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Health & Fitness

NYCHA Chair's Appearance Shows Cumbo Political Clout

By arranging for Shola Olatoye, new NYCHA Chairperson, to appear last week at Ingersoll Community Center, Council Member Laurie Cumbo showed she remains focused on the concerns of a key voting block.

Council Member Laurie Cumbo is quickly repaying loyal supporters who were instrumental in her 2013 election to the New York City Council’s District 35 seat.

Last Monday night at the Ingersoll Community Center in Fort Greene, Ms. Cumbo demonstrated a keen appreciation of constituent concerns as well as growing political influence by arranging for Shola Olatoye, the New York City Housing Authority’s newly appointed chairperson, to appear at a question and answer session attended by local NYCHA residents.

In front of a packed audience, Ms. Cumbo appeared elated to introduce Ms. Olatoye as well as senior NYCHA staff, including Cecil House NYCHA’s General Manager, Carlos G. Laboy-Diaz, Executive Vice-President for Operations, and Raymond Ribeiro, Executive Vice President for Capital Projects.

Arranging an appearance by NYCHA’s chief-decision maker was a coup for Ms. Cumbo, whose election to replace Letitia James—now the city’s Public Advocate—directly resulted from support provided by NYCHA residents in the Bedford Stuyvesant, Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, and Vinegar Hill neighborhoods.

“Our community and senior centers are vulnerable. One of our community centers has been closed for some time. We had an uptick in crime against our senior citizens and shootings.” said Ms. Cumbo about her decision to invite Ms. Olatoye to Ingersoll. “It’s important that NYCHA residents have an opportunity early on to learn who the new commissioner is, what her vision for the NYCHA developments are, and specifically how she can learn about the specific needs of the residents in the 35th Council District.”

The appearance by Ms. Olatoye underscores the importance Ms. Cumbo places on NYCHA residents, who were instrumental in helping her overcome a thin political resume to capture Ms. James’ seat. With five large NYCHA communities in her district, including Atlantic Terminal, Farragut, Ingersoll and Walt Whitman Houses as well as Lafayatte Gardens—incorporated into District 35 as a result of 2011 redistricting—Ms. Cumbo’s political base includes a substantial population of individuals on public assistance.

Prior to her election, Ms. Cumbo was executive director of the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, where she created a number of programs for Ingersoll, Whitman and Farragut residents.

Former NYCHA chair John Rhea, who resigned last December, was criticized over his four-year tenure for an astounding number of backlogged repairs, his agency’s abysmal record in responding to tenant request and for warehousing federal funds. Bringing in Ms. Olatoye—who grew up in Bed-Stuy—to meet her district’s residents is both an indication of Ms. Cumbo’s continued focus on NYCHA quality of life issues as well as the Council Member’s growing political clout.

Ms. Olatoye’s resume—she previously worked at Enterprise Community Partners, a national nonprofit that has built or preserved thousands of homes for lower-income New Yorkers—is in stark contrast to Mr. Rhea’s, who had no prior low-income housing experience when he was plucked from Wall Street by former Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

In a spirited question and answer session, Ms. Cumbo pressed Ms. Olatoye on a number of topics, including preserving the Farragut Senior Center and Lafayette Gardens Community Center, addressing the fate of the Whitman Senior Center, which has been shuttered for six years, providing desperately-needed security cameras for NYCHA communities, and the practice of downsizing NYCHA apartments, a hardship for lifelong residents.

Not all were impressed by Ms. Olatoye’s appearance. Tyree Stanback, president of the Lafayette Garden’s Tenant Association, expressed concern about the NYCHA chair’s appearance translating into action.

“While ‘photo ops’ may play well in the general public,” said Mr. Stanback, “the true test is when you answer to the 615,000 public housing residents in the City of New York you are supposed to be serving.”

Making reference to last year’s controversial cost-cutting decision by Ms. Olatoye’s predecessor to eliminate community and senior center programs due to a $205 million decrease in federal aid, Mr. Standback added: “While the commissioner’s visit to Brooklyn was welcome and applauded, it offered nothing to assist the community centers and programs scheduled to be eliminated on June 30.”

In a statement to the Fort Greene Patch, Ms. Cumbo addressed concerns that Ms. Olatoye’s visit was merely for show. “This is the first of many conversations and she shall be back,” the Council Member stated.

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