Andrew Friedman

Is Gifford Miller honest?

At the height of the democratic primary for Mayor this past summer, it was revealed that City Council Speaker Gifford Miller had received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from some of the City's worst landlords. We're talking about really bad people - landlords whose buildings have literally hundreds of uncorrected housing code violations that have been deemed "immediately hazardous" by the City's Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD).

The next day, Speaker Miller stood on the steps of City Hall and promised that he would use his power as Speaker to pass the Healthy Homes Act in 2005. The legislation will crackdown on negligent landlords and create more bottom-line accountability for HPD. The Speaker reiterated his commitment a few days later as tenants took him and the other Democratic nominees for Mayor on a tour of dangerous buildings in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx.

Since the election, though, the Speaker's commitment seems to have gone up in smoke. The Speaker has not even managed to secure a public hearing for the Healthy Homes Act. A full year has passed since the legislation was introduced, and tens of thousands of low-income tenants' lives stand in the balance.

Was Speaker Miller's just running for cover during a tough election, or did he mean what he said?

If so, time is running out for him to keep his promise.

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Posted at 7:24 AM, Oct 20, 2005 in Housing
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