Following budget fight, Johnson cuts funds for advocacy organization
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson slashed funding for an activist organization after the group camped outside City Hall to protest the annual budget he negotiated with Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Following weeks of demonstrations calling for a reduction in NYPD spending — part of a national reckoning over police brutality — VOCAL-NY learned it lost out on $2.25 million the Council had previously allocated to help the group buy a permanent headquarters in Brooklyn.
The Council earmarked the money in last year’s capital budget, but when a property deal fell through, the group, which advocates for criminal justice and housing reforms, remained in its current space. Earlier this year, it found a nearby site and was preparing to use Council funds to finalize that deal until it learned Johnson had nixed the expense.
“Without this money, without a new funding source, we cannot buy this building,” Jeremy Saunders, co-executive director of the organization, said in a recent interview.
VOCAL-NY recently signed a 15-year lease and, upon completing a planned $1.5 million renovation of the new site, was anticipating buying the property so it could have a permanent home, Saunders said.
“We are yet again at the whims of the market and gentrification,” he added. The Council funding would have spared the group at least $5,000 a month in expenses, he said.
Saunders is convinced Johnson yanked the money as retribution for his organization’s role in attacking the budget — a tense set of demonstrations that included a march to Johnson’s boyfriend’s Williamsburg apartment, which protesters then vandalized. VOCAL-NY did not organize that march, but some of its members and staff participated.
Johnson’s office adamantly disputed any charge of retaliation.
“Unfortunately, the project from last year that they applied for and received discretionary funding for fell through. This year, the Council received well over $1 billion in capital requests and we were unable to fund a large portion of them,” Johnson spokesperson Jennifer Fermino said. “That forced us to make difficult choices, and we were unable to fund VOCAL’s new project. We look forward to working with them in the future.”
Saunders said he complained to the speaker directly.
“I directly reached out to [Johnson] and said, ‘Hey you took our money. That’s not good. This is a sad outcome.’ … Finally his response to me was just a non-response. It was just, ‘Go ask the [local] Council member,’” Saunders said. That member, Brooklyn Democrat Steve Levin, who sponsored the allocation, declined to comment on the budget change.
“We’re already fighting against the NYPD having total immunity from murder and abuse of Black and brown New Yorkers. Can we also allow total immunity from one of the most powerful politicians in New York City to — when he gets angry at a whim — take away millions of dollars from life-saving services?” Saunders said.
He said he became convinced the move was retaliatory after a Council budget official, Nathan Toth, confirmed Johnson’s role in the shift.
On May 29, Toth told two people at Hester Street, a nonprofit assisting VOCAL-NY with the property transaction, that the city had approved rolling over last year’s funds. Toth warned them not to spend the money until the Council adopted the budget, according to a copy of the emails shared with POLITICO.
On July 7, Toth confirmed the money was rescinded.
“I apologize for any confusion and the application was deemed eligible but that is only a part of the approval process,” he wrote. “This is why I was careful to let you know not to spend any funding prior to approval being final. The Council has the ultimate decision on all of its discretionary funding and in this case the Speaker’s office chose not to approve this request.”
Saunders said he has contacted a lawyer to inquire about whether he has grounds to pursue a legal case.
The budget, which was put together amid the Covid-19 pandemic, a fiscal crisis and mass protests, placed Johnson, who is considering a run for mayor, into an an unenviable position. While left-leaning politicians and advocates demanded more substantial NYPD budget cuts, a majority of Council members, including many in the Black, Latino & Asian Caucus, were opposed to more substantial reductions in police spending.