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Press Releases


Public-Private Partnership Which Provides Free Access To An Attorney Has Won 72 Asylum Cases and 47 Children Have Obtained Lawful Permanent Residency

Speaker Mark-Viverito: “We’re living up to our highest ideals by protecting these children”

NEW YORK – New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and City Council Immigration Chair Carlos Menchaca announced today that to date the New York City Council’s unaccompanied minors initiative has won 60 asylum cases and 41children have obtained lawful permanent residency.

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BROOKLYN, NY – Today, Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Finance Chair Julissa Ferreras-Copeland, Majority Leader Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, Council Member Laurie Cumbo, the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) and over 20 of the city’s renowned cultural institutions today celebrated the New York City Council’s nearly $64 million in capital funding for the city’s finest and renowned cultural institutions, including $8 million for BAM.

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New York, NY – Today, Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and State Senator Adriano Espaillat released a letter calling on Walgreens CEO Stefano Pessina to preserve the only self-standing supermarket in East Harlem. The City Fresh Market on East 116th Street is the only supermarket that serves the area and is an affordable option for many residents. The letter stressed that many will be deeply impacted by the lack of food options if it’s forced to close their doors on August 1st.

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Today, the City Council will vote on legislation requiring the New York City Police Department to publish reports relating to use of force incidents and deployment of officers engaged in wrong-doing. The Council will also vote on legislation requiring lactation rooms in certain locations providing services to the public. Next, the Council will vote on updates to the New York City Energy Conservation Code.

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BRONX – Today, Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Council Member Rafael Salamanca Jr, and the New York Restoration Project announced $2 million in capital funding for the East 132nd Street Pier. The funding will support the stabilization of the vacant, derelict site and create the first publicly accessible waterfront site in the Bronx south of East 149th Street. The pier would be the first capital project implemented by NYRP as part of the Haven Project, a transformative open space plan developed collaboratively with the South Bronx community that aims to improve health and well-being at the neighborhood scale.

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“I applaud the Rent Guidelines Board for voting to approve a much needed rent freeze on one-year rent stabilized leases. New York City is in the midst of a housing crisis and as we work together with our partners in government to create new affordable housing units, we must also ensure existing rent stabilized homes are protected from unreasonable rent hikes.

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Today, Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Finance Committee Chair Julissa-Ferreras-Copeland, and Youth Services Committee Chair Mathieu Eugene visited Wings Academy in the Bronx to meet with young people who will be participating in New York City’s Summer Youth Employment Program.

The Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) gives teenagers and young adults between the ages of 14 and 24 a chance to enter the workforce and start their careers.

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Monitors Will Observe Elections for Issues or Irregularities

CITY HALL – At the direction of Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, the New York City Council will deploy approximately 20 staff members to several poll sites throughout New York City for Tuesday’s Primary Elections to conduct field oversight activities. The decision to have staff conduct such field oversight comes after numerous issues arose during the Presidential Primary Election in April, including reports of voters unknowingly being removed from voter rolls, poll sites opening late, and malfunctioning voting machines.

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