Tenants Jeer for New Housing Chair Espada
The first reviews are in for Pedro Espada, the Bronx Democratic renegade whose hardball negotiations with new majority leader Malcolm Smith won him the post of state Senate housing committee chair. They're not good:
It's "an unhappy development for tenants," said veteran housing advocate Michael McKee, in a statement this morning. "When he first came to Albany in 1993, Senator Espada was named the ranking Democrat on the Housing Committee. During his tenure in this role, he showed no interest in our issues and was not helpful or supportive."
McKee, who now serves as treasurer of Tenants Political Action Committee and has long been the leading voice on pro-tenant issues in Albany, suggests this wasn't exactly what tenants had in mind when they helped win the new Democratic majority that today elected Smith as the first Democratic Senate leader in 40 years:
"Over the past several election cycles we worked hard to elect a Democratic majority in the State Senate. We will rely on Malcolm Smith and the numerous pro-tenant Senators in the Democratic conference to assure that our legislative agenda moves forward regardless of who chairs the committee."
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