Wednesday, April 9th 2008, 4:00 AM
Should city workers who are members of District Council 37 have to live in the five boroughs?
It's an issue that won't go away. But it also doesn't seem to be going anywhere.
In July 2006, Mayor Bloomberg and DC 37 officials announced a contract decision with a bonus - members of the city's largest municipal union would no longer have to live in the city.
But City Council members, who need to sign off on that provision, weren't quick to embrace it. Many worried that by eliminating a residency requirement, more and more nonresidents would apply for city jobs.
In the end, they reasoned, that would mean fewer Civil Service jobs for people who live in the city.
City Councilman Joseph Addabbo Jr. (D-Queens), who heads the Civil Service and Labor Committee, said he is anxious to hash all of this out at a hearing. But he can't move ahead with a hearing until all sides agree on some version of a bill.
DC 37 members have said they can no longer afford to live in the five boroughs. It's a complaint often heard from all New Yorkers.
Uniformed city workers - police, fire, sanitation and correction officers - are allowed to live in suburban counties outside the city.
Talks have been ongoing with members of the Bloomberg administration, the City Council and DC 37.
Didn't I write this exact same column seven months ago? Yup. And not much has changed.
No hearing has been scheduled. The mayor's office said it is waiting to get a copy of legislation to review it.
Meanwhile, the City Council is busy with budget negotiations. And then the summer break will come. And then it will be two years since the agreement was reached.
Sources say members of DC 37 and the Council have come to an unofficial agreement that would require new city workers to live in the five boroughs for at least two years.
But the Bloomberg administration doesn't seem happy with that compromise.
Here is the real question: Why can't anyone afford to live in the city anymore?
Everywhere I look, new buildings are going up in areas where working New Yorkers thrived - Long Island City, Astoria, Greenpoint and Williamsburg, just to name a few.
Almost all are being touted as luxury (read expensive) units. The few affordable units are usually set aside for people who make very low wages with limits below the salaries of city workers.
Meanwhile, rent-stabilized apartments are disappearing. Mitchell-Lama and other housing built for middle-class New Yorkers are going market rate. You can't just blame owners for this one. In many cases, tenants are willing participants.
Mayor Bloomberg's plan to create and maintain affordable housing has been lauded by many. But it doesn't seem to be enough to help his city workers find or keep housing in the current market.
DC 37, once furious with Council members for refusing to move on the legislation needed to lift the residency requirement, has softened its tone.
BACK in October, The Daily News' Frank Lombardi reported that DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts promised, "We will do whatever is required" to get the legislation through.
"We will support our friends and [be] damn sure to defeat our enemies," she said at City Hall.
In a statement issued this week, Roberts said discussions are continuing.
"We are hopeful that the goodwill of all will soon carry us to a satisfactory conclusion of an issue that affects so many hardworking city employees," she said.
