Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today announced that New York City is beginning a public information campaign to provide New York City's political donor community information to advance the City's State and Federal priorities.  The Mayor made the announcement to a group of prominent New York political activists and presented each with "The New York City Card."  The Card will be updated each year and contain a list of the top State and Federal issues facing New York City each year.  Detailed information on pending Federal and State issues and priorities will be distributed periodically. 

"New York City needs all the help it can get in its fight for its fair share from Washington and Albany," said Mayor Bloomberg. "When National and State politicians and candidates call New Yorkers for campaign cash, we need to make sure they support our City's interest.  It's simple, if you want to tap into New York's vast reservoir of resources, you need to support the policies and legislation that New York City needs to prosper and grow."

New York's donor community provides a disproportionate share of the funding for national political campaigns. Six zip codes in New York City contributed $61.5 million to Federal Campaigns in 2004 and one zip code, 10021, contributed more than $22 million to political campaigns in the last Federal election cycle. Not only does New York City provide a disproportionate share of political donations, but it also subsidizes the operation of the State and Federal Governments.  New York City sends more than an $11 billion a year more to Albany than it receives in services.  The imbalance of payments is even greater with Washington DC.  New York City is the economic engine of both New York State and the entire country.

The five priorities listed on the first New York City Card are:

• The approval of the trade-in of $2 billion in Federal tax credits in exchange for $2 billion in upfront Federal funds for the long-needed rail link from Lower Manhattan to Long Island.

• The allocation of Federal Homeland Security should be distributed to the nation's states and cities based on threat, not pork barrel politics.

• The opposition to Federal eminent domain legislation that would cripple responsible re-development and revitalization.

• The increase in the State cap on charter schools to 250 to provide working families greater educational choice for their children.

• The support of legislation to provide financial incentives to produce affordable housing for New Yorkers.