NYCHA Advocates Rip Gov. Cuomo At Rally For Not Putting Money For Public Housing In New Budget
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Angry housing advocates slammed Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday, charging he dissed them by not including funds for public housing in his budget. They want billions more for the New York City Housing Authority alone.
There was a chant of "Show us the money! Show us the money!" from Council Speaker Corey Johnson and housing advocates, furious that the governor's new budget includes no money for public housing, CBS2's Marcia Kramer reported.
Watch: Corey Johnson, Housing Advocates On Cuomo's New Budget:
"NYCHA residents are sick of hearing promises. They want money," Johnson said. "Promises don't fix boilers. Promises don't patch leaky roofs. Promises don't fix lead paint."
MORE: NYCHA To Test More Than 100 Community Centers For Lead-Based Paint
At a rally on the steps of City Hall, the advocates demanded that the governor earmark $3 billion for public housing projects in the state, including $2 billion of it for NYCHA.
"By putting no money in his executive budget, Gov. Cuomo is telling us that he wants public housing to fail," said Barbara Williams, who lives at the Polo Ground Towers in Harlem.
Many remember oh too well the several trips Gov. Cuomo made to NYCHA developments when he was running for re-election in 2018, bemoaning the lead paint, the broken boilers, and the incompetence.
"I would like to say it's my pleasure to be here today, but it's not. The conditions we saw once again are just disgusting," Cuomo said on March 22, 2018.
Now the advocates want to hold the governor's feet to the fire.
"When the people in power need our votes they make tremendous promises, but once they're in office they don't need us anymore," said David Gaynor of the group Vocal New York.
"We are not here as supplicants saying it would be nice if you gave it to us. We're here to say you owe us this money and give it to us now," added Judith Goldiner of the Legal Aid Society.
MORE: NYCHA Residents Rally As Lawsuit Over Unlivable Conditions Reaches Courtroom
Councilwoman Alicka Ampry-Samuel, chair of the council Housing Committee, charged the governor was dissing NYCHA residents.
"When you do not include residents of public housing in a state budget it is because they are being totally disrespected. It's disrespectful to negate your responsibility to public housing residents," Ampry-Samuel said.
A spokesperson for Cuomo insisted that the governor had committed millions in state funds to NYCHA and the homeless, even though it's the job of the feds and local governments, according to him. The spokesperson attacked the governor's detractors, saying "New Yorkers can spot a politician looking for a headline a mile away."
