"if you're out there, continue to pray for me ..."
Grab a piece of pizza at the diner and read the latest edition, #85
photo by Ben Fractenberg
The Department of Buildings this week slapped a stop work order at a construction project at 39 West 35th St. in the Garment District.
Just a day before, I asked the mayor about this and one other building, which were one of a handful of sites mentioned in this investigative piece THE CITY published last month with Documented and The Guardian.
The question was about a development project on West 39th St. owned by Weihong Hu, a billionaire and donor to the Adams campaign who our reporting found hired two mayoral friends, John Sampson and Rev. Al Cockfield, III, to help speed along the process.
I asked the mayor about his relationship to Cockfield. His response:
Mayor Adams: All reverends are my friend. They pray for me. every time we do the off topics, they lay hands on me because they want me to maintain my composure of dealing with Katie and her questions. Reverend Cockfield, if you're out there, continue to pray for me because you see this is why your prayers work?
Listen, I didn't intercede at all with that. People call city government all the time to try to get through the bureaucracy. Everyone has to follow the rules. I made that over and over again clear. I trust DOB and I trust our other agencies to make sure they make the right decisions. That is the extent I know about it.
Then the mayor said:
There's no reason to investigate.
It seems like maybe there was a reason to investigate, because the city’s Department of Housing, Preservation, and Development referred this site to the DOB and, around 24 hours after we asked, the stop work order was issued.
HPD was involved because the developer was supposed to restore and maintain apartments there, but didn’t.
There is a lot more in our original piece, so I encourage you to read it!
🗞️More stories from THE CITY this week🗞️
📍After our reporting, state senators are calling for the state cannabis fund to be investigated
📍The number of unsheltered people in the city reaches highest number in more than a decade
📍Meet the urban planner railing against City of Yes
📍DA drops charges against students charged at CUNY protests
📍A wonderful profile on two friends organizing one of the longest-running Juneteenth celebrations in the city
📍Some people might sue to get congestion pricing going
🎧 I spoke with my colleague Jose Martinez about congestion pricing on FAQ.
And would you feel like a sucker if it happened to you?
📺WATCH📺
Sometimes when I’m anxious I’ll turn on the YouTube app on my TV (a free app even though I pay for many subscriptions) and watch long, shaky home videos of New York City in the 1990s. If you’re interested, you can watch too:
Thanks for reading!