Stringer declines signing East Coast
Resiliency Project contract — for now
BY DEAN MOSES
City Comptroller Scott
Stringer sent back last
week the East Side Coastal
Resiliency (ESCR) project contract
back to the city’s Department
of Design and Construction
(DDC) unsigned.
After several discussions with
the DDC, the comptroller is requesting
the agency tackle some
unresolved issues, including information
disclosure concerns.
The decision came days after
throngs of Lower Manhattanites
descended on the Comptroller’s
office on July 27 to plead with
Stringer to not sign off on the
contract. The critics say the ESCR
plan would uproot some 1,000
trees and fill the East River Park
with 1 million tons of industrial
soil as flood protection.
Though Stringer kicked the
contract back to the DDC, it does
not mean that he won’t sign it in
the future — or that the project
won’t move forward.
“As is the case with every contract,
the Comptroller’s Office has
conducted a thorough review and
engaged with the City through a
series of questions and answers
to determine compliance with all
applicable rules and regulations
pertaining to this $1.2 billion contract,”
said Hazel Crampton-Hays,
press secretary for the comptroller,
in a statement. “Since we were
unable to resolve all of our questions
within the 30-day review
period, our office has returned
the contract to DDC to allow
them additional time to address
the outstanding issues.”
Although the ESCR project is
promising new amenities and a
new footpath bridge, the activist
group East River Park Action believes
the cost of the destruction
Activists ask Comptroller Scott Stringer to halt approval on the ESCR contract on July 27.
outweighs the potential benefits.
In responding to this report,
a DDC spokesperson told
amNewYork Metro: “It’s not unusual
for the comptroller to request
additional information about a
PHOTO BY DEAN MOSES
contract. We are answering those
questions and we fully expect that
the contract will be registered.”
City Hall protest over NYC homeless
relocations leads to 11 arrests
BY DEAN MOSES
Homeless rights advocates wound
up in handcuffs on Thursday near
City Hall while protesting the
transfer of some 8,000 unhoused individuals
from hotels to congregate shelters across
New York City.
The rally led by Housing Works took place
just outside on Broadway and Park Place,
drawing dozens of activists just before 10
a.m. on July 29 to call out Mayor Bill de Blasio’s
failures to provide safe and supportive
solutions for the unhoused, shuffling them
between hotels and shelters like cattle.
Housing advocates dubbed de Blasio a
broken record for his repetitive phrases
such as a “Recovery for all” and references
to New York’s bright future, which they
say ostracizes the homeless community. In
response to the mayor’s “empty promises,”
several organizations held the “de Blasio
Broken Record” Action, during which
they demanded a halt to the transferal of
unhoused individuals from hotels to shelters.
They also called for immediate action on
Intro. 146, a City Council bill requiring the
As one advocate was being arrested, she shouted “Housing is a human right!”
City to pay higher amounts of rental assistance
vouchers for homeless New Yorkers.
Several elected officials likewise allied
with the cause such as Council member
(and Democratic city comptroller nominee)
Brad Lander and Assembly members Jessica
González-Rojas and Harvey Epstein, joining
the sign thrusting and chanting alongside
PHOTO BY DEAN MOSES
those who have experienced homelessness
themselves like Shams DaBaron.
“Mayor de Blasio, we are calling directly
on you, and we want these things done
today! We heard you say that you were
thinking about them, that you were looking
at them, well the time for thinking and
looking has passed. We want it right now.
Stop the transfers!” Lander said to a roar
of cheers.
But the pleas soon transformed into
cries of anger as the group launched into
the roadway, blocking traffic with their
bodies — doing everything they could to
get the mayor’s attention.
Hunkering down on a crosswalk, advocates
symbolically broke vinyl records while
chanting “Housing is a human right.”
During the chaos, a food vendor zoomed
onto the sidewalk in an attempt to bypass
the human roadblock. Members of the
NYPD immediately chased down the driver,
hammering on his vehicle and swiftly placing
the man under arrest at the scene.
With the situation swiftly spinning out of
control after more than an hour of blocking
the roadway, officers began to play a warning
message for the crowd to disperse from
the street or risk being arrested. The threat
was ignored and the act of civil disobedience
went on.
That led to police rounding up about 10
housing advocates and zip-tying them while
placing them under arrest.A crowd still
watching from the sidewalk cheered on their
comrades as they were hauled out of sight.
This protest comes as part of a 30-day action
to raise awareness for homeless rights,
but whether it will change the Mayor’s
stance on congregate shelters remains to
be seen.
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