Here's Where West Harlem Candidates Stand On Your Issues

HARLEM, NY — Just about a week remains before the June 22 primary elections, and early voting has already begun in New York City — but many Upper Manhattan voters have not yet cast their votes for City Council.

That includes residents of District 7, which covers West Harlem and Hamilton Heights, Morningside Heights, and parts of Washington Heights and the Upper West Side — and where 12 Democrats are running to succeed term-limited Mark Levine, who is running for borough president.

To help those still deciding how to rank their top five choices, Harlem Patch asked the District 7 candidates to respond to the issues raised in our neighborhood survey from February.

Here's where they stand on affordable housing, dirty streets, and the controversial development on West 142nd Street.

The issues

Corey Ortega, Luis Tejada and Lena Melendez did not respond to our questions. Raymond Sanchez Jr. responded to our separate questionnaire but not answer these questions, and we were unable to reach Miguel Estrella, Keith L. Harris and Carmen R. Quinones.

Here's each question we asked, with excerpts of each candidates' response:

1. Many in Harlem are worried about gentrification and the displacement of longtime residents. What is one specific policy you would push for to slow gentrification?

Dan Cohen touted his 20 years of experience in the nonprofit housing field and said he would push for greater enforcement of existing tenant protections, plus the creation of 1,000 new affordable housing units in District 7 by building on city-owned sites.

Marti Allen-Cummings said pledged to "take on" Columbia University and the real-estate industry, calling them the two biggest threats to neighborhood affordability. They promised to oppose supertall and luxury buildings, rezone Morningside Heights and push to revise zoning laws to force developers to include more community input.

Stacy Lynch also voiced support for the Morningside Heights rezoning and said her top priority was to revise the area median income to remove communities outside New York City from the calculus, thereby lowering costs.

Maria Ordoñez pledged to fight for "truly affordable housing" and remove incentives for developers to "over-develop, upzone and gentrify" neighborhoods, but did not mention specific policy proposals.

Shaun Abreu supports more financial assistance for tenants affected by the pandemic, and has pledged to push ane expansion of the city's right to counsel law to prevent evictions.

2. A developer is seeking to build a 17-story building on 142nd Street that would include 20 affordable apartments, but which some neighbors criticized for its size and the proposed rezoning. As Council Member, would you support this project, oppose it, or push to change it?

All candidates said they oppose the project as currently proposed.

Allen-Cummings said they oppose it because the project's demolition of existing rent-stabilized apartments would result in a relatively small net gain in affordable units. Abreu said he would vote against it on the Council because it has too many studio apartments and is not affordable enough.

Cohen noted that the rowhouses slated for demolition were "expressly called out by Community Board 9 to be preserved," called the new building "greatly out of context" with its surroundings, and said he would push to change the project to be smaller. If no deal were reached, he would oppose it.

Lynch said she lives near the site and pledged to oppose it until there is "closer consultation and cooperation" with neighbors and an expansion in its number of affordable units.

Ordoñez likewise said there were not enough affordable units, and suggested that nearby residents would be indirectly displaced if the new development drove up rents in the neighborhood.

3. Many Harlemites have complained of dirty streets during the pandemic. How would you help clean up the sidewalks?

Ordoñez called for implementing a system of large containers holding more than 500 trash bags each — similar to a program piloted in Hell's Kitchen — rather than piling bags on sidewalks. She also wants to increase funding for the Department of Sanitation.

Lynch, who said she has volunteered on cleanups during the pandemic, would spend her office's discretionary funds on more pickup events. She also wants to help small businesses stay open by persuading the city to reduce fines, since she said those shops have an interest in maintaining clean sidewalks.

Allen-Cummings said trash pileups resulted from the city's cuts to "funding, services and personnel" in the district and said the city must restore funding. They added that their campaign has hosted more than 30 community clean-ups and would support youth employment opportunities that focus on cleanups, composting and recycling.

Cohen called for a "CompStat for trash," saying that the NYPD's data-driven crime-prevention system should inspire a similar approach with garbage, showing where trash complaints are rising so that the city can address them.

Abreu would use his office's budget to fund extra cleaning services through the Cleanup NYC initiative and add new litter baskets, and would push to expand the Sanitation Department's composting initiative. He would also partner with business owners to keep sidewalks clean, and suggested forming a new Business Improvement District.

Recent developments in the District 7 race included last week's cross-endorsement between Allen-Cummings, Lynch, Cohen, Ortega and Ordoñez, as well as Hillary Clinton's endorsement of Lynch on Monday.

In the coming days, Patch will publish individual profiles of each candidate including their full answers to these four questions, plus others.

Related coverage:

• 5 Harlem Council Candidates Endorse Each Other In Unusual Move
• Here's Where Central Harlem Candidates Stand On Your Issues
• Harlem City Council Races: What Issues Matter To You?