Claire Valdez and fellow protestors got here out to oppose Andrew Cuomo’s go to to the senior middle.
Photograph by Colum Motherway
Former Governor Andrew Cuomo abruptly canceled a scheduled marketing campaign cease on the Peter Cardella Senior Residents Middle in Ridgewood on Friday, Could 16, drawing rapid backlash from protesters and native elected officers.
Cuomo had deliberate to go to the senior middle as a part of a mayoral marketing campaign swing via Queens, however his sudden determination to again out got here simply hours earlier than a bunch of demonstrators — a lot of them members of the family of people who died in nursing houses throughout the COVID-19 pandemic — gathered on the web site to confront him over his controversial dealing with of elder care throughout his governorship.
The rally was led by Meeting Member Claire Valdez, who joined roughly 25 protesters in entrance of the middle. Many held indicators, chanted slogans, and demanded accountability from Cuomo, whose administration directed nursing houses to confess COVID-positive sufferers on the top of the pandemic.
That coverage has since been linked to hundreds of deaths, a tragedy Cuomo has persistently refused to totally acknowledge, in keeping with critics.
Andrew Cuomo ended up canceling his go to. Photograph by Colum Motherway
“I wish I could say I was surprised Cuomo canceled his visit to the Peter Cardella Senior Center rather than face working-class New Yorkers hurt by his policies, but the former governor has spent his entire mayoral campaign dodging public scrutiny,” Valdez said.
The Peter Cardella Senior Residents Middle will not be a residential facility — it serves as a neighborhood hub the place seniors socialize, eat meals, and attend programming throughout the day. Nonetheless, the protesters seen Cuomo’s deliberate cease there as a extremely insensitive transfer, given the situation’s symbolic ties to the senior inhabitants so deeply affected by his insurance policies throughout the early months of the pandemic.
Lots of the protestors have been personally affected by Cuomo’s COVID-19 insurance policies. Photograph by Colum Motherway
“There are New Yorkers standing here who lost loved ones as a direct consequence of his policies, and they want answers to why he let their loved ones die,” Valdez stated. “He’s a coward for not showing up. And if elected mayor, he’s going to throw working people under the bus and underfund our city just like he did when he was governor.”
Although Cuomo’s group had beforehand marketed his look on the middle as a solution to interact with older voters, his withdrawal from the occasion was not publicly defined. The absence left the protesters livid, additional fueling doubts about his willingness to face the general public and reckon together with his pandemic report.
Valdez said that she was not stunned Cuomo canceled the go to. Photograph by Colum Motherway
The protest, whereas comparatively small in quantity, carried emotional weight as demonstrators shared private tales of loss and anger. The rally added one other layer of controversy to Cuomo’s marketing campaign, which has already confronted skepticism from progressives and grassroots organizations cautious of his previous governance.
