Congressman Jerrold Nadler, center, holding his award from the Gateway Plaza Tenants Association, flanked by association president Glenn Plaskin on the right and Sen. Charles Schumer on the left, at the G.P.T.A. holiday party on Dec. 6.
At its annual holiday party, the Gateway Plaza Tenants Association honored Congressman Jerrold Nadler with its lifetime achievement award for his decades of service to Downtown.
“We wanted to thank Congressman Nadler for everything he has done,” said association president Glenn Plaskin at the soiree at SouthWest NY in Battery Park City on Sun., Dec. 6.
Nadler has fought for civil liberties, women’s health, reducing gun violence, climate change, and marriage equality — not to mention rent stabilization, Plaskin said.
The yearly party for Downtown’s largest residential development drew a long list of public officials and local leaders, including Sen. Charles Schumer, Comptroller Scott Singer, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Community Board 1 chairwoman Catherine McVay Hughes, and Downtown Independent Democrats district leaders Jenifer Rajkumar and Paul Newell.
Hughes praised Nadler for his work — often behind the scenes — on behalf of his Downtown constituents.
“He’s done so many things in quiet ways that people don’t know about,” she said.
After the 9/11 attacks, Nadler pushed for funds to clean up and rebuild Lower Manhattan, and has been on the forefront of the push for the permanent reauthorization of the Zadroga Act, which provides healthcare for 9/11 first responders and survivors and will run out of funding at the end of this year.
Hughes pointed out that Nadler also pushed for the National Guard to be deployed Downtown to distribute water and food after Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
“He is there for the real people,” Hughes said.
Nadler, whose district includes Downtown, the Upper West Side, Hell’s Kitchen, Chelsea, SoHo, Greenwich Village, and parts of Brooklyn, said the nod from Gateway’s tenants meant a lot.
“It was gratifying to be appreciated — especially by as active of a constituency as Gateway Plaza Tenants Association,” Nadler told Downtown Express after receiving the award.
There is much for tenants to celebrate this year, said Plaskin, as Gateway will getting its 10,000 windows upgraded and see other improvements.
However, the rent stabilization agreement reached in 2009 with the complex’s landlord LeFrak Organization ends in 2020.
“We have to keep Gateway rent stabilized,” said Nadler, who was part of the last round of negotiations. “We have to keep it affordable.”
— Dusica Sue Malesevic
