Subject: May 2010 Community Update
From: "Assemblyman Jonathan Bing" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 26 May 2010 12:21:24 -0400 (EDT)

In this Issue:
• Assemblyman Bing Participates in Groundbreaking for PS
59
• Assembly Passes Bing-Authored Bills to Expand Housing for People
with Disabilities 
• Teaching Assistants Agreement for East Side Schools
• Bing Introduces Legislation to Combat Identity Theft
• Fighting Against
Bus Service Cuts to Turtle Bay
• Assemblyman Bing Introduces Legislation
to Assist Academic Libraries
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Assemblyman Bing Participates in Groundbreaking for PS 59
Assemblyman Bing was one of the featured speakers at the groundbreaking
for new school facilities at PS 59 and the High School of Art and Design
on May 21. The new development will feature two renovated schools,
residential units, and a Whole Foods supermarket. As a result, the East
Side will receive an increase of 330 seats in PS 59, and a new school
facility at the current, temporary home of PS 59 on East 63rd Street.
The East Side of Manhattan is one of the fastest growing areas of New
York City.  The increase in residents has resulted in school
overcrowding, large class sizes, and kindergarten waitlists. The new
schools will help ease these burdens, and provide top of the line school
facilities to students in the East Midtown area. Assemblyman Bing has
been significantly involved in ensuring that this project came to
fruition, including authoring legislation signed into law in 2009 to
expedite the project, helping to secure a commercial tenant, and working
with all parties involved to overcome major obstacles along the way.
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Assembly Passes Bing-Authored Bills to Expand Housing for
People with Disabilities 
Assemblyman Bing recently announced the
passage of two bills he authored to ensure fair housing opportunities for
disabled individuals. The Assembly passed Bing's legislation (A. 9757) to
give State agencies enforcement capability over Federal laws regarding
housing for people with disabilities. Currently, Section 504 of the
Federal Rehabilitation Act requires that housing developments financed
with federal money provide accommodations for individuals with
disabilities, and make efforts to advertise available disability housing
to relevant groups. In many cases, even those developers who have
accepted federal funds and are in architectural compliance have not
marketed these accessible units to eligible individuals with
disabilities.

The Assembly also passed Assemblyman Bing's legislation
(A. 10689) to prohibit discrimination by landlords on the basis of a
tenant's source of income. Currently, landlords may reject tenants with
rental subsidies, such as Section 8 vouchers, merely because tenants
intend to use them for payment of rent. Many people with disabilities
rely on those subsidies and other assistance programs to live
independently in the community. This legislation would make
discrimination by landlords based on a tenant's source of income illegal,
similar to laws already passed in New York City and Nassau County.

The
bills were passed as part of the Assembly's Disabilities Awareness Day.
Assemblyman Bing served as the Chair of the Assembly Legislative Task
Force on People with Disabilities from May 2009 to March 2010.
Assemblyman Bing has now authored six bills that have passed the Assembly
in 2010.
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Teaching Assistants Agreement for East Side Schools
The
Department of Education (DOE) and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT)
announced an agreement to allow Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) to
hire supplemental staff in public schools during the 2010-11 school year.
The new agreement is built on efforts by Assemblyman Bing and his
colleagues over the past year. In 2009, the DOE had informed public
school principals that any aides hired would have to be DOE employees,
ending an existing practice which had allowed PTAs to hire staff through
independent fundraising. Responding to feedback from East Side parents,
Assemblyman Bing approached the DOE about a compromise which would allow
PTAs to continue to hire supplemental staff. Recently, the DOE and the
UFT agreed to extend this agreement for another year, while all parties
concerned look for a permanent solution.
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Bing Introduces Legislation to Combat Identity Theft
Assemblyman Bing recently introduced legislation (A. 11306) at the
request of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance that that will update
and expand identity theft related statutes to address the dramatic
evolution of this crime by providing for better enforcement and stricter
penalties. New York State is ranked in the top ten per capita for these
types of incidents, with upwards of 17,000 victims of identity theft per
year. Meanwhile, identity theft crimes have evolved beyond credit card
theft to sophisticated crime rings where criminals often open a series of
new accounts in an ongoing scheme that can last for months. In order to
keep pace with this alarming expansion, Assemblyman Bing's legislation
establishes penalties that are commensurate with the severity of these
crimes, and increases the ability for law enforcement to catch criminals.

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Fighting Against Bus Service Cuts to Turtle Bay
The
Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) recently announced proposed cuts to
bus service in East Midtown and Turtle Bay. In response, Assemblyman Bing
authored a letter with State Senator Liz Krueger requesting that the MTA
re-examine the effects of potential service cuts on the Turtle Bay
community in which Assemblyman Bing lives. Currently, three cross-town
bus lines serve this area – M27, M50, and M104. Under the MTA proposal,
the M27 and M104 would be eliminated while the M50 would be eliminated on
late nights and weekends. These cuts, coupled with the exclusion of the
49th Street stop along the Select Bus Service route, would provide
serious reductions in service to a community with a high population of
elderly and disabled individuals. Assemblyman Bing will continue to work
to prevent disproportionate service cuts in this community.
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Assemblyman Bing Introduces Legislation to Assist Academic
Libraries
Assemblyman Bing, Chair of the Assembly Committee on Libraries
and Educational Technology, has introduced legislation (A.10884) to
adjust the formula that sets coordinated collection development aid
(CCDA) for academic libraries. The existing formula has not been updated
in 25 years, and during that period the price of some published materials
has outpaced inflation by 300 percent. Assemblyman Bing's legislation
would increase the CCDA formula by 25 percent in the first year, and
provide for the formula to be indexed to the CPI by 2014. Currently the
total state appropriation toward CCDA is under $2 million for the 270
eligible academic libraries of New York.

Assemblyman Jonathan Bing
360 East 57th Street, Mezzanine
New York, NY 10022
(212) 605-0937
(212) 605-9948 (fax)
[email-masked]
www.assembly.state.ny.us
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