As the City Council deliberates over whether or not to give the Related Companies permission to develop the Kingsbridge Armory, we sent them more information to support our position on the issue of living wages. KARA supports Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz's demand for a Community Benefits Agreement at the Kingsbridge Armory that includes living wage jobs, a labor peace agreement, and more. Click here to read more.

Related and Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber got an earful from City Council members in support of living wage jobs at the Kingsbridge Armory at the November 17 public hearing of the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises, The Related Companies' lawyer Jesse Masyr responded with a letter to the entire Council claiming that Related could not provide living wage jobs at the Armory. Mr. Masyr used inaccurate and misleading data to support this. KARA responded with an accurate portrayal of the facts. Click here to read KARA's response to Masyr. You can read Masyr's original letter by clicking here.

At the final public hearing on the future of the Kingsbridge Armory today, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. joined Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), and the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA) in demanding the City Council vote "No" on the rezoning and sale of the Kingsbridge Armory until the developer, The Related Companies, has signed a fair and binding Community Benefits Agreement that includes living wage jobs, first source local hiring, protection of the right of retail workers to join a union without fear or intimidation, community and recreation space, and the exclusion of a supermarket or a big box grocery store.

New York City Council members on the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises heard a clear message from Diaz, Appelbaum and dozens of KARA supporters of living wage jobs at the Armory: It's time for the City Council to require living wage jobs in publicly subsidized development projects.

"When billionaire developers are accepting tens of millions of dollars in tax benefits to build in our communities, it is not a radical idea to ask that the jobs they create be good jobs, jobs that offer Bronxites a chance to better themselves and provide for their families," Diaz told the City Council members. "Without a Community Benefits Agreement, including a living wage provision, I am unable to support this project, and I would urge that the members of this subcommittee vote against this project as well. For the good of the Bronx, I hope you will join me as well."

RWDSU's Appelbaum, also a co-convener of KARA, followed Diaz. "Any project that creates permanent jobs that keep people in poverty does absolutely nothing to benefit the people of this city. In fact it causes harm," Appelbaum, said, "That is why I am here today, with many of my colleagues in labor and the community, to ask you to reject Related Companies plans to redevelop the Kingsbridge Armory. Reject the plan unless Related agrees to a Community Benefits Agreement that would require Related to mandate through its tenant leases that their tenants provide living wages, accept a policy of union neutrality and provide other community benefits."

Representatives of three of the city's most powerful organizations, the Central Labor Council, 32BJ SEIU and the Hotel Trades Council, joined Appelbaum. The heads of 32BJ SEIU, 1199 SEIU, the UFT, DC 37, and the Hotel Trades Council have also sent a letter urging council members to demand that Related commit to permanent living-wage jobs at a redeveloped Kingsbridge Armory.

The labor leaders' statements came shortly after Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert Lieber testified that the City opposes requiring retailers that receive government subsidies to pay a living wage.

Most subcommittee members questioned the Deputy Mayor and Related's position that the requirement of living wage jobs would effectively kill the development because retailers would not agree to it. Bronx Council member Joel Rivera called Related's proposed mall an "economic exploitation project" not economic development and added, "I refuse to believe development will stop if living wages are mandated. Queens Council member Eric Gioia summed up his concerns saying, "City development is about jobs that will allow people to take care of their families. What I am hearing today is that the only way to develop a community is to keep the people poor. As a city, we need to be a leader. We need to do better.

A living wage in New York City is at least $10 an hour plus benefits or $11.50 an hour without benefits.

Council opposition to developing the Kingsbridge Armory if Related does not sign a Community Benefits Agreement with living wage jobs was evident at the hearing. This follows a recent vote by four members of the City Planning Commission (CPC) who took the unusual step of voting against the project and in favor Diaz and the community's call for a binding Community Benefits Agreement.

The City Council must now decide whether or not to approve the rezoning and sale of the Kingsbridge Armory to Related.

Related has received promises of $90 million in public financing through Industrial Development Agency subsidies, tax credits and repairs to the building.

"This is a public project and its development must improve the lives of working people in the community," KARA leader Desiree Pilgrim-Hunter said at a press conference on the steps of City Hall following the hearing. "The Bronx delegation is backing our call for living wage jobs. The entire City Council now has a golden opportunity to set a precedent that ensures that future development in the City benefit the people of the City, and not just the developers. The City Council must vote 'No' on the development of the Kingsbridge Armory until Related signs a binding Community Benefits Agreement."

The Bronx Board of Business Agents of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York is also backing the community in its fight for a Community Benefits Agreement. "We are calling on the City Council's to require that private development, especially when it involves public property and public finances, include prevailing wages for construction and building services and that any work that falls outside of existing prevailing wage schedules should be paid at a living wage with benefits," said Fred LeMoine, KARA member and Vice-President of the Bronx Board of Business Agents. "Related has a long standing record of paying the prevailing wage and using Union labor supplied by the Building Trades. I am hopeful that the growing call for a binding Community Benefits Agreement will encourage the City Council and Related to listen to the community stakeholders and do what's right."

In its Request for Proposals to develop the Armory, the City's Economic Development Corporation called for "development plans that maximize the number of jobs that meet the City's living wage and health benefits standards ('living wage jobs')", and to "not duplicate or directly compete with existing retail."

Instead, Related's plans to build the city-subsidized "Shops at the Armory" mall would create 1,200 part time, poverty wage jobs with no benefits and bring in national retail chains to compete against locally owned businesses.

Fernando Cabrera, the newly elected City Council member from the neighborhood surrounding the Armory, told subcommittee members, "I am proud to be part of a movement that is working to provide good jobs for the hard-working people of the Bronx. Our success on Living Wage and Labor Neutrality will result in better lives for all of New York City residents and their families. I am looking forward to continuing this work as a member of the City Council."

Experts who called on Related to address other issues, such as severe traffic congestion and the additional environmental and health hazards this project will create, also gave testimony at the hearing.

"The Kingsbridge Armory project, if approved, will have far greater impacts on the community than either The Related Companies or the City's Economic Development Corporation admit," said traffic engineer Brian T. Ketcham. "Total traffic delays will increase by 140% and fuel consumption will almost double."

Marian Feinberg, Environmental Health Coordinator For A Better Bronx, testified that increased traffic and delays would result in increased pollution and this would negatively affect the health of the surrounding communities already suffering from high asthma rates.

Concern was also expressed about the effects on neighborhood businesses if national retailers open up stores in the publicly subsidized mall. "A 60,000 sq. ft. tax subsidized supermarket at the Kingsbridge Armory, in violation of the city's own request for proposal, would lead to the disappearance of at least four and possibly as many as six neighborhood supermarkets-as has been the case of other mega market projects on New York City," said Richard Lipsky, spokesman for the Neighborhood Retail Alliance. "This kind of impact runs counter to the city's expressed goal of preserving neighborhoods markets, and would lead to less access to the very fresh fruits and vegetables that the city feels is vital for the health of low income New Yorkers. The Armory project then is bad for local business and makes little public policy sense."

Community Benefit Agreements have been negotiated in cities around the country with developers who would be receiving tax dollars and tax exemptions to help underwrite their projects. These agreements have helped developers build profitable projects while guaranteeing good jobs that pay living wages and create community spaces.

The Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA) is a 22-member coalition of community groups, churches and unions that seek high road, equitable development for the Kingsbridge Armory. The Alliance wants the redevelopment to meet the community's needs for living wage jobs, community space, recreational facilities and schools. City, state and federal officials have endorsed KARA. Visit http://www.ourarmory.org