City Limits

The impending showdown is frustrating for Patricia Glover, a member of the Urban Justice Center’s Safety Net Activists, and a CityFHEPs voucher holder. She spent 18 months in shelter before moving into an apartment with her voucher in March 2022. “That could be so long and drawn out that people are going to fall by the wayside,” she said. 

StreetsBlog

“There are currently no specific vending laws or rules for bridges. The department should create some rather than enact a blanket ban on vending,” said Matthew Shapiro, the legal director of the Street Vendor Project, an organization within the Urban Justice Center."

Marketplace

"The Street Vendor Project’s director, Carina Gutierrez, estimated that there are currently at least 20,000 food and merchandise vendors operating in New York City, but only about 6,000 city permits available for them (5,100 of those are for mobile food vendors)...The city isn’t accepting any new applications, and the waiting list is closed."

Amsterdam News

Freedom Agenda co-founder Darren Mack, a member of the Campaign to Close Rikers, believes the jail complex cannot be reformed regardless of who takes over. “I hope that this mayor appoints a new commissioner who clearly understands that Rikers can’t be fixed,” he said.

The Star

Darren Mack, co-director of the advocacy group Freedom Agenda, described the boat as a “modern day slave ship” used by the department to warehouse detainees, mostly Black and Latino men, with minimal oversight. While noting the closure was long overdue, he added, “shifting people to the same hellish conditions on Rikers is not the answer.”

Yes!

“It wasn’t until I actually went back to Rikers as a volunteer for a restorative justice pilot project for adolescents that, for the first time, I saw a sign that said ‘Don’t drink the water,’” says Mack, co-founder and co-director of a grassroots decarceration organization called Freedom Agenda. Though visitors were advised to avoid drinking it, “people who are detained there are forced to drink the water,” he says. “That was a red flag.” 

Mott Haven Herald

As criminal justice advocate [and Freedom Agenda member] Marco Barrios noted, taxpayers in New York City spend more than $550,000 per year to incarcerate a single individual, while public housing and mental health services face budget cuts.

Post-Gazette

Darren Mack, co-director of the advocacy group Freedom Agenda, described the boat as a “modern day slave ship” used by the department to warehouse detainees, mostly Black and Latino men, with minimal oversight.

Law 360

An appellate partner at Susman Godfrey, Hatch-Miller raised about $7,000 through the training on behalf of Urban Justice Center, a nonprofit advocacy and legal services organization that focuses on developing social justice leaders.