Borough Park, Brooklyn - Councilman Simcha Felder Near-Perfect Record In Council Meetings

Borough Park, Brooklyn, NY - City councilman from Brooklyn Simcha Felder has near-perfect attendance record of all meetings last year.

Council members are paid $90,000 a year, and the job is considered part-time, and overall nearly 35 percent of the 51 council members dodged one of every five meetings they were required to attend. Worse than that, nine lawmakers had an absentee rate of 30 percent or higher, councilman Al Vann (D-Brooklyn) was absent 38 percent of the time.
"If you're absent, you have to have an excuse," former Council Speaker Peter Vallone said. "The speaker's office must know where you are."

The council has also members who earned gold stars for attendance. Among those with near-perfect records last year were Tony Avella (D-Queens) at 2.6 percent; Melinda Katz (D-Queens) 2.8 percent; Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn) 6.25 percent; Helen Sears (D-Queens) 6.6 percent; and Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan), who is now speaker, 7.5 percent.