Opinion: A Public Bank for the Public Good

Chosen say the need for a municipal bank is even greater as the Trump administration plots cuts to housing green capacity and other programs A rally calling for the city to establish a citizens bank John McCarten NYC Council Media Unit Earlier this month an obscure regime entity the NYC Banking Commission voted on which banks city agencies can use over the next two years to deposit tax and other revenue and pay municipal bills This may seem like little more than a bureaucratic exercise But with hundreds of millions of dollars sitting in a large number of of these accounts the choices are far more meaningful than they might seem at first blush That s why selected legislators and advocacy groups are pushing for the city to create its own bank a inhabitants bank that would use these funds to prioritize investments in city necessities rather than helping to sweeten the bottom lines of certain of the biggest commercial banks in the world Selected say the need for a municipal bank is even greater as the Trump administration plots cuts to housing green power and other programs Moreover the administration s unprecedented order to seize from a city bank account million in aid that had been authorized by Congress and Citibank s apparent willingness to go along to avoid regulatory retaliation from the White House if it defied the order should send a clear message of just who s interest comes first for a great number of of the big banks On April the city s bank accounts held nearly billion in deposits according to information provided by the Department of Finance Roughly three-quarters of those funds were in just three banks JP Morgan Chase million Bank of America million and Citibank million These funds don t just sit idly in accounts waiting to be drawn down the banks use them to make investments The trio of banks were the largest bank investors worldwide in the fossil fuel industry over the years - based on content compiled by the organization Banking on Setting Chaos As the city labors to meet the challenges of environment change such as extreme heat flooding and related issues it makes little sense for our residents dollars to be used to fuel one of the primary sources of these environmental dangers Funds in a constituents bank could instead be directed to help ease these problems locally by financing locality solar projects rooftop farms and building renovations that reduce greenhouse gas emissions Likewise countless of the Wall Street banks where the city deposits its funds also are major investors in luxury housing projects that spur gentrification and deepen the city s shortfall of affordable housing A society bank with a mission to use its funds to promote the population good rather than maximize shareholder profits could provide low-interest loans to nonprofit housing developers and group land trusts that aim to produce truly affordable housing Such investments are taking on added import as the Trump administration angles to cut funding for programs that seek to ameliorate environment change and reduce aid that supports affordable housing as well as undermine assistance for underserved communities As Tousif Ahsan of the New Market Project declared at a May rally Through inhabitants banks local governments can responsibly steward community funds partnering with community-based financial institutions to close critical funding gaps and build wealth in low-income and Black and brown neighborhoods Creating a New York City general bank is also a tool for local economic rise as it has proven to be for more than years in North Dakota A June survey by the New School Center for New York City Affairs exposed that just in its early stages a society bank could spur the creation of jobs more than new or renovated housing units and billion in lending through local credit unions and neighborhood banks it would represent an alternate model of finance in New York City one in which finance is not a means of extraction but instead a tool to employ populace wealth for population good enhancing the economic well-being and wealth generating expected for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers and communities the summary states But the city can t completely put up a sign and open a bank for business It necessities enabling provision from the state State Senator James Sanders Jr chair of the Senate banking committee has sponsored the necessary provision for several years I m proud to lead the charge for the New York Citizens Banking Act and I urge my colleagues and the governor to make this the year we give our communities the power to build for themselves he mentioned at the May rally As the current legislative session in Albany winds down we ll soon know if his colleagues heed the call Doug Turetsky a former City Limits reporter and editor was most of in the last few days chief of staff and communications director at the New York City Independent Budget Office The post Opinion A Inhabitants Bank for the Populace Good appeared first on City Limits