By Gus Saltonstall
An Upper West Side elected official was voted in on Thursday as the majority leader of the New York City Council.
Councilmember Shaun Abreu, who represents the northern section of the Upper West Side and Morningside Heights, along with parts of Harlem, is the new majority leader of the council, as well as the chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
“I am deeply honored by Speaker Menin’s confidence in naming me Majority Leader and Chair of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure,” Abreu said in a statement sent to West Side Rag. “I am ready to work alongside her to lead the City Council as we move our city forward and take on the affordability issues that matter most to New Yorkers.”
Abreu, in his role as majority leader, will help set the legislative agenda for the chamber and also play a leading part in negotiating the city budget.
Julie Menin is the new speaker of the council, and this is how City & State, which was the first to report on the subject, described how a leadership team is typically put together.
“Speakers typically reward trusted allies with top positions, but leadership team appointments can also indicate a speaker’s values and how they intend to guide the 51-member body,” City & State wrote. “All five of the council members tapped for top roles were either important supporters for Menin early in her speaker campaign or are close to the Democratic county organization in their borough.”
Abreu has been a longtime supporter of Menin, and both elected officials have endorsed one another in their respective races over the years. Abreu also worked as a field director for Menin, when she was the Commissioner of the Department of Consumer Affairs.
In terms of Abreu’s outlook on his new role as chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, he says, “Every mile should be safe, well-maintained, and designed for the New Yorkers who use them every day. We’ve learned from our district what is important to people: streetlights being on, roads being paved, and infrastructure projects that were promised actually staying on schedule and being completed.”
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Go Shaun!! Awesome news.
I agree! He was extremely responsive when I called his office with concerns.
In an interview with the WSR this past June 8th Sean Abreu stated he wants to end the “tax incentives” landlords have to deliberately keep their space empty.
Contrary to popular myth there are no “tax incentives” to keeping space empty and I challenge Mr Abreu to list one such “tax incentive”.
It’s a shame NYC has such ignorant politicians in positions of high authority who feel compelled to parrot nonsense they don’t understand.
It is so crazy that people think this. They should be asking their CPA if this is true. The only benefit they get is no income. If a building has a mortgage, the bank needs to approve the rental of commercial space to make sure it meets the guidelines of the rental space.. They tell you how much you can rent your space for that. Nobody knows this is disturbing.
These people are elected based on identity politics and ideology. They have no real world experience.
You are correct
He ignored our pleas to intervene in the horrendous “redesign” of W103rd St supported by wealthy Transportation Alternative supporter ParktoPark103 advocate Peter Frishauf. Our 24th Fire Department has called the design a hazard with boulders in the street and narrowing of the street to 9 1/2 ft.
If a building is empty or under-rented, it operates at a loss on paper.
That can allow owners to deduct operating expenses, deduct mortgage interest, depreciate the building every year (even while it’s going up in market value), and those paper losses are used to offset taxes on other income or other properties.
The tax “incentive” is that vacancies contribute to a tax situation where the owner owes less overall tax.
And leading to demolition by neglect.
An operating loss is not a “tax incentive”. No landlord is going to deliberately forgo rental revenue to generate an operating loss. No landlord in NYC or anywhere else in the country magically comes out financially ahead by not generating rental revenue. And no, there are no “tax incentives” that make it worthwhile to deliberately keep space empty.
If I have a job earning $200K per year and I quit my job do I come out financially ahead because I no longer have to pay taxes on the $200K?
If anything, there is a tax disincentive to keeping space empty as the landlord still has to pay NYC real estate taxes on space that is not generating revenue.
Mr Abreu – who is a lawyer – is stunningly ignorant about basic tax concepts and economics.
Not true. Taxes on profits are offset by losses elsewhere. Basic money laundering.
If there are no advantages, then why are more than 26,000 rent-stabilized apartments deliberately being kept off the market?
They’re kept off the market because they are run down and in disrepair and it would cost more for landlords to upgrade them and make them habitable than they could collect in rent.
In other words, if they spend money to upgrade the apartments it will take years to recoup their investment because the rent they’re allowed to charge is so low.
This is why there are so many rent stabilized apartments that are not on the market. There is no “tax incentive” for landlords to keep rent stabilized apartments empty.
Because since the 2019 housing laws, vacated apartments subject to rent stabilization no longer can be rented at market rents.
Once a rent stabilized renter is in an apartment, they have a right to renewal leases. They never leave, and may even pass their right to stay in the apartment to their children.
There was a West Side Rag article a few months back about the last tenant in a building the owner wanted to tear down, who was holding out for a big payoff.
If we brought back vacancy decontrol, those 26,000 apartments would go back on the market (though – the right to a renewal lease might discourage that.)
Or – maybe establish a new category – the rent stays at the stabilized level, but the renter has no right to a renewal. That way the building owner would not be forced to keep apartments vacant, for fear that a renter might hold up the sale or redevelopment of the building.
Please cease the logical explanation.
You are upsetting people.
They owe less overall tax because they have no income to tax. I’m sure there are plenty of real estate tax loop holes, but in all cases the owners are better off making the deductions you describe and also earning rental income from the property.
Using that logic, if you’re unemployed and have no income, you’re somehow enjoying “tax incentives” because you’re not paying any income tax……
Having no income to pay tax on is worse than paying tax.
Yes, that is my point.
I wish he spent more time advocating for the neighborhood and less time promoting himself. I’ve reached out to his office several times over the years with various issues with nothing to show for it. Gale Brewer stepped up to help when it wasn’t even her district!
Gale Brewer is good at stepping up unless you are Muslim, her work with the Muslims on the UWS leaves much to be desired. Sara Lind should have won the 2021 primary.
Not wrong. She’s been pretty weak on that overall. Other City Councilmembers are more proactive in that regard – and she’s ignored constituent complaint about Kahanist stickers & graffiti on the UWS over the past 2 years
All of the “graffiti” on the upper west side has been anti Jewish and ziophobic. This has been led racists and needs to stop. Nice gaslighting though.
There is Islamophobia on the UWS even among liberals here, this is very true. A lot of it is more implicit. Take for example, when Matthew Mahrer, a Jewish person who is neurodivergent, helped procure a loaded firearm for someone threatening to harm a synagogue, Sheldon Fine, a former CB7 chair and CB7 member met with Mahrer’s, felt sympathy for them, and advocated for compassion for Matthew Mahrer. On the other hand, you have neurodivergent Muslims on the UWS who had their civil liberties violated over a misunderstanding and did not do ANYTHING illegal or wrong (and aren’t even anti-Israel), and leadership in the UWS community does nothing to help and lacks the same empathy and compassion they had for Matthew Mahrer. Make this double standard make sense.
NOT True. Horrible accusation is false
People in the UWS Muslim community are respectful and do not do anything wrong. Why doesn’t leadership in the UWS Jewish community build bridges instead of implicit barriers that they will not have the guts to say to people’s faces. The difference between Gale Brewer and Northeast Queens councilwoman Vickie Paladino is that Gale Brewer likely feels the same way about Muslims that Vickie feels, but Vickie (through her son running her twitter account) has the guts to say it to my face whereas Gale does not and neither does Linda Rosenthal or Brad Hoylman-Sigal or someone like former CB7 chair Sheldon Fine.
So instead of Gale willing to apologize for missteps with the Muslim community on the UWS and make things right, especially now with a Muslim mayor, there are enough supporters of Gale willing to come on the comments section and troll those who have concerns about Gale.
So you are denying people’s lived experiences?
This is groundless, hurtful, and absolutely BOT true .
CC Brewer is an outstanding and dedicated public servant Examine your own approach and expectations. Consider contributing to community life and building up alliances instead of barriers.
People in the UWS Muslim community are respectful and do not do anything wrong. Why doesn’t leadership in the UWS Jewish community build bridges instead of implicit barriers that they will not have the guts to say to people’s faces. The difference between Gale Brewer and Northeast Queens councilwoman Vickie Paladino is that Gale Brewer likely feels the same way about Muslims that Vickie feels, but Vickie (through her son running her twitter account) has the guts to say it to my face whereas Gale does not and neither does Linda Rosenthal or Brad Hoylman-Sigal or someone like former CB7 chair Sheldon Fine.
Leadership on the UWS treats Muslims so badly that even me, I drive car and am upset that they are taking away parking spaces, I would gladly give up 200 parking spaces on the UWS, if it meant that Sara Lind defeated Gale Brewer in 2021 and did more to stand by the Muslim community on the UWS.
I agree with the others’ comments here (except “Go Shaun!!”). I didn’t vote for him this time around — I’ve contacted his office to help with an issue (both an eyesore and dangerous) and it remains unresolved more than two years later with no follow up from anyone in his office. He’s ineffective.
I didn’t vote for him either. No effective opposition, though, and most people don’t vote.
We had good candidates but you need lots of money to challenge established politicians.
Mark Gorton has a lot of money and that is why people who drive have less of a voice than they did before! Not only he has a lot of money to support urbanists, but also RFK Jr. yet the entire “livable streets” movement is silent about it!
Great. More liberal giveaways and lack of safety.
Great news, looks like a very strong Transportation Committee overall, color me pleasantly surprised. We just might be getting good things in NYC for the next 4 (or 8) years!
Wondering as a parent your main interest is in transportation and not NYC public schools?
Obviously both are very important to me. Overall, I’m pretty happy with the education my kids are getting. The new schools commissioner seems just fine, lets see how he does.
Whereas, in the transportation/housing sphere, NYC has ample low hanging fruit to improve our streets & zoning and make NYC safer and better for all.
Urbanists have parents who are plants who are there to manufacture consent for policies that most other parents do not want!
You aren’t upset about Phil Wong being on the transportation committee?
Why should I be? Are you a fan or something?
The overall committee will be much improved even if I don’t see eye to eye with every single member.
I am a huge fan, you would not be of Phil Wong.
Ok I am now concerned! Thanks for alerting me.
Hopefully he will be a lone dissenting voice.
They couldn’t find an adult with experience?