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Colton has led community cleanups for well over a decade; he and Zhuang sponsor these events through the summer and fall.

The post Community cleanup rescheduled for this Saturday   appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.

The City Council voted Thursday to give its members an 18.2% raise, increasing rank-and-file lawmakers’ salaries from $148,500 to $175,500 and approving higher salaries for other elected offices across city government.

The measure passed 42-6, with Speaker Julie Menin casting the lone abstention. It marks the first salary increase since 2016 for most of the affected officials and would also raise pay for the mayor, public advocate, comptroller, borough presidents, Council speaker and district attorneys. 

Menin and Mayor Zohran Mamdani, however, have said they will not accept the higher salaries.

Under the legislation, the mayor’s salary would rise from $258,750 to $305,800, the public advocate’s from $184,800 to $218,400 and the comptroller’s from $209,050 to $247,100.

Borough presidents would receive $211,800, up from $179,200, while the Council speaker’s official salary would increase from $164,500 to $194,400.

The charter salary floor for district attorneys would rise from $212,800 to $251,500. District attorneys, who are state officials paid by the city, currently receive $237,300 because the charter entitles them to the salary of a state Supreme Court justice when that amount is higher.

The raises would take effect 45 days after the bill becomes law but would be retroactive to Jan. 1, 2026. The measure has now been sent to Mamdani’s desk. 

Mamdani’s decision to forgo his own raise is separate from the bill’s fate, which followed recommendations from the commission he convened with Menin. amNewYork has asked City Hall whether he intends to sign the measure, veto it or allow it to become law without his signature, and is awaiting a response.

Pay raise legislation follows commission recommendation

The legislation, sponsored by Deputy Speaker Nantasha Williams, largely implements recommendations issued last month by the city’s Quadrennial Advisory Commission, a three-member outside panel appointed by the mayor to review compensation for elected officials. 

“This legislation is the result of the independent review process the Council established through the Quadrennial Advisory Commission,” Williams said. “Today’s legislation implements the commission’s recommendations and reinforces a framework grounded in clear standards, public accountability and regular review.”

Mamdani and Menin announced the formation of the commission in January, and the mayor appointed Carl Weisbrod, Lilliam Barrios-Paoli and Larian Angelo in March. Its June report recommended increasing the salary levels last set by local law by 18.2%, an adjustment intended to reflect inflation from 2021 through 2025.

Apart from district attorneys, whose compensation has increased along with state judicial salaries, city elected officials have not received raises since 2016. That year, the Council increased members’ salaries to $148,500 while making their positions full-time.

The city did not convene required compensation commissions in 2020 or 2024, disrupting what was intended to be a regular four-year review process. The last commission before this year was convened in 2015.

The Council revised the legislation before Thursday’s vote to remove a proposed mechanism that could have automatically increased salaries in future terms.

The earlier version would have adjusted salaries for inflation, capped at 8.25%, if four years passed without officials receiving a raise through local law. Citizens Union and Reinvent Albany supported the immediate increases but warned that the automatic provision could discourage mayors from appointing future commissions and reduce opportunities for public scrutiny.

Citizens Union Executive Director Grace Rauh said at a July 7 hearing that the mechanism could “effectively eliminate the incentive to convene quadrennial advisory commissions in the future.” Reinvent Albany warned that it could eliminate public input on salary decisions when no commission was appointed.

The final bill instead requires the next commission to be appointed in 2028 and every four years thereafter, moving the review to the third year of a mayoral term. Future panels would have 120 days to complete their work and would recommend salary levels for the following term.

Supporters argued that elected officials must be paid enough to allow people without personal wealth to seek and remain in public office.

“Being an elected official in New York City is a challenging and demanding 24/7 job,” Council Member Gale Brewer, who chaired the committee that considered the bill, said at the July 7 hearing. “If salaries are too low, only wealthy individuals will be able to run.”

The six Council members who opposed the measure were Joann Ariola, David Carr, Frank Morano, Inna Vernikov, Phil Wong, and Susan Zhuang.

Wong was the only opponent to explain his vote on the salary bill during Thursday’s meeting.

He said many constituents in his district were living paycheck to paycheck and that, after spending months advocating for savings in the city budget, he could not support increasing his own salary. He also submitted testimony to the commission opposing the increase.

Menin reiterated before the meeting that she would not accept the higher speaker’s salary.

“I publicly said I was not going to take the pay raise,” Menin said. “And I’m abstaining from the bill.”

Mamdani, whose official salary would increase by $47,050, also said Thursday, “I will not accept a pay raise.” The mayor said he would prefer that the money go “to the pockets of those who are struggling in this city.”

Asked why he declined to accept the raise, he added: “I haven’t knocked on anyone’s door in New York City, and they’ve said their concern is that the mayor makes too little. So, that’s not my concern either.”

THE CITY COUNCIL on Thursday officially voted to approve a rezoning application for the long-delayed Monitor Point project.

The post Monitor Point project gets Council approval appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.

As time began to take its toll, Fat Freddie was unceremoniously traded to the Dodgers, where he was expected to pitch less and lose more.

The post Fat Freddie Fitzsimmons, the fearsome knuckleballer appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.