Special to the AmNews
Mayor Bill de Blasio gave his oft-repeated mantra, a “tale of two cities,” a fresh coat of rhetoric Tuesday at Baruch College in his State of the City address, determined to keep “New York City, a city for everyone.”
The more than an hour-long speech had moments of personal touches about his immigrant grandmother and her entrepreneurial zeal; his wife’s leadership on the campaign to bolster the fight against mental illness; and their fathers’ return from World War II and the problems facing returning veterans. Most of the speech was keyed to affordable housing and how that will improve the quality of life for all New Yorkers.
That housing would be centermost was tipped off at the very beginning, when the mayor was introduced by Sheryl Morse, a resident of Fort Greene, Brooklyn, who praised the mayor for his commitment to building and preserving more affordable housing. “He has made this a top priority,” she told the packed auditorium, with Harry Belafonte down front among the notables and elected officials.
After a brief interlude of Spanish, the mayor cited a number of high points achieved during the past year, including his signature pre-K plan that has enrolled 50,000 4-year-olds; the living wage; and a 75 percent reduction in stop-and-frisk actions.
“Our city is safer,” the mayor said, “and we had the smallest number of burglaries and robberies in the city’s history.”
He also noted the sweeping reforms for adolescents relegated to the city’s jails. He cited more than half million potholes filled, an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and a sizable increase in the number of middle class jobs. “More than 180,000 New Yorkers have made appointments to get the NYC ID cards,” he boasted. “No more hiding in the shadows” for the undocumented immigrants.
None of this “will be easy … it will be difficult,” were the cautionary words interwoven throughout the speech that finally settled extensively on housing, in which he announced that there will be a “mandate on affordable housing, not an option” as in the past, when developers constructed soaring, expensive housing units.
“In 2014,” he said, “we added 17,000 affordable units, more than the 1,300 we promised.” To underscore this point on affordable housing, he explained the plan to develop 11,000 units in the Sunnyside Yards in Queens. He said there was nothing unique or novel about this initiative, recalling that it had been done in the past with the erection of Starrett City and Co-Op City.
He really got the attention of the audience when he proposed the creation of a citywide ferry service, as well as a plan for an additional 13-bus rapid transit.
Both plans were cheered along by Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, chair of the City Council’s Transportation Committee. “I am committed to working closely together to ensure that residents in every community in our city have access to their jobs for an affordable rate,” he said in an email.
The mayor’s promise to end the homeless crisis facing returning veterans was warmly received, but there appeared to be a ho-hum kind of response to his remarks on gentrification, something he posed as both good and bad.
“Good in the sense that some of our neighborhoods are safer and stronger,” he said, “and bad when people are being priced out of their own neighborhood.”
Once more he returned to his theme that the city “has to be a place for everyone.” He added that Albany has to do its part.
Councilman Rafael Espinal Jr. expressed his excitement about the mayor’s plan to provide “additional live-work spaces for artist in the city,” something that is usually ignored.
The landlord/tenant dichotomy was an issue during de Blasio’s days as public advocate, and he commended current public advocate, Letitia James, for her efforts to deal with predatory landlords.
As expected, the mayor’s comments on the minimum wage were welcomed, particularly when he stated that he will be aiming for $13 an hour next year and $15 an hour by 2019.
Toward the end of his speech he used the example of Henry Ford, who made sure his workers earned enough money to purchase the cars they made to emphasis his concern about a decent living wage. Then he invoked former Mayor Ed Koch and what he did to improve affordable housing in 1985. “He provided the inspiration even when they thought his idea was unrealistic,” he said.
President Kennedy was his last reference, and the operative word here was action. Despite the risks and costs involved, he commanded, “Let’s get to work!”
Meanwhile, the Justice League NYC slammed de Blasio, stating that they are “outraged that, at a time of high tensions, Mayor de Blasio conspicuously ignored the most sensitive and pressing issue facing our city – that of police and community relations. The Mayor’s glaring omission during the State of the City address is deeply troubling and concerning. He sent a clear message today that the Mayor’s Office is not prioritizing the urgently needed reforms for how the NYPD polices communities of color. This is a moment of conscience. We simply cannot stand for this, and no leader in the city—elected or otherwise—should either.”