City Hall, Council bustling with proposals

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This fall, City Hall and the City Council are teeming with proposals that would change how we live. Here are some of the most noteworthy initiatives on the table right now.

• Following the state Senate and Assembly’s modest boost to the minimum wage at the end of last year, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced an executive order increasing the wages of some workers on Sept. 30. 

Employees of companies working on city contracts worth $1 million or more will now earn $13.13 per hour, up from $11.90.

The mayor’s office said wages for such workers likely will continue to rise, reaching $15.22 per hour by 2019.

The state minimum wage is currently $8 an hour, with the rate scheduled to rise to $8.75 at the end of the year and to $9 at the end of 2015. By issuing an executive order, Mr. de Blasio appears to be taking a page from President Barack Obama’s playbook. Facing a Congress opposed to raising the national minimum wage, the president made an executive order in February raising federal contractors’ wages to at least $10.10 an hour.

• Before this issue went to print, the council was poised to lower the speed limit throughout the city to 25 mph. The change would apply to every city street except expressways, parkways and other routes under the jurisdiction of the state Department of Transportation.

The Council’s Transportation Committee, chaired by Ydanis Rodriguez, whose 10th district includes part of Marble Hill, unanimously passed the speed limit reduction on Monday.

The move was the latest part of the Vision Zero initiative to reduce traffic-related accidents and fatalities. Both Mr. de Blasio and Mr. Rodriguez have aggressively advocated the undertaking, which has included steps from an aggressive driving crackdown on Broadway last month to bills outlawing wheelies, calling for traffic studies and taking other measures.

• On Tuesday, the council was also set to vote on giving employees the option to set aside some of their pre-tax salaries for commuting costs. A new bill would require companies with 20 or more employees to offer the benefit to save workers on taxes.

living wage, speed limit, commuting costs, Bill de Blasio, Eliot Engel, unemployment insurance, Jeff Klein, IDC, Charles Rangel, draft
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