Brooklyn state Sen. Zellnor myrie (at podium) addresses a March 1, 2025 NYC mayoral race discussion board sponsored by the Arc of Justice in Washington Heights. PIctured seated on the dais are (from l. to r.) former Metropolis Comptroller Scott Stringer, Queens state Sen. Jessica Ramos, former Bronx Meeting Member Michael Blake and Metropolis Comptroller Brad Lander.
Picture by Megan McGibney
Inexpensive housing and secure streets have been the important thing points mentioned throughout a Democratic mayoral main discussion board in Washington Heights on Saturday — a day that noticed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo shake up the complete NYC mayoral race.
Held on the Direccion de Cultura Dominicana del Exterior in Washington Heights, the 90-minute discussion board noticed Democratic candidates, Metropolis Comptroller Brad Lander; State Senators Jessica Ramos and Zellnor Myrie; former Assemblyman Michael Blake; and former Metropolis Comptroller Scott Stringer reply to questions relating to points many New Yorkers have been pondering for the reason that final metropolis election in 2021.
Fervent solutions got when Reverend Kirsten John Foy, President and CEO of the Arc of Justice, who hosted the discussion board, requested questions of all 5 candidates. Many of the questions touched on points equivalent to inexpensive housing and secure streets.
Proper across the time the occasion started, Cuomo formally introduced his candidacy for mayor with a 17-minute video posted on his marketing campaign web site and shared by way of social media.
“One thing Andrew Cuomo has not done is say one single word about what Donald Trump has been doing in the White House,” Lander mentioned. “Mass deportations, the money for the health care we need to cut the budget of the city of New York.”
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched a 17-minute video on March 1, 2025 saying his candidacy for mayor.X/Andrew Cuomo
Tackling affordability
This discussion board was the second for the Arc of Justice, and there can be extra to come back within the weeks main as much as June’s main elections. Schneps Media, the mum or dad firm of New York News Metro, was among the many sponsors for the March 1 discussion board.
Reverend Foy defined to amNewYorkMetro that the boards’ function is to ask mayoral candidates to neighborhoods which can be historically neglected throughout metropolis elections.
“How can you leverage New York City’s power and wealth to help make it more affordable for the people who make it run?” requested Reverend Foy.
Stringer talked about a three-tier method to financial growth that will transcend inexpensive housing and would deal with giving aid to folks, significantly dad and mom who wrestle to care for their youngsters. Myrie mentioned infrastructure could be wanted to resolve the inexpensive housing disaster additional. He mentioned he would create common afterschool applications, construct up small companies, and make the most of the Housing Improvement Company.
Ramos referred to Co-Op Metropolis, Penn South, and different developments throughout the town as not simply inexpensive housing for the town to see extra of, but in addition construct communities.
“As chair of the Labor Committee these past seven years in the Senate,” she mentioned. “I can work with the unions and especially the building trades to make sure we’re leveraging our union pension dollars with our taxpayer dollars to build the way we used to for working families, low-income rentals, and modest equity home-ownership opportunities.”
Foy even requested if the candidates would assist a lease freeze as mayor, to which all the candidates on the discussion board besides Lander (who left earlier than this query was requested) mentioned sure, although Stringer mentioned the technique to determine it might require taking part in chess.
Psychological well being
Psychological well being was the opposite essential subject, with Foy calling the homeless disaster a public well being failure. Psychological well being was one of many huge points Mayor Adams has targeted on throughout his time period, together with the involuntary hospitalization coverage that many within the metropolis’s psychological well being neighborhood disagreed with.
Stringer mentioned the town must mobilize nurses and medical doctors relatively than cops and even robotic canines. Ramos introduced up her psychological well being plan, referred to as Concord NYP however she additionally believes that identified how affordability intertwines with psychological well being.
“Poverty impacts our mental illness in New York City,” she mentioned. “Being poor puts undue stress on a person who can’t pay rent, who can’t put groceries on the table for their kids.”
Blake additionally mentioned he doesn’t consider the police ought to be making an attempt to assist the town’s homeless however as an alternative, psychological well being professionals. State Senator Myrie launched his public security plan referred to as Protected Streets and Protected Subways, which might not solely deploy regulation enforcement officers, however pair them with clinicians.
“What we are doing now is not working,” Myrie mentioned. “We are either sending people to emergency rooms, which cycle back out in a couple of days, or sending them to Rikers, where they get even worse. There has to be a middle ground here.”
Not all the Democratic candidates have been current for the discussion board. One in all them, Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, had a battle that saved him away. However two different candidates, Mayor Eric Adams and former Governor Cuomo, have been lacking.
“If someone is running for mayor and they do not have the guts to show up before you for a forum or meeting, they don’t deserve your vote,” mentioned Blake of the absentee candidates.
