The Wall Street Journal - 13.03.2020

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. ** Friday, March 13, 2020 |A9B

GREATERNEWYORKWATCH

NEW YORK STATE

Public Campaign

Finance Law Halted

A state judge on Thursday in-
validated New York state’s new
system of public campaign fi-
nancing, which was set to take
effect after the 2022 elections.
State Supreme Court Justice
Ralph Boniello ruled that state
lawmakers acted improperly last
year when they tasked a sepa-
rate commission with setting up
the details of public financing
and other changes to the state
election needed to implement it.
The commission recommended
reducing the allowed contribution
limits to statewide candidates by

more than half and matching do-

nations of $250 or less to candi-

dates for any state office.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Dem-

ocrats who control the state leg-

islature created the commission

in April, and said its recommenda-

tions would have the force of law

unless lawmakers amended or re-

jected them. They didn’t. Judge

Boniello wrote that this was an

“improper and unconstitutional

delegation of legislative authority.”

Spokespeople for Mr. Cuomo

and Democratic lawmakers

didn’t respond to requests for

comment. Jay Jacobs, a member

of the commission, said he ex-

pects the ruling will be over-

turned on appeal.

—Jimmy Vielkind

SANITATION

City Proposes New

Way to Pick Up Trash

Some newly constructed

apartment buildings in New York

City will be required to store

trash in specific containers in an

effort to limit the number of

trash piles on sidewalks, accord-

ing to a proposal from the city’s

sanitation department.

All new buildings with 150

apartments or more will be re-

quired to submit a plan to the

Department of Sanitation as to

how they would manage garbage,

the rule says. The plan must in-

clude an estimate of how much

trash the building will generate

and show that its garbage could

be stored indoors if necessary.

Without alleyways, New York

City trash pickup is relegated to

streets. The citywill hold a hear-

ing on the rule and the city council

would vote before it could be

signed by the mayor.

The sanitation department

also proposed this week a pilot

program that would place sealed

containers for trash and recycla-

bles directly on streets, officials

said. Businesses can apply for

the “Clean Curbs” pilot program,

a partnership with the Depart-

ment of Transportation, in the

spring, with some getting spe-

cially designed trash bins that

are enclosed and rodent-proof.

—Katie Honan

NEW JERSEY

Federal Judge Blocks

Donor-Disclosure Law

A federal judge permanently

halted a recent New Jersey law

requiring increased political-do-

nor disclosure.

U.S. District Judge Brian Mar-

tinotti signed an order agreed to

by the state attorney general,

who was defending the law, and

one of the groups suing to stop

it called the Illinois Opportunity

Project. The measure required

political organizations and some

nonprofits to disclose all spend-

ing over $3,000, up from $1,600.

It also mandated that contribu-

tors giving more than $10,

would be disclosed.

Along with the Illinois group, the

American Civil Liberties Union and

Americans for Prosperity, a think

tank founded by the Koch brothers,

also sought to put a stop to the

law, which was signed by Demo-

cratic Gov. Phil Murphy in June.

The groups argued the law runs

afoul of the Constitution and could

lead to a chill on First Amendment

rights by deterring potential contri-

butions to organizations.

The state said the measure

simply aimed at uncovering who

was “pulling the strings” in poli-

tics. The judge’s order didn’t ad-

dress why the state changed its

position. A message was left

with the attorney general’s office.

—Associated Press

until June, when the tax bene-

fit expires, according to a

landmark 2012 court settle-

ment with the tenants.

The tenants suing Black-

stone say the new rent laws

passed last year no longer al-

low these units to be deregu-

lated, even after the J-

credit expires.

Ms. Friedman said Black-

stone wouldn’t increase rents

more than what is allowed by

the city’s rent-stabilization

law until the court decides the

case, and that its affordability

agreement for other apart-

ments would remain effective.

“Our commitment to preserve

5,000 units of affordable hous-

ing stands,” she said.

The new lawsuit at Stuyve-

sant Town is the latest sign

that New York’s new rent laws

are changing the balance of

power between landlords and

tenants. The real-estate indus-

try, once known for its strong

lobbying and political clout in

New York’s state and city gov-

ernment, has more to lose this

year, as the New York state

Senate’s Judiciary Committee

considers a bill that would

bring rent control to nearly

every apartment unit in the

state.

Tim Collins, the lawyer rep-

resenting the tenants, said

rent stabilization laws exist to

protect all tenants, not just

low-income ones, from price

gouging, as well as to prevent

landlords from taking advan-

tage of New York’s housing

shortage.

“The owners are upset

about having their investment-

backed expectations dis-

rupted,” Mr. Collins said. “The

law does not perfectly protect

investment-backed expecta-

tions.”

Former city Councilman

Dan Garodnick, the current

president of the Riverside Park

Conservancy and a lifelong

Stuyvesant Town resident,

helped negotiate Blackstone’s

deal with the city in 2015. He

said the fight over the maxi-

mum-allowed annual rent in-

crease can mean the difference

between a family that can

keep their home and a family

that has to leave.

“This is the middle class of

New York. They are not the

poorest and they are not the

richest, and that does not

mean that they do not strug-

gle,” Mr. Garodnick said.

The Stuyvesant Town litiga-

tion could potentially affect

some 6,000 apartments at

Stuyvesant Town not covered

by Blackstone’s affordability

deal with the city, as well as

thousands of other apartments

citywide that are rent-stabi-

lized under a city property-tax

credit called J-51.

More than half of Stuyve-

sant Town is covered by this

tax credit. It requires rent sta-

bilization of these apartments

settlement.

After Blackstone and a

partner bought the complex in

2015, the new owners reached

a deal with the city to keep

rents limited at 5,000 of the

apartments for the next 20

years and set guidelines for

how the other units would be

treated, in addition to adher-

ingtootherrulesfromapre-

vious court settlement.

“The litigation filed on be-

half of the complex’s highest-

income tenants seeks to invali-

date a court-ordered

agreement, and indefinitely ex-

tend rent control for residents

paying over $4,000 a month,”

said Jennifer Friedman, a

Blackstone spokesperson.

Blackstone estimates the

tenants affected by the lawsuit

have incomes of $262,000 a

year on average. Under the

previous rent laws, tenants

making more than $200,000 a

year for two consecutive years

could have their apartments

deregulated, but that measure

was removed by the state Leg-

islature last year.

New York state’s new rent-
regulation law is reopening a
rift between some tenants at
New York City’s largest rental
complex and its majority
owner, the giant real-estate in-
vestorBlackstone GroupInc.
At issue is whether the new
law should apply to thousands
of the highest-paying renters
at Stuyvesant Town and Peter
Cooper Village, which has
more than 11,000 apartments
overall on Manhattan’s East
Side.
The tenants association
said the new rent law means
their annual increases should
remain much lower than what
Blackstone would otherwise
charge them, according to a
lawsuit filed in a Manhattan
state Supreme Court last
week.
Blackstone said the tenants
bringing the suit represent the
wealthiest residents at the
complex who already acknowl-
edged their units would be de-
regulated in a previous court

BYWILLPARKER

StuyTown Owners,

Tenants Clash

Over Rent Law

The Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village complex, shown two years ago, has more than 11,000 units.

JOHN MOORE/GETTY IMAGES

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