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Council 37 Has Long Called on the City Council to Pass a Residency Bill
District Council 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts (center), joined
by Norman Seabrook, Pres., New York City Correction Officers' Benevolent Association
(left of Ms. Roberts), DC 37 leaders, DC local presidents, DC 37 rank-and-file
members, and other city labor leaders, called on the City Council to pass a bill
to expand residency during a news conference at City Hall on Monday, October 29,
2007. Under the present residency rule, 45,000 DC 37 members must reside in the
five boroughs or risk losing their city jobs.
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Intro. 837 Restores
Fairness and Choice for DC 37 Members
On
Dec. 18, 2008 the New York City Council passed a local law - Intro. 837 -that
eases residency restrictions on 45,000 city employees. The Mayor vetoed the bill,
but on February 11, 2009 the City Council voted 47-0 to override the veto and
pass the residency bill! Intro. 837 would amend the current law to allow DC
37 members, once they have lived in the city for a minimum of two years, to live
in the six counties surrounding New York City - Nassau, Orange, Putnam, Rockland,
Suffolk and Westchester
District Council 37 Executive Director Lillian
Roberts said, "The lifting of the Residency Requirement for our members
has always been an equity issue and, after a 2 ½ year struggle, this is
definitely good news. Along with the 45,000 members of District Council 37 who
will be directly impacted by the passage of Intro. 837, I thank our friends in
the City Council for granting them the right to now live within the six surrounding
counties of Nassau, Suffolk, Orange, Rockland, Putnam and Westchester.
"While
we never expected a mass exodus from New York City, we have always been acutely
aware of our members' concern over the shrinking stock of affordable housing.
In fact, several years ago it even came to my attention that several hundred of
our members were homeless and living in shelters and there were others who came
to us for legal assistance because they were in arrears on their rent, facing
eviction or their homes had been lost or were in the process of being foreclosed.
There are also a number of our members 60+ years of age who live with roommates
in order to meet their monthly rent and stay in the city.
"While we
have attempted to address many of these problems with a first-in-the-nation, city-assisted
housing program and our unique Municipal Employees Legal Services program, the
magnitude of the housing problems meant that something else needed to be done.
Today, the City Council has taken a major step in addressing a very important
problem faced by the men and women who devote their lives to making sure this
city runs smoothly.
"This measure has always
been about choice, fairness, equity and the non-discriminatory nature of the application
of the Residency Requirement. We thank Speaker Christine Quinn and the members
of the Council who voted for this measure by a vote of 50-1 and overrode the Mayor's
veto by a vote of 47 to 0." Click on the links below for details.
Information on DC 37's Campaign
to Ease Residency Restrictions:
*Download
Acrobat Reader to view and print PDF files.
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