From Our Neighborhood, First Lady Chirlane McCray Calls On Lawmakers To Strengthen Rent Laws

New York City’s First Lady Chirlane McCray came to our neighborhood today to fight for stronger rent laws and urged state lawmakers to better protect tenants when they vote on the rent laws that expire June 15.

McCray joined Councilman Jumaane Williams — who was just arrested yesterday at a rent protest in Albany, Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte, Assemblyman Nick Perry, the Flatbush Tenant Coalition, and others outside the Flatbush Avenue-Brooklyn College subway station this morning to advocate for protecting tenants and affordable housing throughout the city, including in our community.

“There’s so much at stake right now,” McCray said at the gathering this morning. “There are two million New Yorkers who are struggling and depend on the rent regulations and protections that are set to expire on June 15. And you know these people. They are our teachers, our grandmothers and grandfathers. They are our first responders. They are our fast food workers; people that we know and love. And there’s a lot at stake here.”

McCray praised the state Assembly, which recently passed legislation strengthening rent laws and said, “we want the governor and state Senate to stand up, too.”

“We don’t just want them to extend the rent regulations,” the First Lady said. “We want them to make real changes that will help New Yorkers. We want them to eliminate that protection that landlords have – having that ability to raise the rent or convert the large apartment to a market rate when the dollar rent gets so high that they can charge more for people. We don’t want that to happen anymore. We want to eliminate that market rate component. And we want to prevent people from being pushed out of their homes.”

Many of our neighbors have spoken about being pushed from their homes by landlords using illegal tactics to drive them out, including not making necessary repairs to fix everything from collapsed ceilings to longstanding electrical problems.

“We want to stop the tide of people getting pushed out of their apartments and being sometimes pushed into shelters,” McCray said. “That’s not right. That’s really not right. We want to stop families from being pushed out of the city that they’ve known as home for years or generations. We want to stop people from being pushed out of the neighborhoods where they have all of their support services, things that keep them alive and living well.”

For those interested in joining neighbors to call on lawmakers to strengthen rent laws, you can join the Flatbush Tenant Coalition as they travel to Albany next Tuesday, June 9. For more information, please go here.

The event landed on several major news outlets, with CBS New York running a critical report that McCray dodged questions about gun violence in our neighborhood.

“I came here in 1955. I used to walk the streets all night long,” Adam Nabritt, Jr. said, CBS New York reported. “Now? I’m afraid. I’m 76 years old, and I’m afraid to be out late at night any longer. Because I can walk along the street and get caught in a crossfire.”

Other news outlets, including the Daily News and the New York Post reported that Joseph Johnson, a homeless man, was arrested and taken to a hospital after the individual got into an argument at the event.

The News reported:

At one point, Johnson spit on someone he was arguing with, and it almost landed on Williams, who was handing out fliers with McCray calling for stronger rent laws.

“He was being loud and disruptive and he was incoherent,” the police source said.

City Hall officials said McCray wasn’t in any danger, and the man never came closer than 15 to 20 feet away from her.

Williams told the News he didn’t feel threatened and that “the story is we need programs that deal with people who are emotionally disturbed,” he said.