Mayor Mamdani appeared at the inaugural Bronx Economic Development Summit last week to deliver the keynote address, pledging that his City Hall would “leave neglect behind and lead instead with action and investment” in the Bronx. The two-day event, convened by the nonprofit Our Bronx and the Bronx Economic Development Corporation (BXEDC), drew hundreds of attendees including Borough President Vanessa Gibson, Council Member Pierina Sanchez, Deputy Mayor Julie Su, and Cea Weaver of the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants.
Mamdani opened his remarks by invoking South Bronx-born photographer Mel Rosenthal, who documented “block after block of blight” in his neighborhood during the 1970s and ’80s. The mayor described federal policy that treated the borough with “benign neglect.” City Hall, he said, pursued what he called “planned shrinkage,” withdrawing critical services. Landlords burned their own buildings during what he called the “arson for profit” era rather than repair them. Rosenthal’s photographs, the mayor said, captured communities that fought for justice then and in the decades since. “It is high time that City Hall matches these efforts,” Mamdani told the room.
Organizers convened the summit to build what they describe as the Bronx’s first-ever Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy, now in federally supported draft form. The summit is part of Mamdani’s broader housing and investment agenda across the five boroughs, including public engagement his administration launched last month for 100 percent affordable housing in Bed-Stuy and the $124.7 billion city budget Bushwick Daily covered in May.
On housing, Mamdani pointed to his Block By Block plan, which he said aims to create 200,000 new affordable homes and preserve an equal number of existing homes over 10 years while spurring job creation, according to Bronx Times coverage of the summit. He also expressed support for the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, which would give tenants a mechanism to acquire buildings landlords have allowed to deteriorate, and for a separate program he described as allowing renters to build equity tied to the appreciated value of their homes.
Mamdani highlighted two Bronx projects. A city-owned grocery store, which Mamdani said is expected to open next year in Hunts Point at the site of the former Spofford Juvenile Detention Facility, would provide an affordable food source for that neighborhood. He called the ongoing redevelopment of the Kingsbridge Armory, which Our Bronx holds partial ownership of, “a model for how to keep the people of the Bronx in the driver’s seat.” “City Hall is delivering on our belief that government can drive the change that improves New Yorkers’ lives, and we can do so while ensuring that New Yorkers themselves are the ones leading the way,” Mamdani said.
In introducing the mayor, Sandra Lobo, executive director of Our Bronx, said any economic strategy for the Bronx will only be effective with genuine government partners. She cited what she called “real alignment and synergy” between City Hall and the nonprofit sector on childcare, tenant protections, and support for street vendors and small businesses. “Family stability is economic development,” Lobo said.
Mamdani closed by quoting Rosenthal on the people he photographed: “I take their picture and give them back their image.” “That is our commitment to the Bronx: to restore this borough’s image, and to do so by reflecting back to the dignity, strength, resilience and creativity of all those who call the Bronx home today and have been calling the Bronx home for decades,” Mamdani said. He left to a room chanting “Let’s go Knicks!” the night after the team’s Game 2 win in the NBA Finals.
Featured image: Marc A. Hermann / Metropolitan Transportation Authority / CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
