Quinn Offers Plans To Help NYC Through Tough Economic Period
BY JOHN TOSCANO

Photo William Alatriste New York City council Council Speaker Quinn delivering the State of the City address.

As federal rebate checks go out this spring as part of the federal economic stimulus program, New York City should suspend the sales tax for a week to encourage people to go out and spend their rebate dollars to help make that program a success, Council Speaker Christine Quinn proposed last week.

"We have every reason to believe that this 8 percent solution, given its timing, will be even more successful at priming the consumer pump," Quinn said.

The Speaker added that she will send Governor Eliot Spitzer and the state legislature a bill that would "kick in" as soon as those checks go out. The bill would suspend the sales tax on all retail goods and entertainment, stimulating the local economy and supporting small businesses, she said.

The sales tax-free week was one of several proposals made in Quinn's annual State of the City address at City Hall on February 12, in which the main theme was supporting New Yorkers during difficult economic times.

Among the other proposals the Manhattan Democrat made were expanding affordable health care for small businesses and offering bonus pay to educators who commit to teaching in low-performing schools.

Several of the proposals, she said, represented creative uses of existing or non-city resources, such as a public- private collaboration between the city and the medical technology company OraSure Technologies Inc. to expand rapid HIV testing. Another collaborative effort with the Central Labor Council would preserve and build middleincome housing.

Quinn, who has already announced plans to run for mayor in 2009, also pledged, as a commitment to fiscal responsibility, to reduce the council budget for the first time in the history of the modern council.

"If we are going to look our teachers and nurses in the eye and explain why programs they care about are getting less this year, then we must do the same," she declared.

Besides giving small businesses a boost with the free sales tax week, Quinn proposed expanding the already successful Health Works affordable healthcare program, which provides health insurance to nearly 200 businesses in Brooklyn with a small public subsidy.

She proposed adding 4,500 small business employees in Queens and Manhattan to the program, rather than waste city resources by creating a new program.

Addressing the pressing problem of affordable middle-income housing, Quinn announced the creation of a high-level task force charged with developing a comprehensive plan to create housing that is permanently affordable to middleincome New Yorkers.

The task force will be chaired by former HPD Commissioner Felice Michetti and former HUD Assistant Deputy Secretary Maxine Griffith. Plans call for beginning to implement the program next year.

Quinn called for a computer matching system that would make anyone enrolled in Medicaid also eligible for Food Stamps. She also announced an agreement with Mayor Michael Bloomberg to create a five-borough, year-round, comprehensive New York City ferry system.

Quinn said, "Imagine getting on a ferry in Hunts Point (The Bronx) for a day trip to Coney Island, or traveling from Brooklyn to Queens without waiting for the G train." The Speaker said the plan would be one of the most significant transit initiatives in recent New York City history.