43 AD Race: Patterson, Richardson Cross Campaign Trail Paths

Shirley Patterson and Diana Richardson – both candidates in the four-person special election race for the vacant 43rd Assembly seat – today, crossed campaign paths when both showed up at a rally against the 23-story high rise now going up at 626 Flatbush Avenue getting a large tax abatement through the state 421-a program.

Joining Democratic Party District Leader Patterson and Working Families Party candidate Richardson were about a half dozen grassroots activist organizations.

The 421-a program was enacted in the 1970s to spur development in the at-the-time cash-strapped New York City. It now is set to sunset in June, and many affordable housing advocates, including Patterson and Richardson believe it has outlived its usefulness and should be allowed to expire. They note that developers saved over $1 billion in subsides from the program already without significantly adding to the affordable housing stock.

The 626 Flatbush Avenue building has an 80/20 component meaning 254 of the apartment on the site are market rate and 51 or 20 percent of the units will go towards affordable units.

“I love this neighborhood, but I could never afford a unit in this new luxury development at 626 Flatbush. Skyrocketing rents and gentrification are pushing people like you and me out,” said Richardson. “Yet there are still greedy developers who want to build more and more like it. I’m fighting against 421a as an activist and a member of this community, and I’ll keep fighting as my neighborhood’s representative in Albany. I am also committed to never taking money from the billionaire developers who are destroying our neighborhoods and driving working families from their homes.”

Patterson said if elected she would either vote to get rid of the 421-a program or modify it.

“We must rewrite the terms of this tax abatement so that communities get at least 50% affordable housing and a further 30% low income housing. The 20% affordable housing of today’s 421a is not nearly enough. We need at least 80% set aside for the needs of our communities,” said Patterson. “And what’s more, the fine print must take into account the differences from neighborhood to neighborhood. The technical calculations, like area median income, can’t be allowed to marginalize our friends and neighbors – we need to make sure that fine print reads in favor of keeping our neighbors in our community. The future of affordable housing depends on us making our voices heard together.”

At the rally, Richardson said her campaign was going strong and pointed to her large string of endorsements including the powerful 1199 and DC 37 Local 372 unions. She also had several WFP officials with her at the rally, and seemed popular with several of the organizations involved including Make The Road By Walking .

Meanwhile, Patterson, who has been district leader for a number of years and has the backing of both Borough President Eric Adams and Sen. Jesse Hamilton continues to quietly develop her ground game. Several longtime community members appeared quietly behind her at the rally.

Also cozying up to Patterson at the rally was Alicia Boyd, the outspoken leader of the Movement To Protect The People organization, which has been having a protracted fight with Community Board 9, mainly over rezoning issues.

Boyd had backed candidate Geoffrey Davis when he ran successfully for the male district leader position, but said she is now leaning towards backing Patterson.

The district includes Crown Heights, Lefferts Gardens, East Flatbush and Wingate. The special election is May 5.