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Council to vote on board-approved housing lease despite letter from Randy Mastro, speaker says
Summary
The New York City Council prepared to vote on a board-approved resolution authorizing a land lease for a housing project. Council leadership called a recent letter from attorney Randy Mastro irrelevant and defended the council's record on housing amid broader criticism of proposed ballot changes that would shift land‑use power to the mayor.
The New York City Council said it will vote on a board‑approved resolution authorizing the lease of property for a housing project after the council speaker called a recent letter from Randy Mastro “irrelevant.”
The council speaker told colleagues and the public the board has taken no action to rescind its authorization and that the council will follow the statutory process to consider the resolution. “Randy Mastro's letter is indeed irrelevant,” the speaker said. The speaker also criticized the mayor and a top mayoral official for intervening, saying their actions were “alarming” and “shameful.”
Why this matters: The exchange surfaced a dispute between the council and outside legal input over whether the mayor or another official can block a project the council plans to approve. Council leadership framed the issue as part of a broader debate over development decision‑making, and tied it to proposed ballot measures that would change how land‑use decisions are made in the city.
Council leadership also tied the controversy to ongoing ballot proposals 2, 3 and 4, saying those proposals would “take away the public's voice and power of negotiation and give it to the mayor's office.” The speaker repeated the council's housing record, saying the council has “approved 93% of housing related land use application that have come to us.”
The council announced it will vote to approve the 1946 East Seventh Street rezoning as part of the same meeting. The rezoning, the speaker said, would facilitate development of a seven‑story mixed‑use building with 53 permanent income‑restricted one‑bedroom apartments for low‑income seniors and community facility space in Council Member Felder's district. The speaker added the council would modify the application by striking MIH option 2 and requiring MIH option 1.
In response to reporters' questions about whether the dispute could lead to litigation, council leadership said it could not predict legal outcomes. On whether the mayor or allies might still attempt to block the project, the speaker called that “perplexing and baffling” and said there were “no concrete answers” to questions about why outside counsel intervened after prior cooperation between the administration and the council.
Discussion versus action: The transcript records the council's stated intention to vote at this session and the speaker's defense of moving forward. The record in the transcript does not include the vote itself or a formal outcome. The council speaker repeatedly described the project as the product of years of work with partners and said the council planned to pass the legislation that day.
Other context: During the Q&A, council members raised member deference (the practice of deferring votes to the local member) and the speaker said the council does not follow blanket deference and that the body has acted on housing matters across districts. Council Member Marmarato was noted in the record as opposing the project, but specific motions, movers, seconders or a recorded vote are not included in the transcript.
