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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Manuel Martinez, Resident Leader of South Jamaica Houses and Chair of the Queen South District
4:09:47
·
156 sec
Manuel Martinez, a resident leader from South Jamaica Houses, criticizes NYCHA's budget management and leadership, highlighting issues of non-compliance, mismanagement, and failure to enforce residents' economic rights. He argues that NYCHA's actions resemble those of a "third world dictatorship" rather than a housing authority.
- Martinez calls for the council to demand answers from HUD regarding NYCHA's compliance with Section 3 and other practices.
- He suggests that empty apartments are deliberately left vacant to justify conversions and attract private investors.
- Martinez emphasizes the potential for empty units to be used as training centers and job sites for residents, but claims these opportunities are being wasted.
Manuel Martinez
4:09:47
Good afternoon and thank you for this opportunity to testify.
4:09:50
My name is Manuel Martinez.
4:09:52
I'm the elected resident leader of South Jamaica Houses and the chair of the Queen South District.
4:09:57
Let me be clear.
4:09:58
NYCHA's budget crisis isn't just about dollars, it's about decisions, decisions made at the top because NYCHA's financial problems are the result of a leadership failure, a compliance failure, and a failure to tell the truth.
4:10:13
Instead of enforcing residents economic rights, jobs, training, contracts with section three business concerns, and compliance across all contractors, NYCHA blocks them.
4:10:23
Instead of investing in families, it rewards dysfunction, excuses mismanagement in terms of obstruction into strategy.
4:10:32
This isn't public service.
4:10:34
It's a shadow government, bloated, insulated, untouchable.
4:10:38
What we see doesn't resemble a housing authority.
4:10:42
It looks like the leadership of a third world dictatorship operating in plain sight.
4:10:47
And those empty apartments, they're not accidents.
4:10:50
They're assets used to justify conversions and lure private investors.
4:10:55
This isn't neglect.
4:10:56
It's planned deterioration, a twisted version of blockbusting where destruction is deliberate and every crumbling unit is another celebration for the other side.
4:11:06
But here's the truth, section three applies to both capital and operations yet NYCHA acts like operations don't count.
4:11:14
It ignores the very contracts that could open doors for residents and resident businesses, contracts that under federal law could award a combined total of up to a million dollars through special procurement if NYCHA chooses to if NYCHA chooses to do the right thing.
4:11:32
Those empty units, they could be transformed into training centers, job sites, launch pads for resident owned businesses.
4:11:39
Instead they're left to rot while opportunity decays alongside them.
4:11:45
May I have?
4:11:47
NYCHA says economic mobility is the mission, but when residents invoke it we're treated like threats.
4:11:53
Our rights delayed, our complaints dismissed, the system is rigged to keep us begging for access to the very dollars meant to serve us.
4:12:03
So I'm asking this council to demand answers.
4:12:06
Ask HUD, is NYCHA in compliance with section three?
4:12:09
Why are resident disputes buried in silence?
4:12:13
Why are deceitful practices still running this authority?
4:12:17
Support us, empower us, and bring the truth into light.
4:12:22
Thank you.