REBNY’s Spinola unfazed by a de Blasio administration

Lobbyist claims budget crisis is his worry but either hopeful can handle it

From left: Bill de Blasio and Steven Spinola
From left: Bill de Blasio and Steven Spinola

Bill de Blasio’s terrific showing in the Democratic mayoral primary has business leaders nervous about what’s to come from the liberal candidate, but Steven Spinola, who leads the real estate industry’s chief lobbying organization, is insisting that both de Blasio and his Republican rival Joe Lhota are equipped to deal with the city’s greatest need: the budget.

“We are approaching what may be a budgetary crisis,” Spinola, the president of the Real Estate Board of New York, told the Wall Street Journal. “But I’m optimistic that either candidate can deal with that.”

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De Blasio has proposed many measures unpopular with the city’s business community, such as raising taxes on wealthy New Yorkers earning more than $500,000. Dan Levitan, a spokesman for the candidate, told the newspaper that de Blasio “believes that the city’s inequality crisis affects all New Yorkers, rich and poor.”

Many in the real estate industry are supporting to Joe Lhota, a candidate who is said he will continue Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s policy of championing development projects and has called for a re-evaluation of the city’s property taxes, as The Real Deal reported.  [WSJ]  – Hiten Samtani