The city council is set to vote in December on the Kingsbridge Armory redevelopment proposal, and support seems to be growing for a living wage. In CBA talks between the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance and the Related Cos., the living wage issue has led to an impasse, but enough pressure from city council members might persuade the developer to agree to the living wage requirement or some sort of compromise.
In addition to support from the Bronx city council delegation--and the rest of the city council often votes in accordance with the area's council representatives-- Queens council member and comptroller-elect John Liu has come out in favor of the living wage requirement, emphasizing the inadequacy of low wage jobs and suggesting that Related has no grounds for compliant given the amount of public subsidy it has received. Brooklyn council member Charles Barron has also said that he supports the CBA and the living wage provision, although he recognizes that this is an improper basis upon which to base his vote on the land use application. (This point was explained by Amanda Burden, chair of the city planning commission, a few weeks ago.)
