‘Massad and the Refugees’

The recent New York Sun editorial “Massad and the Refugees” is spot-on [June 9, 2005]. Professor Massad and his fellow propagandists do more than distort the issue of Arab refugees. They conveniently ignore the most underreported story in the Middle East today: Jewish refugees from Arab lands.

Millions of Israelis are descended from the more than 800,000 Jewish refugees from Arab lands (Iraq, Libya, Tunisia, etc.).They fled, or were expelled from Arab lands, following the failed 1948 Arab invasion of Israel. Because Israel uplifted them, they ceased to be a problem and have been forgotten. In contrast, Arab countries kept (and still keep) descendants of a similar number of Arab refugees stateless. For this cynical abuse, they have been rewarded with billions in UNWRA aid and sympathy. For its forward-looking policy, Israel has been punished with scorn.

DORON LUBINSKY
Atlanta

‘Affordable Housing’

Re: “New Housing & Harlem Renaissance,” John P. Avlon, Opinion, June 7, 2005. I am delighted that Mr. Avlon is impressed by the role new housing has played in the rebirth of Harlem. But I wish he had contacted me regarding what my plan to create new housing is. First, let me outline how difficult it is for many to find housing in this city. Many working families are being priced out of the city they love. Even people with successful careers are wondering: Will I be able to remain in New York City? When we lose affordable housing, we lose jobs. Corporations look at the high cost of housing as they decide whether to remain in our city or relocate to areas with lower living costs.

I have a comprehensive nine point program to build and retain affordable housing for the people who drive our buses, teach our children, repair our streets, staff our hotels, and keep our city running.

As president of Manhattan I allocated $28 million and created thousands of units of affordable and middle-income housing. Take a stroll down Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem and you can see what can be achieved with my housing initiatives.

As mayor, I will require developers to provide low-, moderate-, and middle-income housing in communities where affordable housing is being replaced with market rents or where developers are benefiting from zoning changes. Mayor Bloomberg opposes mandating affordable housing through zoning. I favor it. I would compensate developers with the right to add more space to their buildings, but I would require that at least 20% of new housing built in rezoned areas be affordable.

I will put vacant property to work. One perfect site for new housing is in the 30s on the West Side of Manhattan. I am fighting for thousands of units of affordable housing, which will benefit New Yorkers 100% of the time. And now that the specter of a luxury stadium has been banished, I challenge elected officials, developers, and business leaders to use my plan as a template to provide affordable housing.

Coincidentally, this year, an election year, Mayor Bloomberg finally agreed to what I proposed four years ago. I said that we should use Battery Park City revenues to create more than 10,000 new, affordable apartments or homes and preserve a minimum of 5,000 existing units. Twenty years ago, the city and state promised that those funds would be used to fund affordable housing throughout our city.

I would add other revenues to the Battery Park City surplus, creating a flexible fund that can be leveraged in combination with other housing programs. Some of these additional dedicated revenue sources might include additional taxes generated when Mitchell-Lama housing leaves the program, a portion of tax liens from residential property, corporate franchise taxes, and mortgage-reporting tax revenue. I would use the proceeds from repayment of government housing loans as a renewable housing fund.

My target is to put New York City on a path to building 10,000 affordable housing units annually, not over a 10-year period as Mr. Avlon erroneously reported, and preserving 8,000 more per year by the initiatives I have outlined and by applying part of the savings I would generate through pension, health insurance, and Medicaid reform and by eliminating unnecessary corporate tax subsidies.

Mayor Bloomberg has remained silent while severe cuts in housing programs by a Republican administration and Congress in Washington have shredded Section 8, public housing, and Community Development Block Grants, programs that enabled New York City to create and retain affordable housing in the past. He has not lifted a finger to repeal the state laws that cause us to lose 7,000 rent-stabilized apartments each year. I will speak out forcefully and mobilize New Yorkers to fight back.

C. VIRGINIA FIELDS
President of Manhattan
Manhattan

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