Stop and frisk hasn’t disappeared
Bill de Blasio’s vocal criticism of the NYPD’s use of stop and frisk under then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg helped vault him to victory in 2013. In a city of a million issues, it became
the issue. Now Maya Wiley – de Blasio’s former counsel, who has many of his allies on her team – is hoping to make it an issue again, twice targeting Eric Adams for defending the tactic in the first official Democratic primary mayoral debate Thursday night. Adams, a retired cop, called stop and frisk “a great tool” in an interview with CBS New York last year and said that the police force under Bloomberg was simply using it wrong. Adams has been saying the same thing for a decade – while also loudly, proudly, criticizing the racist
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Near the end of an endorsement interview with Democratic New York City mayoral candidate Shaun Donovan, New York Times editorial board member Mara Gay asked if he knew the median sales price of a home in Brooklyn. He guessed $100,000, which is off by a factor of nine. Donovan, in an email to the newspaper the next day, said he misunderstood the question as referring to assessed value for property taxes, which is a much lower figure.
Getting that answer so outrageously wrong would be embarrassing for any mayoral candidate, but it’s especially embarrassing for Donovan, the former U.S. secretary of Housing and Urban Development and one-time housing commissioner in New York City.
A huge crowd converged on Grand Street Settlement last night for an information session on affordable housing opportunities at Essex Crossing, the large development project in the former Seward Park urban renewal area. While it was a vivid illustration of the pressing demand for low- and middle-income apartments on the Lower East Side, the chaotic session also showed how unprepared city officials were to handle the situation.
It was standing room only inside the meeting room on Pitt Street. A large group was prevented from even coming inside due to the large turnout. The event was moderated by representatives from the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the Housing Development Corp. (which is financing portions of the project). Delancey Street Associates, the development consortium, was also on hand. Notices were sent to about 200 people who have identified themselves as former Seward Park site tenants. Some of them were in attendance last night, along with lo
How The Mayoral Candidates Will Make Housing More Affordable In NYC
arrow People gather for a protest in August 2020 demanding New York cancel rent outside of Brooklyn housing court. JUSTIN LANE/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
This is part of our
(subject line: One Issue Explainer)
Last week, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill extending a moratorium that prevents New Yorkers from getting evicted from their home, a move the State Legislature says is intended to avert an eviction crisis triggered by the pandemic. But the rent being too damn high is something that has existed long before the pandemic, and is one of the critical issues voters may be looking at when choosing the next mayor.
Lena Dunham, Spike Jonze at last night’s Lowline benefit. Photos courtesy: Andrew Einhorn and Jammi York
“Girls” star Lena Dunham and award-winning director Spike Jonze were the center of attention as co-hosts of last night’s benefit dinner in support of the proposed Lowline underground park. But it was Alicia Glen, New York City’s deputy mayor for housing and economic development, who may very have stolen the show.
During remarks at the Lowline’s third annual “anti-gala,” held at the Skyline Modern event space on West 27th Street, Glen made it clear the de Blasio administration is fully in support of the project, which would bring a 60,000 square foot park to an abandoned trolley station below Delancey Street. It was the first time any official representing the mayor had publicly endorsed the initiative.