By Matt Chaban 3/30/12 2:03pm

Mr. Ross' Neighborhood

The eastern section (at right) would be exempted from the living wage bill. (Related)

Speaker Quinn Gives Steve Ross a Hug? Hudson Yards Bounced from Living Wage Bill to Help Build Commercial Towers

Steve Ross sure knows his way around City Hall (part of the reason he has become one of the most successful developers of his generation). From his start in affordable housing to megadevelopments like the Time Warner Center, Hunter’s Point South in Queens and Hudson Yards, Mr. Ross, chairman of the Related Companies, always seems to get just what he wants when the city is involved. One sore spot was the fight over the Kingsbridge Armory, in the Bronx, which was unexpectedly rejected by the City Council three years ago.

The fight centered around whether workers at the armory project, which was to receive a considerable amount of public subsidies, would have to be paid more than minimum wage, something labor unions were lobbying heavily for. That fight led to the eventual proposal of a living wage bill. In an unexpected, if unsurprising, twist, it now turns out City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has carved a portion of Hudson Yards out of the living wage bill, according to The Times. Read More

By Robert Knakal 3/03/11 3:50pm

concrete thoughts

Wal-Mart and the Lesson of Betamax

The other day, I was walking around the city taking photographs of buildings for a marketing brochure I am putting together. I was using my old Polaroid Land Camera–you know, the one where the photograph slides out of the front of the camera and develops right before your very eyes. As I was Read More

By Eliot Brown 8/13/10 2:48pm

Wage War

City Plans Living Wage Report by Early `11

A fight over legislation that would require a minimum wage for workers in subsidized developments will probably wait until at least next spring.

The Bloomberg administration on Thursday announced that it had picked a private consultant to craft a report on the issue—good, independently-produced data on the topic has been in short supply—and it expects Read More

By Eliot Brown 6/08/10 9:55pm

Wage Wars

Elected Officials, City, Clash Over Living Wage Study-to-Be

Tensions are rising over living wage.

The Bloomberg administration’s plan to study the effects of living wage laws came under attack today from a set of Council members and City Comptroller John Liu, who called the effort a “sham.”

The issue came under fire as the city-controlled Industrial Development Authority authorized $1 million to fund Read More

By Robert Knakal 5/19/10 7:33pm

Gauging Prevailing Wage

The law of unintended consequences often rears its head when legislation is proposed that does not consider the macro impact on the economy. This is the case with a newly proposed bill, number 18-A, sponsored by 33 members of the New York City Council.

Proposal 18-A is a local law proposed to Read More

By Eliot Brown 3/25/10 8:16pm

City Wants Living Wage Study

Facing an increasing pressure from unions and elected officials on issues relating to living wage, the Bloomberg administration is planning to commission its own report and task force on wage policy issues.

In recent days, the city’s Economic Development Corporation has begun reaching out to various organizations that would sit on the task force, including Read More

By Eliot Brown 12/21/09 10:55pm

Council Torpedoes Kingsbridge Armory, Again

The Kingsbridge Armory project has been shot down once again by the City Council, which overrode the mayor’s veto of their veto, killing the planned retail mall in the Bronx all over again.

The Council voted on Monday afternoon, 48-1, to override the mayor’s veto, as the body, and particularly most of the Bronx Read More

By Staff 12/15/09 11:28pm

Wage Wars: $10 an Hour Emerges as Make-or-Break for New Development

By all measures, a press conference early Monday afternoon on the steps of City Hall appeared to be a victory celebration.

The City Council had just voted, 45-1, to block a planned new mall at the Bronx’s Kingsbridge Armory, as the developer, the Related Companies, balked at requiring its retail tenants to pay wages of Read More