After appointing three new members, Mayor Bill de Blasio now has full control over the city’s Rent Guidelines Board.
Among the new members is Forest City Ratner vice president Scott Walsh. Helen Schaub, an 1199 SEIU labor organizer, and Brooklyn Law School professor Sabeel Rahman are the other two appointees, the newspaper reported.
The board is responsible for deciding rent increases for the roughly one million apartments that fall under the city’s rent stabilization program. FCR’s founder and chairman Bruce Ratner is a known supporter of de Blasio.
The three new appointees fill the seats of three holdover members from the Bloomberg administration, according to the New York Observer.
Walsh isn’t the only one on the board representing landlords’ interests. Hudson Companies’ Sarah Williams Ward, also appointed by de Blasio, also sits on the nine-member board. Politicians and tenant advocates have been rallying to freeze or lower the monthly cost for rent stabilized units. [NYO] – Claire Moses