Messinger addresses NYC challenges at NYARM luncheon

Real Estate Weekly, April 20, 1994

At the outset of her address to the New York Association of Realty Managers (NYARM), Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger wished Mayor Giuliani well, adding "There are challenges facing the mayor, but frankly, I really think there are challenges facing all of us. This is a city that has some very substantial economic, racial, ethnic and geographic divisions."

New York City currently has a budget gap of between $1.8 and $2.3 billion which must be closed before beginning, of the next fiscal year in July. This means that those who govern the city need to make some immediate, fiscally responsible decisions on spending and taxes. They must do this knowing that in a public opinion poll taken last spring, 98 percent of all respondents felt that they were not getting their money's worth from city government. Garbage collection, public education, roads (including pothole repair), police and fire protection were services considered insufficient. But Messinger does not think that the city's problems are insoluble and the body of her speech addressed three key issues, solutions to which are already in progress: Crime, Taxes, and the Restructuring of Government Itself.

"Crime and the fear of crime, threaten to paralyze our city," Messinger said. "New York City public school children cannot learn in an unsafe environment, crime limits job opportunities, reduces individual freedom, and increases distrust and suspicion of one another."

Messinger feels that the community policing program, because of insufficient training and follow through, has not yet reached its full potential. She called on the Mayor and Police Commissioner William Bratton not to scrap the program saying "It is critical to get the community involved and instill trust in the police that protect them. In high crime neighborhoods, a Take Back Our Block campaign links neighborhood groups with the local police so that they can be full partners in reclaiming their streets."

"Taxes in this city need a thorough overhaul in the interest of efficiency and equity," said Messinger. She feels that there is no excuse that groups of people carry more than their fair share of the tax burden. "For too long, politicians have favored the single family home owner by providing them with special tax breaks and tax protection and not extending those same breaks to condominium, cooperative and rental resident," Messinger said.

Messinger has long advocated a phased tax equalization program that has built is safeguards to protect low-income homeowners and will begin to make the system fairer for Class II and commercial Class IV properties.

"We cannot continue to be the only city in the world which charges business people for the privilege of renting commercial space," Messinger said. She called for a full, eight year phased-in rollback of the commercial rent tax.

Another tax Messinger feels should be repealed is the unincorporated business tax which penalizes the self-employed and small businesses. She called it an "embarrassing" tax and one that should be phased out immediately.

She agrees with the Mayor in reducing the personal income tax surcharge but warns that it should be done fairly and equitably so that it doesn't skew tax collection against the middle class in favor of the wealthy.

She also agrees with the Mayor that reinventing government is a job that cannot wait, but "it must be done right." Messinger said that means involving labor and management, those who pay taxes and those who receive services.

"It is important to et real input from the citizens of the city as to what kinds of services need to be cut and which need to be enhanced," Messinger - said. "Last minute budget battle and large scale layoffs are unproductive. New York should take a cue from the management revolution that's been happening in major corporations like AT&T and Boeing: involving labor is key to increased productivity."

Messinger closed with a quote from John Steinbeck, who mused that no matter how ugly and dirty New York City is, once you have lived here "no place else is ever good enough." She hoped that the members in attendance and the residents of their buildings and developments will be interested in working together to make New York even better and help create an improved quality of life for all in the city.