Author Archives: Sarah Kazadi

East Harlem On Obama’s Jobs Bill

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Spanish Harlem’s unemployed population, hovering around 16 percent according to the Census Bureau, is tentatively hopeful that President Obama will get his jobs bill passed. The primary concern, however, is whether the bill can actually create more local small business jobs instead of just painting a brighter picture.

Guadalupe Castro owns Fierce Nail & Spa salon on 117th Street in East Harlem (Photo Credit: Sarah Kazadi)

– Will the incentives work?: The $447 billion American Jobs Act comes with incentives the president believes will get small businesses hiring again, including payroll tax cuts and a $4,000 tax credit to companies hiring the long-term unemployed. Guadalupe Castro, a small business owner in Spanish Harlem, said she wouldn’t mind hiring to “help out,” but that the incentives are not a guarantee that she’ll expand her staff. “They have to be professional, they have to know what they’re doing, it’s going to be a lot of things all together before I can say yes,” she said.

–How long will the incentives last?: There is skepticism that the bill’s incentives will create long term job opportunities. “I don’t think it’s going to work,” said Eladio Perez, an East Harlem resident who has been out of work since October 2009. “If they hire you just based on the incentives, a little after that you’ll be out again looking for work,” he said.

–How long before results?: Some unemployed East Harlem residents applaud the plan but believe that it may take too long to bear fruit. “What they’re doing may not come fast enough to help us. You still have to eat, you still need a roof over your head and hot water,” said Angelo Marquez, who has been unemployed for two years. President Obama added a measure to pay small businesses faster, “So that puts more money in their pockets quicker, which means they can hire folks quicker,” he said in an address at North Carolina State University. 

President Obama sent his job bill to Congress on Monday. There is currently no set date on when it will be voted on.

Public Housing Struggling To Deal With Budget Cuts

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I went for a walk in my CD yesterday, strolling from East 110th St. all the way up to E. 142nd St in Harlem. One thing I noticed was the large number of government-owned public housing buildings. I chose to look into how these buildings were faring in the face of budget cuts, fewer resources and the state of the economy in general.

Mayor Bloomberg and the Department of Housing and Preservation actually proposed a plan to build or maintain 165,000 affordable housing units back in 2009. Now, it looks like federal budget cuts may throw that plan off track, according to CityHallNews.com. The cuts are being blamed for the poor maintenance in many of these buildings, with residents reporting leaks and broken elevators on a regular basis. In fact, ABCNews reports that the first ever “Resident Report Card” gave New York City’s Housing Authority a “D.”

The Housing Authority responds that it is working on a five-year plan to deal with the long lists of complaints. Since 2005, the authority has laid off 11% of its maintenance staff to deal with budget deficits, and that means fewer employees to address the mounting issues, as highlighted by this Daily News piece.

As the city deals with this, one of the initiatives has been to mix public and private housing. WNYC.org reports that mixing apartment buildings and tenants means mixing funds, and that could help alleviate the pressure on public housing funds. These projects won’t be finalized until 2014 though, so it’s hard to judge if it will be a good solution.