Housing Justice for All Calls for Rent Strike + WFP Endorses Samelys López

Local News

• Housing Justice for All, the tenant coalition that helped pass last year’s pro-tenant rent laws, is organizing a rent strike for May 1st, aiming to get one million New Yorkers to withhold their rent in a bid to get Governor Cuomo to cancel rent and mortgage payments.
• A new report from the New York City Independent Budget Office suggests that New York could be facing its worst recession since the 1970s. Based on their estimates, the city could lose $9.7 billion in tax revenue in 2020 and 2021 based on a scenario in which there are 475,000 jobs lost over the next year.
• De Blasio proposed cutting the City’s budget by $2 billion and requested a $7.4 billion bailout from the federal government.
• Approximately 1.2 million New Yorkers have filed unemployment claims, and many are dealing with long wait times, confusing applications, and missing payments.
• The City’s small business loan pool has been overwhelmed by requests and is insufficiently funded to cover the demand.
• The City Council broke with the Mayor in passing its own plan to create 75 miles of open streets for pedestrians and cyclists in response to the coronavirus shutdown.
• Governor Andrew Cuomo is now ordering New Yorkers to wear face masks when in spaces where social distancing is not possible, including stores, transit, and crowded sidewalks.
• Ross Barkan wrote two articles highlighting the ways Cuomo has manipulated the press to skirt blame for failing to protect NYC residents from COVID-19.
• Assembly Member Gottfried and Senators Biaggi, Rivera, and Skoufis introduced a constitutional amendment that would force the Governor to isolate and identify each legislative proposal in the state budget, effectively preventing the Governor from ramming through “big ugly” budgets and strengthening the legislature’s influence over the budget making process.
• 32BJ SEIU reports the deaths of 45 of their members working in NYC as doorpeople, porters, supers, and other essential services.

Elections

• The Working Families Party has endorsed Samelys López in her race for Congress.
• The Brooklyn political machine, which has coalesced around real-estate consultant Darma Diaz for City Council seat 37 in Bushwick, is pushing forward with petition challenges despite the health risks it presents for Board of Elections staff and candidates.