On a day when the New York City reached over 100 degrees, Assemblywoman Latrice Walker (D-Brownsville) came to two NYCHA senior centers in Brownsville to tout the Brownsville plan and Mayor Bill de Blasio‘s accomplishments.
The first stop was the Rosetta Gaston Senior Center, 460 Dumont and part of the Carter G. Woodson Houses. The center also serves as a cooling center during the summer. Walker addressed a full house while the seniors dined on their $2 lunch meal which included fried chicken, potato salad, collard greens and chocolate milk.
The Assemblywoman said she makes weekly visits to the senior centers, but on tap for today’s agenda would be to inform senior residents about upcoming elections and to rally for certain elected officials. Walker promoted Public Advocate Leticia James as the first African American to hold the public advocate seat, while de Blasio garnered most of the praise for his Brownsville initiatives.
Last month, the mayor introduced the Brownsville Plan. The $150 million investment proposes to bring 2,500 new affordable homes to the community along with new cultural, recreational and educational facilities. The plan also strives to encourage small business owners and entrepreneurs to move into the area. Part of the program will include a healthy living and food system initiative, meant to attract food retailers by offering City financing to open businesses in the area.
But one Brownsville senior who receives $14 a month in food stamps said she is unlikely be able to afford shop at such stores.
“We know in so many circumstances our food stamps are just not good enough to help us get by,” said Walker. The Assemblywoman told constituents about her experience of “food pantry hopping” with her mother as a way to supplement the insufficient amount of food stamps allocated monthly.
However, Walker focused on more positive attributes, by noting the mayor has expanded the number of affordable housing in the city to 10,000 units with more than 20% of the housing slated to go in the Brownsville area.
“I was a tractor trailer driver and had to have a knee replacement,” said Carlos Gaskin,79, a Van Dyke resident who was able to secure affordable housing when he retired 10 years ago. “I couldn’t walk for a long time and that’s how I got this apartment.”
Gaskin is a Guatemalan immigrant who agrees with the mayor’s stance on immigration.
Walker also applauded the mayor’s efforts in early education by implementing initiatives such as the Universal Pre-K program. In addition, Brownsville was selected as the only region in Brooklyn to participate in the mayor’s 3-K for All pilot program that boasts free, full-day, high quality education to all 3-year-old children.
“Sometimes I call my mother, Gamma,” said Walker. “Like my mother, there are many grandmothers in the area that become mothers again because they are raising their grandchildren.”
Walker asked seniors to enroll the 3-year-old children in their lives into the program rather than subjecting the preschoolers to endless daytime television.
Walker also commended the mayor’s plan to build a cultural center on Rockaway Avenue as well as arts and recreational facilities, with sights on revitalizing Brownsville’s parks and public spaces.
“On September 12, I need you to go out and do what?” rallied Walker to a resounding, “Vote!”
