de Blasio Press Q&A: The 20,000 Units Edition



Mayor Bill de Blasio today touted a high level of affordable housing activity in the City, reporting that the City “financed the creation and preservation of 20,325 affordable apartments and homes during fiscal year 2015.”  de Blasio spoke at a Bronx press conference, accompanied by Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and several Bronx elected officials including Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., Congressman Jose E. Serrano, State Senator Jose M. Serrano and Assembly Members Luis Sepulveda, Michael Blake and Latoya Joyner.

Puerto Rico:

Mayor de Blasio and Council Speaker Mark-Viverito both expressed support for federal government action to address Puerto Rico’s deep fiscal crisis.  de Blasio suggested federal financial assistance, urging the federal government to “take responsibility” for resolving the crisis and that it has both the “obligation” and “capacity” to do so.  Mark-Viverito suggested a change in federal bankruptcy law to allow Puerto Rico to file a bankruptcy petition and operate as a debtor under federal bankruptcy law (Puerto Rico, like states, is not eligible to do so).  Here are their full answers, including the Spanish portion of Mark-Viverito’s.

de Blasio v. NY Post:

The NY Post has extensively covered a single homeless man in recent days, detailing his public urination and other troubling behavior.  Here’s the Post and the Mayor today, beginning with a mayoral snap.

Full Q&A:

On-topic question topics included the amount of HPD funding in this specific project, possible changes in City Planning Commission rules on building height, how many of the 20,000 units reported by the Mayor were new construction and how many were preservation work, how people can seek to live in the units being constructed at this specific project and a lawsuit challenging the City’s community preference policy.  Off-topic question topics included how the Mayor plans to mark the anniversary of Eric Garner’s death and how the NYPD has changed in the intervening year, the recent MOU between Governor Cuomo and the Senate Republicans concerning the SAFE Act, how the Mayor will deal with growing homelessness (he answer began by stating that it’s not growing), an expected lawsuit by Eric Garner’s family, Hillary Clinton’s speech today, the specific homeless man extensively covered by the NY Post recently, the Mayor’s continuing efforts at implementing a ban on carriage horses, Puerto Rico’s fiscal crisis

Here is May de Blasio’s full Q&A: