New 421a plan will flood Queens with condos

From The Real Deal:

A budget proposal from the New York State Senate would greatly increase the number of tax exempt condominium projects in the outer boroughs, confirming the fears of Mayor Bill de Blasio and other city officials that such developments could creep back into a renewed 421a developer tax break.

In the Senate Republicans’ latest version of the bill, condo projects outside Manhattan with as many as 80 units could qualify for 421a tax exemptions, up from 35 units in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal released in January. A cap on the average tax assessment value for benefitting condo units is also raised in the new proposal from $65,000 to $85,000, a change that was first reported by Politico.

Since the 421a program’s expiration in January of 2016, developers have filed offering plans for 15 new outerborough projects consisting of between 35 and 80 condo units, a TRD analysis of data from the New York State Attorney General shows. If 421a became available to developers of this section of the market, there could be many more of these condo projects on the horizon.

Two key Senators in the 421a negotiations have previously expressed an interest in increasing outer-borough condo benefits, prior to Cuomo releasing his own plan. Republican-caucusing Democrat Simcha Felder and Republican Marty Golden, both of Brooklyn, told reporters in December they were looking to expand the tax break for more property owners, but haven’t provided further details.

Calls and emails directed to Golden and Felder were not immediately returned on Wednesday.

$79,500 for part time work is not enough

From the Daily News:

With the elections now over, lawmakers are hoping for their first pay raise since 1999.

“It’s long overdue,” said state Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn), who hasn’t had a raise since taking office in 2003. “You want responsible leadership in Albany, you need to be able to pay them responsibly.”

By law, a sitting Legislature cannot give itself a raise, meaning action to hike the current $79,500 annual lawmaker base pay would have to be taken by the end of the year or the issue will be shelved for at least another two years.

A source close to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said the powerful Manhattan Democrat has long supported a legislative pay raise, noting many lawmakers have no other income.

But while not definitively ruling out a pay raise this year, the Silver source and an aide to Senate GOP Leader Dean Skelos said there have been no high-level talks on the issue.

Others, however, say that could change quickly, especially if the Legislature returns to Albany before January to take up some other issues, which is possible.

Golden in tweeding scandal

From City & State:

Brooklyn Sen. Martin Golden has steered at least $770,000 in taxpayer funds to a nonprofit neighborhood group he founded, which often used the money to sponsor events that promoted the senator, records and interviews show.

The member-item spending went to the Bay Ridge-Bensonhurst Beautification and Preservation Alliance, which held a summer concert series and ran a free bus service for neighborhood seniors – both named for Golden.

The nonprofit’s executive director lobbied Golden last year about a bill the senator later introduced. Its main paid consultant for the concerts was also a paid staffer in Golden’s Senate office at the time. And Golden himself is still listed in state records as the nonprofit’s registered agent.

Golden’s top aides say the deep connection between the senator and the nonprofit poses no conflict, and also reflects an Albany custom of directing member items to groups linked with governmental staffers – at least until then-Attorney General Andrew Cuomo cracked down starting in 2007.

Developer asks BSA for hardship waiver for illegal building

From NYCityWatch via Sheepshead Bites:

Community members and elected officials from Brooklyn’s Marine Park section opposed a developer’s request Tuesday for permission to complete an oversized building that violated the zoning code.

The city stopped work on the six-story building at 2232 Kimball St. five years ago after the Buildings Department realized it was bigger than the zoning permitted. The developer doesn’t have the $500,000 that would be needed to remove the top two floors, its representative, Margery Perlmutter, told the city Board of Standards and Appeals on Tuesday.

Kimball Group filed a “hardship” waiver in April that the local community board, which is limited to an advisory role, rejected unanimously.

“I do not consent to the Kimball Group receiving waivers,” Joann Mitchum, who lives in a neighboring building, told the Board of Standards and Appeals on Tuesday. “Actions speak louder than words. They haven’t done anything to help our community.”

Marine Park resident Margaret McCarthy said the developer should not be rewarded for violating the zoning regulations. “It’s an eyesore, it’s a health hazard,” she said.

“The building was built illegally,” Assembly member Alan Maisel (D-Brooklyn) said. “It’s an eyesore. If they had done it the right way there would have been no hardships”

Joan Byrnes, representing State Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn), said, “If they are unable to act within the law they can file for bankruptcy.”

To hookah or not to hookah?

From the Daily News:

Despite popular belief, scientists have recently discovered that hookah smoke contains at least two cancer-causing elements - and can be just as addictive as cigarettes, says a recent Harvard Medical School study.

Someone who smokes a hookah for 45 minutes to an hour at a rate of two 10-second puffs per minute is inhaling 10%-to-50% more nicotine, says a 2009 study published in the Current Science journal.

Sheepshead Bites reports that local pols State Senator Marty Golden, Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny and Council Member Vincent Gentile all have pending legislation that would ban or limit hookah smoking.

City and state in billboard war

From the Daily News:

The GOP-controlled state Senate wants the state to take over the licensing of billboards in the five boroughs - potentially stripping millions of dollars from the city.

"That's a sizable amount of money, about $15 million, that could be added to the [state] coffers," said state Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn).

Golden said the little-noticed billboard provision - tucked in a budget resolution adopted by the Senate this week - is a way to circumvent the city's overly restrictive zoning codes and allow more revenue-generating signs.

Bloomberg administration officials slammed the proposal as an "unwarranted intrusion" on the city's zoning authority.

"Illegal advertising signs would remain in locations where they do not belong, perpetuating visual pollution and esthetic harms," Bloomberg aide Micah Lasher told senators.

They had fun while it lasted

From the Daily News:

Spend-happy Senate Democrats leave their two years in the majority in the same shape they helped leave the state - deep in debt.

The Senate Democratic conference exceeded its $29 million legislative budget by a whopping $7 million, or 24%, Senate sources said.

Salaries for Democratic staffers are now being paid with money left over from unspent money from previous budgets, they concede.

Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn) called the excessive payouts "the height of irresponsibility" at a time the state is dealing with one of its worst fiscal crises ever.

"It goes along with the [billions of dollars] in new spending, taxes and fees they agreed to in the budget," Golden said. "The last two years they've spent like drunken sailors."

Senate Republicans, conversely, came in $2 million under the $23 million they had been allocated, sources said.

Senate Democratic officials confirmed the budget numbers, but had no comment.

Insiders say much of the Democratic overspending traces back to the leadership coup that paralyzed the House for a month last year.

After the Republicans claimed to have retaken the chamber, the Democrats wrested control back through a series of costly agreements.