By Dustin Brown
State Assemblyman Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) announced plans to push for a tax credit to encourage film production in New York during an appearance at Community Board 1's district cabinet meeting last Thursday.
Gianaris also gave a progress report on the dire condition of the state budget, while a police officer from the 114th Precinct said crime continues to decline in Astoria and Long Island City.
Gianaris told the few dozen community leaders at the monthly meeting in the newly renovated dining room at Kaufman Astoria Studios that he expects to introduce legislation offering a tax credit to entice film productions to shoot in New York state.
Although the film industry is a major source of income for the city – with Queens boasting two major studios, Silvercup Studios and Kaufman – New York loses a lot of potential business to Canada because production is so much cheaper there.
“We're going to try to bring some of that business back,” said Gianaris, who last month joined the state Assembly's Tourism, Arts and Sports Development Committee, which is slated to introduce the bill.
The most striking case in point is “Rudy,” an upcoming movie about the life of former Mayor Rudy Giuliani filmed in Montreal.
Hal Rosenbluth, president of Kaufman Astoria Studios, praised Gianaris for his efforts on behalf of the film industry and said the start of construction on a new sound stage behind the American Museum of the Moving Image was delayed by the city's fiscal crisis.
“Our goal is to keep bringing production to Queens, and more specifically to Kaufman,” Rosenbluth said. “It brings in a lot of people and it brings in a lot of money to the area.”
In his budget update, Gianaris said the state's $12 billion deficit over last year and this year will force legislators to “make some difficult decisions of our own at the state level.”
Gianaris criticized Gov. George Pataki for refusing to impose a commuter tax, insisting the plans to hike college tuition rates and transit fares was a tax unto itself that disproportionately affects the middle class.
“These are all middle-class tax increases. These are things we'll all be paying when we get on the subway or our kids go to SUNYs and CUNYs,” Gianaris said. “If we're going to be raising revenues, let's at least do it fairly.”
Officer William Nilsson of the 114th Precinct's Community Affairs Department said crime during 2002 fell 5.9 percent compared to the previous year.
Crime statistics released by the city through March 9 indicate crime in the 114th Precinct so far this year has dropped 15.3 percent compared to this time last year, while over the past two years crime has fallen 37 percent.
“This year we're doing really well,” Nilsson said.
Reach reporter Dustin Brown by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 154.
