Press Room

"Unaffordability is the top issue for New Yorkers, as they clearly told us last week. Housing costs are driving tenants from their homes and from our city – working families, must be our top priority. Once again, Mayor Adams supports increasing rents across the board for millions of renters. "The Board’s own data showed landlords are making a profit. I know some small owners are truly struggling – the solution is not to demand more money from tenants who simply don’t have it as homelessness increases. "Don’t wait til next year to do the right thing – freeze the rent today."

“This budget incorporates long-overdue steps to restore and strengthen critical services for New Yorkers. I’m encouraged to see baseline funding and investments for key programs—early childhood education, special education, mental health care, libraries, and immigrant legal services—investments communities have demanded for years. Years of cuts don’t disappear with a single budget. This mayor’s pattern of underfunding—fueled by misleading projections—has left deep scars in communities across the city. While these restorations are welcome, they do not erase the loss of momentum in delivering the services New Yorkers rely on. 

“I thank the Speaker and Council for standing firm: your advocacy shielded New Yorkers from the most damaging proposed cuts and ensured critical programs, especially in the face of misguided austerity. This budget shows progress, but it must be seen as a starting point for lasting reinvestment—not a comprehensive solution. My office will continue reviewing the details, ensuring this funding reaches the people it’s meant to serve, and pushing to address the deep inequities that remain across our city. Moving forward, we will hold the line for working families, vulnerable communities, and the promise of a more equitable, just city for all.”

"Donald Trump’s attacks on birthright citizenship are in line with his overall strategy to invalidate the presence and existence of anyone in this country who he opposes, no matter how long they’ve been here or how they arrived. In a decade, we’ve gone from his claims that President Obama wasn’t born in this country to claiming it’s not even enough for someone to be. This is not, and was never, about so-called 'criminals.' 

"As the son of immigrants I worry that by sidestepping the issues of birthright citizenship itself, while limiting the ability of lower courts to prevent this and other assaults on the Constitution and the rights it bestows, we are opening the door even further to authoritarian impulses.

"My fellow elected officials should be much more alarmed about this than a proposal for free buses in New York City."

"Tomorrow, on the hottest day of the year, at least hundreds of thousands of people will come out to cast ballots. I urge the administration to ensure that New Yorkers have adequate protections against extreme heat while doing their civic duty. Each polling place should function as a cooling center, and personnel there should be trained on what to do in the event of a heat-related health emergency. To prevent those emergencies, for voters and volunteers alike, water should be available on-site and all efforts should be made to keep lines short and vulnerable populations such as our seniors out of prolonged heat. A lack of protections such as air conditioning would make polling sites inaccessible, which would be unacceptable.

"The city has an obligation, together with community organizations, to ensure that civic engagement doesn’t mean risking one’s health. Voters can also take individual precautions to stay cool and hydrated. I want to encourage every eligible New Yorker to participate in our democracy tomorrow, safely."

"Juneteenth is meant to be a celebration of freedom historically and progress today. But right now, with both government and societal forces denying that history and reversing that progress, it can be hard to celebrate as a Black American.  "When leaders from Washington to New York view diversity, equity, and inclusion as something to eliminate rather than celebrate, when both the heroes and the harms of our history are being erased, it can be hard to celebrate.  "When we are barely clinging to the gains of the past decades, instead of continuing forward toward equity, it can be hard to celebrate. Enslaved people in Texas did not learn of their freedom until two years after it had been declared. Black Americans today are still waiting for true liberation. "Liberation tears down systems of injustice propped up by the powerful, regardless of their race. As we have seen, and are currently experiencing, it’s not enough for Black individuals to advance and amass power if that power is not also for the people, that advancement for the movement.  "And yet – we still celebrate today. We celebrate the principles we fight for, the people who have fought, the people still fighting. We celebrate the perseverance of our ancestors and the resilience of our neighbors. We celebrate the spirit that will keep us marching on 'til victory is won."

"The scenes of state violence and overreach in Los Angeles should alarm every American– but not for the reasons that right-wing media and leaders would have us believe. Donald Trump is again expanding his mass deportation machine, beyond 'gangs' or 'violent criminals' and into our neighborhoods. 

"We have a moral obligation to stand up in defense of our immigrant communities. We have a moral obligation to lead with love for our neighbors, to channel our fear and anger into love and action on behalf of the families the Trump administration is targeting. Trump’s deploying of the National Guard and Marines against protesters is a call to action for people of conscience. He wants chaos, and we do not have to give it to him – but we have to stand up. 

"I believe in Kingian strategies for advancing justice – primarily, for nonviolent demonstration, and yes, strategic civil disobedience. Nonviolent does not mean sedate – to be passive in this moment is to be complicit. People with power and privilege have an obligation to use it to protect the vulnerable, and Donald Trump’s assault on our immigrant communities has compounded into an assault on dissent. 

"We know that this is Donald Trump’s plan for our city as well – he’s already begun his crackdown on dissent, and it can only escalate. What I don’t know is whether Eric Adams will do anything at all to protect New Yorkers from detention and disappearance. The mayor has already shown that he is much more offended by the idea of protest than the harm those protests are trying to prevent. While he found his voice on immigration under President Biden, his absolute alliance to MAGA, his silence, and his capitulation to all things Trump are disgraceful. If he and his top deputies side with their golf buddy, Donald Trump, over the rights and safety of New Yorkers, it will be a dereliction of duty – but also par for the course."