Margert in the News

President’s Plan Could Cut Millions in Antipoverty Aid for City’s Poorest Neighborhoods
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IBO Web Blog, Posted by Nashla Rivas Salas and Doug Turetsky, April 28, 2011

There aren’t many government programs that pump millions of dollars into some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods and give residents of those neighborhoods a say in how that money is spent. The Community Services Block Grant, a program whose lineage dates back to the 1960s and President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty, is a clear exception. But now President Barack Obama, a former community organizer, wants to cut the block grant’s funding in half in next year’s federal budget.

In federal fiscal years 2009 and 2010 the nationwide allocation for the Community Services Block Grant was $700 million. The initial allocation for the current year was also $700 million, but was cut by $20 million in the recent Capitol Hill budget deal that averted a government shutdown. The President’s budget proposal for 2012 seeks only $350 million for the block grant program.

Over the past seven years, New York City has received upwards of $30 million annually through the block grant. The city’s share comes via the state, which determines how much will go to eligible localities. (The state can peel off up to 10 percent of the statewide allocation for administration and oversight.) The city’s allocation this city fiscal year is nearly $32 million. About 30,000 New Yorkers, from youth to seniors, benefit from programs run by service providers funded by the block grant.

The city divvies up the federal dollars geographically based on areas of each borough with high concentrations of poverty. In these so-called Neighborhood Development Areas, at least 30 percent of the residents have incomes below poverty level. There are 43 Neighborhood Development Areas in the city: 12 in the Bronx, 17 in Brooklyn, six in Manhattan, seven in Queens, and one in Staten Island (maps).

Each Neighborhood Development Area receives an allocation based on its share of residents living in poverty. This year, the largest allocation, about $750,000, goes to Brooklyn 12, which includes parts of Sunset Park, Borough Park and other neighborhoods. The next largest allocation, about $740,000, goes to Manhattan 12 (Washington Heights, West Harlem). In the Bronx, the largest allocations, which total about $625,000 each, go to Bronx areas 4 and 5 (Highbridge, Morris Heights, Mount Hope). In Queens the largest allocation is about $485,000 and goes to Queens 12 (South Jamaica, Richmond Hill). Staten Island’s allocation is about $230,000.

Giving community residents a say in how the money is spent was a hallmark of the 1964 Economic Opportunity Act, the forerunner of the current block grant program. The original act promoted “maximum feasible participation,” and directed money to organizations that sought to empower local residents in efforts to end poverty. When the program was recast as a block grant in 1981, the notion of local participation continued.

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Housing Commissioner Takes Office, Sets Priorities
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Pheffer Takes Clerk’s Slot
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Let the games begin!

Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer, who has represented Rockaway for 24 years, will step down from her position on May 12 to take the position of Queens County Clerk, replacing the late Gloria D’Amico, who passed away late last year.

“I am excited about the change and the chance to serve all the people of Queens in this important post,” Pheffer told The Wave, adding that she was sad to be leaving a post that impacted Rockaway.

She has turned her Democratic Party leadership position over to her longtime aide, Jo Ann Shapiro.

She cannot, however, turn her Assembly slot over to another person.

There will be a special election later this year to fill her position, and it is expected to draw a wide range of candidates.

A special election for an open state seat is very different from the recent special election we had in Rockaway to elect a City Councilperson to replace Joseph Addabbo Jr., who had left his position to become a State Senator.

Each of the five major parties that hold a ballot line – the Democrats, the Republicans, the Working Families, the Conservative and the Independent Parties – would be able to place its own candidate on the ballot.

Those not designated by a party would be able to get on the ballot as well, through the petitioning process and would need about 1,500 signatures to make the ballot. The major party candidates would be chosen not by a primary, but by the party’s District Leaders in that Assembly District. That means the Democratic candidate would be chosen by four people – Jo Ann Shapiro, Frank Gulluscio, Lew Simon and Geraldine Chapey. Should there be a tie, Queens Democratic Leader Joseph Crowley would cast his vote to break the tie.

In the Republican Party, the decision on the candidate will be made by City Councilman Eric Ulrich and Republican District Leader Jane Deacy, a Breezy Point resident. A tie would be broken by Phil Ragusa, the Queens Republican Leader.

Many names are being bandied about by locals who speculate on who the candidates of the two major parties might be.

On the Democratic side, one of the more prominent names is that of Shapiro, who told The Wave she would be, “Interested in taking a look.”

Other possible candidates mentioned by Democratic insiders include Chapey, Simon, Gulluscio and Y. Phillip Goldfeder, a former Bloomberg aide now working for Senator Charles Schumer.

Insiders say that Goldfeder would be the favorite of the Orthodox Jewish constituency at the eastern end of the 23rd Assembly District.

On the Republican side, names being mentioned are Gerry Sullivan, an aide to Ulrich, Joanne Ariola, who ran an unsuccessful campaign against Pheffer ten years ago, Breezy Point resident Bob Turner, who ran a strong campaign against Congressman Anthony Weiner and Deacy, who also lives in Breezy Point.

Gulluscio told The Wave that he “is thinking hard about running again.”

“I am a viable candidate because I service constituents every day as the district manager for Community Board 6. I hear rumors from the county organization, however, that I am looking at a long list of those who want to be the party’s candidate.

“Whoever runs,” he added, “will have to have deep pockets because there are no matching funds in a special election like this. The winner will be looking at a primary in less than a year. Not everybody has that kind of resources.”

Governor Andrew Cuomo decides when to call the special election after the Assembly seat is officially vacated, but he has no obligation to do so, according to state Board of Elections spokesperson John Conklin. Once he does declare the seat vacant, however, a special election must be held sometime between 30 and 40 days after the proclamation.

That clock is expected to begin on May 12, when Pheffer officially vacates her Assembly seat. That means the earliest a special election could be held would be June 12, which is not a long time for candidates to get on board and for petitions to be signed.

Insiders say that Cuomo will hold off declaring the seat vacant and setting a date for a special election until the prospective candidates have their petitions lined up and ready to go.

Could the governor hold the proclamation until the next general election in September, thereby saving the money it would cost to run the special election and placing it under general election rules?

He could, Conklin says, “but why would he want to.”

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Feds Renew Crackdown on Redlining
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In the wake of the subprime implosion, the Obama Administration has stepped up its scrutiny of disadvantaged neighborhoods' credit access

By Clea Benson, Bloomberg Businessweek

Community activists in St. Louis became concerned a couple of years ago that local banks weren't offering credit to the city's poor and African American residents. So they formed a group called the St. Louis Equal Housing and Community Reinvestment Alliance and began writing complaint letters to federal regulators.

Apparently, someone in Washington took notice. The Federal Reserve has cited one of the group's targets, Midwest BankCentre, a small bank that has been operating in St. Louis's predominantly white, middle-class suburbs for over a century, for failing to issue home mortgages or open branches in disadvantaged areas. Although executives at the bank say they don't discriminate, Midwest BankCentre's latest annual report says it is in the process of negotiating a settlement with the U.S. Justice Dept. over its lending practices.

Lawyers and bank consultants say regulators and the Obama Administration are scrutinizing financial institutions for a practice that last drew attention before the rise of subprime lending: redlining. The term dates from the 1930s, when the Federal Housing Administration drew up maps using red ink to delineate inner-city neighborhoods considered too risky for lending. Congress later passed laws banning lending discrimination on the basis of race and other characteristics. "The agencies have refocused on redlining because, in the wake of the subprime explosion and sudden implosion, they are looking at these disadvantaged neighborhoods and not seeing any credit access," says Jo Ann Barefoot, co-chair at Treliant Risk Advisors in Washington, D.C., which consults with banks on regulatory issues.

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