RACING FOR CITY HALL

Mayor's role: protect the middle class

By Rep. Anthony D. Weiner (D-Queens/Brooklyn)

New York is a city defined by its middle class and those struggling to make it.

It is City Hall's job to make sure that hardworking, middle-class New Yorkers who play by the rules can comfortably afford to live, work and educate their kids on a reasonable income.

First, a strong future for middle-class New Yorkers means ensuring that homes are affordable in the five boroughs. Astronomical real estate values may be great if you're a billionaire Manhattan developer. But if you're a middle-class New Yorker living in the outer boroughs like me, or if you're trying to raise a couple of kids on less than $150,000 annual salary, a jump in property values simply means a bigger tax bill. If you're like my parents, who have lived in the same Brooklyn neighborhood for decades and have seen the value of their house skyrocket, you're not moving. That's why we need a 10 percent tax cut for every New Yorker making $150,000 or less. Middle-class New Yorkers and those struggling to make it deserve to have their tax burden eased.

Second, a strong future for middle-class New Yorkers means ensuring that getting around the city is affordable, convenient and safe. We have a truly world-class transportation network - but there are signs we're headed in the wrong direction. Certain crimes are up, fires are up, and accidents are up. Service delays are epidemic. Residents of New York City take more than 90 percent of the rides on the MTA, but the MTA spends only 70 percent of its budget in the five boroughs.

That's why I've proposed that New York take control of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority back from Albany. Currently, the governor has control of the MTA board, appointing six of 14 voting members to the mayor's four. Suburban communities also get four. New York City needs a share that is commensurate with its greater ridership.

A strong future for middle-class New Yorkers means ensuring that our kids get a world-class education. The city's public schools have, for generations, been a gateway for the middle class and those struggling to make it. They were for me, as a student at PS 39, Junior High School 51 and Brooklyn Tech. They were for my mother, who was a public school teacher for 33 years. Public schools have been the great equalizer.

But recently that has begun to change, as our best teachers - like my mother - have been pushed to leave the school system. We need a plan to re-empower our demoralized teachers. Beyond failing to negotiate a reasonable salary, this administration has imposed a one-size-fits-all curriculum and prevented teachers and principals from disciplining disruptive students. We need to get back to basics, pay teachers what they deserve and give them the authority to take charge in the classroom.

Finally, a strong future for middle-class New Yorkers means focusing like a laser beam on the needs of small businesses. For generations, small businesses have given middle-class New Yorkers - particularly those in the outer boroughs - a leg up. I got my first job at a neighborhood small business.

But those small businesses have recently been hit with a ticket blitz - for everything from the temperature of the produce they are selling to their awnings - that sends a message that City Hall sees small businesses as a source of revenue, rather than a generator of jobs. We should help small business start-ups by investing in them, reducing taxes and creating a city ombudsman to help them through the onerous process of working through the red tape at City Hall.

It seems like city leaders have become obsessed with big projects like stadiums. But it's the small things that people care about. And it's the mayor's role to ensure that middle-class families and those aspiring to get there can live in the five boroughs with the quality of life they deserve.

It's time for New Yorkers to have a champion in City Hall ready to fight for the middle class.