 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
No More Delay: Proven Policy Solutions for New York City
By John Petro, Urban Policy Analyst, Drum Major Institute for Public Policy
INTRODUCTION
This fall, New York City voters will decide whether Mayor Bloomberg deserves a third term in office. We will also be electing nearly fifty other municipal officials, from city council members to the city comptroller. It is important, then, to examine the city’s record on critical issues that affect all New York City residents. This report focuses on six pressing areas of policy: economic opportunity, housing affordability, criminal justice, workplace standards, environmental sustainability, and health care. In each area, it shows how New York City has failed to address significant challenges facing New Yorkers, offers a proven solution from another city, and explains why that policy prescription is appropriate for New York.
This report is constructive; it highlights specific lapses in public policy and then proposes concrete solutions that all candidates for public office are urged to embrace. Often policy debates between the candidates come late in the campaign season, if at all. Let’s start them now.
POLICY SUMMARY
PROBLEM: As the H1NI virus rages across the city, one million working New Yorkers do not have a single paid sick day.
SOLUTION: San Francisco guarantees all workers paid sick days to care for themselves or a sick loved one. The policy is not only a meaningful benefit for workers, but also aims to increase employee productivity and reduce the spread of contagious disease. In addition, members of the business community in San Francisco agree that the policy has not been a problem, despite their initial opposition. In New York, Mayor Bloomberg’s recent support for paid sick days is an enormously encouraging sign.
PROBLEM: New York City gives out millions of dollars a year in tax breaks to private companies that may not need subsidies and that go on to create poverty-level jobs—or few jobs at all.
SOLUTION: Minneapolis requires that subsidy recipients create living wage jobs. If the jobs are not created, the subsidy must be paid back with penalty. The policy ensures that the public receives significant benefits when tax dollars are invested in a business subsidy deal.
SOLUTION: Washington, DC requires that all interrogations be videotaped in their entirety. This policy creates a permanent record of interrogations, makes police officers less vulnerable to allegations of abuse, and prevents the miscarriage of justice.
SOLUTION: San Francisco requires developers to build affordable units when constructing new market-rate housing developments. This policy not only preserves economically integrated neighborhoods, but also provides neighborhood benefits.
SOLUTION: San Francisco has created a program that provides basic health services to the uninsured. This program provides health care to the 60,000 San Franciscans that do not have health insurance and do not qualify for public health insurance programs.
SOLUTION: Berkeley, CA is providing low-cost financing to property owners that wish to install renewable energy systems or make energy efficiency improvements. This policy not only defrays the high upfront cost for property owners, but has almost zero impact on the city’s budget.
Read No More Delay: Proven Policy Solutions for New York City in its entirety
By John Petro, Urban Policy Analyst, Drum Major Institute for Public Policy
INTRODUCTION
This fall, New York City voters will decide whether Mayor Bloomberg deserves a third term in office. We will also be electing nearly fifty other municipal officials, from city council members to the city comptroller. It is important, then, to examine the city’s record on critical issues that affect all New York City residents. This report focuses on six pressing areas of policy: economic opportunity, housing affordability, criminal justice, workplace standards, environmental sustainability, and health care. In each area, it shows how New York City has failed to address significant challenges facing New Yorkers, offers a proven solution from another city, and explains why that policy prescription is appropriate for New York.
This report is constructive; it highlights specific lapses in public policy and then proposes concrete solutions that all candidates for public office are urged to embrace. Often policy debates between the candidates come late in the campaign season, if at all. Let’s start them now.
POLICY SUMMARY
PROBLEM: As the H1NI virus rages across the city, one million working New Yorkers do not have a single paid sick day.
SOLUTION: San Francisco guarantees all workers paid sick days to care for themselves or a sick loved one. The policy is not only a meaningful benefit for workers, but also aims to increase employee productivity and reduce the spread of contagious disease. In addition, members of the business community in San Francisco agree that the policy has not been a problem, despite their initial opposition. In New York, Mayor Bloomberg’s recent support for paid sick days is an enormously encouraging sign.
___________________________________
PROBLEM: New York City gives out millions of dollars a year in tax breaks to private companies that may not need subsidies and that go on to create poverty-level jobs—or few jobs at all.
SOLUTION: Minneapolis requires that subsidy recipients create living wage jobs. If the jobs are not created, the subsidy must be paid back with penalty. The policy ensures that the public receives significant benefits when tax dollars are invested in a business subsidy deal.
___________________________________
PROBLEM: New Yorkers falsely confess to crimes they did not commit, harming public safety and damaging the integrity of the criminal justice system.SOLUTION: Washington, DC requires that all interrogations be videotaped in their entirety. This policy creates a permanent record of interrogations, makes police officers less vulnerable to allegations of abuse, and prevents the miscarriage of justice.
___________________________________
PROBLEM: New luxury housing has pushed up housing prices in the city, resulting in displacement of long-time residents.SOLUTION: San Francisco requires developers to build affordable units when constructing new market-rate housing developments. This policy not only preserves economically integrated neighborhoods, but also provides neighborhood benefits.
___________________________________
PROBLEM: Over one million New Yorkers do not have health insurance or access to basic health services.SOLUTION: San Francisco has created a program that provides basic health services to the uninsured. This program provides health care to the 60,000 San Franciscans that do not have health insurance and do not qualify for public health insurance programs.
___________________________________
PROBLEM: Three quarters of New York City’s greenhouse gas emissions are from heating, cooling, and powering our buildings.SOLUTION: Berkeley, CA is providing low-cost financing to property owners that wish to install renewable energy systems or make energy efficiency improvements. This policy not only defrays the high upfront cost for property owners, but has almost zero impact on the city’s budget.
Read No More Delay: Proven Policy Solutions for New York City in its entirety