REMINDER:  CALL TO ACTION – PRESS CONFERENCES & RALLIES ON 3/24 & 3/26
 
Dear Friends,

Much has happened over the last few days in our fight against Governor Hochul’s disastrous “Housing Compact” – and for those who are just getting up to speed, these are pieces of legislation dumped into the budget to avoid public scrutiny and discussion that will utterly destroy our communities if they are adopted into law.

First: On Tuesday, March 21, we had a fantastic press conference and rally on Staten island – a BIG shout out to the South Beach Civic Association for all of their hard work in putting it together! About 75 people turned out at the corner of Hylan Boulevard and Burgher Avenue to protest against this neighborhood-busting set of bills. Standing in lockstep with us were a bipartisan group of elected officials who stated that not only are they opposed to the Housing Compact, but they will also vote against the budget in its entirety, if necessary. We need ALL of our elected officials to commit to the same in order to defeat this disastrous plan.
 
Second: I mentioned in our last email blast that a shadowy group known as American Opportunity has been responsible for those awful campaign-like commercials on television as well as mailers targeting Assembly members to support Governor Hochul’s budget proposal is a Super-PAC based out of Washington D.C. We later found out on Tuesday morning (after the email blast) that this Super-PAC is actually directly connected with the Democratic Governor’s Association. And, later in the afternoon, the NY Times broke the BIG story: Michael Bloomberg has funded this entire endeavor, to the tune of $5 millionso far! This is an utter betrayal of our communities in New York City by Bloomberg. During his tenure as Mayor, Bloomberg worked very closely with neighborhoods around the city – all of Staten Island, the majority of Queens and the more suburban parts of Brooklyn and the Bronx – to contextually rezone areas in order to protect neighborhood character and allow for measured and reasonable growth over time. With his support of Hochul’s budget which Includes her housing scheme, Bloomberg has completely tarnished this legacy. As we know, the “Housing Compact” will utterly destroy the very neighborhoods in New York City that he previously helped to protect. I guess if you’re the 16th richest person in the world, you forget your humble working-class beginnings.
 
Third: Speaking of the NY Times, yesterday the opinion writer Mara Gay once again took aim at our communities across the State who oppose Hochul’s apocalyptic plans. Her piece, entitled “NIMBYs Threaten a Plan to Build More Suburban Housing” is the latest in a series of inaccurate, hostile and racially-charged attacks against our way of life. Gay, a millionaire who was born in Brooklyn and apparently lives there now, spent her formative years in…White Plains! That’s right: the author of numerous anti-suburb, anti-homeowner commentaries and rants spent her high school years (and beyond) at 75 Woodcrest Avenue in the Woodcrest Heights neighborhood of White Plains, a desirable area with – you guessed it – detached one-family zoning, with her family ultimately selling the house in 2015 – not very long ago at all! Ms. Gay seems to think it’s perfectly fine for her to have enjoyed the benefits of growing up in a safe, quiet, green and uncongested low-density environment, protected by local zoning and adequate infrastructure and services – but that it’s NOT OK for others to live the same way! It is hypocrites like Ms. Gay that reveal the ultimate agenda of Governor Hochul and her multi-billion-dollar real estate developer friends – and their “useful” proxies who have bought into and continue to be proponents of a completely false narrative.

FINALLY: We will be having two rallies against the “Housing Compact” over the next few days and we look forward to seeing you there.

Friday March 24, 12pm – 

Queens Borough Hall – 120-55 Queens Boulevard, Kew Gardens, NY

Sunday March 26, 2pm – 

Malcolm Wilson County Park – Scarsdale Road, Yonkers, NY (on the grassy knoll by the main gates!)

Best,

Paul Graziano

save1familyny.org

Save 1 Family New Yorksave1familyny.orgFlushing, NY 11354718-309-7522

Sent by save1familynewyork@gmail.com