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Q&A
Impact of security funding issues on NYCHA residents
0:11:38
·
93 sec
Council Member Banks discusses the recent fight to preserve $6.8 million for the security program and asks if the current situation is a 'slap in the face' to residents who advocated for this funding. Martinez agrees and elaborates on the broader implications.
- Martinez confirms that the situation is disrespectful to residents, especially seniors who advocated for security services
- He describes it as symptomatic of a long-standing pattern of neglect towards public housing communities
- Martinez highlights the disconnect between fighting for funds and ensuring those funds are used correctly
Chris Banks
0:11:38
Would you agree?
0:11:39
Last year, we had a a bit of fight to make sure that we preserved and protect the $6,800,000 for this particular security program and to really to to pay the these contracts or this contract.
0:11:55
Would you agree that this is a slap in the face to the residents of public housing who came out, especially the seniors who came out of the I'll call them the younger adults who came out and said, need the security apparatus.
0:12:09
This is lifeline for us.
0:12:12
Would you agree that this is a slap in the face, to all of those folks who, need this particular service and and thought that we were doing the right thing?
Manny Martinez
0:12:24
Yes.
0:12:26
But more than that, it signifies a conditioning that has happened in our communities.
0:12:30
Right?
0:12:31
So our wiser population, our elderly who we look up to, who are constantly used by NYCHA when it comes to the need for funding, but then excluded when it comes into the execution of their safety, security, and actual what is supposed to be happening through it.
0:12:47
It is a a symbol that this decades long tradition or or or habitual action that this agency as well as the city on a larger scale has taken for this particular community.
0:13:02
It's okay for us to fight for the funds, but it's not it's it's it's overlooked when it's time to make sure that those funds are used correctly.