KEYS TO THE CITY 64 Ideas to Keep New York the Capital of the Middle Class

Keys City
64 Ideas to Keep New York the Capital of the Middle Class
BY ANTHONY D. WEINER
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TO THE

Keys City
64 Ideas to Keep New York the Capital of the Middle Class
CONTENTS
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Hunger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Small Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 New York City / Albany / Washington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Health Care
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TO THE

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Safety and Crime Prevention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Reform and Transparency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Housing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Job Retention and Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Tax Reform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

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 thousands of families have all but disappeared. To maintain New Yorks place as the capital of the middle class and to keep the promise of prosperity for generations 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. This goes to my core philosophy that whats good for the middle class is good for the city, and vice versa. These ideas are diverse, but what binds them is the help they offer to 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. our stoop. My mom and dad raised me and my brothers like millions of other middle-class parents did: we went to public school I graduated from P.S. 39, my neighborhood elementary 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. That has compelled me to advocate for the middle class for 27 years: as an aide to then-Congressman Chuck Schumer, as a City Councilman, and as a seven-term member of the House of Representatives. 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. The fear of too many residents of the five boroughs is that they might not have real 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 obstacles to its future success, then offer a catalog of ideas that we should pursue to tackle big issues like housing, education, 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 greatest metropolis endure as our greatest assets.

A VIEW FROM THE STOOP

There is a unifying American ideal by which we measure success as a nation, a city and even a family: has one generation done better than the one before? The answer has always been yes. But for the first time, thats in jeopardy in New York. The middle class and those struggling to make it into the middle class faces a looming crisis. More New Yorkers are getting caught between powerful forces beyond their control. At the same time that our cost of living continues to climb, an economic slowdown is limiting growth and 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. The 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, after earning his degree through the G.I. Bill, literally hung a shingle near

NEW YORK CITY: CAPITAL OF THE MIDDLE CLASS

New York has changed dramatically through the years. Before Manhattan was entirely developed, a patchwork of farmland dotted the outer boroughs. The rapid

KEYS TO THE CITY 64 Ideas to Keep New York the Capital of the Middle Class influx of immigrants before and after the turn of the 20th century spurred the rapid expansion of tenement housing. The 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 master builder. Th e city sank into turmoil through the dark days of a municipal fiscal crisis, an outmoded police force, and a crack epidemic. After 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 after World War II. A crumbling, 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 York looking for a better life and the same dream draws people 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 have if they lived elsewhere. This brief summary does not capture the full complexity. Certainly there were well-to-do families residing in the five boroughs even during the periods of greatest challenge. And today, a full fifth 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 quality. The can-do attitude, competitive spirit, and aggressive nature rooted in New Yorkers have made the city a machine of innovation and growth. Theres 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 privilege, the corporate headquarters and skyrocketing real estate prices, New York is less defined by its luxury than its commitment 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. Affordable housing is harder to find, and quality health care is harder to afford. The 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 sophisticated 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 businesses around the world. The 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 investment turn into a real estate bonanza, theres a family in a neighborhood 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 hardworking middle class family struggling to put their kids through college on the profits earned by a family-run business. Thats not to say that the city does not benefit when Wall Street is bullish or that anyone hopes a real estate slump will envelop the five boroughs, or that New Yorkers in search of a pick-me-up should be deprived of a venti iced doubleshot 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 managed 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, Throgs Neck, Washington Heights, Jamaica, and West Brighton continue to be neighborhoods. They house middle-class families who are raising their kids in the great tradition of the Big Apple. But ask around, and most will tell you, it is much more difficult 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.

KEYS TO THE CITY 64 Ideas to Keep New York the Capital of the Middle Class Many New Yorkers remember President Fords decision to wash his hands of the citys problems during the depths of our brush with municipal bankruptcy in the 1970s. In the aftermath, many fled the city. But those who remained like my parents managed to dig the city out of that hole and usher in a new era of municipal pride and growth. Its not that those living at the top and bottom of New Yorks economic ladder should suffer at the expense of the middle class. Its that maintaining the citys claim as the capital of the middle class is an investment that will benefit New Yorkers at all points on the spectrum. No doubt, a series of challenges face New York. But if we lean into the tough decisions dedicated to reform we can recommit ourselves to the spirit that has driven New Yorkers for generations, ensuring that families willing to work hard and play by the rules will enjoy success and security in the greatest city the world has ever known.

A TIME OF GREAT OPPORTUNITY AND PROMISE

Of course, we ought not lose sight of the progress we have made in past decades. Things are better than they were. The subways are cleaner. The streets are safer. And New York reversed the exodus that characterized the 1970s and 1980s. Today, there is no such thing as a bad neighborhood. The elements which made New York a mecca for middle class Americans remain in our DNA. Our teachers are the best in the world we simply need to give them the structure and resources our children deserve. We have the best doctors, nurses, and hospitals on the globe but the way we provide care leaves too many out in the cold. New Yorks Finest have stepped up to the task of defending the city against the threat of terrorism after 9/11, but they cannot be asked to keep us safe without adequate support. And the demand for housing calls out for new partnerships to make sure every family has an affordable, safe place to live. For decades, New York has benefited from an often strong economy, the commitment of devoted members of the business community, the grit of millions of working people (many of whom are in trade unions), incredible contributions from neighborhood activists around the city, and a series of good decisions made by our elected leaders. But our challenges are real, and we need fresh ideas to confront them. Failure to act may imperil the fundamental elements that have driven us to be the globes middle-class capital. My philosophy is whats good for middle- class New Yorkers is good for the city as a whole. Those aspiring to join the middle class not to mention the many families who live in poverty despite holding full-time jobs need an economic engine to harness the energy of those willing to work hard. And those lucky enough to enjoy wealth need a local workforce thats both energized and creative enough to keep the city dynamic.

A NEW WAY OF GOVERNING

New York City has never been able to operate in a vacuum. And now, more than ever, tackling the citys challenges requires a coordinated response. Much as each branch of government might hope to make progress single-handedly, in too many cases, the depth of our challenge is too great. The complexity of governing New York comes at a cost. Too often, labyrinths of bureaucracy obscure accountability. Too frequently, we have watched good intentions run headlong into dysfunction. Too many players leave whole projects paralyzed. Think, for example, how long it took to begin the redevelopment of Ground Zero. Even as we accept that the new reality demands additional coordination, New Yorkers want to know who will take responsibility for getting results. In the end, we still demand to know where the buck truly stops. Maintaining accountability while synchronizing the oars of public service will require New York to embrace a new way of governing. The depth of the issues demands that we set aside the old, stale arguments that have, for decades, defined the debate in New York, Albany, and Washington. Our problems are too profound to let politics get in the way of the publics business. Around the nation and in New York in particular, we need to join in common cause across agencies, jurisdictions, and sectors of service. Government officials, nonprofits, associations, businesses, and individuals need to collaborate. Good ideas can no longer take a backseat to ideological paralysis. Todays challenges demand that we remain constructive even when we disagree. For that reason, I hope we join in embracing an agenda that ensures that New York remains the capital of the middle class.

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 (during most of their young lives) by an army of teachers, supervisors, and support staff. But as any educator will 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 art as it is science. When it comes to educating our kids, weve got to get back to basics. It means training and paying teachers well. It means holding the systems leadership accountable to the public. It means taking seriously the discipline problems that diminish the learning experience of well-behaved students. It means engaging parents in a meaningful and productive way. And it means focusing more on early education and elementary school, so that high schools are not burdened by the responsibility of teaching older students what they should have learned earlier.

Create a Master Teacher Academy. We are suffering through a brain drain in the public schools. Thousands of our smartest and most skilled teachers are retiring. This generation of teachers like my mother has left before their time because of the frustration with current policies. Lets get them back in the game with the creation of training and mentoring academies featuring the best of the best. This is a much- needed opportunity for the city and teachers union to work together. Eliminate Paid Parent Coordinators. Parent involvement is important, and participation in the Parents Association should be a rite of every school mom and dad. But the current policy of having paid parent coordinators is a waste of money and misunderstands the importance of parents being part of the oversight of a school not the staff. Make Catholic School Preservation a Tweed Mission. Between 2000 and 2011 the city lost 63 Catholic Schools, with another 24 eliminated in 2012. The Parish 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 we pay to the debate over charter schools, the lack of conversation about disappearing Catholic Schools is disheartening. Help Private Schools Access Security Grants. Homeland security grants are available to religious schools and nonprofit institutions, but the application process is complicated. The NYPD should take an active lead in helping these often cashed-strapped organizations get things like security cameras and emergency locking doors.

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Streamline the Process for Removing Troublesome Kids from the Classroom. The process that must be followed by a principal to suspend a disruptive student can take months. Due process must be preserved, but the 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. Pay Master Teachers More for Taking Tough Assignments. The seniority system has many benefits, but it often 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.

KEYS TO THE CITY 64 Ideas to Keep New York the Capital of the Middle Class

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Reinvent Teacher Contracts for the New Workforce Realities. Todays labor force is more transient than at any time in our nations history. The 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 to trade the defined benefit future for a higher pay today. Put 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 out of date. I wrote more about this idea in 2010 here: http://tinyurl.com/af6lsoj. Use Federal Standards for New Yorks Kids. The argument over the troubling trend toward teaching 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 benchmarks so we compare ourselves to Seattle and Cincinnati, not just to Syracuse.

Let Empty Schools Bustle After Hours Even for Churches. Given how much we ask of our schools, it makes sense to keep them open as community centers as much as possible. Civic groups should not be charged to hold neighborhood meetings, and local churches that need space should be able to use empty auditoriums for a fee. Expand 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 hungry year 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 beneficial. And we need to create a coalition of the business, charitable, and government sectors to get them working in unison on this crisis. We must reduce hunger in our city and ensure that no child goes to bed hungry. Eliminate Barriers to SNAP (Food Stamps). The rise in the number of New Yorkers who are eligible 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 advantage of the single-most successful program in reducing hunger. Now we have to change city policies that put obstacles in the way of parents getting food for their hungry kids. Treating the needy like criminals is not just inhumane, its bad economics. Food stamps are a federal benefit that cost city taxpayers nothing additional. Enlist Our Kids to Teach Their Parents About Food Stamps. The best place to attack child hunger 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. The Department of Education should be stuffing the backpacks of kids with information and using school offices and lobbies to help parents apply for SNAP. The federal government has successfully used this strategy to increase participation in the Census. over the Summer. Teachers often observe that the summer months off from school are when kids forget much of what they learned in class. But when kids leave the structure of the school, they often 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. Create a Nonprot Czar. For too long, government, business, and the nonprofit sector have worked on common goals in their own silos. The city should have a cabinet- level liaison to/facilitator of, the charitable organizations that serve our city. Whether it be a church basement soup kitchen or the Red Cross, we need to get civil servants and servants of the city helping each other serve us. Give Food Stamps 50% More Value When Used for Fresh Produce. The sad truth is that the least expensive foods are the ones with the least nutritional 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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Double the Meals Served in City Schools

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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 Authority (MTA) is the great equalizer, used by New Yorkers at every point on the economic spectrum. An estimated 7.5 million times a day, New Yorkers swipe their MetroCard to ride on a subway system that is 108 years old and to commute on a giant fleet of buses. Modernizing our infrastructure and transportation systems needs to be a high priority. In the most densely populated region in the country, we need to look at alternative modes of moving people from Point A to Point B. Launch Ferries in All Five Boroughs. No water-bound city is as far behind the curve on ferry service as New York City. The Department of Transportation 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 environment, reduce congestion, and are vital lifelines in an emergency. Install Cell Service on Every Subway Platform. 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. Give Breaks to Employers to Promote Biking to Work. The IRS offers tax breaks to employers who offer up to $20 a month to workers to buy, fix, or store their bikes. For the employee, this is tax free compensation and a strong incentive to pedal to work. The city should offer a similar deal. Replace Access-A-Ride with 2,000 New Accessible Cab Medallions. The Access-ARide program is a more than $600 million boondoggle. Taxpayers 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. The city should issue 2,000 new medallions only for handicap-accessible yellow cabs that can be dispatched in all five boroughs. 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. Once launched, life doesnt get easier in the face of ticketing, surprise inspections, and a relentless bureaucracy. Small businesses are the pulse of the city. They comprise 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 startup 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. Roll Out Small Business Adjudication Vans. Small businesses get hammered by tickets, surprise inspections, and demands for information from city agencies all the time. The engines of our economy often 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. Make Big-Box and Chains Play by the Rules. Lost in the fight over Walmart is the cost that is passed along by these big- box stores to taxpayers when workers are underinsured and underpaid. There should be more transparency about the number of employees 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. Create www.shopnyc.com. The city has vast amounts of data on businesses in all five boroughs. We should put this data to good use promoting neighborhood businesses in every conceivable field. A website and an app should be created that allow people to shop in the digital world but spend their dollars locally. Insert your location and the goods or service you want to purchase, and the website points you to businesses that may have no web presence of their own. trict Process (BID). The BID program, which permits businesses to tax themselves to invest in shopping strip improvements, is a good program, but getting it up and running is way too hard especially for struggling shopkeepers in the outer boroughs. The Department of Business Services should shorten the process and designate personnel to help understaffed businesses access the program.

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Streamline the Business Improvement Dis-

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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 seen as extraordinary. It should be the rule that New York City citizens control the fate of New York City, not the exception. Fines, and Taxes. Perhaps most galling to residents 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 how much to charge for parking tickets on Kings Highway is ludicrous and should be challenged constantly. Require State Properties to Pay City Property 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. The state should pay like any other entity. Turn 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 annual rent. Just as we made it a priority to get mayoral control of schools, we should fight for mayoral control of rents. Put Local Liquor Licenses in the Hands of Local Citizens and Local Representatives. Often the decision of government that impacts a block or an entrepreneur the most is the issuance of a license to serve liquor 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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Give New York City the Control over Fees,

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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 cannot afford health insurance and do not qualify for programs like Medicare or Medicaid. Yet Big Apple taxpayers 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 noncontrollable costs to our city. Well its too big a challenge and too costly a status quo to keep doing things the same way. Create a Single- Payer Laboratory in New York City. Perhaps more than any other big problem, the need to provide affordable, accessible, and quality health 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 hospitals, 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, everything 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 fifth 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. The 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. Then 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 state governments 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 is about the price of the cheapest city HMO, the union has salaried 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. There 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 middleman and save a lot of money in the process. End the City/County Medicaid Burden. New York is one of very few states that passes a portion of the cost of providing health care to the localities. This is a massive regressive tax. The more poor residents, the more the Medicaid expense. The cost for Big Apple taxpayers is a staggering $6.2 billon. The time has never been better for reform. The state has undertaken a redesign of the Medicaid system, and the recent federal infusion of help under the stimulus bill has helped create a soft landing for the state budget. Let Local Prosecutors and Auditors Claim 100% in Fraud Bounty. The 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 frequently halfhearted. The solution is a bounty program that puts incentives in the right place by giving 100% of the proceeds of found fraud to the locality that roots it out. Subsidize New Yorkers Who Are Caregivers at Home. Most aging and frail seniors would prefer not to spend extended periods in an institution. Bill payers and taxpayers would prefer to find cheaper options than nursing homes. So often, family members wind up taking care of parents and grandparents at home. This humane option often leaves families with a crushing burden emotionally and financially especially if the other side of the vice is the cost of taking care of children. All levels of government 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 Organize Community Pharmacists to Compete with the Chains. New York City has primary health care providers on virtually every shopping strip in all five boroughs. They are called community pharmacies. Policy-makers have recently seen the benefit of giving these health care professionals more leeway to do things like administer flu shots. But the steady pressure from mailorder drug distributors and chain pharmacies has caused many neighborhood drug stores to close up. The city should organize these mom-and-pop stores to let them compete for business and reduce costs as a group. Permit 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 applications to donate blood are routinely denied, even though all blood donors are screened for HIV. This not only stigmatizes a whole class of well-intentioned citizens, but it is foolish in an era when blood shortages are routine.

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Their Health Premiums. The employer-based 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 premium 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 premium costs and demand efficiencies. Employees Who Smoke. The cost to taxpayers of providing health insurance to city workers is higher because of the cost of treating those who choose to smoke. The smoker should shoulder a portion of this cost and be incentivized 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 homicides in over half a century 414. Thanks to strategies implemented by Mayors Dinkins, Giuliani, and Bloomberg, and the day-to-day efforts of cops, violent crime is way down in recent decades. The city needs to stay at the forefront of efforts to reduce 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 were on 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. Expand 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 that hires local cops with federal dollars. Track Sex Offenders Using GPS Technology. Most sex offenders are strictly limited on where they can travel and who they may contact after they leave custody. Women with Orders of Protection against abusers are safeguarded in their space by court order. But all too often 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. Take DNA from More Arrestees. As a matter of course, the NYPD takes fingerprints from all people they arrest. They should also take a DNA swab from as many of those under arrest as practicable. This commonsense step would help solve cold cases and clear the innocent. Use the PACT Act to Stop Tobacco Smuggling. Congress has given local law enforcement a powerful tool in the fight to stop black- market cigarettes from flooding New York City. The "PACT Act empowers local authorities to make arrests and prosecutions of individuals and crime syndicates that buy tobacco in bulk from low- and no-tax jurisdictions and then sell them here in a city 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 often 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 or a 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 infusion of new ideas. New Yorkers need to be reengaged in civic discourse by making agencies more accessible 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 challenges. That should change. Eliminate 5% in Waste Every Year. We are too slow to recognize programs that are not working or have outlived their mandate. Every city government department head should be forced to list the things they were doing from best to worst. Then 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 accordingly, and sometimes it will mean moving funding to the programs at the top of the efficiency list. Digitize 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. The 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. Publish All Contracts. The 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. If government contracts were readily available, we would empower citizen audits to shine light on inside deals and call attention to missed deadlines. Institute Instant Runoff Elections. Primary elections for citywide offices require a plurality of at least 40%. If no candidate achieves that percentage, then a runoff between the top two candidates occurs two weeks later. This process is expensive. New York City spent $15 million on a runoff election in 2009, where only 228,602 voters came out. That cost the city $72 a voter. Its taxing on voters and unnecessarily divisive. A better idea is to have an instant runoff system that lets voters rank their choices. The tally of second choices would determine the winner of the runoff. Th is system would encourage a more civil and less costly campaign for both candidates and taxpayers. Make New York the Home of an Annual Urban Ideas Festival. Just as Davos and Aspen have been magnets for gatherings of business and intellectual 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, health care and higher educational spaces. We should be a destination for ideas and a laboratory for the best ones. Bring Mayors Question Time to the Proceedings 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, Move Affordable Builders to the Front of property values have risen for the better part of two the Bureaucratic Line. The Department of decades. But there is an underside to the dramatic Buildings is so famously arbitrary and wrapped in red tape appreciation: rising values put mortgage payments that it is said that paid expediters have to hire expediters to beyond the grasp of too many middle- class families. get anything done. Putting aside for a moment the need to Roughly 136,000 city homeowners have entered into make city agencies more efficient and transparent, builders foreclosure since 2009. With the average apartment of affordable housing should have access to the fast lane at selling for $1.5 million in Manhattan this year, the notion the choke points of the city bureaucracy. of home ownership is no longer part of the American Leverage Air Rights over City Properties. Dream for the overwhelming majority of New Yorkers. The biggest property owner in the Big Apple is the New programs successors to the Mitchell-Lama City of New York itself. The city owns and controls thousands program in the 1970s and the Nehemiah program in of properties like schools, libraries, and office buildings. These the 1980s need to be developed to sustain a growassets should not be seen as static things. Opportunities for ing middle class. That means revisiting our 80-20 dedevelopment, especially for housing and schools, should be velopments, which provide housing for the wealthy the subject of a full air rights audit. Private developers should and low-income, but ignore the middle class. It means be invited to propose the use of the development rights in revising our view of brown fields. And we need to find exchange for public benefits. creative ways to transfer air rights over municipal asHelp Prevent New Flood Insurance Rules sets like public schools and recommit ourselves, not from Drowning Neighborhoods. It is hard to only to improving public housing, but to making the imagine a more devastating one-two punch for waterfront best use of every parcel of land in the public domain. New York: the damage of Superstorm Sandy has been followed Make All Tax Supported Housing 60-20-20. by a new regime of flood maps and requirements that will EightyTwenty is shorthand that every housing mean a $10,000 or more increase in flood insurance rates. developer in the city knows. Tax benefits and zoning changes This spike will cause a drag on home prices that are already under are frequently tied to the idea that 20% of new housing crepressure. Funds earmarked to buy out property owners should ated should be set aside for those of low income. This foralso be made available to subsidize flood insurance premimulation ignores the challenge facing those in the middle ums to keep people in their homes and the market stable. class who typically have too much income to qualify for government benefits like subsidized housing. A more appropriate 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.

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KEYS TO THE CITY 64 Ideas to Keep New York the Capital of the Middle Class Turn Brown Fields into Golden Opportunities. When it comes to finding sites for developing new housing, the easy stuff is 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 just feared to have been, are often left in a legal and environmental limbo. Only the muscle of the city can make the following 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. Reform NYCHA with Performance Contracting. The Housing Authority in New York has remained the best in the nation despite virtual abandonment by the federal government. Budget cuts in recent years have left NYCHA 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 up front but gets vital repairs done quickly and makes the 343 projects more energy efficient.

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Build Section 202 Housing on Hospital Parking Lots. Our housing supply fails to consider the needs of seniors. They often live in apartments too big for their needs, because their spouses have passed away and their children have moved out. They also are frequently too far from the needs of late-in-life living, such as doctors or therapists. The Section 202 program recognized the need by creating special housing for seniors and the disabled. The problem is the scarcity of lands on which to build these special apartment buildings. We should use the footprints of HHS hospitals and existing public housing. The city may lose some employee parking, 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 to environmental degradation than our suburban and rural 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 changing world climate. Restore and Protect Our Beaches. As we learned in Superstorm Sandy, the beaches of New York are not just areas for recreation, they are important ecological barriers that protect properties and infrastructure. The shoreline should be renourished, and jetties or groins should be built to keep the sand in place and the tide at bay.

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Conquer Congestion. Or at Least Try. The dust has settled on the plan to tax outer borough drivers who drive into Midtown. Congestion Pricing with End Prohibition on Hybrid Cabs. The so-called its giant government approach of hundreds of cameras and Taxi of Tomorrow will soon become the only cab huge overhead is dead. But the conversation about congesthat a hack can drive in New York City. It is not a hybrid or tion should not be. Smart parking meters that raise costs electric or any other forward-looking technology. This would based on demand and location, and a renewed focus on have the effect of forcing many hybrid cabs off the road at a stemming the more than 30% increase in truck traffic should time when we should be using more. The push for a one-size - be getting civic attention. fits- all approach should be scrapped in favor of incentives for driving the most environmentally sound cabs.

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from Our National Park. The 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 with fleets of garbage trucks and racing police cars. For decades, the city and federal governments have agreed to allow the open spaces of historic Floyd Bennett Field for training drivers and parking vehicles. This is simply an inappropriate use of a park and should end.

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Remove Police Cars and Sanitation Trucks

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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 the road. 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 population 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. Compete More Effectively Against Regional Foes. While some displacement of jobs is inevitable, simply writing off the losses to globalization misses the true story. There 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. Lower the Tax Burden for Outer Borough Job Creation. New York City is in a good position to win the corporate headquarters of a big company. Manhattan is a pretty compelling draw at any price for a CEO. But the second-tier jobs at those companies are great middleclass 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 Jersey 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 in moving costs, and a seven-year tax abatement on leases. New York City may not have to match these benefits dollarfor-dollar but our REAP programs have to at least try harder.

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Be Automatic and Predictable in Job Retention and Growth. Every so often a big company will rattle its sabers about leaving the city, and all too often 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 anywhere. Its the quiet decisions that we need to preempt with a less bureaucratic, predictable incentive regime. The TV and Film tax credit is a good model.

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Take Advantage of Social Entrepreneurship. R&D/NYC would use the venture capital model of investment, in which the city would review the ideas 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, facilitate learning among the network, help to pilot and spread innovations, and advance the fields knowledge faster. Together, these steps would break down the often parallel tracks of private entrepreneurs, foundation researchers, and government entities. Make 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 that have turned to foreign 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. This wealth of language skills should be harnessed into a growth industry for middle-class 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 progressive enough. Its time to lower taxes on the middle class and those struggling to make it, and make the tax structure more progressive. We cant entirely x the problem without help from Washington and Albany, 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. Adjust NYC Tax Brackets for Ination. Being shortchanged in Washington is hardly the only way that middle-class New Yorkers find themselves getting the short end of the stick. While federal tax brackets are indexed to inflation ensuring that wage increases that track the cost of living do not bump taxpayers into higher tax bracketsthose in the state and city are not. That means that a middle class family in Sunnyside whose breadwinner gets a cost-of-living adjustment (to help offset the burden of 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. The citys income tax brackets should be tied to inflation, ensuring that the tax code works to ameliorate that extra burden and not to exacerbate the problem.

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their fair share should be coupled with relief for the middle classand not be used as an excuse not to tackle the waste that can be found in the budgets of government at all levels. Tax 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 five boroughs, but live outside, should be asked to pay their fair share of the citys expenses, diminishing the current incentive to avoid New York City income tax by living in the suburbs and commuting into the office.

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Make City Tax Rates More Progressive.

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