Tax abatement debate

City Council members have introduced a counterproposal to a Bloomberg plan looking to take control of a developer tax break called 421-a. Under Bloomberg’s plan, developers building in certain “hot” neighborhoods would have to provide 30 percent affordable housing in their buildings to qualify for the break, which is currently easy to obtain. The counterproposal, supported by about a third of the council members, looks to extend the 30 percent requirement across the city. more [NYT]