Without Mayor de Blasio’s engagement, veterans’ input falls on deaf ears
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Tel: 212-982-9699
press@iava.org
“Last week, veterans’ organizations of
all generations from across the city stood united on the steps of City
Hall to call on Mayor de Blasio to put forward real plans backed up by
real resources to support the city’s 200,000-plus veterans. New York’s
veterans fought for this city. Now, we need its mayor to fight for us.
But so far, we’ve heard nothing from Mayor de Blasio in response to our
unified call for his engagement on veterans’ issues. Unfortunately, this
is not much of a surprise since we’ve seen little from this mayor
during his 16 months in office.
“The mayor has not met with us once since
he’s been in office, nor has he met with his own advisory board. He’s
found time to meet with advocates for horse carriage drivers, the
Russian band Pussy Riot, and even voters in Iowa. But he hasn’t met a
single time with his own city’s veteran leaders. We call on him to take
the first step in correcting this oversight by attending tonight’s VAB
meeting.
“However, this isn’t about meetings. It’s
about action. And sadly, there’s been none of that either. The mayor
promised us a plan for veterans in 90 days. That was in November.
Veterans Commissioner Loree Sutton was appointed to great fanfare last
fall, but without resources, she’s nothing more than symbolic figure.
She can’t do it alone. And the VAB can’t do it alone. Without the active
input of the mayor, the advice of the the VAB and the broader veterans
community will fall on deaf ears.
“Our message to Mayor de Blasio is
simple: Lead the way. Show us you care. Show us that New York City wants
veterans here. Mr. Mayor, the ball’s in your court.”
City Council Committee on Veterans will be in attendance:
NYC Family Justice Center, Manhattan
80 Centre Street, 5th Floor
Tuesday, April 21
6:30 pm doors, 7:00 pm meeting
IAVA members wishing to attend should visit: https://my.iava.org/cov_event?id=a5PC0000000CbrRMAS
veterans
