from
low-and no-tax jurisdictions and then sell them here in a ci
that has the highest taxes in the nation. Stopping tobacco
smuggling not only plugs the leak in New Yorks tax stream
but it takes a profit center away from criminals who oen
use the ill-gotten gains for other,bigger crimes.
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KEYS TO THE CITY 64 Ideas to Keep New York the Capital of the Middle Class
REFORM AND TRANSPARENCY
The old saw run government like a business is
as tired as it is nonsensical. After all, by definition,
nearly all of what government does is not profitable ora business would be doing it already. But the private
sector could teach government a thing or two about
eliminating waste. Technology gives us new tools to
open government to increased scrutiny and an infu-
sion of new ideas. New Yorkers need to be reengaged
in civic discourse by making agencies more acces-
sible to questions and dissenting views. The human
capital that exists here in the capital of the world has
not been fully brought to bear on our common chal-
lenges. That should change.
41Eliminate 5% in Waste Every Year.We are too
slow to recognize programs that are not working or
have outlived their mandate. Every city government depart-
ment head should be forced to list the things they were
doing from best to worst. en the least effective should be
targeted for elimination or merger. City commissioners
should set the modest goal of eliminating 5% in waste each
year. Sometimes that will mean reducing the budget accord-
ingly, and sometimes it will mean moving funding to the
programs at the top of the efficiency list.
42Digitize the City Budget.Simply making reams
of city documents available to download or view
may increase the number of people who see the material,
but it doesnt maximize the benefit. e city should digitize
the City Budget and other documents,which would make it
possible to mark up the material to allow crowd-sourcing of
questions, answers,and structural changes.
43Publish All Contracts.e slogan If You See
Something, Say Something could be just as easily
used as an encouragement to citizens to fight government
waste as it is to be on the lookout for potential criminals. Ifgovernment contracts were readily available, we would
empower citizen audits to shine light on inside deals and call
attention to missed deadlines.
44Institute Instant Runoff Elections.Primary
elections for citywide offices require a plurality of at
least 40%. If no candidate achieves that percentage, then arunoffbetween the top two candidates occurs two weeks
later. is process is expensive. New York City spent $15
million on a runoff election in 2009, where only 228,602
voters came out.at cost the city $72 a voter. Its taxing on
voters and unnecessarily divisive. A better idea is to have an
instant runoffsystem that lets voters rank their choices.e
tally of second choices would determine the winner of the
runoff. is system would encourage a more civil and less
costly campaign for both candidates and taxpayers.
45 Make New York the Home of an AnnuaUrban Ideas Festival.Just as Davos and Aspenhave been magnets for gatherings of business and intellec-
tual heavyweights, New York City should be the home of an
annual ideas festival focusing on the challenges facing cities
We already have a network of thought leaders in the tech
sector, healthcare and higher educational spaces. We shoul
be a destination for ideas and a laboratory for the best ones
46Bring Mayors Question Time to the Pro-
ceedings of the City Council.Reengaging the
public in civic affairs means looking for new ways to spark
interest in the debates of the day. Modeled on the British
House of Commons custom of having the Prime Minister
field questions from legislators, a similar challenge for the
Mayor may be enlightening and would give rank-and-file
City Council members an unfiltered way to bring issues to
the executive branch.
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KEYS TO THE CITY 64 Ideas to Keep New York the Capital of the Middle Class
HOUSING
In a boon for homeowner and real estate developers,
property values have risen for the better part of two
decades. But there is an underside to the dramaticappreciation: rising values put mortgage payments
beyond the grasp of too many middle-class families.
Roughly 136,000 cityhomeowners have entered into
foreclosure since 2009. With the average apartment
selling for $1.5 million in Manhattan this year, the notion
of home ownership is no longer part of the American
Dream for the overwhelming majority of New Yorkers.
New programs successors to the Mitchell-Lama
program in the 1970s and the Nehemiah program in
the 1980s need to be developed to sustain a grow-
ing middle class. That means revisiting our 80-20 de-
velopments, which provide housing for the wealthy
and low-income, but ignore the middle class. It means
revising our view of brown fields. And we need to find
creative ways to transfer air rights over municipal as-
sets like public schools and recommit ourselves, not
only to improving public housing, but to making the
best use of every parcel of land in the public domain.
47Make All Tax Supported Housing 60-20-20.
EightyTwenty is shorthand that every housing
developer in the city knows. Tax benefits and zoning changes
are frequently tied to the idea that 20% of new housing cre-
ated should be set aside for those of low income. is for-
mulation ignores the challenge facing those in the middle
class who typically have too much income to qualify for gov-
ernment benefits like subsidized housing. A more appropri-
ate mix in this era of increasingly valuable market rate real
estate and the vanishing middle class is 60-20-20 with a new
middle class carve out.
48Move Affordable Builders to the Front of
the Bureaucratic Line. e Department o
Buildings is so famously arbitrary and wrapped in red tapethat it is said that paid expediters have to hire expediters to
get anything done. Putting aside for a moment the need to
make city agencies more efficient and transparent, builders
of affordable housing should have access to the fast lane at
the choke points of the city bureaucracy.
49Leverage Air Rights over City Properties
e biggest property owner in the Big Apple is the
City of New York itself. The city owns and controls thousa
of properties like schools, libraries, and office buildings.
assets should not be seen as static things. Opportunities fordevelopment, especially for housing and schools, should be
the subject of a full air rights audit. Private developers should
be invited to propose the use of the development rights in
exchange for public benefits.
50Help Prevent New Flood Insurance Rules
from Drowning Neighborhoods.It is hard to
imagine a more devastating one-two punch for waterfront
New York: the damage of Superstorm Sandy has been follow
by a new regime of flood maps and requirements that wi
mean a $10,000 or more increase in flood insurance rates.
is spike will cause a drag on home prices that are already u
pressure. Funds earmarked to buyout property owners sh
also be made available to subsidize flood insurance premi-
ums to keep people in their homes and the market stable.
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KEYS TO THE CITY 64 Ideas to Keep New York the Capital of the Middle Class
51Turn Brown Fields into Golden Opportuni-
ties.When it comes to finding sites for developing
new housing, the easy stuffis done. Open spaces are scarce.
Broken- down buildings and in-rem housing have been
fixed up. So now is the time to revisit lands that have been
seen as off
-limits. Lands that are contaminated,or even justfeared to have been, are oen lein a legal and environmen-
tal limbo. Only the muscle of the city can make the follow-
ing deal: if property owners will clean up the sites and put
the lands to use for good things like middle-class housing or
schools, the city will supervise the cleanup and indemnify
the owner from lawsuits in the future.
52Reform NYCHA with Performance Con-
tracting.e Housing Authority in New York has
remained the best in the nation despite virtual abandon-
ment by the federal government. Budget cuts in recent years
have leNYCHA with $13 billion in unfunded liabilities for
repairs and day-to-day maintenance. But the agency has
been uncreative in pursuing performance contracting that
pays for energy- efficient improvements like lights, boilers,
and windows paid for with advance cash and repaid with the
month-to-month savings that are guaranteed to result. It
costs NYCHA nothing upfront but gets vital repairs done
quickly and makes the 343 projects more energy efficient.
53Build Section 202 Housing on Hospital Park-
ing Lots. Our housing supply fails to consider the
needs of seniors. ey oen live in apartments too big for
their needs, because their spouseshavepassed away and th
children have moved out. ey also are frequently too far
from the needs of late-in-life living, such as doctors or thera-pists.e Section 202 program recognized the need by creat-
ing special housing for seniors and the disabled.e problem
is the scarcity of lands on which to build these special apartm
buildings. We should use the footprints of HHS hospitals and
existing public housing.e city may lose some employee par
but the gain is a domino effect of open apartments for larger
families and smart residences for seniors.
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KEYS TO THE CITY 64 Ideas to Keep New York the Capital of the Middle Class
ENVIRONMENT
Cities are good for the environment. By concentrating
where we live and using mass transit and shoe leather
to help us get around, we actually contribute less toenvironmental degradation than our suburban and ru-
ral neighbors. But we should always be leaning into
the challenge of keeping our air, water,and wildlife as
safe as possible for our kids and grandkids. This is
more than a moral imperative. As we have seen, New
Yorkers are vulnerable to the vicissitudes of a chang-
ing world climate.
54End Prohibition on Hybrid Cabs.e so-called
Taxi of Tomorrow will soon become the only cab
that a hack can drive in New York City. It is not a hybrid orelectric or any other forward-looking technology.is would
have the effect of forcing many hybrid cabs offthe road at a
time when we should be using more.e push for a one-size -
fits-all approach should be scrapped in favor of incentives
for driving the most environmentally sound cabs.
55Remove Police Cars and Sanitation Trucks
from Our National Park.e most visited urban
National Park is right in our backyard in southern Brooklyn
and Queens. But the many bird- watchers, fishermen and
sightseers share their experience withfl
eets of garbagetrucks and racing police cars. For decades, the city and fed-
eral governmentshave agreed to allow the open spaces of his-
toric Floyd Bennett Field for training drivers and parking
vehicles. is is simply an inappropriate use of a park and
should end.
56Restore and Protect Our Beaches. As we
learned in Superstorm Sandy, the beaches of New
York are not just areas for recreation, they are importantecological barriers that protect properties and infrastruc-
ture. e shoreline should be renourished, and jetties o
groins should be built to keep the sand in place and the tide
at bay.
57Conquer Congestion. Or at Least Try.e
dust has settled on the plan to tax outer borough
drivers who drive into Midtown. Congestion Pricing with
its giant government approach of hundreds of cameras and
huge overhead is dead. But the conversation about conges-
tion should not be. Smart parking meters that raise costsbased on demand and location, and a renewed focus on
stemming the more than 30% increase in truck traffic should
be getting civic attention.
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KEYS TO THE CITY 64 Ideas to Keep New York the Capital of the Middle Class
JOB RETENTION AND CREATION
When the administration endeavored to identify the
challenges that will face New York City in the future,
they didnt look six months or even six years down theroad. They created something called PlaNYC-2030. It
was a laudable rebuke to the short-term planning that
often makes for unwise and costly decisions.
Despite the fact that the document envisioned a pop-
ulation growth of more than 1 million by 2030, it was
silent on where the jobs for those people would come
from. The challenge is steep. Since 1970, we have
only gained 110,000 salary and wage jobs. While
some jobs have gone up and some down, the overall
amount has been flat.
58Compete More EffectivelyAgainst Regional
Foes.While some displacement of jobs is inevita-
ble, simply writing offthe losses to globalization misses the
true story. ere is no doubt that some employers may see
Hyderabad or Manila as attractive venues to find low-cost
workers, but most of our losses have been to less exotic
places like Jersey City and Westchester. We should watch
them like hawks and pay less attention to the distraction of
distant lands.
59 Lower the Tax Burden for Outer BoroughJob Creation. New York City is in a good positionto win the corporate headquarters of a big company. Man-
hattan is a pretty compelling draw at any price for a CEO. But
the second-tier jobs at those companies are great middle-
class jobs, and they are slipping away because the tax burden
in a place like Jersey City is so much lower than in Long
Island City. Both neighborhoods are one stop away on the
train, but Long Island City has eight business taxes that Jer-
sey City doesnt have, and a business that brings workers to
the Garden State gets $1,000 per employee for education and
training,no sales tax on work related purchases,$50,000 inmoving costs,and a seven-year tax abatement on leases.
New York City may not have to match these benefits dollar-
for-dollar but our REAP programs haveto at least try harder.
60Be Automatic and Predictable in Job
Retention and Growth. Every so oen a big
company will rattle itssabers about leaving the city,and alltoo oen it succeeds in getting big incentives to keep them
from leaving something they were not really planning on
doing. Its a well-known axiom among real estate leaders: the
companies that talk about leaving usually arent going any-
where. Its the quiet decisions that we need to preempt with
a less bureaucratic, predictable incentive regime. e TV
and Film tax credit is a good model.
61Take Advantage of Social Entrepreneur-
ship. R&D/NYC would use the venture capita
model of investment, in which the city would review theideas and track record of proven nonprofit organizations
R&D/NYC would be based on four principles which were
initially developed by the nonprofit America Forward
impact-based results,cross-sector strategies,leverage,and a
long-term focus. If the city determined the idea could help
promote growth and opportunity for the middle class, the
fund could leverage more private-sector resources, facilitat
learning among the network, help to pilot and spread inno-
vations, and advance the fields knowledge faster. Together
these steps would break down the oen parallel tracks o
private entrepreneurs, foundation researchers, and govern-ment entities.
62Make New York the Capital of Insourcing
Call Center Jobs.To cut costs, virtually all
big consumer companies have outsourced their telephone
customer service jobs to companies thathave turned to for-
eign countries to find inexpensive multilingual labor. Now
the backlash has led more companies to look for domestic
options. New York City is home to citizens from literally
every place in the world. is wealth of language skills
should be harnessed into a growth industry for middle-clas
jobs. We should create an industry/education initiative via
CUNY to give the corporate giants of the Big Apple a local
option for their call center jobs.
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KEYS TO THE CITY 64 Ideas to Keep New York the Capital of the Middle Class
TAX REFORM
Taxes in New York City are too high and not progres-
sive enough. Its time to lower taxes on the middle
class and those struggling to make it, and make thetax structure more progressive. We cant entirely fix
the problem without help from Washington and Al-
bany, but that is no excuse for not taking steps in the
right direction. New Yorks tax regime is 90% higher
than the average of other large cities. That is in part
because of the high demands of our large and diverse
city and our ambitions. But stasis has set in around
the issue of taxes, and it should be broken.
63
Make City Tax Rates More Progressive.
their fair share should be coupled with relief for the middle
class and not be used as an excuse not to tackle the waste
that can be found in the budgets of government at all levels.
ax relief for the middle class should aspire to be budget
neutral or better. And this is demonstrably possible. A 10%
tax cut for every family making $150,000 or less could have
been paid for entirely by a reasonable new tax rate for the
wealthiest 1% of New Yorkers.
At the same time, a surcharge should be imposed on
those who work in New York and enjoy a much more robust
income. Among the very wealthy, those who work in the fiveboroughs, but live outside, should be asked to pay their fair
share of the citys expenses, diminishing the current incen-
tive to avoid New York City income tax by living in the sub-
urbs and commuting into the office.
64Adjust NYC Tax Brackets for Inflation.Being
shortchanged in Washington is hardly the only
way that middle-class New Yorkers find themselves gettingthe short end of the stick. While federal tax brackets are
indexed to inflation ensuring that wage increases tha
track the cost of living do not bump taxpayers into higher
tax brackets those in the state and city are not. Tat means
that a middle class family in Sunnyside whose breadwinner
gets a cost-of-living adjustment (to help offset the burden o
raised rents, higher water bills, more expensive groceries
and the like) is frequently forced to pay a higher marginal
tax rate despite having no discernible jump in income. Te
citys income tax brackets should be tied to inflation, ensur-
ing that the tax code works to ameliorate that extra burdenand not to exacerbate the problem.
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