Issues

The Gennaro Economic Revitalization Plan

• Fix the $11 Billion Inequity
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and members of his senior staff have testified that every year, New York City sends $11-12 billion more to Albany than the state sends back in the form of funding and services.  Fixing the state budget so that New York City stops being the cash cow for the rest of the state will significantly improve education, health care, transportation, public safety and quality of life for New York City residents, who comprise half the state's population.  Many problems faced by New York City residents on a day-to-day basis can be addressed by fixing this inequity.  Just to put the $11 billion figure into perspective, consider that this year's protracted budget battle between Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council was over $700 million in cuts proposed by the mayor, which represents less than 1/15th of the money that Albany takes from New York City every year.

• Cut Government Waste, Inefficiency and Fraud
Some State Senate offices, including Senator Frank Padavan's, have annual budgets costing taxpayers over $1 million while others have just one-third that amount.  Lowering the statewide allotment for such expenses and making the allocations more evenly distributed would not only increase fairness towards all New Yorkers but save taxpayers millions of dollars, too.

• End Corporate Welfare Programs that Don't Work for the People
We need to keep the programs that work, reform the ones that don't and make sure to never again give subsidies and tax breaks to corporations that don't create jobs or otherwise use the benefits to boost local economies.  The model of giving tax breaks to encourage corporate activity should be better extended to small businesses, for example.

• Promote Alternative/Green Energy
We can build a whole new "green economy" based on wind, solar, biodiesel, natural gas and river turbine sources. Net metering can help individual New Yorkers financially benefit from these new technologies.

• Promote Green Manufacturing and Construction
We can start a second, "green industrial revolution" through home weatherization and shifting the basis of New York's economy from volatile financial markets to more stable, "real" infrastructure in the green building sector.

• Collect Tobacco Revenue From Native Sellers
Cracking down on bootleggers at Native tobacco shops can bring an additional $200 million per year to New York City.

• Renew the Commuter Tax
Renewing the Commuter Tax, which the State Legislature repealed in 1999, will bring hundreds of millions of dollars back to New York City.

Fighting Overdevelopment

• As one of the City Council’s pre-eminent advocates of downzonings to combat the scourge of overdevelopment, Jim Gennaro has championed downzonings in Whitestone, Jamaica Hill, Hillcrest Estates, Douglaston, Little Neck, Bayside, Kissena Park, East Flushing, Queensborough Hill, Bellerose, Holliswood, West Cunningham, Utopia Estates and many other at-risk communities.
  
  
• Jim Gennaro has sponsored numerous laws to reign in out-of-control developers by significantly increasing the penalties for filing false building plans, doing construction or demolition without a permit and violating “stop work” orders.
   

Protecting Our Quality of Life

• Jim Gennaro took on the number-one quality of life issue in Queens by re-writing the City noise code, a landmark accomplishment that has dramatically decreased noise from nightlife establishments, construction, car stereos, car alarms, commercial air conditioning units and a host of other noise nuisances. This law received national attention and is serving as a model to cities around the country that seek quieter communities.
  
  
• Jim Gennaro has sponsored a host of anti-graffiti laws that mandate community service for graffiti vandals, ban the possession of graffiti instruments by minors, ban the sale of graffiti instruments to minors by merchants and mandate the removal of graffiti by property owners and the City of New York.
  
  
• Jim Gennaro increased the penalties for dumping household and commercial refuse into public litter baskets and passed a law that requires property owners to maintain their vacant lots and the areas adjacent to them.
   
  

Fighting for Homeowners

• Jim Gennaro has opposed property tax increases, helped secure a 7 percent property tax cut for homeowners and sponsored the legislation that created the $400 property tax rebate and the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income wage earners.
  
  
• Jim Gennaro has lobbied Albany for tax relief for small businesses and renters and has helped thousands of Queens residents receive their STAR property tax exemptions.  He also sponsored laws that increased property tax exemptions for low-income seniors and people with disabilities.  He also stopped the NYC Water Board from imposing an 18% water rate increase in 2007.
   

Fighting for Tenants

• Jim Gennaro, who has a strong record in fighting for renter's rights, has:
  
  
• expanded rent increase exemptions for senior citizens and people with disabilities;
  
  
• successfully fought to extend the rent stabilization laws;
  
  
• increased penalties against landlords who fail to provide adequate heat and hot water; and
  
  
• sponsored landmark legislation to prevent tenant harassment by landlords
  

Crime & Public Safetey

• As a leading member of the City Council’s Public Safety Committee, Jim Gennaro has brought down local crime by adding police officers to the NYPD's local precincts in Eastern Queens.  He has also sponsored laws that:
  
  
• increase protections for victims of domestic violence, stalking and sex offenses;
  
  
• require the installation of security cameras at schools;
  
  
• prohibit people who have been convicted of domestic violence from possessing or purchasing guns;
  
  
• severely restrict assault weapons and create a gun offender registry; and
  
  
• take legal action against unscrupulous and reckless gun manufacturers and dealers
  

Education

A former Queens College professor, Jim Gennaro has secured over $68 million in funding for local schools and $38 million for school youth programs.  He has led the City Council in providing funding for public schools that serve children with autism and has fought the formulas by which Albany has been shortchanging our schools.  He has sponsored laws that:

• require that all public and private schools have school nurses;
  
  
• prohibit and penalize acts of bullying and harassment in schools;
  
  
• convert all school buses to non-polluting “clean-air” buses;
  
  
• allow students to carry cell phones to and from schools; and
  
  
• provide for better school bus transportation for children with disabilities
  

Seniors

• Jim Gennaro has delivered over $57 million in funding for senior citizen programs and has led the fight in the City Council to save senior centers in Northeast Queens.
  
  
• When the critical “Meals-On-Wheels” program for homebound seniors was threatened, Jim Gennaro found the money to not only save the program, but to expand it.
  
  
• Jim Gennaro sponsored laws to expand access to SCRIE, the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption, and to increase property tax exemptions for low-income seniors.
  
  
• Jim Gennaro sponsored the law to create a prescription drug discount card program for seniors in New York City.
  

Protecting the Environment

Jim Gennaro, a trained geologist and former college professor, is the most progressive and effective environmental leader to ever hold public office in New York City. As Chairman of the City Council’s Environmental Protection Committee, Jim Gennaro's legislative accomplishments have made him a national leader on "green" issues.  He has written laws to:

• reduce greenhouse gases in New York City by 30%;
  
  
• protect and preserve forever the City’s upstate drinking water reservoirs;
  
  
• require all municipal construction to be "green," which means to be built to limit energy and water consumption, minimize wastewater, and a host of other environmental features;
  
  
• manage storm water so as to reduce flooding on neighborhood streets as well as protect the waters surrounding New York City;
  
  
• dramatically increase the number of clean air (low-emissions) taxis in the City;
  
  
• require prior notification to adjacent properties when certain outdoor pesticides are to be applied and/or sprayed;
  
  
• protect and restore Jamaica Bay and other sensitive ecological areas in New York City;
  
  
• require the City to install “clean” power generation (such as solar power, wind energy, or clean natural gas turbines) in as many government facilities as possible;
  
  
• reduce pesticide use by City agencies;
  
  
• require the City to purchase energy-efficient products;
  
  
• increase the fines for water pollution and sewer violations;
  
  
• protect the public from the dangers associated with the storage, use and handling of extremely hazardous substances and regulated toxic substances;
  
  
• require that many vehicles used in the City, like school buses, sanitation and other heavy-duty trucks, government-use passenger cars, private sight-seeing buses, City construction vehicles and ferry boats to use the cleanest fuel available and be equipped with state-of-the-art air pollution control devices; and
  
  
• require the City to purchase products with recycled content.
  

Getting Our Fair Share from Albany

It is an unfortunate reality that legislative leaders in Albany give New York City $11 billion less in funding than it receives from the City’s residents through various revenue streams, including income, real estate and sales taxes.  This fundamental and severe fiscal inequity will continue to force New York City residents to fight each other for scraps in their annual budget unless the Legislature fights harder for New York City.  Jim Gennaro pledges to be at the forefront of that fight.

Consumer Protection

Jim Gennaro wrote and passed the landmark city law that protects city residents who are on the verge of personal bankruptcy from being exploited by unscrupulous “credit counselors” who previously preyed upon the most financially vulnerable and desperate members of our community.

Health

• Prohibition of Smoking in Public Places and Places of Employment – This law, sponsored by Jim Gennaro, has done more to safeguard public health, the health of employees and to de-normalize smoking than any other law ever passed in the City of New York.
  
  
• Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act – This landmark law, supported by Jim Gennaro, requires that landlords ensure that dwellings where children under seven reside are safe from lead-based paint hazards. The law also requires that day care facilities be safe from lead-based paint hazards.
  
  
• Installation of Carbon Monoxide Detectors – This law, sponsored by Jim Gennaro, requires the installation of carbon monoxide detectors in residences throughout New York City.  This law is keeping the residents of New York City safe from the hidden and potentially deadly risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.
  
  
• Placement of Defibrillators in New York City Public Places – This law, sponsored by Jim Gennaro, is protecting New Yorkers by allowing quick response to cardiac arrest by the placement of automated external defibrillators at certain public places, such as transportation facilities, stadiums, arenas, parks, pools, hotels, shopping centers, museums and many other public places.
  

Worker Protection

Jim Gennaro wrote and passed landmark legislation regarding the reporting and analysis of City government workplace injuries.  This law has saved city taxpayers millions of dollars by dramatically reducing workers’ compensation cases and associated costs.

Good Government

Jim Gennaro has strengthened laws to reduce the influence of lobbyists in government policymaking and reduce the corrupting influence of money in political campaigns by passing comprehensive campaign finance reform.

Animal Protection

Jim Gennaro sponsored laws to improve the operations of City animal shelters and making it illegal in New York City to buy or sell products made from an endangered or threatened animal species.

Families

• Access to Emergency Domestic Violence Shelters (Local Law 43 of 2002) – This law, sponsored by Jim Gennaro, clarifies which individuals are entitled to receive emergency domestic violence shelter and prohibits shelters that provide emergency housing for domestic violence victims from requiring documentary proof of the incidence of violence to be eligible for emergency shelter or other related services.  This law protects domestic violence victims and their children by giving them better access to domestic violence shelters, a much better alternative to remaining in their current home or turning to the City’s homeless shelters, which do not offer the same safety standards and protections against their abusers.
  
  
• Qualifications for Child Care Providers and Public Dissemination of Information Regarding Child Day Care Facilities – This law, sponsored by Jim Gennaro, prohibits the issuance of to child care providers who have criminal convictions for sex, drug-related or violent offences and requires the disclosure by child day care facilities of detailed information about their operations, employees, complaints, pending litigation and a host of information that consumers can use to inform their selection of a child day care facility.