Gov. Cuomo And Mayor De Blasio Find Some Common Ground, But Not Much
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio are toning down their war of words, sort of.
The two Democrats verbally sparred over the weekend about the state's legislative session, especially the mayor's affordable housing plan.
But on Monday both took pains to take the high road.
Cuomo said in a radio interview that they would fight for their beliefs but would "be friends after these jobs are over."
Then de Blasio said at City Hall that he'd had "clarifying conversations" with Cuomo. He downplayed their differences and even praised Cuomo over another issue the mayor has been pushing for.
"I am pleased to see the governor reaffirm his support for the three-year extension of mayoral control education," de Blasio said. "I think that's very helpful, very constructive. And I think we can work together to get things done."
The two men frequently proclaim their decades-long friendship, but Cuomo has often been an obstacle to de Blasio's agenda.
The mayor delivered rare criticisms of Cuomo in recent days, including calling the governor "disingenuous."
Last week, Cuomo charged that the progressive mayor, who usually sides with workers, is abandoning them to engineer a giveaway to rich developers.
"The fight is over this real estate program, but really it comes to something deeper, which is that the forever-fraught relationship between de Blasio and Cuomo -- and indeed the fraught relationship between any mayor of New York City and any governor of New York really is at a low point with just nine days left in Albany's legislation session and with several items on the mayor's agenda sitting in Albany's lap," Jimmy Vielkind, who covers the state government for Capital New York, told WCBS 880.
The issue is de Blasio's bill to renew a tax break for developers, called 421-a, requires developers to build affordable housing, but it does not require that construction workers be paid the prevailing wage.
"The mayor negotiated a bill that many people criticize as a giveaway to wealthy landlords," the governor added. "The mayor's bill is opposed by the entire labor movement. They believe the mayor's plan hurts the workers and doesn't pay the workers a fair wage."
De Blasio took exception to the governor's remarks.
"It's the exact opposite, and I think it's disingenuous of him," the mayor said. "Obviously the giveaway is that, for decades, the tax credit was given without any qualification."
The mayor wants the tax break extended from 25 years to 35 years in exchange for more affordable housing -- a hallmark of his mayoralty, CBS2's Marcia Kramer reported.
"Thirty-five year tax break? This is billions and billions of dollars," Cuomo said. "My question is: are we getting enough affordable units to pay for … to deserve, merit the billions and billions of dollars?
"So are we getting enough units and are they affordable? You know affordable. We used to use the term 'low income.' You notice we don't talk about low-income housing anymore? We gave up low-income housing. We now call it 'affordable housing.' This is housing people making $110,000 can afford … $110,000. How about someone making $50,000?" Cuomo added.
The de Blasio camp said its plan would allow people with incomes as low as $31,000 to get apartments and would end tax breaks for luxury condos.
"We believe our plan will achieve a lot more affordability. The alternative is to continue a subsidy that is unfair to the taxpayers and overly generous to developers," de Blasio said.
"The one thing we cannot do is continue the status quo," the mayor added.
It was just the latest in a series of disagreements between the state's biggest power brokers.
Cuomo privately fumed for days, after de Blasio went to Albany last week and said the governor needed to show "leadership" to get the city's school and housing agenda passed, Kramer reported.
The governor also attacked the globe-trotting mayor for coming to Albany to push housing school legislation in the waning days of the session.
"The legislative session starts in January," Cuomo said. "This is a conversation, frankly, that should have started much earlier."
The politics of getting the city's agenda passed in Albany this year are more complex than usual. The indictment of former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos are part of it, and Senate Republicans still havent forgiven de Blasio for campaigning hard to defeat them, Kramer reported.
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