Levine Repeats Call to Confront Anti-Semitism
Yesterday, Council Member Mark Levine (D-Manhattan Valley, Manhattanville) called on the City to do more to confront anti-Semitism in the wake of an attack in Midtown.
A 65-year-old Jewish man was viciously assaulted last Monday near Grand Central Terminal. His attacker, Steven Jorge, allegedly shouted, “F*ck you, Jew” during the attack. Levine said the attack was a symptom of a larger problem.
“It’s not just that anti-Semitic hate crimes are dramatically up in NYC,” Levine said in a tweet. “It’s that an increasing number are violent assaults–including Monday’s attack on a 65-yr old man just blocks from Grand Central. We simply must do more to confront this crisis.”
Rivera, Velázquez Write Op-Ed on Public Housing
Yesterday, Council Member Carlina Rivera (D-East Village, Gramecy Park) and Representative Nydia Velázquez (D-LES, Brooklyn, Queens) wrote an op-ed for the Gotham Gazette yesterday on the importance of confronting our nation’s divestment in public housing.
In the article, Rivera and Velázquez express disappointment that the Democratic presidential candidates have failed to address the issue. They also bring up Velázquez’s Public Housing Emergency Response Act, a bill that would invest $70 billion in emergency repairs to public housing, and assert that every candidate should support the bill.
“We need real federal involvement again if we’re ever going to restore public housing to its former glory,” reads the article. “That will only happen if this crisis is addressed and discussed on the national stage in the manner it deserves, including at presidential debates.”
Read the full article here.
Rosenthal Takes Umbrage with Rental Application Fee Cap Loophole
Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal (D-Upper West Side, Hell’s Kitchen) recently spoke out against New York brokers for abusing a loophole that lets them circumvent the $20 rental application fee cap.
Last June, New York introduced a law that limits what real estate agents can charge potential tenants for rental applications. In early December, attorney Lisa Faham-Selzer revealed that dual agency agreements could allow agents to continue collecting higher application fees.
“I think it’s stupid to try to circumvent the law and then brag about it,” Rosenthal told The Real Deal. “But the law is the law and you can’t just invent excuses to circumvent [it].”
