NO WAY, YANG
Wiley chides rival on plan to save stim cash
Mayoral candidate Maya Wiley attacked rival Andrew Yang on Tuesday a day after he demanded the city sock away 70% of the federal stimulus money it’s getting to avoid long-term fiscal problems.
On Monday, Yang stood outside City Hall and called on Mayor de Blasio to hold off on spending the stimulus in one fell swoop, arguing that it would tarnish Hizzoner’s legacy if he didn’t leave some of the money for his successor.
Wiley, who worked as de Blasio’s legal counsel before her run, criticized that idea a day later during an appearance on “Good Day New York,” saying, “Unfortunately, Andrew Yang doesn’t understand how government works, or how we can utilize our resources of government in order to solve problems.”
“This is no time to say we’re going to starve the hungry, or ignore the homeless, or fail to recognize how the investment actually helps us bring jobs back,” she said.
Wiley argued that the money should not only go to assisting hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers now in dire need, but that it would also stimulate an ailing local economy.
“We’re in a pandemic crisis with a $5 billion budget deficit, with $6 billion in aid funds coming, and the aid was to deal with things like the fact that we have literally 600,000 people facing eviction. We have literally double the number of people
— over 2 million people — going hungry. Some of those people are working in jobs, but they can’t afford the rent,” she said. “So what we have to recognize when we look at things like street homelessness, we have to invest in the outreach and the housing that has support services in them in order to bring us back, in order to stimulate our economy.”
De Blasio pushed back against Yang’s statements Tuesday too, noting that the stimulus package cannot be spent all in one year under federal law.
“It’s structured to be released over time,” de Blasio said. “We need to use the resources we have now to really get New York City back on its feet. That recovery has to happen very strongly in 2021 to set up a better 2022 and 2023.”
Team Yang countered that the city can help people in need as well as save money at the same time.
“New Yorkers know that we can address homelessness and COVID recovery without leaving massive out-year deficits,” Yang spokesman Chris Coffey said. “We got $7 billion from the federal government. Let’s make sure not to leave future budgets with multibillion-dollar holes.”