With Election Day fast approaching, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Tuesday a significant expansion of his affordable housing plan and kept sparring with Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Meanwhile, de Blasio's Republican rival, State Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, promised to boot the mayor from office, while wearing a big boot of her own on her newly-fractured foot. NY1 Political Reporter Grace Rauh filed the following report from the campaign trail.
Juliette Joseph won the city's affordable housing lottery, an opportunity to move into a brand new two-bedroom apartment that rents for $1,066 a month.
"How fortunate was I that I was, you know, chosen," she said at the mayor's press conference.
Just two weeks away from Election Day, de Blasio announced that he wants more New Yorkers like Joseph to have an affordable place to live.
"People in every kind of neighborhood are struggling to make ends-meet," de Blasio said.
The mayor said he is expanding his housing agenda by setting a new, more ambitious goal: By 2026, he says the city will build or preserve 300,000 affordable apartments. It's a big jump from his previous pledge to create or save 200,000 affordable homes over a decade.
Demand for affordable housing in the city is huge. At a development in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, for example, there were 110 apartments for low-income New Yorkers; 60,000 people applied for them.
Meanwhile, de Blasio is keeping his feud with Gov. Cuomo alive. The two are sparring over congested city streets —
"I would love to respond to his congestion pricing plan if it existed," de Blasio said.
Homeless people on the subway —
"I don't know why he would criticize the NYPD," the mayor said.
And a development project in East Harlem.
Reporter: Do you think your relationship with the governor is deteriorating?
De Blasio: No, it's pretty much consistent.
Refusing to let the mayor's remarks lie, the Cuomo-aligned chairman of the MTA fired back about homeless on the subways. Joe Lhota said the problem is not the police but the direction the mayor is giving them.
Meanwhile, the Republican nominee for mayor, Nicole Malliotakis, is now literally hobbling her way to Nov. 7; she fractured her foot and is wearing a walking boot.
"The good news is I am ready to give the boot to Mayor de Blasio," the Staten Island state assemblywoman said.