Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Delivers Remarks at Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association Meeting

October 24, 2015

Mayor Bill de Blasio: I really want to just spend a few minutes today talking to you about what you have achieved – what we have all achieved together, because history is something [inaudible] people fighting and fighting to stand up and work against the odds, and a lot of times the struggle and the challenge is forgotten in the aftermath. But this one is for the ages, and so many people deserve credit. And I want to talk about those people, but I want to start with recognizing everyone in this room understood it was important – the fight for affordable housing, the fight for a way of life, in fact, that recognizes that we all are in this together and we need the city to be a place for everyone, and Stuy Town and Peter Cooper always epitomized that. And it would have been very easy to give up given the overwhelming weight up against you. And it would have been easy because of huge mistakes made a decade ago, to figure that the train had left the station. But there is an extraordinary determination here, and history will smile on you for standing up and fighting. So, please start by giving yourselves a round of applause.

[Applause]

Susan, thank you for your tremendous leadership. It’s been a tough struggle –

[Applause]

– But, you know, [inaudible] either way you were a great leader.

[Applause]

So, I have spent a lot of time here and I want to also tell you – I hope you appreciate – and I mean this in the sense of I hope you fully take in how much your energy, your activism, your persistence has educated a lot of us who wouldn’t have fully understood otherwise. I have tried to get involved here from the time I became Public Advocate to work with your elected officials, and understanding the totality of what this place meant to people – how much it was a home for generations, how much it was a heart and soul for people and – and how wrong the mistakes of a decade ago were. I think that decision almost ten years ago undermined everything we fought for as New Yorkers – we try to preserve this as a place for everyone. I think that’s in our DNA as New Yorkers, to ensure that everyone lives side-by-side, that there’s opportunity for all. And because of the time I got to spend with you, hearing first-hand what Stuy Town and Peter Cooper meant for your families – the opportunity to really hear the history – it educated me as to how this was a fight worth fighting, no matter what the odds, and how it had to be a tremendous priority for all of us. I know my [inaudible] who are sitting up here feel the same way – so many that have worked so hard. But look what we, together, have achieved – 5,000 apartments will now be kept affordable. That is for the [inaudible] 5,000 apartments.

[Applause]

The biggest – the biggest – the biggest city land preservation deal in our history, and a big piece of the plan that we’re working on to preserve and build 200,000 units of affordable housing in the course of these next ten years. So, it was worth the fight. Now, as I said, a lot of people up here deserve credit and I’m going to – two I have had the particular pleasure of working very closely with on this issue, Councilmember Dan Garodnick and Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh. 

[Applause]

[Inaudible] from personal experience, I’ve spent a lot of time with a lot of elected officials. These are two very brilliant elected officials – two very persistent and detail-orientated elected officials. And I [inaudible] tell you how many times that they didn’t just pull me, but they grabbed me and how persistent they were over years in explaining what had to be done, and explaining what the challenges were and how to get over the hump. [inaudible] tremendous credit because you’ve lived it, you understood it, you articulated it to so many of us, and you worked so closely in concert with the tenant associations. And I think that kind of grassroots leadership made all the difference in the world.

Let’s give Dan Garodnick [inaudible]

[Applause]

And Brian has had the unenviable task of fighting the dragons in Albany.

[Laughter]

And he has to his credit [inaudible]

[Applause]

Because he has – and I say this is a pure compliment – he has a reformers zeal. He has uncovered so many problems in the way that Albany has treated tenants over the years, and so many trap doors [inaudible] address, and played a key role in getting some real steps forward in terms of protections for tenants in this last session. We all know we’ve got a long way to go and a lot to fix in terms of how laws in Albany and the administration of those laws affects tenants. We’ve got much more work to do, but Brian has been extraordinary and persistent. Let’s give him a round of applause.

[Applause]

Now I didn’t get to work as closely with our federal officials, but I know what work they did. Senator Schumer and Congresswoman Maloney set a lot of the preconditions for the success we’re celebrating today. They were adamant in terms of the federal piece of the equation and ensuring that we had the opportunity to get to this day where we could preserve 5,000 units. We would not have done what we’ve done without the extraordinary leadership of Senator Schumer and Congresswoman Maloney. Please give them a round of applause.

[Applause]

I have to tell you that our Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen and her team and our housing commissioner, Vicki Been, who’s done an extraordinary job, they have worked [inaudible] –

[Applause]

And [inaudible] congratulations, thank you for all [inaudible].

[Applause]

Look, I’ll just keep it simple. I wanted to come here and thank you. I wanted to come here and celebrate [inaudible] progress we’ve made. There’s more work to do always, but 5,000 – 5,000

[Audience member shouts]

Okay, let me just finish up and then you can have your debate.

[Laughter]

[Applause]

5,000 apartments will have stabilized rent well below market rate. That is [inaudible].

[Applause]

You will have a [inaudible] as long as you stay in your apartment for at least the next 20 years. And that is crucial.

[Applause]

And since the rents are capped, there is no incentive for the landlord to try to push you out. That is a very important [inaudible] as well.

[Applause]

[Inaudible] focused on the apartments under the Robert’s Settlement. You’re one of the households in those 1,400 apartments regulated by the [inaudible] of that settlement. An additional five years of protected rent until 2025 – that’s another step forward. If you are senior, there’s going to be additional support for seniors as part of this larger plan – on-site social work, more community programs, wellness visits, medical screenings, a lot of good things that will continue to make this a positive place for people to live, and the epitome of a great New York middle class community for all.  So it is a victory – it is a victory consistent with the values of New York City.

And I’ll conclude with this – I thank you for fighting, but I also thank you for living up to our values. Whenever I talk to people here, you’ve talked about the power of this city as a place for everyone. You talked about keeping the middle class alive, including in Manhattan – that Manhattan not just be a place for the wealthy [inaudible].

[Applause]

You believe that the magic [inaudible] New York City is where everyone is together, and everyone has opportunity. You have epitomized that for years, and then you just added to the [inaudible]. You were already a great exemplar of this city, but you added to the history books by winning one of the great tenant fights of our time.

Thank you, and God bless you all.