Making good on expectations that she would get a job in Mayor Bloomberg’s second administration, former City Councilmember Margarita Lopez last week was appointed to the board of the New York City Housing Authority. With the appointment, she is the third-most-powerful person at NYCHA after Chairperson Tino Hernandez and Vice Chairperson Earl Andrews Jr.
The job carries a salary of $168,932, according to the Housing Authority. This is a significant bump up in pay from the $97,500 Lopez made in the City Council, which included her base salary of $90,000, plus a $7,500 stipend she received as chairperson of the Mental Health, Mental Retardation, Alcoholism, Drug Abuse and Disability Services Committee.
“I am humbled and proud to be appointed to this important position,” said Lopez. “I have spent almost 30 years as a community advocate, community board member and member of the City Council fighting for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers who need affordable housing. I am very grateful for this new opportunity to serve the cause I have made my life’s work.”
The Housing Authority is home to more than 400,000 New Yorkers who live in 344 developments in the five boroughs. Lopez, who represented Council District 2 for the last eight years, has lived in the East Village since 1978 after moving there from her native Puerto Rico.
Lopez was one of the Republican mayor’s biggest Democratic backers during his recent re-election campaign.
She and the mayor are also personal friends, with Lopez last year having joked they were like “star-crossed lovers” because they are in different parties. In another act of affection, Lopez earlier this year proclaimed the mayor an “honorary lesbian.”
Villager file photo
Margarita Lopez in a happy moment
