Category Archives: Alicia Glen

de Blasio Press Q&A: The Housing Goal Edition



On Thursday Mayor Bill de Blasio continued his efforts at moving past his recent friction with the NYPD and PBA, holding a press conference to tout his administration’s accomplishments in “creating or preserving” affordable housing during 2014.  de Blasio celebrated exceeding his administration’s stated goal of creating or preserving at least 16,000 units of “affordable” housing in calendar year 2014, reporting that it financed the “creation and preservation of” 17,376 “affordable units.”  After several weeks of intense confrontation and conflict with the PBA and many outside critics, de Blasio appeared to relish discussing a subject that he’s long been been deeply interested in and in which his administration has invested substantial energy and effort.

The mayor was joined at Eagle Houses, a co-op in Fort Greene, by Rep. Jose Serrano, Assembly Members Walter Mosely and Joe Lentol, Public Advocate Tish James, Council Members Laurie Cumbo and Jumaane Williams, Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen, HPD Commissioner Vicki Been and Housing Development Corporation President Gary Rodney.

On Topic Q&A:

On topic questions included whether the administration plans to increase low-income affordable housing production, what actions are required for the administration to count a unit of housing as “preserved”, whether housing built with 421(a) tax credits anywhere in the City should require affordable units, how the de Blasio administration counts housing underway at the end of the Bloomberg administration toward its goal, what was done in this housing complex to “preserve” these units, whether units counted as “preserved” are always on a 30 year agreement, the annual average of 20,000 units created or preserved as set forth in the mayor’s ten year goal of 200,000 such units and how money was spent on the 17,000 units created or preserved in 2014.

Off Topic Q&A:

Off topic questions included a Department of Investigations report detailing problems with corrections officers at Rikers Island, de Blasio’s message to protestors resuming anti-NYPD protests, his relationship with police unions, a call by the head of the Lieutentants Benevolent Association to strengthen laws concerning resisting arrest, an increase in police protection for Jewish organizations and sites and Dov Hikind’s claim of a decrease in police presence, delays in the implementation of the City’s municipal ID card program, his message to PBA members dissatisfied with their union leadership, his position on a city council plan to fund the purchase of additional bullet-proof vests for police officers, whether the Democratic National Committee has expressed concerns around the recent protests as it considers whether to hold the 2016 convention in Brooklyn, whether his “thoughts” on the anti-NYPD protests have “evolved” and whether he will direct the NYPD to change its FOIL request process to accept email or other electronic requests.

de Blasio Press Q&A: The 200,000 Units Edition (Updated x 2)



In a pair of press conferences Mayor Bill de Blasio today unveiled his aggressive affordable housing plan, aiming to create and preserve 200,000 units of housing over 10 years.  In a morning Brooklyn appearance and an afternoon Bronx press conference the mayor discussed his plan at length.

Update #2 – Rangel:

Congressman Charles Rangel, whose district includes the Bronx press conference location, spoke briefly at the Bronx press conference.  While supportive of the mayor, Rangel has called for abandoning the practice of combining luxury and affordable housing and declared “we have no crisis in luxury housing.”

Update – Highlight Reel:

Our highlight reel distills the two full press conferences, with selected excerpts from the initial statements and Q&A portion of both press conferences.

(Full Q&A from both press conferences after the jump)

Continue reading de Blasio Press Q&A: The 200,000 Units Edition (Updated x 2)

de Blasio Press Q&A: The Livonia Commons Edition (Updated x 2)



At the first of two press conferences today Mayor Bill de Blasio heralded the groundbreaking on Livonia Commons, an affordable housing development project in Brownsville.  The groundbreaking was on Phase I of the project, expected to produce 278 housing units, with the Mayor also announcing issuance of an RFP for Phase II.

Mayor de Blasio answered on and off topic questions during the Q&A portion of the press conference.

FOIL

The mayor was twice asked about his administration’s response to reporters FOIL requests related to the Bishop Findlayter incident.  According to press reports, the administration replied to multiple requests late Friday, advising reporters that there were not any responsive documents.  Here is what Mayor de Blasio had to say today:

Update – Out of Office, But Not Out of the Picture:

Former Council Member Charles Barron was an uninvited participant in this press conference.  Barron’s wife, Council Member Inez Barron, succeeded him in the City Council.

Update #2 – Full Q&A:

The on-topic and off-topic questions in the Q&A portion of the press conference included: the project status when de Blasio took office and how his approach to affordable housing differs from Mayor Bloomberg, whether there are any differences in Phase I of the project as being initiated now versus as approved by the Bloomberg administration, what he sees as a realistic percentage of units being “affordable” in projects located closer to or in Manhattan, whether he counts this project towards his goal of 200,000 affordable units, the NYPD officer recently arrested in India, the status of speed camera approvals from Albany, the FOIL delays and responses which did not produce any emails or documents in the Findlayter case, the NYPD/FDNY hockey brawl, Queens Library President Thomas Galante and the newly elected leadership of NYSUT (the state teachers union).

Inauguration 2014 (Updated x 2)



Mayor Bill de Blasio took office on January 1st with an inauguration ceremony on the steps of City Hall.

For the Price of a Small Soy Latte:

In his inaugural address de Blasio highlighted his call for funding universal pre-K and middle school after school programs with an increased income tax on high earners.  We look at his clever framing of the anticipated additional tax burden for those high earners.

Update – Applause:

For the Kremlinologists (CityHallologists? deBlasiologists?), here’s a brief clip of the introductions of elected & former elected officials and their respective applause, both by and for.

Update #2 – Stringer Oath:

NYS Supreme Court Justice Eileen Bransten administered the oath of office to Comptroller Scott Stringer, continuing on despite a jailbreak by one young attendee.