The Real Estate Board of New York is wading into City Council races.
Jobs for New York, an independent expenditure committee backed by the real estate trade group, has raised $415,000 to launch ad campaigns in various City Council races. Its first target is Brooklyn Council member Alexa Avilés.
The super PAC has so far spent $45,000 on ads supporting Avilés’ challenger, Ling Ye, though the group is expected to ultimately pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into the race. A palm card supporting Ye, paid for by the PAC, declares that the candidate will “fight for the real changes we need,” including “safer subways and streets,” “respect for homeowners and renters — no to reckless development” and “real solutions for mental health and homelessness — not empty slogans.”
“New York needs to elect candidates who will provide thoughtful, practical, and effective solutions to address our city’s most critical issues like subway safety, affordability, and providing supportive services to those most in need,” a spokesperson for Jobs for New York said in a statement. “That requires backing New Yorkers more in touch with the needs of all their neighbors.”
Extell Development, RXR, Rudin Management Company, TF Cornerstone and Rockrose Development each contributed $45,000 to the PAC. Real estate donors in New York tend to favor more moderate candidates who emphasize public safety and won’t kill their projects through the city’s land use review process.
Avilés, whose district includes Red Hook and parts of Park Slope, Sunset Park, Borough Park, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst and Bath Beach, is part of the Council’s Progressive Caucus and is endorsed by the city chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.
She has voted against the city’s budget the last three years, in part because of the size of the NYPD’s budget.
She criticized “policies that enrich developers” while speaking to BKReader, while Ye told the publication that developers need incentives to build affordable housing.
Ye previously worked for U.S. Reps. Nydia Velazquez (who has endorsed Avilés) and Dan Goldman, as well as Council member Carlos Menchaca. On the social media platform X, Ye posts pictures of garbage-strewn subway stations and people asleep on subway seats.
Since coming into office in 2022, Avilés has clashed with the real estate industry a number of times.
The Council member was a driving force behind an effort to require special permits for last-mile facilities. She and community groups filed an application seeking to impose the requirement in 2022. That effort did not move forward, but the Adams administration is now pursuing a text amendment that would require special permits for last-mile facilities 50,000 square feet or larger. REBNY opposes the proposal.
Avilés has a list of land use principles that guide her approval of rezonings: Housing projects on city-owned land must be 100 percent affordable; other projects that are 100 percent affordable or that include more affordable units than required by the city’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program are given priority.
She was also among the City Council members who stormed the stage at a Rent Guidelines Board meeting in 2023 to protest proposed rent increases on stabilized apartments.
The PAC is expected to home in on other City Council races. Meanwhile, in the mayor’s race, real estate executives have poured more than $2 million into a PAC tied to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s campaign.
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