WHEREAS, The School Construction Authority (SCA) has announced its intention to develop a new elementary school with approximately 560 seats on the first six floors of the building that currently houses the Foundling Hospital on the southeast corner of 6th Avenue and West 17th Street; and

WHEREAS, Community Board Five commends Community Board Two’s Social Services & Education Committee, the Public School Parent Advocacy Committee, the Rudin Family and New York State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, without whose work this new school would not have come to fruition; and

WHEREAS, The proposed school includes dedicated facilities for special education, a child developmentally appropriate design and creative implementation of outdoor space; and

WHEREAS, Community Board Five currently has no elementary or middle school in our borders; and

WHEREAS, Community Board Five is  one of the four highest-growth neighborhoods and one of the four neighborhoods at highest risk for neighborhood-wide school overcrowding in Manhattan; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That Community Board Five supports and looks forward to the development of this new school and urges the Mayor and City Council to approve it when it comes before them for a vote and; and be it further

RESOLVED, That Community Board Five strongly urges that the Department of Education’s (DOE) commitment to lower class size (20 children per class in kindergarten through 3rd grade and 23 children per class for grades 4 and above) guide the SCA as it designs the new school and is honored once the school is operational.  

The above resolution passed with a vote of   28 in favor, 0 opposed, 1 abstaining.

WHEREAS, The City Council and State Legislature have introduced legislation that would lower the minimum age of full community board membership to sixteen; and

WHEREAS, The legislation allows for but does not require a maximum of two people younger than eighteen per community board; and

WHEREAS, Having younger members on community boards will make community boards more genuinely representative, add a valuable perspective and foster civic engagement in the next generation of leaders; and

WHEREAS, Recent studies have shown that being politically active in high school leads to more involvement as an adult; and

WHEREAS,  Community Board Five feels that while teen community board members may face challenges such as carrying through on their commitment, juggling multiple activities, being intimidated about  participating in board debates and having to sometimes attend meetings that run late,  we also believe there are many teens capable of handling such challenges.  Furthermore, teen members would go through the same screening process as adults; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That Community Board Five supports the legislation lowering the age of community board membership to sixteen and suggests that applicants younger than eighteen supplement the two references already required with a letter from a teacher, guidance counselor, and/or parent attesting to their ability to fulfill their community board responsibilities.

The above resolution passed with a vote of   26 in favor, 5 opposed, 1 abstention.

WHEREAS, A new bill was introduced by City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn and Councilmembers Dan Garodnick and Melissa Mark-Viverito that creates a new harassment violation providing extra protection for tenants; and

WHEREAS, Under the current legal framework, tenants are limited in taking their landlords to Housing Court only for violations relating to the physical condition of the apartment or failures to provide essential services, like heating and hot water; and

WHEREAS, This new Tenant Harassment Bill defines the actions that qualify as harassment such as:

• using force or making threats against a lawful occupant
• repeated or prolonged interruption of essential services
• repeated frivolous court proceedings
• removing possessions of the lawful occupant
• removing the occupant's entry door, removing the lock or making it inoperable, changing the locks and not supplying the key to the new lock
• repeated acts that interfere with the lawful occupant's ability to live in comfort, peace and quiet; and

WHEREAS, The new bill states that the owner shall neither cause nor permit any harassment of tenants or lawful occupant; and

WHEREAS, Civil penalties for judicial findings of harassment range from $1,000 to $5,000; and

WHEREAS, Provisions have been made in the bill to protect the owner as well, for example:

• An owner may seek protection from frivolous harassment claims and may ask the court for an order preventing the tenant from pursuing another judicial proceeding (if the tenant has initiated more than 2 proceedings in a 10 year period)
• If the court determines that a tenant harassment claim against an owner is frivolous, the court may award attorneys fees to the owner; and

WHEREAS, 97% of housing court cases are owners pursuing tenants, thus there is little concern that this legislation will create an upsurge in frivolous lawsuits by tenants; and

WHEREAS, This legislation protects all tenants not just rent-regulated tenants (the NY State Division of Housing and Community Renewal currently calls for harassment protection against rent regulated tenants only); and

WHEREAS, This legislation is of utmost relevance in light of the current surge of high-end real estate development driving tenants of moderate and affordable housing out of our district; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That Community Board Five urges the New York City Council to pass this Tenant Harassment legislation and the Mayor to sign it into law.

WHEREAS, On January 31, 2008, New York City public schools received an abrupt announcement from the Mayor's office that their budgets would be cut resulting in a total cutback of $180 million during this fiscal year and $324 million next fiscal year; and

WHEREAS, Cuts to the school budget impact each school's day to day operational expenses such as new teachers' salaries, arts education, after-school programs, etc; and

WHEREAS, Neither the school principals nor school community were conferred with for their feedback on where these cuts would be best directed; and

WHEREAS, The Center for Arts Education issued an impact statement on February 8, 2008 reporting that school principals are finding no way around cuts to arts instruction and other key programs during this budgetary squeeze and given the narrowing of curriculum that is already underway due to an increased focus on testing and test preparation, arts education will be cut resulting in an unbalanced curriculum for students; and

WHEREAS, These cuts dramatically impact the public elementary and middle schools that service Community Board Five as nearly all are vastly overcrowded, and many of these schools have eliminated arts classes, science labs and gyms in order to use them as classrooms to accommodate more students; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That Community Board Five urges Mayor Bloomberg not to make school budget cuts this fiscal year nor next fiscal year and to find ways to collaborate directly with school principals and school community on where cuts can be made elsewhere in the system. 

WHEREAS, The rapid and continued increase in residential development within Community Board 5 (CB5) has had a severe impact on the education of our children resulting in the overcrowding of nearly all public elementary and middle schools in School District 2, in which CB5 lies; and

WHEREAS, The February 2007 State of Residential Construction in CB5 (prepared by Gretchen Minneman) reveals that 5,002 new dwelling units have been approved for construction between 2000 and 2007; and

WHEREAS, It is estimated that these new dwelling units would yield approximately 500 elementary school aged plus 100 middle school aged children, for a total of 600 new children within CB5 (this calculation is based on a formula supplied by the Manhattan Borough President's office based on Board of Education and Department of City Planning reports, May 2001); and

WHEREAS, The average number of students currently enrolled in the public schools serving CB5 is approximately 500 students; and

WHEREAS, In terms of location within the district, 60% or 2,934 of these dwelling units will be built between 34th and 23rd Streets, which is in the center of our district; and

WHEREAS, The Manhattan Borough President's office ranks CB5 the third highest district in terms of number of dwelling units to be developed in Manhattan (CB4 ranks #1 and CB1 ranks #2); and

WHEREAS, Chancellor Klein has reported a 24.7% increase in student population growth in School District 2 between 2004-2014, and the DOE also predicts a growing student population within CB5, and

WHEREAS, A recent study supplied by CEC2 reveals that the schools serving CB5 have had massive student population increases in 2007 versus 2006 which have driven school capacity levels to substantially over 100% (see attachment); and

WHEREAS, The School Construction Authority (SCA), the agency responsible for determining where schools are built, has gone on record stating that 85% capacity is technically a full capacity school because this figure enables the existence of art classes, science labs and gymnasiums which would otherwise be used as classrooms in overcrowded schools; and

WHEREAS, The SCA has a capital budget that includes funding for the building of new schools within School District 2.  However, School District 2 covers a vast area of Manhattan, i.e. all of Downtown, Midtown and the entire Upper East Side (see map attached); and

WHEREAS, The SCA does not necessarily look at the specific of school catchment districts.  Thus, it is unclear in which part of School District 2 those funds will be used; and

WHEREAS, There is not a single public elementary nor middle school within the Community Board Five district boundaries; and

WHEREAS, Another issue is that the SCA and Department of Education (DOE) have relied on enrollment projections supplied by the Grier Report, which were found to be inaccurate because they do not count new residential development in a meaningful way; and

WHEREAS, There is a New York State mandated class size plan.  The City of New York, for example, recently agreed to reduce class size of grades K-3 to 20 students; and

WHEREAS, There is increasing awareness of and organizing around the issue of overcrowded schools.  CB5 commends the Manhattan Borough President's Task Force on School Overcrowding, recently established to bring together parents, teachers, Community Boards, Community Education Councils and elected officials to develop recommended solutions to this crucial issue; and

WHEREAS, CB5 applauds the efforts of vocal parent communities in other Community Boards for their success in mobilizing the DOE and SCA to negotiate with developers to build schools in new residential projects.  Key examples:

• In the Con Edison Development project in CB6, the developer has agreed to set aside space for a new 650 seat public school to help alleviate overcrowding at P.S. 116 and accommodate expected children from the 10,000 new residential units.
• Battery Park City residential development project in CB1 will include the construction of a new public school to alleviate overcrowding and accommodate children from new residential units.
• CB2 and the Public School Political Action Committee called for the building of new public elementary, middle and high schools at a recent forum and identified the Pier 40 development project as an opportunity for new education space.
• CB6 will soon have 2 new larger schools for P.S. 59 and the High School of Art and Design by 2011 being built as part of a new luxury residential development on 57th Street and 2nd Avenue; and

WHEREAS, The assumption that new residents of luxury units will send their children to private versus public schools is a false one.  The Huffington Post recently reported that there is a lack of excess capacity in private schools nationwide.  In Manhattan, private school applications have increased dramatically and there are no plans in place to keep up with the demand; and

WHEREAS, It is of utmost priority to address the growing population of children and ensure there are adequate facilities to educate them before the situation worsens, and it is largely the role of the Community Boards to be proactive and focus on the development of new schools within the district; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That CB5 strongly supports the Manhattan Borough President's Task Force on School Overcrowding, and be it further

RESOLVED, That CB5 urges the DOE and SCA to create schools and identify new seats for the growing number of students coming into our district, and be it further

RESOLVED, That CB5 urges the DOE and SCA to create new public elementary and middle schools within the geographic boundaries of CB5, and be it further

RESOLVED, That CB5 recognizes that the absence of seats for the expected influx of students is one of the most serious issues facing our community and will use the resources of the Board, including the Land Use & Zoning and Landmarks committees, to identify potential sites for schools.

WHEREAS, There exists a serious stray animal and dangerous dog problem in New York City and hundreds of unwanted dogs and thousands of cats continue to wander our streets reproducing at alarming rates; and

WHEREAS, Many of the stray animals suffer from exposure to the elements, disease, lack of food, water, shelter, and veterinary care, mistreatment, vehicular accidents, and the risk of rabies; and

WHEREAS, Many of the dogs that live on the streets have attacked children and the elderly, causing serious physical injury and the possibility of disease transmission; and

WHEREAS, Stray animals pose a serious public health threat and danger to people, children, and other animals; and

WHEREAS, Pet overpopulation continues to plague the city, and thousands of dogs and cats are brought to our city shelters each year, costing New York City residents upwards of $7.5 million to house and euthanize approximately 48% of the animals; and

WHEREAS New York City spends only $0.93 per capita on animal control, one of the lowest in the nation; and

WHEREAS, The pet industry generates approximately $106 million in tax revenues annually for New York City, yet only allocates approximately 7% of these monies on animal control services each year; and

WHEREAS, The city licenses only 10% of the estimated 1 million dogs residing in the city, and is losing close to $8 million in revenue annually to fund its animal control program, and

WHEREAS, Although inroads have been made New York City does not have a comprehensive, adequately funded animal care and control program; and

WHEREAS, The ASPCA proposes legislation calling for increased dog licensing revenue, collection of fines through enforcement, and additional revenue collected from unrelated funding sources; and

WHEREAS, The proposed legislation would also create a new bureau of animal care and control services, animal care officers and establish a comprehensive program; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That Community Board Five supports legislation proposed by the ASPCA that would create animal control officers and fund sufficient levels of services to retrieve animals, maintain shelters in each borough for lost, stray, and homeless animals, license the estimated one million dogs residing in the city, promote and further spaying and neutering of dogs and cats, and help enforce animal neglect laws.

The above resolution passed with a vote of 28 in favor, 1 opposed, 1 abstention.

WHEREAS, The issue of same sex marriage has new immediacy based on the New York State Court of Appeals' refusal to authorize same sex marriages on July 6, 2006 stating that the issue should be decided by the state legislature; and

WHEREAS, On October 5, 2006, Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer declared that he would push to legalize same sex marriage and "make it law in New York"; and

WHEREAS, Community Board Five has a history of supporting marriage equality for same sex couples as per resolutions passed on July 11, 2002 and March 10, 2005; and

WHEREAS, New York State Assembly Member Richard Gottfried and State Senator Tom Duane have re-introduced bills A7463 in the Assembly and S5156 State Senate respectively that in summary:

• Validates marriage between same sex parties
• Provides that a marriage that is otherwise valid shall be valid regardless of whether the parties to the marriage are of the same or different sex
• Makes appropriate gender neutral corrections to the section of the domestic relations law granting authority to the town or city clerk to accept an application for a marriage license
• Makes gender neutral corrections throughout the domestic relations law;

WHEREAS, These bills have been Co-Sponsored by Assembly Member Jonathan Bing, Assembly Member Deborah J. Glick and State Senator Krueger, as well as Multi-Sponsored by Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal, all of whom represent Community Board Five; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That Community Board Five very strongly urges the New York State Assembly, State Senate and Governor-elect to move forward with the passage of this same sex marriage legislation.

Manhattan Community Board Five, representing Midtown Manhattan, would like to thank you for the opportunity to comment on two proposed Health Department initiatives. 

The first would require New York City restaurant owners to substitute trans fat oils for other healthier oils such as olive, canola, safflower or grapeseed.  While Community Board Five agrees that restaurants should limit the amount of trans fats, we are uncomfortable with mandating the removal of such trans fat oils.  Community Board Five is concerned that enforcement of the current proposal as is would be difficult and costly.  Additionally, it would be problematic for health inspectors to ensure that trans fat oils were not present in restaurant foods.

Community Board Five instead favors a campaign aimed at continued education of restaurant owners and their consumers about the dangers of trans fat oils. We recommend requiring restaurant owners to indicate the presence of trans fat oils in foods through a visible and easily recognizable symbol placed near the item on a menu.  This symbol would serve the purpose of educating consumers about the presence of trans fat oils and allow them to make an informed choice as to whether or not to consume the item.

The second proposed initiative would require restaurants that currently display the calorie contents of food and drink items to now display these calorie contents on menus and menu boards.   We are concerned that this may place an unfair burden on restaurant owners who may incur significant costs in order to upgrade menus and menu boards to provide this new mandated information.  Furthermore, we are concerned about the imposition this new initiative may place upon smaller restaurants that may have variable or changing menus items on a frequent basis.

Community Board Five prefers a pilot program that targets the larger chain restaurants such as McDonalds and Starbucks.  We believe that this pilot program should require all restaurants at a certain seating capacity, volume of service and/or with multiple locations to display calorie information on menus and menu boards.  Important information on the favorable and/or unfavorable impact of the legislation and costs should be gathered and assessed at completion.  Community Board Five does not want to burden smaller restaurants that are already seeking to educate their consumers through their voluntary provision of nutritional information with additional mandated requirements.

Manhattan Community Board Five appreciates and recognizes your commitment to the health and well-being of New Yorkers and we thank you once again for the opportunity to comment on both these important health measures.

The letter passed with a vote of 17 in favor, 16 opposed, 0 abstention.  

WHEREAS, There is a great need for rent controlled and rent stabilized housing in Manhattan; and

WHEREAS, The vast majority of rent controlled and rent stabilized apartments are occupied by middle or low income families or individuals; and

WHEREAS, Rent-control and rent-stabilized beneficiaries are often single elderly individuals who do not have the means to find other non-assisted housing; and

WHEREAS, Rent-controlled and rent-stabilized tenants have a right to fair treatment by landlords and the New York City government; and

WHEREAS, The current city legislation does not require landlords to notify the City Council and Community Boards in writing of future demolitions to their rent controlled or rent stabilized residences; and

WHEREAS, The Department of Buildings (DOB) does not offer public lists of landlords who file to terminate rent controlled apartments; and

WHEREAS, “Phony demolitions” have been used as a pretence to coerce rent controlled and rent stabilized individuals out their apartments; and

WHEREAS, The general public, Community Boards and the City Council should be notified upon the termination of rent controlled and rent stabilized apartments; and

WHEREAS, Councilmember Rosie Mendez has introduced legislation that would require landlords to notify the City Council, Community Boards and rent controlled and rent stabilized tenants in writing regarding the demolition of rent controlled buildings; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That Community Board Five supports Councilmember Mendez’s Bill to Amend of the NYC Housing Code (Int. no. 340); be it further

RESOLVED, That Community Board Five supports the inclusion of an amendment to Int. no. 340 requiring DOB to publish a list of landlords who are evicting tenants from rent controlled and rent stabilized tenants due to demolition of the building.

The above resolution passed with a vote of 31 in favor, 0 opposed, 0 abstention.  

WHEREAS, According to the NYC Rent Guidelines Board report “Changes to the Rent Stabilized Housing Stock in NYC in 2004,” a total of 88,000 rent stabilized housing units were lost in New York City in a 10 year period from 1994-2004; and

WHEREAS, Building owners eager to increase profits on rent-stabilized units have utilized a variety of means to turn these units into luxury housing or commercial units resulting in thousands of rent-stabilized units being permanently removed from rental housing stock; and

WHEREAS, The current demolition provision in the NY State Rent Stabilization Law enables building owners to demolish old, dilapidated and dangerous housing in order to replace it with new, safe housing; and 

WHEREAS, Building owners are increasingly circumventing the Rent Stabilization Law by applying for a demolition permit in order to move tenants out when their real purpose is to do a simple renovation so that they can lease apartments for higher rents; and

WHEREAS, New York State Assembly Member Deborah Glick has introduced Bill #A10944 that will clarify the definition of demolition, making it consistent with its common and intended definitions; and 

WHEREAS, This bill will make it clear that owners will not be permitted to eliminate rent-stabilized housing units by manipulating the demolition provision; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That Community Board Five strongly supports Assemblymember Deborah J. Glick’s Bill #A10944 in order to preserve affordable housing in New York City.

The above resolution passed with a vote of 31 in favor, 0 opposed, 0 abstention.  

WHEREAS, New York City should have the power, through its duly elected Mayor and duly elected City Council, to determine the shape and scope of its rent and eviction regulation laws; and

WHEREAS, New York City had such home rule power prior to 1971, and using that power enacted both the City Rent and Rehabilitation Law (city rent control) of 1962 and the Rent Stabilization Law of 1969; and

WHEREAS, The New York State Legislature and Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller enacted legislation in 1971 – known as the Urstadt Law, named for Rockefeller’s Housing

Commissioner Charles J. Urstadt – that severely curtailed the City’s home rule powers by prohibiting enactment of laws or regulations to strengthen the city rent laws but allowing enactment of laws or regulations to weaken the city rent laws; and

WHEREAS, The New York State Legislature and Governor George E. Pataki tightened the Urstadt Law in 2003 by prohibiting the City Council and Mayor from enacting any law or regulation affecting rents and evictions, except for periodic renewal of the city rent laws and decontrol of classes of housing; and

WHEREAS, For 34 years the City of New York and its residents have bargained with upstate legislators whose districts do not include a single rent-regulated apartment over matters that should properly be determined by duly elected New York City officials; and

WHEREAS, The New York City Council passed a resolution in 2003, and a home rule message in 2005, calling on the State Legislature and Governor to repeal the Urstadt Law and restore home rule powers over rents and evictions to the duly elected New York City officials; and

WHEREAS, The New York State Assembly has, for the past 12 years, passed a bill to repeal the Urstadt Law and restore home rule powers over its rent laws to the City of New York; and

WHEREAS, The leadership of the New York State Senate has refused to allow bills to repeal the Urstadt Law to be released from committee and thus allow such bills to be debated by the members of the Senate; and

WHEREAS, The stock of rent-controlled and rent-stabilized housing constitutes the largest and most important stock of affordable rental housing in New York City, with one of every three city residents living in these apartments; and

WHEREAS, This stock of affordable housing is being constantly reduced by various decontrol amendments enacted by the New York State Legislature and the New York City Council over the past twelve years, the most harmful of which has been high rent vacancy decontrol, allowing the permanent deregulation of vacant rent-regulated units when the legal rent reaches $2,000 per month; and

WHEREAS, Credible analyses of the impact of these decontrol mechanisms have shown that at a minimum the City of New York has lost 200,000 affordable apartments over the past decade, as rent-regulated apartments are converted on vacancy to deregulated, free market units; and

WHEREAS, Credible analyses of the impact of these decontrol mechanisms have shown that the pace of vacancy decontrol has accelerated; and

WHEREAS, There is an urgent need for local government to review and evaluate the shape and scope of rent and eviction regulation laws in New York City; and

WHEREAS, This process of review and evaluation is a proper concern for the duly elected officials of New York City; therefore be it

RESOLVED, Community Board Five calls on the New York State Legislature and Governor to enact legislation to repeal the Urstadt Law, and restore home rule powers to the Mayor and New York City Council; therefore be it further

RESOLVED, Community Board Five calls on the Mayor of New York City to review the shape and scope of rent and eviction laws in New York City and to make enactment of this legislation a top priority for the City of New York.

The above resolution passed with a vote of 28 in favor, 0 opposed, 0 abstention.

WHEREAS, The businesses and residents of Community Board Five require the services of workers in the grocery, hotel, construction, building service and industrial laundry sector; and

WHEREAS, 70% of the firms in these sectors provide affordable health insurance coverage to their employees; and

WHEREAS, The 30% of the firms that do not provide coverage enjoy an unfair competitive cost advantage over those firms providing this socially important benefit; and

WHEREAS, The employees lacking private insurance must turn to the public sector (Medicaid, Family HealthPlus, Child HealthPlus, and the NYC Health and Hospitals Corp.) to help meet the healthcare needs of their families; and

WHEREAS,  The city and our community have a vital interest in both reducing the burden on the public healthcare system and preventing a “race to the bottom” erosion of  currently offered health insurance coverage in these sectors; and

WHEREAS, Extending healthcare coverage to employees in the 30% of firms not presently offering coverage would cover an estimated 150,000 New Yorkers (workers and dependents); and

WHEREAS, A broad coalition of trade associations and businesses in these sectors, labor unions, health and advocacy groups and community and faith organizations have organized to advocate city legislation to enable such coverage; and

WHEREAS, Intro 468-2004, the New York City Health Security Act, would require all employers in these sectors, except small firms as defined in the Act, to provide affordable health insurance coverage to their employees or pay a fee of equivalent cost to the city which would then provide the coverage; therefore be it

RESOLVED, While the Board would prefer to see Universal Health Care System, Community Board Five supports the New York City Health Security Act and urges the City Council to pass and the Mayor to approve this legislation.

The above resolution passed with a vote of 11 in favor, 9 opposed, 1 abstention.   

WHEREAS, The issue of marriage equality for same sex couples has come to the forefront recently in New York City as well as in the national consciousness; and

WHEREAS, Community Board Five has supported marriage equality for same-sex couples per a resolution passed on July 11, 2002; and

WHEREAS, In March 2004, five lesbian and gay couples sued City Clerk, Victor Robles, for denying them marriage licenses in New York City.  They moved for judgment declaring that under NY State Constitution, they are entitled to treatment equal to that of opposite-sex couples with regard to issuance of marriage licenses and access to civil marriage; and

WHEREAS, On February 4, 2005, New York State Supreme Court Justice Doris Ling-Cohan declared that same-sex marriages does not violate New York State Constitution's Domestic Relations Law, instead ruling that the statute, by implicitly permitting only heterosexual marriage, violates the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the state Constitution; and

WHEREAS, As on February 7, 2005, Mayor Bloomberg announced his decision to appeal Judge Doris Ling-Cohan's ruling stating that this decision should rest with the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, in order for the City to avoid what occurred in San Francisco, where Mayor Gavin Newsom issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples only to be later nullified by California State Supreme Court; and

WHEREAS, Mayor Bloomberg states that he personally supports same-sex marriage in the news media, however his administration's 75 page legal brief issued on February 8, 2005, contradicts his public support; and

WHEREAS, The Bloomberg administration's brief quotes an earlier New York State Supreme Court decision defining "the institution of marriage as the union of man and woman . . . a tradition as old as the Book of Genesis," and that, "There is no deeply rooted history or tradition of same-sex marriage in either this country or this state;" and

WHEREAS, Civil marriage is a basic human right as well as a private and public commitment of love and support by adult couples; and

WHEREAS, The choice of whether or not to civilly marry is a personal decision in our society; and

WHEREAS, Civil marriage provides a gateway to hundreds of protections, responsibilities, and benefits established by New York State and to more than one thousand on the Federal level.  Some of these include:

• Owning property by the entireties

• Filing joint state income tax returns

• Obtaining health insurance through a partner's coverage

• Obtaining joint liability or homeowner's insurance

• Collecting from a partner's pension benefits

• Having one partner of a 2 woman couple be the legal parent of the other's artificially inseminated child without the expense of an adoption proceeding

• Invoking spousal evidentiary privilege

• Recovering damages for an injury to, or the wrongful death of, a partner

• Having the right to make important medical decisions for a partner in emergencies

• Inheriting from a deceased partner's intestate estate

• Determining a partner's funeral and burial arrangements; and

WHEREAS, No state law or constitutional amendment exists that defines marriage between a man and woman; and

 WHEREAS, According to the City Bar Association of NY, the state's domestic relations law makes no mention of a couple's sex and thus should be interpreted to include same-sex couples; and

WHEREAS, The New York Post published an article quoting a Quinnipiac Poll that 51% of New York City voters were in favor of civil marriage rights for same-sex couples; and

WHEREAS, New York State Assemblyman Dick Gottfried and State Senator Tom Duane introduced bills in the Assembly and State Senate in the previous legislative session that would have:

• Validated a marriage between same sex parties

• Provided that a marriage that is otherwise valid shall be valid regardless of whether the parties to the marriage are of the same or different sex

• Made appropriate gender neutral corrections to the section of the domestic relations law granting authority to the town or city clerk to accept an application for a marriage license; and therefore be it

RESOLVED, That Community Board Five strongly urges the Court of Appeals to recognize same sex couples and their families and to enable New York State and New York City to begin issuing marriage licenses; and be it further

RESOLVED, That Community Board Five strongly supports New York State Assemblyman Dick Gottfried's and State Senator Tom Duane's plans to reintroduce these bills and urges them to do so as soon as possible.

WHEREAS, The Medicaid program currently provides healthcare to the neediest members of our community including working adults, children, seniors, the disabled and mentally ill; and

WHEREAS, The $1.13 Billion in cuts to the Medicaid program in the proposed 2005/6 State budget would most likely increase the number of uninsured in our community, decrease access to long term care services for our elderly and disabled, unduly restrict access to needed drug therapy, and eliminate some so-called "optional" services; and

WHEREAS, These cuts would have a long term impact to New York City by reducing funding to important health facilities and providers in the city and the Community Board  Five area, causing layoffs for healthcare workers; and

WHEREAS, These cuts significantly hurt hospitals and other health care institutions that are already in a financial crisis; and

WHEREAS, These cuts would impact on the quality of care all New Yorkers receive and cause those denied coverage to seek treatment for routine illnesses in emergency rooms instead of at primary care providers; and

WHEREAS, Community Board Five recognizes the financial strain placed upon both state and localities by increasing Medicaid costs; and

WHEREAS, The budget proposed by the Governor conditions the State assuming an increasing share of Medicaid costs on legislative acceptance of the $1.13 billion in cuts; and

WHEREAS, There are other alternatives to reduce city and state Medicaid expenditures, such as making health and LTC insurance more affordable, re-importing drugs, consolidating New York's pharmaceutical purchases, and revising the federal funding formula; therefore be it

RESOLVED, Community Board Five urges the Governor and legislature:

• to reduce to the greatest extent possible the proposed Medicaid cuts and to consider other options to control Medicaid spending; 

• to ensure that any Medicaid cutbacks do not disproportionately impact one sector of the population; and,

• in establishing a Medicaid drug formulary, to provide a consumer friendly appeal process and give final authority over a patient's medication to the prescribing physician; and

• to de-link decisions on services and eligibility from decisions on fiscal relief to localities; and

• to advocate aggressively for a revision of the federal funding formula that would reduce the burden on states like New York that are disadvantaged by the current formula; and

• to establish a state commission of health policy experts charged with examining the Medicaid program and developing recommendations for reforming it to provide comprehensive medically appropriate health services to the state's medically needy in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.