Press Room

"I am glad to see the roles of NYCHA Chair and CEO filled, and to see them separated, which I hope will allow more effective focus on the monumental tasks each appointee faces. Nearly half a million New Yorkers have the city as their landlord, and as I have shown on each of my watchlists and in my 2022 report, their landlord is the worst in the city. Changing that reality will require major infusions of funding and major improvements in management, or the same patterns that have plagued NYCHA for decades will persist.

"For the sake of New Yorkers in NYCHA complexes across the five boroughs, I wish the CEO and Chair good luck in this new era, and hope to hear more about their specific priorities and areas of focus moving forward. As always, I will work with the Authority where we can collaborate to improve conditions, and will shine a spotlight on spaces where the city is consistently failing to meet the standards that NYCHA residents deserve."

"As the nation marks its Independence Day, I am reminded of the founding truths declared on that day, words which envision principles that we have never achieved in reality, words that from inception excluded so many. Yet at our country’s best, we have been defined by the pursuit of those ideals – at our worst, by the deliberate denial of liberty to people viewed as lesser by the wealthy white men who created a country that preserved their power and privilege.

"What has given hope and inspiration to so many aspiring Americans across centuries – including my mother, who arrived in New York City on the Fourth of July many decades ago – is the promise of freedom, and the knowledge that while flawed, we have always strived to move forward. Today, though, particularly in the aftermath of disastrous Supreme Court decisions, it feels as though we are moving backward, further from those lofty ideals raised with the flag.

"As a son of immigrants, as a Black man, as a public servant in the city where so many people first came to this country, and so many diverse communities shape our culture, I hope and will work to see a city and an America that fully embodies the values of justice, equity, and opportunity that we have long proclaimed but never fully exemplified, even if at inception it was never really intended. That is the America that gives hope."

"In New York and nationally, summer holiday weekends have become tragically synonymous with increases in gun violence. Shootings across the five boroughs – including one that struck a five year old and another that killed a 15 year old – compound with mass shootings like we saw in Baltimore. Violence rates may be decreasing generally in New York City, but those trends mean nothing to people grieving tragedy.

"The expectation of gun violence cannot lead to its normalization. Instead, it must spur us to provide additional preventative resources, on these days and year round. The Fourth of July is taken as a day to recognize America – and we should recognize it as a call to address the uniquely American tragedy of gun violence."

"This administration constantly declares public safety to be its priority. In my State of the People Address, I made the case that a budget which cuts, rather than expands, city services, one that prioritizes spending on policing above all other efforts, would be a threat to public safety. That budget was just adopted.

"Constant talk of cuts throughout this budget process obscured the fact that the NYPD has been more insulated than other agencies. In the same cycle, while Crisis Management System funding increased, a long-stalled youth mentorship program to prevent gun violence remains unimplemented, a gun violence plan promised for over a year remains unseen, and restorative services on Rikers remain underfunded. Even beyond that conception of what public safety is, lack of adequate investment in other areas will contribute to a long-term lack of sustainable safety in our streets. 

"The budget may be finalized, but the work is far from done – and I hope the administration will commit to supporting systems of true public safety moving forward."

"A day after ignoring and exacerbating our country’s systems of discrimination with regards to race, the Court has further permitted and ingrained discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. This ruling is a dangerous, regressive attack on the LGBTQ+ community, one which places the right to discriminate over the rights to love, and to exist. 

"Freedoms of faith and speech are not an excuse for inflicting targeted harm on people who have faced sustained bigotry and violence by the mere fact of their identity. The Court has now permitted laws to be made based on religious extremism and otherism that only inflicts harm.

"As Pride Month comes to an end, the conservative attacks on LGBTQ+ communities continue in legislative chambers and courts across the country, up to the highest levels. With many in this country intent on stripping away rights and protections in the name of protecting the status quo, systems of oppression, and powers in place, historically marginalized groups must stand together to protect the cause of justice and all who are denied it."

"Yesterday the court reshaped the college admissions process in a way that will decrease diversity and limit opportunities for people who have struggled against systemic adversity. Today, they’ve ensured that even those who are able to get into school, will continue to struggle against crushing student loan debt, effectively preventing advancement and opportunity that a degree should provide. In both cases, the aim seems clear – maintaining a tiered system in which those who already have resources, opportunities, and power maintain it, while those without are consigned to second-class status in perpetuity.

"Once again, while many will be hurt, Black and Brown Americans will be hit the hardest. The court has said, in essence, that the only people who deserve relief are richer, wealthier, and whiter Americans and corporations.

"The federal government should continue to explore avenues to relieve people of the student debt that follows them for decades, and on all levels of government, we have to work to make college more affordable and accessible to all, regardless of economic hardship and pain that this court is intent on preserving. "