Councilmember David Greenfield, chair of the Committee on Land Use. Image credit: William Alatriste/New York City Council

City officials questioned on policy to protect New York’s industrial sector.  On May 6, 2015 the City Council Committee on Land Use held an oversight hearing on industrial land use policy in New York City with a focus on protecting and encouraging the City’s industrial sector from encroaching alternative uses.  In his opening remarks, Councilmember and Land Use Chair David Greenfield emphasized as ineffective the City’s policy of designating Industrial Business Zones without changing the underlying zoning to protect industry from competing commercial uses and pointed out the importance of protecting the City’s industrial sector, comprising 10 percent of the local private sector workforce, frequently made of small businesses employing forty people or less, and paying significantly higher wages than the service sector.

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Council member Jumaane D. Williams chairs the oversight hearing on 421-a tax exemptions. Image credit: William Alatriste/New York City Council

HPD Commissioner Been, others testify on effectiveness of the program.  On January 29, 2015 the City Council Committee on Housing and Buildings held an oversight hearing on the 421-a tax benefit program. The program, established in 1971 by the New York State Legislature, was designed to spur residential development of underused land by granting a property tax reduction to developers for a period of ten to twenty-five years, with an objective of increasing affordable housing access for low-income residents.  The program was most recently renewed by the Legislature in 2011, with a pending expiration date of June 15, 2015, and a cost of $1.1 billion in foregone tax revenue in fiscal year 2013.

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