19 20 City Council Members Push for More 421-a Reform; Quinn Takes Notice

Quinn may call the final 421-a shot. Annabel Palma and 18 other City Council members put forth their version of 421-a property tax reform at a press conference on Wednesday morning, as promised. Basically, it's similar to what state Assemblyman (and Brooklyn Democratic chairman) Vito Lopez has pushed for, expanding the so-called exclusion zone to encompass the whole city.

In other words, if you hope to get tax breaks anywhere in the city for residential development, you must devote some portion -- 30 percent, in fact -- to low- or moderate-income housing.

That's a lot harder on developers than is Mayor Bloomberg's version, which would maintain tax breaks for new apartments (up to the first $1 million of value) in most of the boroughs and in Upper Manhattan.

The point this morning was a show of force, of course, and 19 council members should be enough to make the Real Estate Board of New York worry--and to make Speaker Christine Quinn, who will essentially decide the issue, to take notice.

Quinn, who began meeting with the Mayor's staff on 421-a this week, according to a source, hasn't chosen sides, but she was meeting with members of Palma's bloc all morning, even throughout the press conference.

"I think the conversation is going towards a much more aggressive set of reforms," the source said.

- Matthew Schuerman Update: A 20th council member, Darlene Mealy, a Brooklyn Democrat, signed on this afternoon.