Latest news with #BradHoylman-Sigal
New York Post
8 hours ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Albany just can't stop itself from messing with your kitchen
As New Yorkers worry about crime and sky-high living costs, Albany is moving to stop a different threat: supposedly poisonous pans. State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal's bill to end the sale of nonstick cookware has cleared the Senate and is zooming to an Assembly vote — because the progressives who dominate the Legislature just love banning things, especially on trendy (though psuedoscientific) health grounds. Internet buzz about 'forever chemicals' in these pans has it that PFAS (polyfluoroalkyl substances) cause cancer, though the FDA has long maintained the pans are perfectly safe; the same coating is found in commonly-used electronics and even in pacemakers. Advertisement Of course, this follows Gov. Kathy Hochul's push to ban gas stoves — and any gas hookups for new homes. For all their talk of keeping government out of the bedroom, Democrats sure seem eager to mess with your kitchen.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal combined units to create his Manhattan co-op
State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal has long spoken out about the need for more units to address New York City's affordable housing crisis — but has consolidated multiple homes in a pricey co-op to create a multi-million dollar apartment for himself. Between 2006 and 2016, Hoylman-Sigal and his husband combined three Greenwich Village apartments to form their 2,000-square-foot pad. There is no market value listed for the apartment, though with three bedrooms and three baths, the sale price would likely be in the millions. Hoylman-Sigal is an advocate for tenants' rights, slamming rent increases for rent-stabilized tenants and speaking out about the city's low vacancy rate. He is currently running for Manhattan borough president against Keith Powers, a current city councilmember. On a 2019 podcast, Hoylman-Sigal, who represents much of the west side of Manhattan, talked to host Jason Haber, a real estate entrepreneur, about the city's affordable housing problem. Haber said that consolidating units chips away at the city's housing stock and brought up an example of a wealthy New Yorker who combined nine apartments to form a single huge luxury home. Hoylman-Sigal agreed, explaining it makes financial sense for ultra-wealthy Manhattanites to buy multiple occupied units and merge them into mansions. He lamented this practice would force more rent-stabilized tenants out of their homes. 'On my block alone, on 10th Street, there's a software entrepreneur who's combining not one, not two, but three townhouses,' Hoylman-Sigal said, in an apparent reference to Sean Parker, a Facebook co-founder. 'It may be one of the largest townhouses in the Village by the time he's through with it. And I can't imagine to think how many families were pushed out of that residence over the years when he assembled this massive property. So it's a sad reality.' Parker's combination of the three mansions made headlines in 2016, although it does not appear he pushed any tenants out with his purchases. Hoylman-Sigal told the Daily News this week he had been referring to so-called 'Frankensteining,' or loopholes in rent stabilization laws that allowed landlords to combine or change apartments in order to hike rents up or push tenants out. That loophole was closed at the end of 2023 with the passage of legislation in Albany. Caroline Crowell, Hoylman-Sigal's campaign manager, cited his record on housing. 'In 2024, he helped secure more than 500 additional units of supportive and affordable housing in his senate district — in that same period, his opponent secured a paltry nine units in his council district,' Crowell said. 'The idea that the apartment he and his husband own in the Village has anything to do with Brad's record on increasing affordable housing is an absurd political hit.' The state senator also said he does not currently reside in the apartment, as he moved last year due to redistricting that shifted the bounds of the 47th District, which he represents.
New York Post
20-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Manhattan borough prez candidate tied to rodent-infested Maryland complex with over 1,600 violations – while being a tenant advocate
The family of a Manhattan borough president candidate owns a Maryland housing complex that has racked up 1,600 violations for rodent infestations, mold and other disturbing issues, records show. Democrat Brad Hoylman-Sigal, an advocate for tenants rights endorsed by the Tenants political action committee, is tied by marriage to the 457-unit Windsor Court and Tower Apartments in Silver Spring, Maryland — whose management firm has filed hundreds of 'failure to pay' eviction notices. Hoylman-Sigal, who is now serving in the state Senate, is facing East Side Councilman Keith Powers in a Democratic Party primary for borough president after opposing rent hikes and evictions. 4 Holyman-Sigal is currently going up against East Side Councilman Keith Powers in the Democratic Party primary for Manhattan borough president. Hans Pennink 4 State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, an advocate for tenants' rights who is running for Manhattan borough president and has family ownership in a Maryland housing complex was slapped with hundreds of housing code violations. Google Maps The candidate's husband, David Sigal, has an ownership stake in three apartment complexes in Maryland and Virginia, including the troubled Windsor Court which has continually been cited by the Maryland of Department of Housing — with 246 violations in 2022 alone, according to the candidate's financial disclosures and a Post review of public records. The figures include 202 entries for rat, mice rats bedbugs infestation, 67 for roach infestation and 128 for mold, records show. Tenants have complained on Yelp about conditions 'The place is INFESTED with roaches and rats. It's worse than some parts of NY,' one tenant wrote in 2021. 4 Tenants complained about public safety issues, including the presence of 'vagrants' and 'thieves' in 2023 and 2024. Google Maps 'mice have been jumping all over our furniture and on my NEW BORN BABIES belongings. DISGUSTING!!! my daughter has been getting rashes and to find out that the mice crawls where i nap her is frustrating,' one resident wrote in 2023. One reviewer in 2022 even joked that, 'Arguably, the rodent population are residents at Windsor apartments.' Tenants complained about public safety issues, including the presence of 'vagrants' and 'thieves' in 2023 and 2024. Lawyers for the manager of the properties also filed 700 'failure to pay notices' against tenants of Windsor Court over the past decade in Rockville, Maryland District Court — including 262 n 2024, 160 in 2023, and 113 in 2022. There have been 89 noticed filed in 2025 so far, records show. David Sigal was listed as having a 25% ownership interest in the Windsor Court complex, according to the senator's 2024 financial statement filed with state Commision on Ethics and Lobbying in Government. But Hoylman-Sigal said that was an error. It was actually a 2.5% ownership in the apartment complex, as it had been listed in prior years. 4 A spokesperson for the candidate insisted he's no slumlord. Getty Images The filing included a 1.5% ownership in the Beacon Hill apartment complex in Alexandria, Virginia and a 1.97% ownership in an apartment building in Falls Church, Virginia. Hoylman-Sigal reported income between $30,000 and $110,000 from the properties in 2023. One veteran Big Apple tenant leader rapped Hoylman-Sigal, saying he should practice what he preaches. 'If you want my 2.5 cents as a longtime tenant leader, community advocate, and dedicated community liaison, I don't think anyone who's profiting from being a slumlord should be able to run for office where housing is the top issue facing middle and low income residents,' said Alicia Barksdale, a 3333 Broadway Tenants Association Leader. A spokesperson for the candidate insisted he's no slumlord. 'Brad's husband has a passive, 2.5% ownership interest in a housing development in Maryland over which he has no involvement or control,' a campaign spokesperson said. 'Due to a typographical error, the ownership interest was listed as 25% on Brad's public financial disclosure that will be corrected. 'Brad has never wavered on his conviction that tenants' rights are important and must be protected — whether they're in New York or Maryland,' the spokesperson went on. 'He has proven that in the Senate, where he has championed the cause of tenant protection and affordable housing. And he will continue to do so as borough president.'
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lawmaker pushes ban on sightseeing helicopter tours after family dies in crash
A New York senator has pushed for a ban on sightseeing helicopter tours around New York City, following the tragic crash that killed six people. Democrat Brad Hoylman-Sigal has called for a ban on the 'nuisance' aircraft previously, arguing that chopper crashes could be catastrophic in densely populated areas like Manhattan. His most recent plea comes after a tourist helicopter crashed into the Hudson River on Thursday afternoon, killing a family of five and the pilot. The victims were later identified as Siemens executive Agustin Escobar, his wife, Mercè Camprubí Montal — a global commercialization manager at Siemens Energy — and their children aged 4, 5, and 11. The pilot has yet to be named. The aircraft reportedly broke apart midair on a trip around Manhattan before plummeting into the waters below on Thursday afternoon. "We averted disaster possibly by just minutes,' Hoylman-Sigal told ABC. 'And that is the concern here. Which is if a helicopter gets in trouble in a densely populated area like Manhattan, the disaster could be far worse.' The senator has been trying to limit helicopter traffic over the city to first responders, news and necessary transport. He has also been trying to ban sightseeing helicopters. "There's no reason to allow tourists and tour flight operators to use our valuable precious airspace," he said. Following the tragedy on Thursday, 25 people have been killed in crashes involving sightseeing helicopters in New York City in the last 40 years. In 2018, five tourists drowned after their helicopter crashed into the East River, though the pilot survived. That crash was similar to one in 2011, in which three people were killed after their helicopter crashed into the East River. The pilot in that incident also survived. In 2009, nine people died after a sightseeing helicopter collided with a small plane in midair over the Hudson. Hoylman-Sigal told ABC that there is still insufficient safety regulation for the sightseeing helicopters. 'The danger is that FAA regulates airspace above 500 feet, so the city and state are prohibited from passing laws that make tourist choppers safer,' he said. In 2022 Hoylman-Sigal released a report titled 'The Nuisance of Tourist Choppers,' which found that an average of 165 helicopters fly over Manhattan each weekend, with a frequency of approximately one every nine minutes during peak hours. 'The nuisance of tourist choppers is one of the most important issues on the west side, so it's helpful to quantify the gravity of the situation – and it's infuriating to know that they are originating out of state,' he said in a statement at the time. 'These trips capitalize upon our city's world-renowned beauty but being based in New Jersey, offer no economic benefit to New York City or State. We need the Stop the Chop Act to finally put an end to these nuisances.'
The Independent
11-04-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Lawmaker pushes ban on sightseeing helicopter tours after family dies in crash
A New York senator has pushed for a ban on sightseeing helicopter tours around New York City, following the tragic crash that killed six people. Democrat Brad Hoylman-Sigal has called for a ban on the 'nuisance' aircraft previously, arguing that chopper crashes could be catastrophic in densely populated areas like Manhattan. His most recent plea comes after a tourist helicopter crashed into the Hudson River on Thursday afternoon, killing a family of five and the pilot. The victims were later identified as Siemens executive Agustin Escobar, his wife, Mercè Camprubí Montal — a global commercialization manager at Siemens Energy — and their children aged 4, 5, and 11. The pilot has yet to be named. The aircraft reportedly broke apart midair on a trip around Manhattan before plummeting into the waters below on Thursday afternoon. "We averted disaster possibly by just minutes,' Hoylman-Sigal told ABC. 'And that is the concern here. Which is if a helicopter gets in trouble in a densely populated area like Manhattan, the disaster could be far worse.' The senator has been trying to limit helicopter traffic over the city to first responders, news and necessary transport. He has also been trying to ban sightseeing helicopters. "There's no reason to allow tourists and tour flight operators to use our valuable precious airspace," he said. Following the tragedy on Thursday, 25 people have been killed in crashes involving sightseeing helicopters in New York City in the last 40 years. In 2018, five tourists drowned after their helicopter crashed into the East River, though the pilot survived. That crash was similar to one in 2011, in which three people were killed after their helicopter crashed into the East River. The pilot in that incident also survived. In 2009, nine people died after a sightseeing helicopter collided with a small plane in midair over the Hudson. Hoylman-Sigal told ABC that there is still insufficient safety regulation for the sightseeing helicopters. 'The danger is that FAA regulates airspace above 500 feet, so the city and state are prohibited from passing laws that make tourist choppers safer,' he said. In 2022 Hoylman-Sigal released a report titled 'The Nuisance of Tourist Choppers,' which found that an average of 165 helicopters fly over Manhattan each weekend, with a frequency of approximately one every nine minutes during peak hours. 'The nuisance of tourist choppers is one of the most important issues on the west side, so it's helpful to quantify the gravity of the situation – and it's infuriating to know that they are originating out of state,' he said in a statement at the time. 'These trips capitalize upon our city's world-renowned beauty but being based in New Jersey, offer no economic benefit to New York City or State. We need the Stop the Chop Act to finally put an end to these nuisances.'
