GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bruce Blakeman slammed Mayor Zohran Mamdani as a Manhattan elitist who is failing the outer boroughs during a Sunday rally at the site of a planned Brooklyn homeless shelter
Blakeman, the Nassau County executive who is poised to take on Gov. Kathy Hochul in November, spoke to a crowd of about 50 supporters at the future site of a shelter on 86th Street in Bensonhurst, claiming kinship with Queens and Brooklyn and accusing the lefty mayor of being indifferent to their needs.
“We share a lot of the same kinds of neighborhoods,” the Long Islander said. “These are more suburban neighborhoods than urban neighborhoods. And people like the character. If they wanted a more urban environment, they can live in Manhattan.
“They want local control. They want transparency, and they’re not getting it from Zohran Mamdani or Kathy Hochul,” he added. “We’ve got to start letting the people in the outer boroughs’ voices be heard, and when I’m governor, their voices will be heard.”
Bensonhurst locals have been up in arms over the planned 150-bed homeless shelter at 86th Street and 25th Avenue for more than two years, claiming it will cause chaos in their peaceful neighborhood.
The facility is expected to open by the end of 2027.
Hundreds of protesters showed up at the site on March 30 in an attempt to halt construction, with as many as 100 NYPD officers called to the scene to try to quell the unrest.
At the same time, officials in the Mamdani administration maintained that they would not back down and are moving forward with the plan, which City Hall said is needed to serve the Big Apple’s homeless.
On Sunday, Blakeman and other critics of the plan made it clear they’re also standing their ground — and said there are other ways to deal with the city’s homeless crisis.
“The way to do that is to take a multifaceted approach, not just stick them somewhere, and put a homeless shelter in the middle of a beautiful community,” he said. “Some of them have substance issues. Let’s get them the treatment that they need. Some of them need job training.
“Let’s get them the training so they can get jobs and become productive members of our society,” Blakeman added. “They need medical treatment, because they have emotional issues. Let’s get them that help. We’re not anti homeless. We don’t want to hurt the homeless.”
State Assemblyman Lester Chang (R-Brooklyn) said Mamdani has other options.
“There are 9,000 available areas that can be occupied and renovated,” he said. “Seventeen billion dollars for neighborhood jails that nobody wants. We can take that $1 billion to fix up Rikers Island and the rest of the money can be for affordable housing and solve the city’s budget deficit.”
The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.
