South Brooklyn Assembly Member makes blunt statement about de Blasio's homeless housing policy

  

Shorefront News

 Assemblyman William Colton (D – Gravesend, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, and Dyker Heights) will expose that homeless shelters are a business, not a service for the homeless population.

“The taxpayers are paying for this and De Blasio has no plans to make it better. The number of homeless New Yorkers has spiked past 60,000 since 2016 and it’s the highest since the Great Depression. Many shelters are run by not-for-profits. It is painfully obvious that the homeless crisis is only getting worse. People choose to remain on the street because conditions in city-funded shelters are awful and those who need supportive services, including mental health and treatment for addictions, get little or no help. No one has taken a look at how the locations for new shelters are selected, flipped, and developed by a web of third parties, LLC’s and companies that ultimately pass the cost on to taxpayers. Instead of providing permanent solutions for the homeless crisis such as subsidized or supportive housing, these shelters have become little more than businesses that provide an opportunity for developers to make a profit,” Colton stated.

“The community is concerned about this institutional structure that is planned for a residential neighborhood. We know nothing about this shelter planned for 2147 Bath Avenue in Brooklyn, only that approximately 150 single males will be residing there. There are questions about whether or not the planned homeless shelter will be in compliance with the building and zoning codes.  The city must build affordable housing to serve the needs of low-income families and supportive housing for those who need addiction or mental health services. Section 8 must reopen, and vouchers must be issued to the ones in need. Building more homeless shelters is not a solution,” Colton added.

Sandy victims hit with DMV charges

From the Daily News:

John Quintana’s three cars parked in front of his Coney Island home were destroyed by Superstorm Sandy.

But like thousands of other New Yorkers the veteran sanitation worker was hit with hundreds in extra registration fees by the state’s Department of Motor Vehicle's office to complete the paperwork for his new vehicles.

Now, a local state pol is urging the Cuomo administration to waive those added costs for Sandy victims.

“The state has an obligation to do everything we can to help these families who have suffered so much,” said state Assemblyman William Colton (D- Bensonhurst).

An estimated 200,000 vehicles citywide were ruined by Sandy's salt water surge, Colton said.

As a result, Cuomo announced a plan to eliminate dozens of bureaucratic charges for various state services, including waiving the $28 DMV fee for replacement registration documents.

But that did little to help Quintana, 59, who was forced to fork over nearly $800 in registration fees and to cover costs to transfer his old license plates to his three new cars.

Now this just stinks

From the NY Post:

Please stop planting trees that make our sidewalks smell like puke.

That's the plaintive cry from city residents about ginkgo trees that have fruit so foul it can make you gag.

About 200 of the offending arbors were put in sidewalk strips this spring as part of Mayor Bloomberg's Million Trees campaign.

They provide lots of shade -- and plenty of putrid and mildly poisonous berries that outraged homeowners are picking off their cars and stoops.

Assemblyman William Colton of Gravesend has asked officials to stop planting ginkgos.

"They are only supposed to put in the male tree -- it doesn't produce the berries -- but they've been putting in females, which is driving everybody nuts," said a Colton rep.

Should Dave take some of the blame?

From Capital Tonight:

Mayor Bloomberg has been bearing the brunt of the blame for the lackluster post-blizzard clean-up, but one state lawmaker thinks there’s more than enough of that to go around with a share belonging to outgoing Gov. David Paterson.

Assemblyman Bill Colton, a Brooklyn Democrat, said Paterson should have declared a state of emergency after the storm, following New Jersey’s lead, arguing that would have allowed for the mobilization of resources – from the National Guard, for example – to help the city with its sub-par snow removal effort.

“I think the governor clearly had a responsibility to, at the very minimum, call the mayor and say: Do you need help? Should we call a state of emergency? At the very minimum, the governor should have done that,” Colton told me during a brief telephone interview this afternoon.

“There should at least have been a discussion of whether it was needed.”

When I noted Paterson has one foot out the door (although he has managed to find the time to issue more than a few pardons and a commutation), Colton replied:

“The reality is the snow occurred a week ago and it would seem to be that he’s got to keep his hand on the helm of the ship.”

Assemblyman says it's time to pay up

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A Brooklyn legislator says cash-strapped New York should collect taxes it’s owed before taxing its people any more.

Brooklyn Assemblyman William Colton told 1010 WINS, the state is owed $14.4 billion in delinquent taxes and said the state should do its due diligence to collect the money.

Colton hopes a new website set up by the Department of Taxation and Finance will shame some of those delinquent taxpayers to pay up.

The website names the top 250 violating individual taxpayers and business taxpayers.

“Let’s change Albany by making sure that our middle-income families are not shortchanged by having wealthy companies and individuals get away with billions of dollars of unpaid taxes,” Colton said.

The strip club “Scores” tops the list — owing 14.7 million. Disgraced financier Bernie Madoff is number 147 on the list of individuals — owing $1.6 million.

The list – which has been up since April 2010 – will be updated every month, Colton said.

“They have to get top lawyers to go in and close the tax loopholes and they have to start fighting to get every penny of unpaid taxes that is owned by the wealthy businesses and individuals that are forcing middle income families to suffer,” he said.

State tax cheat list online

From WCBS 880:

Did you pay your tax bill in full? If you didn't, you may find yourself on New York State's site of shame for tax dodgers.

The searchable database will list the top 250 delinquent individuals and the top 250 delinquent businesses.

WCBS 880 spoke with Assemblymember William Colton (D-Brooklyn) who helped organize the launch of the site and says this can save the state billions of dollars.

At a time when the state is facing a severe budget crisis, Colton says getting the taxes collected could help keep schools and hospitals open.