Photo Courtesy of Councilman Ulrich’s Office
Councilman Ulrich led the rally on Monday in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn.
By Michael V. Cusenza
City Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) led a rally Monday night in front of Department of Homeless Services Commissioner Steven Banks’ Brooklyn residence, calling for the de Blasio administration official to resign his post because the Big Apple’s homelessness crisis has only mushroomed and metastasized on Banks’ three-year watch.
“Steven Banks is the worst DHS commissioner in New York City history. Tonight, more than 60,000 men, women and children will be sleeping in a City shelter—and thousands more on the streets and subways,” Ulrich said. “Creating new shelters has done nothing to address the homeless epidemic. We need real permanent housing programs for the people who need it most.”
The councilman was joined on Monday night in Windsor Terrace by dozens of civic leaders and frustrated residents of all five boroughs, toting signs and chanting “Banks must go,” “solutions not shelters,” and “audit DHS.”
Ulrich has been a loud and frequent critic of many of the mayor’s moves and policies, including most, if not all of de Blasio’s attempts at putting a dent in the homelessness crisis. Last month, Ulrich noted how Hizzoner and DHS announced plans to bring a large-scale homeless shelter to Rockaway Park. Weeks later, DHS and the mayor opened a 113-bed adult male shelter on 101st Avenue, in the heart of Ozone Park. And just last year, community residents found out the City was secretly operating a shelter out of two hotels on Redding Street in Ozone Park.
“The administration has not been forthcoming, has not been transparent, has not been honest, and has refused to negotiate in good faith with communities where they want to open new shelters,” Ulrich said. “My district is one of many communities targeted by the administration. But today’s protest is about so much more than any one community. Commissioner Banks and Mayor de Blasio have continued to fail communities across all five boroughs and enough is enough.”
Ulrich’s tough talk on Monday landed him at odds with more than just members of the de Blasio administration. In an appearance on CBS News, the councilman fumed, “Steve Banks and his pals in the nonprofits that are making millions of dollars off the misery and suffering of people who have fallen on hard times. They are a bunch of poverty pimps in this city, and the mayor is perfectly fine with that.”
On Monday night, de Blasio appeared on “Inside City Hall” on Spectrum News NY1. Host Errol Louis asked the mayor about Ulrich and his use of “poverty pimps.”
“He should be ashamed of himself for saying that,” the mayor said of Ulrich. “It is a very nasty, divisive phrase that denigrates the work of organizations that are trying to help people. I mean, one of the leading providers of shelter is Catholic Charities. Is he accusing them with that phrase?… [T]he organizations that do that work are doing something really wonderful…So, no, we’ve got to be respectful of them and respectful of the people trying to help them.”
