“Many of the resources that our neighborhoods enjoy today—from parks to truly affordable housing and schools—were secured by the Council exercising power on behalf of residents to negotiate with the city and developers for the public good.”

Councilmember Farías, left, with Speaker Adrienne Adams at the City Council Wednesday. (Emil Cohen/NYC Council Media Unit)

One year ago, a neighborhood rezoning to promote housing development in the East Bronx surrounding newly slated Metro-North train stations yielded nearly $500 million for local parks, schools and streets. In addition to allowing the creation of an estimated 7,000 new units of housing in the Bronx, up to 500 units of homeownership were secured for our residents to access life-changing economic opportunities.

These housing and infrastructure benefits for our neighborhoods were only possible because of the community’s power to influence development through the vote of their democratically-elected representatives in the City Council.

That power is now at risk from Mayor Eric Adams’ misleading Ballot Proposals 2, 3 and 4, which would take away this voting power and give it to the mayor and their unelected appointees. These changes would eliminate the ability for neighborhoods to secure critical improvements for their parks, schools, streets and public transit, as well as housing that is affordable for local residents. 

Another View: Vote Yes on Housing Ballot Proposals 2-5 (Opinion)

Fortunately in the coming election, voters throughout the city will have the opportunity to use their ballot to decide whether to keep or give away that power. Voters need to make sure they understand the proposals, because the ballot language describing them hides their real impact in an effort to mislead voters.

In the Bronx, we understand the consequences of when decisions are dictated by powerful political interests outside of our communities without any local input. Community power in the current land use process emerged as a response to racist and reckless land use policies from centrally-concentrated power that segregated neighborhoods and subjected them to higher rates of asthma and other environmental injustices. 

The historic lack of investment by the city in these neighborhoods further perpetuated economic, environmental and health injustices. Many Black and Latino neighborhoods are still living with and working to undo the damage from the decades of harm this caused. 

We are only now making progress from increased representation within government for communities of color, as equitable representation and power in our democracy is key to ensuring the health and well-being of every community. 

Many of the resources that our neighborhoods enjoy today—from parks to truly affordable housing and schools—were secured by the Council exercising power on behalf of residents to negotiate with the city and developers for the public good. 

As residents and representatives of our communities, we understand the urgency of solving our housing crisis to make life affordable for New Yorkers. Equitable and swift approval of new housing is critical to solving the housing shortage. Many Bronx communities know this well because they have contributed the most towards city housing production.  

I’m proud to be a leader within this City Council that has consistently demonstrated housing leadership by approving 93 percent of housing-related land use proposals sent to us. This reveals the inaccuracy of proponents’ arguments to explain and justify these ballot proposals.

While our city must actively ensure that all areas of our city contribute their share of new housing, the answer is not to systematically disenfranchise all communities and amass power in the mayor’s office, which is what these ballot proposals do. 

Mayor Adams’ ballot proposals 2, 3 and 4 make claims about affordable housing to mislead voters, but they will undermine the affordability of housing. By removing the only required vote by democratically elected representatives, they would eliminate the public’s ability to ensure that the housing built is truly affordable and development is responsive to community needs.

If enacted, Proposals 2, 3 and 4 would make it harder for everyday New Yorkers to fight for and win affordable housing and investments in parks, public transit, schools, and other essentials for our neighborhoods. 

Without being pushed to do so, developers and city government have not provided housing that is affordable to residents and investments our neighborhoods need. These misleading housing ballot proposals would take away communities’ power to negotiate these essentials in development projects. 

New York City belongs to its people—not to a single mayor or a handful of powerful and wealthy developers. New Yorkers should reject ballot proposals 2, 3 and 4, because they will lead to less affordable housing and more gentrification. 

These proposals are designed to take away New Yorkers’ voices. We cannot let a historically unpopular mayor and powerful special interests take advantage of the public and trick us into giving away our power.  

Amanda Farías is the majority leader of the New York City Council and represents Council District 18 in The Bronx.

The post Opinion: Communities’ Power in Development Decisions Helps Our Neighborhoods  appeared first on City Limits.

The scene of veteran quarterback Carson Wentz writhing on the ground in pain last week at SoFi Stadium, then tossing his helmet in frustration after reaching the sideline, has inspired a discourse about how the Vikings handled everything that transpired.

This wasn’t simply a frustrated player lashing out after being taken down for another sack. This was a grown man battling through an immense amount of pain while slowly coming to terms with the fact that his time with Vikings was done.

Should he have even been in the game at that point? That question has continued to be asked this week after Wentz was placed on injured reserve in advance of surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder.

“I knew what I was signing up for,” Wentz said. “It wasn’t like anybody was forcing me to go. This is my 10th year in the league. There’s a lot of bigger things in my life to worry about, so I wasn’t going to do anything that would be detrimental to my own health.”

This is something Wentz said he has been managing since the Oct. 5 game against the Cleveland Browns. He learned that he had suffered a torn labrum in his left shoulder soon after that, and while he knew it was going to require surgery, he proceeded to play in the Oct. 19 game against the Philadelphia Eagles, followed by the Oct. 23 game against the Los Angeles Chargers.

As soon as Wentz got word from the doctors that he couldn’t do any further damage, that was enough for him to keep going for as long as he could.

“Did it become more uncomfortable? Probably,” Wentz said. “Did it become worse that it can’t be fixed? No.”

The decision for Wentz to continue to suit up for the Vikings was made in lockstep with head coach Kevin O’Connell. They were on the same page at every step throughout the process.

“It was determined that if Carson wanted to give it a go, he could,” O’Connell said. “We felt encouraged by giving Carson the opportunity to make the call.”

After rehabbing through the bye and getting through the game against the Eagles relatively unscathed, Wentz acknowledged that in hindsight, he struggled with the four-day turnaround ahead of the game against the Chargers more than he expected.

That said, Wentz never thought about taking himself out of the game, largely because he was relishing the opportunity to be a starter in the NFL once again. That also helps explain why O’Connell left Wentz under center for as long as he did.

“We went into this thing knowing it was kind of a pain-tolerance situation and he would be able to play through it and not make it worse,” O’Connell said. “You have an obligation to the player to let them compete and see it through to a certain point.”

There were conversations on the sideline each time Wentz came off the field last week, and he kept reiterating that he wanted to stay in the game.

“I never once felt unsafe,” Wentz said. “It was like, ‘I don’t want to come out of this game as uncomfortable as this is.’ ”

As reality started to set in for him on the plane ride home last week, however, Wentz finally let himself shift his mindset, knowing it was more than likely in his best interest to fix his torn labrum sooner rather than later.

The hope from Wentz is that he’ll be ready to roll for organized team activities in the spring, whether that’s with the Vikings or another team. The good news is that he’s expected to make a full recovery.

“It’s not that concerning long term,” Wentz said. “It’s just a bummer right now.”

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The city’s legislative hearing officer will recommend that the St. Paul City Council order the demolition of the vacant CVS store at the corner of Snelling and University avenues.

The eyesore property has become a visible metaphor for the city’s retail challenges and general setbacks plaguing the Green Line, the Midway and the once-promising University Avenue business corridor. Before the installation of protective fencing around its parking lot, as many as 40 loiterers at a time could be seen gathered outside the building at 499 Snelling Ave. N., which had developed a reputation as one of the neighborhood’s most embarrassing open-air drug markets.

Legislative hearing officer Marcia Moermond held two public hearings over the past month on potential repair or demolition orders for the building, which dates to just 2007. In addition to a $5,000 performance deposit, she said last month that property owner would need to provide a complete abatement plan laying out future lighting, cameras, bids for trade labor improvements in particular parts of the structure and other evidence of a detailed scope of work.

On Tuesday, in light of obvious damage and neglect, she recommended ordering the property owner to remove the building within 15 days, with no option for repairs.

The city council will hold a public hearing on the demolition orders on Nov. 5, at which point Moermond is expected to present her formal recommendation to the council.

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Two parties have expressed interest in purchasing the property, but representatives of the building owner and CVS did not appear at Tuesday’s hearing, according to Jay Willms, the city council’s director of operations.

If the demolition order is approved by the council, the building owner would then have 15 days to demolish the structure, or it would fall to the city to put removal out to bid and pursue a hazardous materials inspection and utility disconnections, a process that could take several weeks.

Pointing to the often unseemly condition of nearby vacant lots, some residents have expressed concern that if the property owner simply sits on the lot without selling it after demolition, the site would remain a dirt lot for the foreseeable future.

CVS permanently closed the store in April 2022, and it has since become a visible magnet for litter, graffiti and vandalism.

By STEPHEN GROVES

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is voting on legislation Wednesday that would nullify U.S. tariffs on Canada, just as President Donald Trump is engaged in trade talks in Asia as well as an increasingly bitter trade spat with U.S.’s northern neighbor that is one of its largest economic partners.

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Senators have taken a series of votes this week to terminate the national emergencies that Trump has used to impose tariffs. While the resolutions won’t ultimately take effect, they have proven to be an effective way for Democrats to expose cracks between the president’s trade policy and Republican senators who have traditionally supported free trade arguments.

Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, the Democrat pushing the resolutions, said that higher prices caused by tariffs would force Republicans to break with Trump. “It will become untenable for them to just close their eyes and say, ‘I’m signing up for whatever the president wants to do,’” Kaine told reporters.

The Senate passed a similar resolution applying to Brazilian tariffs on Tuesday, and it has already passed a resolution on Canadian imports in April.

Kaine, joined by other Democrats and Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, has forced the votes under a decades-old law that allows Congress to block a president’s emergency powers. However, House Republicans have passed new rules that allow leaders to prevent such resolutions from getting a vote in that chamber, and Trump could veto the legislation even if it did clear Congress.

Wednesday’s vote happened as Trump was in Asia to advance trade talks with partners there. The president has also been jousting with Canadian officials amid a delicate negotiation to reduce tariffs between the two countries.

Sen. Mike Crapo, the Republican chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, acknowledged in a floor speech that many “may be nervous about what comes next” as Trump remakes global trade. But he urged Congress to stay out of the way.

“Let’s truly get a balanced, fair playing field in trade,” Crapo added.

Yet there is increasing tension between GOP senators and the president over how soybean farmers have suffered from the trade war with China, as well as his administration’s plans to allow the purchase of more beef from Argentina.

Vice President JD Vance visited Republicans during a closed-door luncheon this week and also argued that they should steer clear of trade policy while the president negotiates deals. But Vance’s efforts appeared to have little impact on those determined to vote against the tariffs.

“Retaliatory tariffs on American products have turned agricultural income upside down for many of Kentucky’s nearly 70,000 family farms,” said Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, the former longtime Republican Senate leader, in a statement. “Bourbon has been caught in the crossfire from day one. And consumers are paying higher prices across the board as the true costs of trade barriers fall inevitably on them.”

Trump said earlier this week he wanted to impose another 10% tariff hike on imports of Canadian goods because of an anti-tariff television ad aired by the province of Ontario. The television ad used the words of former President Ronald Reagan to criticize U.S. tariffs.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has been trying to engage with Trump to ease the import taxes that have hit Canada hard. The U.S.-Canada economic relationship is one of the largest globally, totaling $909.1 billion in 2024, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. More than three-quarters of Canadian exports go to the U.S., and nearly $3.6 billion Canadian ($2.7 billion U.S.) worth of goods and services cross the border daily.

Canada has also tried to turn to Asian trading partners amid the trade war.

Democrats argued the trade war was impacting a range of industries, from farmers to shipbuilders. They also said it made little sense to engage in a trade war with a close military ally.

Trump has invoked a national emergency to impose the tariffs, saying that fentanyl and other illegal drugs are entering the country from Canada. So far this year, less than 1% of the total fentanyl seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 66 pounds, was seized at the northern border.

Kaine argued in a floor speech that Trump’s trade policy was actually hinging on his personal feelings. He claimed that Trump had “such thin skin that an ad on television quoting Ronald Reagan” had hurt his feelings and prompted an end to the negotiations.

He asked, “How about that as a rationale for trade policy?”