With all the news being made by the blizzard and Governon Cuomo’s State of the State, there were a few stories that were hidden but should be noted.
First was the story that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is looking for some way to link the issue of stronger rent regulations to the capping of property taxes. He argues that both have to do with keeping homes affordable. Like the property tax cap, bills to strengthen rent regulations seem to die in the legislature, in this case the State Senate. A package of bills sponsored by Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal that would end vacancy decontrol and provide other measures to help tenants has been passed by the Assembly. Having some way to link these bills to the property tax cap, gives some added strength to these bills and a shot at passing the Senate. Now the Speaker will be attacked in many quarters as being an obstacle to progress and this is unfair. He is giving voice to those members of the Assembly (and the Senate) that care about these issues. The Speaker should work productively with the Governor and the Senate Majority to move an agenda forward. However, if he can make pro-tenant bills part of this agenda, then all the better.
The second story was that Mayor Bloomberg was cancelling some high-priced consultant contracts with the Department of Education. Many of these computer consultants were making $400,000 per year or more. Public Employee Unions had long argued that these jobs could be done just as well by public employees at a significant saving. So it is interesting to note that one of the consultants took a City job at $131,000 per year. So kudos to Mayor Bloomberg for tightening the belts of consultants at last.
