News
Year-end Grantee Victories
As the year draws to a close, North Star Fund is pleased to report on three significant advances made during December by our grantees.
Community-phobic Kingsbridge Armory Mall Nixed
On Monday, December 14, the New York City Council quashed a $310 million development plan to turn the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx into a shopping mall. The vote was 45 to 1 abstention. The Council had more than enough votes to overturn Mayor Bloomberg's veto two weeks later on December 22. The vote came after months of stiff community opposition to the plan, led by the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA), a coalition that that included North Star Fund grantees Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition and Kingsbridge Heights Neighborhood Improvement Association.
A living wage was pivotal to the campaign.The developer only wanted to make a commitment to paying minimum wage for the largely retail jobs created by the mall development. According to the New York Times:
They wanted [the developer] to pledge that every job at the mall would pay at least $10 an hour, arguing that the company was set to receive more than $50 million in tax credits and exemptions. Many cities across the country have similar requirements for projects built using public money.
Transgender State Employees Breathe Sigh of Relief
On December 16, Governor Paterson signed an executive order prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity and expression for state employees. North Star Fund grantee Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF) worked in coalition with other groups including New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy (NYAGRA), Empire State Pride Agenda, and the GENDA Coalition. TLDEF's website reports:
In 38 states, there is no law protecting transgender people from being fired because of who they are. Federal law similarly offers little in the way of job protection for transgender people.
Silver Pledges to Cap Rent 30% for People with HIV Illness in Public Housing
Thanks to Governor Pataki, it had been the case that public housing residents with HIV related illnesses were the only New Yorkers paying more than 30% of their income in rent. On Thursday, December 19, State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver announced that he would throw his weight behind a bill that would cap the rent for low-income New Yorkers with AIDS at 30%. Long-time North Star Fund grantee New York City AIDS Housing Network (NYCAHN) has worked long and hard to get this measure passed. According to their press release:
The legislation would create the same affordable housing protection 11,000 clients of the HIV/AIDS Services Administration's (HASA) rental assistance program that exists in other comparable low-income housing programs.
Stay tuned to the Community Blog, where Sean Barry, NYCAHN's co-director, will be writing about the bill's significance, and what it will still take to get it passed.
