NY City Council Trying to Improve City

     Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council met last week passing a budget into law that prevented closing firehouses and libraries. However, the future status of the city is unknown. NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn said she is “going to keep hope alive” during her appearance on The Joan Hamburg Show WOR 710HD.

 

     The situation in Albany has Quinn hoping for the best. “Whatever happened, people need to go back to work—the state senate needs to get in their chambers, unlock the door and go over the legislations in front of them,” Quinn said.

 

     She called the Republican take over the result of a power struggle to get leadership back. “They [republican’s] don’t like being in the minority, which I understand, but that coupe left things unclear, people have to go back and find out how to get work done,” she said. “No one should have personal ambitions come first before the work of the people.”

 

     Therefore, the efforts on behalf of the City Council and the Mayor have been profound. “A week ago, last Monday, we came to a budget agreement, on Friday we passed that budget into law” Quinn said. She hopes this budget will put more pressure on Albany.

 

     Quinn said the budget sends a message that even in a recession government’s job should be to protect and support people. “That’s why we didn’t let one firehouse close and keep libraries open,” she said. It also prevented the loss of 100 case workers. “We can’t lose those people,” Quinn said.

 

    The council is still working on the cities economy. She said even though things are better, they are still quite bad and people should not be distracted by the slight improvement. “We are working on a lot of important things,” Quinn said. With an attempt to get a tax credit to open up about 2,000 biotech jobs and a proposal to expand nursing in the state, council is making every effort to build up new job sectors.

 

    In the meantime, Quinn’s outlook on Albany is positive. “I have to believe that Albany will go back to work tomorrow. We just don’t have the option for them to go AWOL.”

*Click Here to listen to the full interview with Christine Quinn.