— IN THE PAST WEEK —

Blessings and Prayers for Rosh Hashanah!

Wishing all those and their families celebrating a sweet and joyous new year.

Shana Tova!

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Vallone Proposes Bill to

Monitor Mayor de Blasio’s Jobs Plan Progress

At Wednesday’s Stated Meeting, Council Members Paul A. Vallone and Ritchie Torres introduced legislation that would require the NYC Economic Development Corporation (EDC) to deliver an annual report on the progress of attaining the job creation goals set forth in the Mayor’s New York Works initiative. The report would be delivered to the City Council and published on the New York Works website every year until 2027.

In 2017, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the New York Works jobs plan, which set out to create 100,000 “good-paying jobs” over the course of 10 years. However, a March 18 joint committee hearing of the Committees on Economic Development and Oversight and Investigation revealed a need for additional data on the progress of the jobs plan and who has obtained employment under the program, spurring committee chairs Vallone and Torres to introduce today’s reporting bill.

The report would deliver specific data about job creation progress and information about employed individuals under the program disaggregated by education level, race and ethnicity, gender, and whether the individuals are residents of New York City. Data would also be broken down by salary, borough, company, and the number of jobs per contract if the company is contracted by the city.

A New York Works Progress Update published after the March hearing reported that EDC has “directly created 3,725 full-time, private sector jobs, of which 3,072 (or 82%) are good-paying jobs.” Good paying jobs are defined as jobs that pay $50,000 or more per year or are on a pathway to paying that wage.

“While the New York Works jobs plan presents an ambitious workforce development plan for our city, projections and estimates do not provide tangible evidence that these efforts are actually materializing into real jobs for our New Yorkers,” said Council Member Paul Vallone, Chair of the Committee on Economic Development. “Transparent reporting at a granular level would help develop a clear jobs plan that defines how the city is going to build on the great work that EDC has been doing for years while ensuring that New Yorkers of every background are being connected to truly good paying jobs.”

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Celebrating Diwali in Queens!

Beautiful Sunday night at the World's Fair Marina celebrating Diwali 2019! May all those preparing to celebrate have a joyful and bright holiday!

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Honoring an FDNY Leader on His Retirement

It was my pleasure Friday to recognize FDNY Queens Borough Commander Ed Baggott on his retirement. Thank you for your decades of professionalism and dedication to our borough and our city!

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— MORE NEWS —

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ICYMI: Vallone Decries DeBlasio Subsidy to One of the Worst-Performing School Bus Companies

"One of the city’s worst-performing school bus companies is also one of the most expensive for taxpayers – collecting a special subsidy from Mayor de Blasio that other firms don’t get.

Reliant Transportation had the second most delays and breakdowns in recent school years, but Hizzoner has still poured hundreds of millions into the company after fundraising thousands from its executives and workers. Reliant executive Alex Lodde, for example, donated $100,000 to de Blasio’s efforts to flip the state Senate Democrat in 2014, with the cash steered toward the Putnam County Democratic Committee.

The company’s school buses logged 28,963 delays and 3,367 breakdowns in the last four school years, according to a Daily News analysis of city figures. Just over 99% of Reliant’s delays and breakdowns were for buses carrying special education students.

"The Mayor routinely circumvents the City Council to funnel funds directly to unreliable Reliant Transportation," Councilman Paul Vallone (D-Queens) said. "It comes as no surprise that Reliant can't even be bothered to get our students to school on time, despite receiving the largest school bus contract in the city.”

“This mayoral overreach, which costs taxpayers millions of dollars each year while yielding poor results for our city's students and families, must come to an end," said Vallone, who was one of six Council members who voted against the original 2014 grant."

NY Daily News

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Join Us For Our Final Outdoor Movie Night of the Year!