Queens U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) may be the media darling of Congress’ freshman class, but U.S. Rep. Max Rose (D-Southern Brooklyn, Staten Island) has hit the ground running with such a force of action that it is impossible to not take notice.
In the last few days alone, Rose went from a White House meeting with President Trump to successfully lobbying the New York Housing Authority so the Marlboro Houses in Gravesend could keep their beloved and well-liked manager, Samantha McMillan.
“I said during my swearing-in that if it mattered to my constituents, then it mattered to me—it doesn’t matter how big or small,” said Rose, a U.S. Army Ranger Captain and platoon leader who served in active combat duty in Afghanistan and earned a Ranger tab, the Combat Infantryman Badge, a Bronze Star, and a Purple Heart.
Rose took the lead along with Assemblyman William Colton (D-Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, Gravesend) and City Council Member Mark Treyger (D-Coney Island, Bensonhurst, Gravesend) in firing off a letter to NYCHA Interim Chair and CEO Stanley Brezenoff following a January 8 Marlboro Tenant Association meeting in which the planned reassignment of McMillan was announced.
The letter, written on Rose’s Congressional letterhead, said in part, “The residents are deeply anxious to hear of her [McMillen] impending departure, as are we. She has been a responsive, effective, and friendly manager who has built a deep reservoir of trust within the Marlboro Houses community. While we know Ms. McMillen would excel in any location, we believe the residents of Marlboro Houses deserve her continued leadership.”
Following this advocacy, the NYCHA reversed course and decided to keep McMillan at Marlboro Houses.
“When I first heard about the community’s fear over losing Ms. McMillian, I sprang into action. This is a great example of a city agency listening to the concerns of the community and moving swiftly to address them. I am grateful for the quick action to fix this issue by NYCHA and hope we will continue to see this level of responsiveness on other issues going forward,” said Rose.
“Marlboro residents deserve the comfort of having a reliable and familiar face like Ms. McMillan at their service, and I’m proud we were able to advocate successfully to give these stakeholders a voice in this process,” Treyger said. “I thank Congressman Rose and Assemblyman Colton for their partnership, and I am thankful NYCHA listened and acted quickly to meet the needs of this community.”
“The importance of government working together with their communities’ shows the perspective of great relationships that are established and maintained,” Colton said. “An exemplary example would be Ms. McMillen; who has been the manager assigned to Marlboro Houses. The tenants of Marlboro Houses voiced their concerns about the transfer of Ms. McMillen and requested that she continue her leadership at Marlboro. The elected officials working together with the community residents and agencies such as NYCHA successfully brought about a bond of trust and by focusing on our goals of people and working closely within our communities there is no limit to how far we can grow together.”
Rose’s meeting at the White House with Trump came as a member of the Problem Solvers Caucus. The Caucus is a bi-partisan group of roughly 48 Congressional House members – equally divided between Democrats and Republicans – who seek to create bi-partisan cooperation on key policy issues.
“I accepted the President’s invitation today because I’ll work with anyone to try and end this shutdown as quickly as possible. We must preserve our national security, uphold our values, and reopen the government immediately so we can get to work solving these problems,” said Rose.
