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).