Press Room

Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams released the following statement ahead of the Rent Guidelines Board's final vote, set for Wednesday evening, urging the board to freeze rents on one and two year leases for rent-regulated units.

"I have long joined tenants in urging and fighting for protections and relief, and I have seen rents continue to rise, forcing New Yorkers out of their homes. Housing injustices, particularly for black and brown communities, have long been rampant. Now, the affordable housing and homelessness crisis has compounded with the COVID-19 health and economic crises, more instances where communities of more color and lower income communities are disproportionately harmed. While it would be an error not to acknowledge and address each mounting crisis in its own complexities, it would also be a failure not to see them as deeply interconnected, each a part of why we protest. Policing injustices brought us out of our homes - rising rents will keep us out.

"As the Governor has refused to cancel rents in this time of crisis, even while we try to find relief for responsible owners, the Rent Guidelines Board has an opportunity to meet the moment and provide some level of relief and justice for tenants struggling against a tide of threats and injustices. The weight of this pandemic in particular will be felt long beyond this moment, or one year, or two. The Board should respond with a full rent freeze, and I implore them to hear and heed the voices of tenants in their vote tonight."

Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams released the following statement after the United States Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Bostock v. Clayton County and its consolidated cases that workers cannot be fired or otherwise discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

The Public Advocate had previously introduced a 2018 resolution in the City Council applauding the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision on this issue in Altitude Express v. Zarda, one of the consolidated cases in today's ruling, and denouncing the Department of Justice's repeated attempts to deny civil rights protections to the LGBTQ+ community.

"This is a historic day, a moral and legal triumph, a landmark victory for LGBTQ+ rights that will reverberate through workplaces around the country for many years to come. National, enforceable protections against workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity are essential, overdue, and now, the law of the land. 

"But as we look to this morning for hope in the future, we need only to look to the last several days for evidence of how far there is still to go, how much work there is still to do.  The Trump administration has just stripped away healthcare protections for transgender individuals, a despicable and dangerous action that we must stand against in legislation, in court, and in the streets. Yesterday I joined thousands of New Yorkers for the Brooklyn liberation march for Black Trans lives, led by and centering Black Trans people in the fight for justice and against bigotry. As Public Advocate, I will continue the fight - not only during Pride month, but every month throughout the year - both against discrimination in the workplace and for equitable access to employment itself.

"This Pride Month, we have been reminded of the power of protest and disruption to drive a movement and effect transformational, lasting change. In the spirit of revolutionaries like Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and Miss Major Griffin-Gracy we will continue to march forward for progress, combatting injustices as celebrating victories as we go."

Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams released the following statement after Governor Cuomo signed legislation repealing Section 50-a of the New York Civil Rights Law, among other measures including banning chokeholds, enhancing civil penalties for false or hate-based 911 calls, and granting the state Attorney General further investigatory power over cases when an individual dies in officer custody.

"Today is a victory for transparency, for accountability, and for the continued pursuit of justice in policing. 50-A has shielded officers from accountability for years, and hindered individual justice and systemic progress. I thank the Legislature for passing this repeal and the Governor for signing it. Together with finally banning chokeholds, enhancing oversight and investigations of officer interaction, and helping prevent false emergency calls that initiate them, the progress made today shows the power of protest to effect change.

"Primarily, though, I want to lift up and offer gratitude to the directly affected families and the activists who have gotten us here through years of dedicated advocacy, and the officials like Senator Bailey and Assembly Member O'Donnell who championed the 50-a repeal long before it was politically popular, much less imperative. Similarly the chokehold ban is a measure that we have pushed since Eric Garner's death in 2014, and I commend Senator Benjamin and Assembly Member Mosley for their legislative leadership.  "We have been demanding change not for weeks but for years, and it's vital to remember that while these actions come after 13 days of disruption, these same actions could and should have been taken years earlier in this ongoing movement for justice.  "Repealing 50-a is not a singular solution to the issues that have spurred these protests, no act taken today is. There is much more work to be done, and as the state has now shown a willingness to start the much-needed process of enacting transformative, systemic change, we will continue that work in the streets and halls of government."

Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams released the following statement after Mayor Bill de Blasio announced an additional $10 million in funding would be allocated to Cure Violence groups under the Crisis Management System. The Public Advocate has long called for expansion of the program.

"The investment announced today should be applauded. Of course more is needed, but today is an acknowledgement that what many have been saying for many years - what we continue to say today, even more emphatically, is true - public safety does not equate to policing. Investing in community groups doing the work of interrupting violence on the ground through engagement with credible messengers works. The additional funds and expansion of the Cure Violence program in the Mayor's Office to Prevent Gun Violence to more of our city will save lives. 

"When we first pushed for these new strategies- these grassroots alternatives to over-policing-  we were shouted down by those who said we were inviting violence on the streets. Now, with even more data on our side, they stand corrected. I'm incredibly proud of the work that's been done since the first pilot program was funded eight years ago, with just under $5 million. Still, as the budget for this initiative is around $40 million, the NYPD's remains close $6 billion.

"If the administration is truly committed to community-driven solutions to gun violence, it can demonstrate that by increasing and baselining funding to make Cure Violence a permanent part of our city's approach to public safety. It can also commit to shifting resources away from a police response in other areas - such as mental health crises - and toward a public health response. In this time of fiscal constraint many if us have identified $1 billion dollars can be repurposed. But right now, this Mayor is not a credible messenger on true, transformational policing reform. With more and even bolder announcements like this my hope is that changes."

Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams released the following statement after the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau recommended that Officer Francisco Garcia face internal charges following a May 2 social distancing enforcement incident in which he was seen on video making a violent arrest.

"The recommendation of internal charges for NYPD Officer Francisco Garcia was announced just as Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin was arrested and charged in the killing of George Floyd. These are of course different cases, with different consequences for the victims, but they share striking similarities. They each are rooted in the same systemic injustices and permissive structure for violence in policing, and perpetuate the pervasive racism that infects our institutions. In each case, the positive developments of today are just beginnings, not endings, in the fight for justice.

"The fact that Officer Garcia may quickly be facing internal charges does represent progress, especially compared to the handling of the Pantaleo case and too many others. Still, it does not ultimately ensure consequences. And as the use of 50-a shields information about the NYPD officers, we are denied full transparency and accountability for all involved.

"There is a reason people are marching- in New York City, in Minneapolis, and across the country. These announcements will not placate us or quiet the voices of outrage and pain, will not repair the damage of the past weeks, months, and years. We raise our voices in protest, and we will continue to do so, because our voices need to be heard to spur action, to spur change, to push back against the longstanding injustices that bring us to this place again and again. We will push against the status quo and those fighting to maintain their privilege at all costs.

"These incidents highlight injustices, but the system ingrains them. Until there is a system of true transparency and accountability in policing, until there is an end to this unjust harming of black and brown bodies, the march for justice continues."

Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams released the following statement regarding the recent incident captured on viral video in which Amy Cooper, a white woman, called 911 and made false statements about Christian Cooper, a black man, in Central Park.

The Public Advocate further discussed the incident in a press conference today.

"I'm not okay. "It's jarring, it's traumatizing, to see on camera what we know people of more color frequently experience, unseen on video. We know that far too often, looking 'dangerous' or 'threatening' is synonymous with being black, and what we saw on that video was someone taking that coded language and making it plain, comfortable in her own privilege that she could assert over someone with less. This woman's conduct is egregious, and lays bare a longstanding pattern of the criminalization of black men in our so-called progressive City. We can't brush off or minimize this incident as an isolated occurrence when there are 'bigger fish to fry.' When the NYPD is dismissive of both aggressive overpolicing in black and brown communities, and the valid complaints and fears of those same communities, they prop up the privilege that enables these incidents, exacerbating the disparity in enforcement while denying accountability and consequences that should come as a result." "I am glad the Commission on Human Rights is investigating the incident, an investigation which should be carried out to the fullest extent. Like others who have filed false police reports or misused New York City's resources, she should be fined at minimum for her actions, which were plainly racist and potentially dangerous. Before anyone dismisses the risks of calling law enforcement on a black man, they should look to Minneapolis on Monday, to Staten Island six years ago, to the many incidents we've seen on video and the countless that we don't. "I'm not okay, and many systems and powers in place seem to be okay with that- even prefer it that way."