Courtesy Brad Hoylman

Soon after Thomas K. Duane announced he wouldn’t run for re-election, the state senator all but endorsed Community Board 2 Chair Brad Hoylman, who has worked with him on many East Village issues. Over a plate of eggs over-easy, Mr. Hoylman told The Local the senator’s is “a huge legacy to live up to,” and that he considers it a “solemn responsibility to do so.” He also got specific on how he’ll carry the torch should he win in November, talking tenants’ rights, transgender equality and the new ideas that are at the top of his to-do list.

What parts of the Duane legacy do you plan to carry forward?

Tom’s advocacy on tenant rights is something that I feel very strongly about. I have some background myself, in the area, not only working with Senator Duane over the years in that realm, but also as a former board member of Tenants & Neighbors, the tenants rights group. And I, as Community Board 2 chair, just launched an initiative where the board will now have a tenants clinic for the first time in cooperation with MFY Legal Services: tenants who meet income level requirements in the CB 2 area will be able to come to our tenants’ clinic and get free legal representation from MFY.  So that’s the kind of tenant outreach that I want to do, and continue to do to build on Tom’s legacy.

Any specifics on efforts you would make that affect the East Village?

Well I know that there are a number of bad landlords that I think the next state senator, working with the other representatives, need to keep tabs on and I’m going to pursue that. And, you know, trying to continue the efforts to expand historic preservation and sensible zoning is all part of the same project, I think. Of course the East Village historic district is coming up for a vote, so that’s a big thing.  I’ll continue to make certain that that is protected and strengthened.

I’m also continually concerned about N.Y.U.’s encroachment into the East Village. I’ve been a leader, battling them back in Greenwich Village. Generally speaking and particularly, your sponsor – this calls for a sponsor announcement, but putting that aside – N.Y.U. I think has a responsibility to the local community to pare back their current project and to work more closely with elected officials, community boards and local neighbors, on their plans. So, I want to be at the forefront of that effort.

Jefferson Siegel Mr. Hoylman helps lead a rally against the end
of M8 service in the East Village in 2010

So you’re for them scaling back their plan?

Yeah, absolutely. I led the community board in its unanimous resolution opposing it. And Senator Duane and Assemblymember Glick were extremely helpful in coalescing community opposition to the plan. We’ve achieved some cuts to the project but it hasn’t gone far enough.  So the next stage is the City Council hearing where they’re going to consider, hopefully, more proposals to scale the plan back, but as it stands now it’s not remotely palatable to the local community.

There are also a significant number of rent-stabilized tenants in the area and I’m very concerned about the impact about what the commercial up-zoning in the Washington Square area will do to those tenants as well as the two decades of construction that are predicted for the area should the plan succeed in its current form. Most of those tenants are in their golden years so to think of your retirement being a construction zone is a pretty depressing thought. So there’s a lot of work to be done in making certain that N.Y.U.’s plan is one that the community can live with.

Nightlife is certainly an issue you’ve had to deal with at C.B. 2. Any specifics on the state of affairs versus what you hope it would look like?

Absolutely. One of the things I’m proud of on my record on C.B. 2 is that we have led an initiative that has been supported by every Community Board in Manhattan to require the State Liquor Authority to make public the agreements – the stipulations, they’re called – between the community boards and restaurants and bars that are seeking licenses. That information is currently unavailable, believe it or not. So, if you’re a resident and a bar has its D.J. blaring until four in the morning, there’s no way that you can check to find out whether they are even operating legally. And what’s worse is that the local police precinct doesn’t have that information either. It’s not posted anywhere, it’s not on the Internet. You, in theory, have to file a Freedom of Information Act [request] to get it.

The East Village has such a vibrant legacy of being a neighborhood that has a hot nightlife, so is there a balance to be struck?

Well, yeah, actually, speaking of this issue of publicly posting stipulations, I think that it protects operators as well from unreasonable claims or charges by neighbors who for whatever reason might be unhappy. That kind of information is good for everyone on both sides of the equation. And, yeah, you want to strike the right balance.  Information, I think, is the key to making that happen.

Tom Duane is going to leave a lot of legacy of initiatives that he fought hard for. Anything that he didn’t do that you’re interested in?

The Gender Non-Discrimination Act which was one of Tom’s signature pieces of legislation, since the Republican majority has been in place, has been stalled. So I’d want to strategize with Tom and work with the new sponsor, Daniel Squadron, who’s just to the south, on really getting full equality for transgender folks. It’s amazing to think that if you’re transgender in New York State you can be fired from your job and have no recourse, and that’s the law of New York State. We have protections in New York City but people outside of the city do not. So it really is the last frontier for LGBT rights in New York State.

And what about anything proactive, or fresh? Any new initiatives that you feel like no one in Albany is trying?

I’m very interested in campaign finance reform. If there was a silver bullet to transform completely the culture in the legislature, I think it would be campaign finance reform; making sure that special interests don’t have the sway over the people’s interest. Whether it be the landlord lobby or other industries, we have to level the playing field. Campaign finance reform would help do that plus it would create a system of matching funds like we have in the city and I think it’s done wonders in terms of citizen participation; encouraging small donors. So that I think is an agenda item at the top of my list.

I’d like to see more support for infrastructure in our city. That’s kind of my background. I began my career in affordable housing development and the idea of an infrastructure bank, I think, is an interesting one, where you could leverage money from pension funds, public employee pension funds to create seed money for big projects. Whether its restoration of the Tappan Zee Bridge or extending the Second Avenue subway down to the Lower East Side, we need to think in creative terms under such tight budget circumstances, in order to make these big public works continue to improve the city, create jobs, and help move people.