New York City mayor Bill de Blasio held his first ever full- pledge town meeting in 20 months.
According to wnyc.org, Mayor Blasio's main concern in his town meeting was the housing crisis being experienced in other parts of the city.
Mayor de Blasio has answered questions from his audience of 250 people where he address some specific concerns and other bigger problems which several agency heads present in the meeting will help him with.
Not all are happy with his proposed resolution of resolving the housing crisis in the city. Mayor de Blasio proposed to build both affordable housing units and market rate housing. One of the tenant activist named Jane expressed her angst she said that this move might only increase the gentrification in Washington Heights.
She also added "We all know there are stores that are closed, bigger things are coming soon."
Though the mayor is all ears with Jane's concern, he stays firm on his decision that market rate housing should still be provided for the sake of their city's economy and for his plan to be carried out successfully. Mayor de Blasio said "I could do affordable housing only, but I'd be doing a lot less."
In a report by washingtontimes.com, the two- hour town hall meeting was more of a friendly discussion for their efforts of improving Mayor de Blasio's image of being criticized for not regularly holding a town hall meeting.
As the town hall meeting's focus is to talk about the city's housing crisis, de Blasio said "The people demand affordable housing. It is now required in this city, and that is going to change things for the long run. You have the full weight of City Hall behind you."
Since the start of his term, de Blasio has made affordable housing as the focus of his leadership. He has also outlined the steps for his goal of "preserving 200,000 units of affordable housing within the decade" as part of his efforts and fight against income inequality.
Before concluding his first ever town hall meeting, de Blasio said that he will be holding meeting more frequently for the succeeding months.
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