Talk Bronx New York

Senator Klein Declares New Yorkers Need Property Relief NOW

NEW YORK- Senator Jeff Klein (D-34^th Senate District) commended Governor Paterson for recognizing the need for a property tax circuit breaker-a proposal the Senator has been pushing since last January-but called the Governor’s proposal only ‘half right’ because it does not include the immediate restoration of the STAR Rebate checks.

“New Yorkers cannot afford a proposal that would go into effect IF and WHEN the state closes its deficit and happens to find a surplus. New Yorkers are struggling and relief must be immediate.  A property tax proposal that does not include restoration of the STAR Rebate Check does not provide any relief from the crush of the highest property taxes in the nation,” said Klein.  “I ask the Legislature and the Governor to look at my proposal again. It reinstates the STAR Rebate checks, in addition to implementing a Circuit Breaker for middle class homeowners.” Klein has been a longtime advocate for the restoration of the Middle Class STAR rebate program and creation of a Circuit Breaker personal income tax credit.

In the 2009-2010 state budget, three-million New York State homeowners lost their STAR and Enhanced STAR rebate checks. Klein’s proposal would restore the Middle Class STAR rebate program at the 2008 benefit levels for homeowners with household incomes of $250,000 or less. Beginning in 2010, the rebate check program would be available to  seniors with household incomes of $150,000 or less and a Circuit Breaker Tax Credit would commence, providing targeted tax relief to households earning up to $250,000 per year and paying more than a threshold percentage of their income on local school taxes. The precise threshold of 6,7 or 8% would be based on rising household income categories, with the lowest income households (earning up to $90,000 per year upstate or $120,000 per year downstate) qualifying if property taxes consume more than 6% of their income.  For example, under Klein’s proposal, a homeowner making $40,000/year and paying $8,000 in school taxes (or 20% of their income) would receive roughly $3,920 in tax credits. That’s 70% of the overage ($5,600) from the circuit breaker point of 6% (of income).

It would cost NYS about $3 billion dollars to restore the STAR program and implement the Circuit Breaker program, $1.5 billion to reinstate the STAR program in fiscal year 2009-2010. Klein has suggested a variety of potential funding sources including a tax amnesty program, gaming expansion, uncollected cigarette tax revenues and rainy day funds.

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Abby Ross
Communications Director
Deputy Majority Leader Jeff Klein
New York State Senate
3612 E. Tremont Ave.
Bronx, NY 10465
718-822-2049
479-283-3505 (cell)
abbynews@gmail.com

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Nadau Lavergne Architects, Antony, France

Nadau Lavergne Architects reimagines the Grand Concourse as a linear urban forest in one proposal in this show at the Bronx Museum of the Arts

Decaying freeways, high-speed trains, levees, bicycle lanes — ever since Hurricane Katrina, infrastructure has been the hot topic among architects and architectural curators across the country. The chatter only grew louder after the Obama administration unveiled its economic stimulus package, igniting hopes of a major national transformation. “Intersections: The Grand Concourse Beyond 100,” which opened at the Bronx Museum of the Arts on Sunday, is the latest show to pick up on this trend.

A result of a nine-month competition sponsored by the museum and the Design Trust for Public Space, the show focuses on seven visions for the future of the Grand Concourse in the Bronx that range from urban farms to high-tech sound barriers for a nearby freeway. Much of the work is by students, and it reflects the kind of earnest idealism that has always been a staple of graduate studios.

However naïve these proposals may seem at first glance, though, they are all conceived at a manageable, human scale. And the more time you spend among them, the more you become aware of both the faded beauty of the Grand Concourse and the remarkable potential for revitalizing this century-old boulevard modeled on the Champs-Élysées. Eventually you begin to feel that the problem is not so much the innocence of planners and architects, but our own indifference and lack of political will.

A highlight of the show is a series of big, glossy photographs by Jeff Chien-Hsing Liao. These are the first things you see, and a revelation: a startling illustration of the insensitive planning that contributed to the boulevard’s decay.

One side of an image taken from the rooftop of a housing project radiates with the vibrant green treetops of the Mosholu Parkway. A thick band of train tracks carves diagonally through the other side of the image, disrupting the calm. The Concourse looks lost and isolated between the two. Read more..

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