
Democratic mayoral candidates lay out their plans at Brooklyn forum
Mayor Adams trashed for Mar-a-Lago escapade

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — Hundreds gathered in the Moot Court Room at Brooklyn Law School and also virtually Thursday night to hear from five of the candidates running in the June 24 Democratic mayoral primary.
These included Queens state Sen. Jessica Ramos, Brooklyn state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, former Bronx Assemblymember Michael Blake (who appeared via video), Queens Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani and City Comptroller Brad Lander.
Former Comptroller Scott Stringer had a previously scheduled media engagement, and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo declined since he hasn’t officially entered the race. Attorney Jim Walden, running as an Independent, was not included.

‘My head literally exploded’
Despite their policy differences, all of the candidates agreed on one thing: Mayor Eric Adams has to go, and cross endorsements to ensure this outcome are not off the table.
The absent mayor was roundly mocked for his criminal indictments, his alleged corruption, and his hastily-announced trip to Florida on Friday to meet with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
“When I learned that our current mayor is flying to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Donald friggin Trump right now, my head literally almost exploded,” Lander told the crowd. “I mean, this is not surprising. He’s been pleading for a pardon for a long time now, and is clearly willing to sell out our immigrant neighbors and our city — but still my head almost exploded.”

The event was put together jointly by numerous Brooklyn Democratic organizations, including BKForge, Brooklyn Young Democrats, Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, Get Organized BK, Independent Neighborhood Democrats, Indivisible BK, Lambda Independent Democrats, and New Kings Democrats.
For many in the audience, it was their first in-person exposure to the candidates, and though most said afterward they hadn’t made up their minds yet, their impressions were overwhelmingly positive.
Each contender introduced themself and answered a series of questions on topics which had been solicited in advance from attendees. These included increasing the housing supply and protecting tenants; protecting immigrants; reforming New York City’s police department; increasing access to reproductive health care; improving education; and improving transportation.

This was followed by a lightening round which included topics like preserving retirees’ Medicare plans; Local Law 97 (relating to reducing greenhouse gas in buildings); and closing Rikers Island.
While the candidates differed in their approaches, there was considerable consensus on the city’s biggest problems. Preserving New York City as a Sanctuary City, creating housing and aiding the mentally ill were top priorities.

Broad overlap
All the candidates expressed support for protecting immigrants from the incoming Trump administration. “The history of immigration is the history of New York City,” Ramos said. “The current mayor is vilifying immigrants in order to hide his mismanagement of funds and no-bid contracts to his cronies.”
Ramos pledged to have police scanners turned back on and to increase funding for the Civilian Complaint Review Board. She also called for replacing police response to the mentally ill with “up-skilled” EMS, EMTs and clinicians. “We’ll take the money from the robo-cops and drones” to pay for their training, she said.
Myrie strongly supported building more and denser housing, and proposed a special New York City-only work permit for immigrants. “Is it a slam dunk? No. But if the federal government attacks us for trying to provide work, so sue us!” He added, “This is New York City. We’ll use every tool at our disposal.”

Blake, appearing on a video screen due to his daughter’s16th birthday, said affordable housing should be based on local median income, not area median income, and said he would propose a “Mitchell-Lama 2.0” housing plan. He also touted his stint with the Obama administration, saying, “I’m the only candidate with federal, state and city experience. If we face attack [from the Trump administration], I know how to be immediately ready.”
Mamdani said he was pegging his campaign on building a more affordable New York City. He pledged to decrease the cost of living by freezing rent for rent-stabilized apartments, create fast, free buses, and provide universal free child care from the age of 6 months to 5 years. He also plans to create a nonprofit grocery store in every borough as a pilot program.
“Of all the candidates who are here, I’m the one with the demonstrated record of executive leadership, actually making city government work better for New Yorkers,” Lander said. He spoke of his experience creating affordable housing as the former director of the Fifth Avenue Committee. “I will focus like a laser beam on affordable housing.”

Lander also spoke of leading a team of 700 people as the current comptroller, touted the 10% return the city’s pension funds earned during his tenure, and described a financial plan which would allow the city’s public hospitals to continue receiving a billion dollars annually in federal funds despite abortion-linked threats from the Trump administration.

Adams had been invited to participate but declined to attended because “he did not want to be bullied around,” forum moderator Seamus Campbell, president of Independent Neighborhood Democrats, told the Brooklyn Eagle following the event. “Then we found out we were stood up so he could see the president-elect at Mar-a-Lago … You can’t make this stuff up.
Watch the whole forum here.

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