Local officials play defense in Albany

State budget talks have officials representing parts of the city on the defensive. Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal asks CUNY to take on $500 million in new costs and requires the city to start paying more for Medicaid — at least $180 million in 2017 and $476 million in 2018, with regular increases to follow, according to news sources.

“A top priority would be to block him from doing that,” northwest Bronx Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz said of the CUNY proposal. “To me, that’s outrageous.”

Regarding K-12 education, he noted that while last year’s budget increased funds for city public schools, the state is still falling short of the sum required by a 2006 state supreme court ruling. That ruling said the legislature had to give public schools around the state $5.5 billion by 2011.

“I think before any other money is spent, first we should be spending money on things that we are legally obligated to do,” Mr. Dinowitz said. “There will be increases in school funding, [but] the final numbers are not clear.”

When asked about this district’s ongoing controversy about overcrowding at public schools — the city is yet to find a location for new seats in spite of existing funds for them — Mr. Dinowitz said he would not seek to allocate state funds to buy property for a school.

“If another school is built, it’s probably likely it will be built outside of Riverdale,” he said. “I haven’t been able to find a place. The city couldn’t find a replacement [for P.S. 24’s annex, which closes this year]. I certainly don’t have a lot of faith that they’re going to be able to find a large piece of land [for] a new school.”

State Sen. Gustavo Rivera, whose district includes part of Kingsbridge, decried the proposal for the city to pay more for Medicaid.

“There’s a formula the governor proposed to change regarding who picks up the costs for Medicaid growth on a year-to-year basis,” said Mr. Rivera, the ranking Democrat on the Senate’s health committee. “The Democratic conference and myself are strongly opposed to that and are fighting it.”

The governor’s proposals have led commenters to speculate that Mr. Cuomo is seeking to stick it to the city due to his long-running feud with Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Mr. Dinowitz shied away from making any such accusations.

“I’ve been supportive of both Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo. I just hope whatever political differences they have, they put them aside,” he said. “I’m not blaming one or another. I’m not going to get into that.”

State Sen. Jeff Klein, whose district covers most of the northwest Bronx, played a prominent role in previous budget talks. However, he has been much more quiet this time around, with his former coalition partner, former state Sen. Dean Skelos, found guilty of corruption charges in December. Mr. Klein did not answer an interview request for this article.

421-a on hold

There is another area where the state budget could do serious damage to Mr. de Blasio’s goals.

Last year, the program that gives developers tax breaks in exchange for building affordable housing expired when the Real Estate Board of New York and the Building and Construction Trades Council of New York could not reach an agreement on fair wages for construction workers building affordable housing.

While the mayor actively pushed for a revamped version of the program, known as 421-a, last year, he is not making any such effort this year. “421-a doesn’t seem to be on the front burner at the moment. I don’t think anyone is optimistic about that right now,” Mr. Dinowitz said.

That could present a major setback for Mr. de Blasio’s goal of facilitating 80,000 new units of affordable housing over the next decade. On Tuesday, the City Council passed a major part of those plans — sweeping zoning changes that would pave the way for the construction — but as The New York Times noted last week, the legislation was originally intended to complement the 421-a program. Without 421-a, the city “may have to spend more to subsidize affordable housing, or risk allowing Mr. de Blasio’s housing target to go unmet,” The Times wrote.

Assemblyman Guillermo Linares, whose Upper Manhattan district includes part of Marble Hill, was optimistic about the rezoning plan’s eventual impact on his neighborhood.

“I believe that the change that has taken place brings it much closer to where the median income is for the community that I represent, which is in desperate need of housing,” he said, referring to last week’s City Council move to lower costs for some of the units to be built through the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) proposal. “I find the changes that were made much more acceptable than the initial plan.”

Zoning passes

The only part of Mr. Linares’ district that stands to be affected by MIH is a sliver of land in Inwood called Sherman Creek. No part of Marble Hill or the northwest Bronx has been eyed for the “up-zoning” that must take place before MIH — which requires a certain percentage of units in every new development to be priced at affordable levels — would go into effect.

A recent Press editorial criticized the final version of MIH for giving council members the power to determine how affordable units should be in new buildings in their districts on a case-by-case basis.

Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, whose district largely overlaps with Mr. Linares’, did not directly address a question about that criticism. But he issued a statement applauding the zoning legislation.

“After an exhaustive process, where the sole intention was to create a larger affordable housing stock in New York City as a way to ease market pressures currently forcing residents out, we have reached a solid agreement,” he said.

Councilman Fernando Cabrera, whose district includes Kingsbridge, supported the legislation, as well. He declined an interview request about the topic.

Northwest Bronx Councilman Andrew Cohen voted in favor of MIH and against the Zoning for Quality and Affordability component of the mayor’s plans. A large number of activists in the district vociferously criticized the plan, which would raise height limits for buildings in some areas and ease parking requirements at some senior housing developments, among other measures.

Local activists are considering a lawsuit challenging MIH and ZQA (see front-page story).

“I would not in any way be surprised if there was a lawsuit. This is New York City real estate, after all,” said Mr. Cohen. Asked if he would file an amicus brief for such a suit, he said, “I would ultimately have to see what people were specifically objecting to in terms of whether it has legal merit. My vote [was] a policy position, as opposed to whether it’s legal.”

Engel decries attack

The capital of Belgium was still reeling from a deadly terrorist attack as The Press went to print on Tuesday. Bomb blasts at Brussels Airport and inside a subway train killed more than 30 people, according to reports.

Republican presidential contenders called for harsh measures to fight terrorism. Frontrunner Donald Trump said people with information about terrorists should be tortured.

Riverdale’s Rep. Eliot Engel gave a more measured statement.

“With the smoke still clearing, the focus must be on helping those affected and addressing any additional threats,” he said. “In the days ahead, we need to work with our Belgian partners and other allies to determine how these attacks were carried out, ramp up efforts to prevent future violence, push back against a false and destructive ideology, and hold whoever is behind these attacks accountable.”

Rangel applauds Obama

Rep. Charles Rangel, whose district includes a swath of the Bronx, accompanied President Barack Obama’s Monday and Tuesday trip to Cuba — the first time the U.S. head of state has visited the island nation in almost 90 years.

It was not a first for Mr. Rangel, who visited Havana in December 2014 as Mr. Obama announced a historic effort to normalize relations with Cuba.

“President Obama’s visit is a huge step among many we need to take to lift the [trade] embargo and foster real change in our relationship,” the congressman said in a Tuesday statement. “I will keep fighting to create the right conditions for when change really comes.”