A funny thing happened on Bloomberg's radio address yesterday. When asked by a sanitation worker about the famously intricate residency requirements for city employees (they must live in the city, though fire, police and correction officers may also live in Westchester Rockland, Putnam, Oragne, Nassau or Suffolk counties and medics and probation officers can live anywhere in the state) the Mayor responded that he would review the issue. A flat out "not going to change" was the expected answer.
While the Mayor's response was probably an election-year tactic, or maybe a union negotiating tool (sanitation workers have been going without a new contract since 2002) it does bring up a perennial New York question: Should we require our city employees to live where they work? Personally, we're all for the restrictions as they keep workers in touch with the city (and keep good tax money in town) but considering some municipal salaries we understand the desire to live elsewhere. What do you think of residency requirements?
