Gotham Gazette

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Opinion

The Power of Immigrant New Yorkers and Our Allies Must Be Felt on Election Day


United States flags immigration citizenship

A message to spur immigrant Americans to vote (photo: Spencer T Tucker/Mayor's Office)


As a proud Guyanese-American immigrant and a leader of New York’s immigrant community, I’m getting ready to cast my vote on Tuesday, November 3. The stakes could not be higher — for myself, and New York’s 4 million immigrants.

As a Co-Executive Director of NYIC Action, the political arm of the New York Immigration Coalition, I know what’s at stake for this election. Donald Trump won in 2016 on a hateful, racist platform of walls, bans, and raids — and he’s done everything he can to transform this platform into policy. Tearing families apart, cancelling the DACA program for Dreamers, ramping up raids to terrorize New Yorkers, slashing America’s historic refugee system to pieces. This is the devastation that Donald Trump has wrought on our essential workers and immigrant communities. The choice could not be clearer: we need to vote Donald Trump out immediately.

But this election allows us to do more than that. We can make a stand for immigrant New Yorkers by getting out the vote for candidates who value the contributions of immigrants to our diverse city and against politicians who cravenly echoed Trump’s racist agenda. The time is right now to get every eligible voter you know to the polls. We need New Yorkers to vote for the kind of future that allows every single one of us to thrive.

I came to this country as an undocumented ten-year old girl from Guyana. Growing up in Brooklyn, trying to fit in, voting was one of the furthest things from my mind. But when I started to think about college, I realized, as millions of other New Yorkers have, that undocumented people face real barriers to achieving our dreams. I couldn’t apply for financial aid, couldn’t work legally, and I couldn't vote. Being disenfranchised felt like I didn't have a voice, that I was less than a full member of the community I loved, and that I couldn’t do anything to change this broken immigration system.

But I became a citizen at 20 years of age, and I can still remember that day — November 2, 2004 — when I cast my first-ever vote for President of the United States. And every time since then that I’ve cast my ballot, I’m overcome with emotion, remembering just how I felt being able to vote for a presidential nominee who presented a vision of the America I wanted to see come to fruition. So I’m determined to exercise that right every single time that I can, and now more than ever.

And when I vote on Tuesday, I know my vote is going to feel that much more important, because of what’s at stake. As a proud resident of Sunset Park, I vote for my immigrant friends and neighbors — people who yearn for a different America that welcomes them, but are undocumented or green card holders and thus can’t vote.

In 2018, NYIC Action tapped into the growing power of the immigrant vote in New York to send candidates like Andrew Gounardes, who embraced immigrant New Yorkers, to Albany. That year saw the Democrats take over the state Senate for the first time in a decade and we saw real, meaningful changes as a result, including the New York Dream Act and Driver’s Licenses for All. In 2020, we must vote to build on this victory by sending Senator Gounardes and his fellow incumbent Democrats back to the Legislature, and by powering leaders like Samra Brouk, a daughter of immigrants, into the state Senate for the first time. But our community’s voices won’t only be heard in Albany.

We will ensure that Washington hears us as well by voting for the millions of New Yorkers who are "represented" by Trump acolytes in Congress such as Lee Zeldin and Elise Stefanik, who have sadly embraced his anti-immigrant attacks and can even be defeated themselves if everyone who believes all who live in New York and the United States deserve respect from their government and are eligible show up to vote.

I vote for my loved ones, including my relatives, some of whom are still undocumented. And I vote for myself, for that ten-year-old girl who once felt voiceless, but is now ready to use my voice for my community.

But neither I nor anyone else can do this alone. We New Yorkers need to make sure that all in our community, all eligible immigrant New Yorkers, are able to vote and can cast their ballot fairly. But we also need our allies, the descendants of immigrants from across the globe and those who believe that immigrants have helped build America over centuries, to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with us. We need all who haven’t voted yet to cast our ballots together on Tuesday, November 3 — to rebuke not only Donald Trump, but the Lee Zeldins and Elise Stefaniks of the world who would attack and demean immigrant New Yorkers like me once again. We must strip them of the power to use our government against us.

On Election Day, we can do more than cast out Donald Trump, we can truly make a statement for how important immigrants are to our great state and country.

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Rovika Rajkishun is the Interim Co-Executive Director of the New York Immigration Coalition. On Twitter @RovikaRajkishun.

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Desperate Acts of Vandalism Won’t Help Homeless People or Stop Me from Representing My Clients


mastro home vandalism lucerne homeless shelter controversy

Vandalism at the home of Randy Mastro, the author


It happened two weeks ago in the dead of night. More than a dozen people wearing hoods and masks arrived on bicycles outside my family's Manhattan residence and proceeded to vandalize it.

In premeditated, coordinated fashion, the perpetrators spray-painted, in bright red and black using cut-out stencils, profanities and slogans, such as ""F**k You Randy," "Prick," "Randy Mastro You Can't Displace Us," "No Room For NIMBY's," "Shame," and "Housing Is A Human Right," on the front of our home, our neighbor's home, and the adjoining sidewalk. Not content with that obscenity, they threw eggs and buckets of red paint on our front door and put glue in the locks to make it impossible to re-enter.

Why did this happen? Apparently because of my advocacy on behalf of a client, WestCo, seeking to move homeless adults from a single-room-occupancy (SRO) hotel on the Upper West Side, the Lucerne, into a proper downtown facility, with better housing and more services, that is being converted into a permanent shelter. We thought of this resolution as a "win-win" for all concerned. Better for a neighborhood that found itself the "temporary" home to hundreds of homeless adults suddenly crammed into three nearby SRO hotels without the support services they need. And better for this vulnerable population that would be returning to a proper, full service shelter at this new downtown facility.

We had earlier petitioned Mayor de Blasio to act or else face a lawsuit. He went to visit the site himself and declared it "not acceptable." He then decided to make this move, which should have been uncontroversial but somehow caused a firestorm.

We were out of town at the time of this attack on our family's home. On the morning after, around 10 a.m., I learned of it from my next door neighbor, who emailed me that her property had been vandalized and forwarded photos of the damage.

Around the same time, one of WestCo's officers also emailed me, expressing concern for my family's safety and regret that I had been targeted in this vile way. She told me she learned about the vandalism from a website posting by an advocacy group called Open Hearts, which formed to try to keep the homeless men at the Upper West Side SRO hotel. According to Open Hearts' posts, an affiliated "minister" happened to be walking past my home in the early morning hours and witnessed the damage. Members of this group have repeatedly called me and my client "racists" and "NIMBYs."

Then came the next indignity. New York Times columnist Ginia Bellafante wrote that my advocacy as a lawyer had "ignite[d] the fury of protesters...who defaced" my family's home, as if I deserved to be victimized and brought this upon myself. She called the perpetrators of this vandalism "protesters on the other side of the debate."

But these weren't "protesters;" they're criminals who should be brought to justice. To terrorize the home of a lawyer's family because of his advocacy on behalf of clients is reprehensible. I suspect Ms. Bellafante would be far less sympathetic to "protesters" if they vandalized her home because they didn't like something she wrote. These are serious issues involving homeless people that deserve serious debate. There is no place in that debate for vandalism of a lawyer's family home or any other similar misconduct.

Sure enough, serious opinion leaders came forward to decry what had happened, which I appreciated. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the New York State Bar Association, through its President, Scott Karson, put out a public statement, "condemn[ing] the actions of all those responsible" and calling it "a despicable act of harassment for simply providing legal counsel -- a cherished principle of American jurisprudence...[A]cts of harassment, threats and intimidation against lawyers are an assault on th[e] right to counsel and must stop."

I also heard from many other leaders of the New York Bar and even local elected officials, although not the mayor, whose decision I've been publicly defending and will continue to defend. For example, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, who's been an antagonist on this issue, nevertheless reached out to me personally to say she was "disgusted by the horrific act of what was written in front of your home." And my law firm colleagues and clients rallied round in extraordinary ways, for which I will always be grateful.

So maybe something good has come from this senseless act of vandalism targeting my home: A recognition that a line was crossed here that threatens not only a lawyer's family but also the very essence of our legal system -- the right to legal representation and zealous advocacy, free of "harassment, threats and intimidation." And a renewed focus on the serious issue of whether homeless adults should continue to be placed in inadequate SRO hotels or be housed in proper, safe shelters where they will get all of the services they need on-site. Of one thing, though, I am certain. If these thugs thought they were going to intimidate this lawyer, they picked the wrong guy.

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Randy Mastro is the Chair of Citizens Union, a former New York City Deputy Mayor, and a current partner at the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

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New York City Needs a Resiliency Plan that Creates Green Jobs for New Yorkers


solar panels green jobs NYC

Solar panels rendering (image: Mayor's Office) 


Eight years ago today, October 29, Hurricane Sandy struck the Eastern seaboard, causing severe flooding and power loss throughout New York City and the entire region. Sandy was very personal to me and my family as I know it was to many of you and yours. Friends nearby in Brooklyn lost their homes and businesses, and one even lost her life. I was honored when President Obama asked me to lead a federal task force to ensure we recovered and rebuilt stronger. The Sandy effort showed how strong and resilient New Yorkers can be. Much was learned, much was done, but unfortunately, as the storm faded from the memory of city leaders, much was left undone.  

Now, New York City is grappling with yet another tragic disaster. We’ve lost nearly 25,000 of our neighbors, colleagues, friends, and family to the COVID-19 pandemic and every day we see the human and economic impact of this disaster on our great city. Sandy and the pandemic share a common theme -- the most vulnerable are disproportionately at risk when disaster strikes, so recovery must help all New Yorkers, especially the most vulnerable.

There is no doubt that Superstorm Sandy, like COVID-19, devastated the livelihoods of low-income New Yorkers. For example, in the wake of Sandy more than 80,000 New York City Public Housing Authority (NYCHA) residents were left for weeks without essential services, such as electricity, elevators, heat and hot water. After Sandy, NYCHA residents in the Rockaways, Red Hook, and other areas suffered from damaged boilers, hot water issues, and mold, as well as damage to playgrounds and other community gathering spaces, lost access to polling places, and physical isolation in their apartments.

In the name of environmental justice, we must center equity and inclusion in our rebuilding efforts – prioritizing the hardest-hit communities that are often left behind in disaster response. To help protect our fellow New Yorkers from future crises and economic downturns, we can create a pipeline of good-paying jobs that promote clean energy and resiliency. Smart policy can ensure that these jobs are accessible to residents in environmental justice communities.

The process of recovery and rebuilding since Sandy has taken too long. Eight years later, NYCHA is still undergoing Sandy-related repairs and is not prepared to deal with future climate disasters and extreme weather events. We must take necessary measures to enhance resilience, like installing flood barriers and generators and elevating utilities to higher ground. Through close collaboration with tenant associations and robust community outreach, we can ensure that tenant voices are not only heard but are a driving force behind this work. 

The ingenuity of residents has the potential to transform our public housing stock, but it must be harnessed. In the process, we should also create more jobs for public housing residents, by hiring from within NYCHA and from Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprises. Better support for community-based organizations that help prepare and place residents into green jobs, and close coordination with NYCHA’s resident employment office, REES, will enable us to do this.

Looking beyond the public housing stock, adapting our city’s buildings to be climate-ready and pollution-free will require a workforce that is skilled and ready to take on the green jobs of tomorrow. Local, state, and federal leadership, both separately and in partnership, must do more to train New Yorkers, especially young people, people of color, and working-class communities to participate in the clean energy economy. 

As mayor, I would establish a NYC Climate Corps, a citywide initiative focused on equity, inclusion, and job creation. The program would focus on equipping diverse young New Yorkers with the skills and experience they need to enter the green economy, while providing support to communities hard hit by climate change. This program would be built off the Clean Energy Service Corps, an AmeriCorps program initiated under the Obama Administration to support participants spending a year working on clean energy projects and creating green housing, via grants to nonprofits. But it would also build on local programs, such as the CUNY Service Corps and CUNY’s existing pathways to the green economy. 

With an expansion and strengthening of AmeriCorps from the federal government, an investment in CUNY, and thoughtful support locally -- led by local nonprofits and hand in hand with communities -- the NYC Climate Corps could provide young New Yorkers the skills and entry-level opportunities to access careers in climate change resilience and clean energy, while supporting New York City communities. Such a program must prioritize recruiting and supporting participants from the communities they serve, and work in close coordination with labor apprenticeship programs, city agencies, and non-profit organizations supporting underserved youth college and career pathways.

I have spent my career building coalitions to solve the challenges of substandard housing, disaster response, and climate resiliency. New York City, one of the most economically unequal cities in the country, needs a mayor who is willing to work creatively across city, state, and federal lines to build a greener city and end environmental racism. Together, we can build a city that works for everyone.

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Shaun Donovan was budget director and secretary of housing and urban development for President Obama and commissioner of housing preservation and development for Mayor Bloomberg. On Twitter @ShaunDonovanNYC.

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