Brewer to Hold Hearing on East Side Coastal Resiliency
Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer (D) will be holding a public hearing next Wednesday on the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project.
The purpose of the project is to fortify Manhattan’s east coastline from flooding and make the waterfront more publicly accessible. The hearing will have the NYC Department of Design and Construction present the audience with a summary of the plan.
The hearing is slated for Wednesday, July 17 from 6-8 p.m. at Mount Sinai Beth Israel’s Bernstein Pavilion, 10 Nathan D. Perlman Place.
Hoylman’s Bill Makes Trump Tax Returns Sharable
Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) signed a bill yesterday authorizing the release of the tax returns for President Donald Trump (R).
The bill, sponsored by State Senator Brad Hoylman (D-Chelsea, Midtown), requires state tax officials to release President Trump’s tax returns upon request of the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee or the Joint Committee on Taxation.
“This is an important step in standing up for the principle of checks and balances and supporting the oversight responsibilities of Congress,” said Hoylman.
Rivera Testifies Against Solitary Confinement
City Council Member Carlina Rivera (D-East Village, Gramercy Park) testified before the New York Board of Corrections yesterday, making the case for abolishing solitary confinement.
In her testimony, Rivera called the system an inhumane form of punishment – one that can cause permanent mental damage to those subjected to it. She had decided to testify in response to the death of Layleen Polanco, a 27-year-old prisoner at Rikers Island who was found dead in her cell after nine days in solitary.
“No person should be required to spend 22 to 24 hours a day in a cell without meaningful human contact, programming or therapy, and it is unacceptable that still, in 2019, New York City jails continue to employ the inhuman practice of solitary confinement,” said Rivera. “This continues despite the wealth of evidence that solitary confinement causes severe psychological, emotional and physical harm and contributes significantly to recidivism.”
Kallos’ Commends City for Wage Parity Announcement
City Council Member Ben Kallos (D-Yorkville, Lenox Hill) released a statement yesterday celebrating the announcement of a new plan that would mandate wage parity for early childhood educators.
The plan, announced yesterday morning by Mayor Bill de Blasio (D), would ensure that pre-kindergarten staffers are given the same starting salaries as Department of Education employees.“After years of unequal pay, we finally have wage parity for the hardworking early childhood education professionals at community-based organizations who have been essential to making New York City’s historic Universal Pre-K program a reality,” said Kallos. “Many of the teachers who were being paid less than their colleagues were women of color. With today’s agreement, which follows years of advocacy involving rallies, marches and press conferences, that inequity will finally come to an end.”
