Gottfried, Krueger to Co-Sponsor Forum on Co-Ops, Condos
Assembly Member Richard Gottfried (D-Chelsea, Midtown) and State Senator Liz Krueger (D-Upper East Side, Lenox Hill) will be co-sponsoring a town hall meeting on co-op and condominium apartments tomorrow.
At the meeting, New Yorkers will get the chance to hear from experts on the role that co-op and condo boards play in management and to learn about apartment owners’ rights. The forum will also feature information on new State legislation that would enable co-op shareholders to obtain “reverse mortgages”.
The event will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 29 from 6-8 p.m. at the Hunter College West Building Faculty Dining Room, 904 Lexington Ave.
Brewer to Introduce “Women in Limbo” Exhibit
Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer (D) will be introducing a new, feminist-themed art exhibit at her art gallery this Wednesday.
The exhibit, “Women in Limbo”, was created by curator and archivist Susan Stoltz. It is an anthology of art from female NYC artists from the 80’s and 90’s. Stoltz, a 40-year resident of SoHo, wanted to help document what she considered to be a neglected era of New York women in art.
The opening reception will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 30 from 6-8 p.m. at the Maggie Peyton Gallery, 1 Centre St.
Hoylman, Bichotte Introduce Statewide Ban on Menthols
State Senator Brad Hoylman (D-Chelsea, Midtown) and Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte (D-Brooklyn) have introduced a bill to ban the sale of menthol cigarettes in New York.
The bill would ban the sale of any tobacco products with a “characterizing flavor”, such as mint. Offenders would face fines of up to $50,000.
Hoylman and Bichotte argue that tobacco companies are using minty-flavored menthols to target teens and minorities. Furthermore, the two lawmakers have a personal stake in the matter, as both of their mothers are suffering from smoking-related diseases.
“Both of our moms are suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease from decades of smoking,” Hoylman told the Daily News. “My mother is going to die from this disease. It will kill her.”
Velázquez Introduces Climate Displaced Persons Act
Last week, Representative Nydia Velázquez (D-LES, Brooklyn, Queens) introduced new legislation to address the effect of climate change on human migration.
H.R. 4732, the Climate Displaced Person’s Act of 2019, would create formal protections for climate-displaced persons, or CDPs. The term refers to individuals who were forced out of their homes due to climate-change related disasters, such as rising sea levels or forest fires. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), there could be as many as 200 million CDPs by 2050.
In response, the bill would create a humanitarian program dedicated to helping CDPs. The new program would admit at least 50,000 CDPs, beginning in 2020,
“Despite this Administration’s efforts to strip the world’s most vulnerable populations of refuge, America will continue to stand tall as a safe haven for immigrants,” said Velázquez. “This legislation will not only reaffirm our nation’s longstanding role as a home to those fleeing conflict and disasters, but it will also update it to reflect changes to our world brought on by a changing climate.”
