All this fresh air around the race for City Council Speaker seems to be causing a bit of discomfort around — gasp! — policy issues.
Housing Here and Now, a coalition of tenants’ groups, just announced that two of the Speaker candidates with (relatively) pro-landlord records, Leroy Comrie and Melinda Katz, pulled out of their forum tonight.
“While it’s great that the leading candidates for speaker will be there, it’s too bad that the other candidates chose to withdraw their support and I’m sure tenants will want to know why,” Housing Here and Now spokesman Jonathan Rosen told The Politicker, adding that he hopes all the candidates participate.
Candidates are expected to be grilled on their stance on several bills, including one that would extend “421a” affordable housing to new neighborhoods. And one imagines that it would be no fun to tell the room of 1,000 tenants things they don’t want to hear.
