By Madina Toure
At a legislative roundtable with media outlets, state Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Flushing) spoke about the recent announcement of the Lunar New Year school holiday, the tense relationship between Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo and her legislative achievements.
Sitting in her district office at 142-29 37th Ave., Stavisky said de Blasio made it clear that no other holidays would be recognized following the announcement of the Eid and Lunar New Year holidays.
But she expressed support for a Diwali school holiday, the Festival of Lights celebrated by Hindus, reiterating her calls for the elimination of Brooklyn-Queens Day, which originally marked the founding of the Sunday school movement. It is currently a day of professional development.
“The mayor made it very clear at that press conference: no more school holidays,” Stavisky said. “Do I support it? Yes, I think people should not have to choose between sending their child to school and observing their cultural traditions.”
She also acknowledged that there is “some real conflict” between Cuomo and de Blasio, calling them “two strongly willed individuals.”
She said she thinks de Blasio was exasperated at mayoral control of city schools only being extended for one year as well as the rent regulation compromise and expected more support from Cuomo in terms of support for city issues.
Cuomo, she said, has worked well with Republicans in the Senate and has tried to represent his constituents.
“I think the mayor just was expressing his frustration at what he considered the lack of concern for New York City,” Stavisky said. “I think they really have to sit down privately, without the cameras, without the media, and try to work out some of their differences.”
She also spoke about her legislative achievements during the session that ended June 17.
There were 1,628 bills that passed the Senate, 1,065 in the Assembly and 718 in both houses of the legislature, according to Stavisky.
The most notable accomplishment was the last-minute passage of an omnibus bill known as “the big ugly,” which included a variety of issues, she said.
The bill’s highlights include the extension of 421-a for six months, the extension of rent regulations for four years and the extension of mayoral control of schools for a year.
The bill passed the Senate 47-12 and the Assembly 122-13. She said she hopes hearings will be held on mayoral control, calling the lack of hearings a “serious mistake” and a “wasted opportunity.”
Another notable accomplishment was the appropriation of $23.5 billion in the roughly $142 billion state budget for education, including a $1.3 million increase in education for New York state.
Breakthroughs also included the passage of a bill requiring textbooks to include the East Sea if the Sea of Japan is included on a map, a campus sexual assault bill passed with bipartisan support, increased funding for SUNY and CUNY and nine of the 10 points in the Women’s Equality Agenda.
But there were “missed opportunities,” she said, noting that the Legislature failed to raise the minimum wage statewide, pass the paid family leave bill and meaningful campaign finance reform.
She also said that the Dream Act, which costs $18 million to $20 million, was never considered, and that the age of juveniles should be raised so that they are tried in Family Court instead of under adult laws.
Remarking that “we still have the three men in the room” and that there were “too many scandals,” Stavisky still credited Majority Leader Sen. John Flanagan (R-Suffolk) and state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) with handling a difficult transition well.
“They had never done this before, but they did negotiate an end-of-session package of bills and they work well together,” she said.
Reach reporter Madina Toure by e-mail at mtour
