Press Room

"Speed, equity, and efficiency are not mutually exclusive aspects of vaccine distribution - they are as interconnected as they are essential. The city and state were delayed in recognizing and responding to the disparity in COVID-19 cases and resource distribution for some demographic and geographic groups, with deadly results. We cannot repeat the same errors in distributing the vaccine, particularly in a moment when trust in government is both critical and critically depleted.

"I have called on the city and state to transparently report the data of vaccine distribution to date, continue those reports in real time, and demonstrate a strategy for reaching high risk communities and high risk workers moving forward with the limited supply of doses available. When the administration delayed the release of demographic data we requested on social distancing enforcement, it ultimately showed what we suspected- communities of more color disproportionately harmed. If the same is true now, immediate steps must be taken to expose and address disparity. Getting the vaccine to New Yorkers quickly and safely is an incredible challenge, but with strong leadership, not an insurmountable one."

"The commemoration of Rev. Dr. King's life, legacy, and message has rarely come at a moment more palpably in need of it. He spoke of two Americas, one 'beautiful of situation' and one of 'daily ugliness,' with the two divided along racial bigotry and resource inequity. That structural schism, that systemic inequity ingrained in our nation from its founding, remains deep.

"Today we see not only the two Americas, but the movements pulling it in two directions. The first is represented by the millions of people who marched for racial justice last summer, the second by the domestic terrorists who last week marched on Washington not to condemn white supremacy but to uphold it.

"The disparate response to these actions- and the attempts to draw moral equivalence between them- show where we are now, how much closer we may be in this moment to the nightmare Dr. King feared than to the dream he envisioned. Yet undoubtedly today we will hear many who seek to sanitize Dr. King's legacy, who misrepresent what he fought for as a revolutionary for a just and equitable society.

"Just one day before terror struck the Capitol, we elected a man to serve there who preached from Rev. Dr. King's pulpit. There have always been two Americas, one empowering the worst of us and one pushing back and fighting for the best. With Dr. King as an example and inspiration, I am committed and proud to be pushing back."

Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams released the following statement after Senator Charles Schumer announced that President-elect Biden's administration will deliver New York roughly $2 billion in additional COVID-19 relief through FEMA.

"I am grateful for the President-elect's commitment to provide New York with an additional $2 billion in reimbursement of COVID-19 expenses through FEMA, relief that I and others had called for the incoming administration to provide- I thank Senator Schumer and the de Blasio administration for raising their voices in this call. This support is critical to meeting the needs of the public health crisis and helping address the budgetary and economic crises caused by the pandemic that saw New York as its epicenter.

"As we await further details on the specific distribution of these funds, and assurances that the city's portion will be directly allocated, we also know that we will require much more action from both the state and federal government to facilitate a recovery centered on investment rather than austerity. We have an obligation to protect essential services and vulnerable populations with revenue from the wealthiest New Yorkers who have profited during the pandemic and funding from a federal government that has utterly failed in its response under Donald Trump."

"I am grateful that today, Governor Cuomo listened to our calls to build an offshore wind turbine manufacturing hub at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal. As I have consistently said-- alongside an incredible coalition of activists and local, state, and federal elected officials-- we can and must revitalize our coastline and support the Sunset Park community in a way that is environmentally and economically beneficial. We made this argument in opposing the Industry City rezoning, and I am glad it is now being heard in favor of alternatives.

"This project presents an incredible opportunity for the revitalization of the New York City industrial waterfront that will create good jobs and clean energy at the same time - part of a just transition for New York City and State. In the immediate recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis, and the long term economic and environmental sustainability of our city, this project is crucial and this announcement a victory for climate justice."

"There has never been a President more deserving of the distinction of having been impeached twice, or less deserving of the office he still occupies until either the Senate acts courageously to convict him or his term expires, than Donald Trump.

"We are not safe with Donald Trump in the Presidency - it was true four years ago, and it is acutely, intensely, urgently true today. He has incited domestic terror - not only through his actions over the course of one day, but over four years. A week ago we saw the consequences of the President's desperate attempts to cling to power and his emboldened supporters' desperate attempts to cling to a system of supremacy where they are empowered- these remain ongoing threats.

"The vote to impeach Donald Trump is one of moral clarity and governing imperative. I am glad that unlike the first House impeachment, today's vote was bipartisan, but the reality is that it should not take four years and an armed insurrection against our Congress to know that Donald Trump has always been an existential danger and unfit threat - yet this party has enabled and championed him for years.  It's true that there have to be accountability and consequences in order to move forward - for the President and for his enablers. But there also has to be admission of culpability from those enablers, and real steps toward contrition if we want to strive for the kind of unity being invoked in recent days.

"Impeachment was a necessity. But it was the beginning, not the end, of the work to combat the forces that led to Trump's rise and empowered his atrocities."

A bill from Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams which would require a racial impact study ahead of potential rezonings is receiving a hearing Monday morning in the New York City Council. The legislation is aimed at combating the displacement and community harm which often accompanies rezonings, particularly in neighborhoods of more color. Watch the hearing here. Intro 1572-A is co-sponsored by Council Member Rafael Salamanca, the Chair of the Committee on Land Use which is conducting today's hearing. The hearing follows several highly controversial rezoning proposals, including the Industry City project, which was recently rejected following community opposition, the Inwood rezoning, which was originally blocked and ultimately allowed by court order, and the Flushing proposal, which was just approved by the City Council despite significant resistance.

"In neighborhoods across the city, we have seen rezonings lead not to stronger community growth, but to rising rents and displacement. Particularly in communities of color, these forces have been unchecked in the name of development, and a failure to recognize the racial impact of these projects has been detrimental," said Public Advocate Williams about the bill. "I thank Chair Salamanca and Churches United for Fair Housing for their long support of this legislation, as well as Speaker for addressing this priority, and I look forward to continuing the work with my colleagues in the City Council and advocacy organizations to pass a bill that meets an urgent need in this moment of crisis, rebuilding, and recovery."

The bill would mandate a report on the racial impact of rezonings of at least four adjacent blocks or 50,000 square feet to be conducted and presented as part of the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP.) The report must include, but is not limited to, an analysis of demographic, social, economic, and housing conditions and trends as well as identification of potential measures that may address any identified disparities or displacement risk. Those mitigating measures may include certificate of no harassment protections, right to counsel protections, workforce development programs, or other initiatives or policies that would achieve greater racial and ethnic equity.

Rezonings can dramatically accelerate gentrification and displacement, having an outsized negative impact on communities of color. Following the 2005 Williamsburg rezoning, the waterfront area's white population increased by 44 percent, compared to a 2 percent decline citywide, while the area's Latinx population declined by 27 percent, compared to a 10 percent increase citywide.

In a statement prior to testimony from the de Blasio administration and housing advocates, the Public Advocate argued that "Including a racial impact analysis in the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure is long overdue. The way in which land is rezoned in our City has subsequently made it difficult for many New Yorkers to find a home, let alone stay in their homes. The land zoning process, coupled with the use of the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program as it is currently crafted, has led to massive gentrification, exclusion, and displacement across the City."

Read the full statement from the Public Advocate for today's hearing here.

"In 2021, New York remains a divided and inequitable city, with persistent disparities between Black and Latino families and White families," stated Council Member Salamanca. "Much of this persistent inequity is due to the legacy of decades of explicitly discriminatory housing and land use practices from redlining, to urban renewal, to exclusionary covenants. Requiring analysis of potential disparities from the very beginning of a proposal, Intro 1572-A begins to institutionalize the goal of racial equity in our land use decision making process by providing stakeholders the needed information to push for more equitable outcomes. I thank Public Advocate Jumaane Williams for his leadership on this issue, and look forward to working with the Public Advocate, the Council and the administration to make this bill a reality."

"Time after time communities of color have seen lofty promises of equity and affordability, only to be pushed out of their communities because of gentrification and skyrocketing housing costs. Actions like the Greenpoint and Williamsburg rezoning in 2005 led to the loss of thousands of black and brown families because land use changes were made without considering the racial impacts. This Racial Impact Study legislation will help address New York City's obvious racial inequities in housing going forward," said Rob Solano, Executive Director of Churches United For Fair Housing.

"There must be justice in land use. Many past rezonings have failed to address the inequality that has plagued our City for decades," said Council Member Ben Kallos. "This racial impact study will shine a light on the problems we need to fix involving rezonings and the displacement they can cause to vulnerable communities. Our City continues to be segregated and some past rezonings are at fault for that. Developers who want to build here should have to answer questions on whether they are helping fix segregation or making it worse. Thank you to Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Land Use Chair Rafael Salamanca for focusing on this issue."

"We commend the Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Council Member Salamanca for pushing this legislation forward. By analyzing the racial impacts of proposed land use actions, the City will be better positioned to increase housing opportunities across New York City and ensure that BIPOC people and businesses can remain in their communities, even in the face of neighborhood change. We look forward to working with the RIS Coalition, the Public Advocate, and the City Council to further strengthen the legislation as it moves forward," said Barika X. Williams, Executive Director of the Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development.

"Rezonings have been a primary source of displacement and homelessness in New York City, impacting New Yorkers of color at a disparate rate," said Adriene Holder, Attorney-in-Charge of the Civil Practice at The Legal Aid Society. "This is a racial justice issue. At the very least, the City's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure must take into account the racial impact behind any potential rezoning. This will help ensure that some of our most vulnerable neighbors will remain in their homes, defended against the forces of gentrification that rezonzings usually accelerate. The Legal Aid Society applauds Public Advocate Williams for introducing this legislation, and we urge the City Council to advance this matter at once."