Over Here, Mr. Mayor!

By Madeleine Thompson

At a town hall on Dec. 15, residents of the Upper West Side and its neighboring areas shouted over each other for the chance to ask Mayor Bill de Blasio a question. Hosted at Edward A. Reynolds West Side High School on W. 102nd Street and moderated by Council Member Mark Levine, who represents the district, more than 100 people came out to advocate for the causes they care about.

By far the most discussed topic of the night was affordable housing, which numerous residents asked de Blasio to improve. “We are suffering in public housing,” one woman said, adding that many of those in the audience had worked hard to get de Blasio elected. “We’ve about had it … It’s a shame that people have to use an umbrella to go to the bathroom.” With enthusiastic applause from attendees holding signs that read “put a billion on it,” she asked the mayor for a billion dollars to make much-needed repairs to the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) developments that house 4.7 percent of New Yorkers.

In response, de Blasio explained that such a request was easier said than done. The mayor added that budget negotiations would begin again in January, at which point he planned to address concerns about NYCHA funding. He repeatedly touted his recent mandatory affordable housing legislation, which required developers to include permanent, below-market-rate apartments in new residential projects.

Still others voiced concerns about charter schools, Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemptions, corruption in government, and 421a tax break. Two proposed Upper West Side projects, to which there has already been considerable opposition, also came up. The approval process for a 20-story Jewish Home Lifecare building on West 97th Street was stalled after neighbors protested its proximity to an elementary school and residential complex — citing environmental concerns, among others — but it has not been halted completely. Pat Loftman, president of the Park West Village Tenants Association, said her community was “prepared to put our bodies and our lives on 97th Street” to stop the development. She criticized de Blasio’s Office of Sustainability for filing a brief in support of Jewish Home Lifecare this past spring, to which the mayor argued that it wasn’t about supporting the project but rather “the city’s ability to have a role in the land use process.” “We’re not going to do anything that’s unhealthy for kids or the community,” he said.

Ten blocks away from the site of the nursing home controversy, neighbors of three city-owned parking garages have been protesting a housing nonprofit’s plans to tear down their garages to build affordable housing. “The only lifeline we have to the outside world is a car parked at the parking garage at 108th Street that is now set to be razed,” said one woman, who is the full-time caregiver to her disabled spouse. “Where can we park our car? Are we, now that we’re old and useless, supposed to move to a nursing home in the boondocks?” The mayor responded, “no, obviously not.” He said he wants the community, and the woman and her husband, to be taken care of, but is “deeply concerned about so many people who can’t afford this city, who are being forced out of their neighborhood.” Citing the typical length of the land use process, de Blasio said there would be plenty of time to negotiate and discuss compromises, and that he wouldn’t “walk away” from increase the affordable housing available.

Manuel Casanova, a member of the District 3 Community Education Council and Community Board 7, didn’t get a chance to pose his question, but was planning to ask “what is [de Blasio] going to do to change how the city works?” Casanova noticed in particular how angry some audience members were, and wanted to know how the mayor could speed up the pace of their getting around to their issues. “The reason we got [President-elect Donald Trump] is that people don’t feel that government is producing for them,” he said. Casanova readily admitted that he didn’t have the answers, but he is hoping the mayor does.

Madeleine Thompson can be reached at newsreporter@strausnews.com