Quinn Positions Herself For Mayoral Race

The City Council will cut its own budget to help close the city's budget gap, Speaker Christine Quinn announced yesterday in a "State of the City" speech crafted to address the city's uncertain economic future.

Ms. Quinn, a likely candidate for mayor in 2009, echoed many of Mayor Bloomberg's strongest themes in her speech, such as fiscal responsibility, education, and infrastructure investments. The speech could serve as a blueprint for her candidacy, with Ms. Quinn perhaps positioning herself as a responsible heir to the current administration.

"We can't credibly ask each agency to cut their budgets, and look teachers and nurses in the eye and explain why programs they care about are getting less this year, if we are not prepared to do the same thing ourselves," Ms. Quinn said.

Interspersed with the frequent references to the city's darkening financial outlook, the speaker rolled out a variety of proposals to provide New Yorkers with tax cuts, improved transportation, more pay for teachers, and affordable housing.

"Getting leaner does not have to mean getting meaner," Ms. Quinn said.

She announced that she and Mr. Bloomberg have agreed to develop a citywide, year-round ferry service to help relieve the strain on subways and buses, inviting the audience to "imagine getting on a ferry in Hunts Point for a day trip to Coney Island, or commuting from Astoria to downtown without having to brave the traffic at the Triboro Bridge."

Ms. Quinn suggested the city suspend its 8% sales tax for one week to coincide with the arrival of rebate checks from Congress' $168 billion stimulus package, boosting the city's economy with heightened spending.

Other proposals included expanding a small business health care program, providing incentive pay to teachers who work in low performing middle schools, and increasing efforts to enroll eligible seniors in food stamp programs.

The biggest applause of the speech came when Ms. Quinn announced the creation of a task force that would recommend ways to expand the city's supply of middle-income housing and develop "a citywide Mitchell-Lama plan for the 21st century," as she put it. Perhaps foreshadowing a battle with the mayor about $500 million in proposed cuts to education, Ms. Quinn said that "we can't sacrifice educational quality in the name of fiscal responsibility," and she pledged to carefully examine the effects of reduced spending on the city's classrooms.

Council member Charles Barron, a frequent critic of Ms. Quinn, described the address yesterday as "a campaign speech for a mayoral election." He said he was disappointed in Ms. Quinn's emphasis on the middle class, and he said the city needs to focus more on reducing unemployment in low-income neighborhoods.

Others, however, praised some of Ms. Quinn's proposals and her assessment of the city's economic situation.

"It's going to be very difficult financial times," the president of Manhattan, Scott Stringer, said. "I think she put it out there just the way she should have." Asked about Ms. Quinn's new housing task force, Mr. Stringer said that while he was not sure if it would ultimately succeed, the city needed to look for ways to add more affordable housing units. "In our borough, right here in Manhattan, the housing crisis is now out of control," he said. "Somebody's got to step up with new ideas."

Council Member John Liu, who chairs the Council's Transportation Committee, said he was particularly pleased by the announcement that the mayor had agreed to expand ferry service. "This is finally a recognition on the part of the Bloomberg administration that ferry service is a viable form of mass transit," he said. "New York City was built in the early days on the waterways, and for the last 100 years we've kind of forgotten about this huge natural transportation resource we have." Budget discussions with the mayor will determine whether many of Ms. Quinn's proposals will be implemented. In January, Mayor Bloomberg proposed a $58.5 billion budget, which requires the City Council's approval to take effect. The Council will negotiate changes in the mayor's budget in the coming months and vote on a final version in June.