Taking a hike
Rent-freeze wrecker hops a flight to go chill
tegrity,” said de Blasio. The mayor said he was disappointed but not surprised the freeze fell through. “We knew it would be a close vote either way you slice it. But I was trying to make very clear what I thought was the right way to go,” he said.
It would have been the first rent freeze in the board’s 45-year history, and the modest hikes that passed were the lowest in the panel’s history. WHEN YOUR NAME is mud with a million tenants, it’s time to skip town.
The rogue Rent Guidelines Board member who killed the rent freeze — then got berated by furious renters — hopped a plane less than 24 hours after the vote, his wife said.
Steven Flax, a banker who was appointed by Mayor de Blasio but disregarded the mayor’s support for a rent freeze for stabilized tenants, was too upset to explain his vote, she said.
“He isn’t ready,” she said. “It was hard for him.”
She didn’t say where he was going, but Flax’s work voice mail says he will be out of town until July 2.
Flax, one of de Blasio’s six appointees to the nine-member board, broke ranks with four others Monday night by crafting a plan to allow 1% rent increases on one-year leases, and a 2.75% hike on two-year leases.
His plan passed 5-to-4, with backing from another mayoral appointee who represents landlords — prompting chants of “Steve is dead” from the crowd at Cooper Union.
De Blasio said on Tuesday he disagreed with his appointee’s vote — but refrained from bashing Flax.
“From everything I’ve heard of him, he’s a person of in-
Sources familiar with the intense, behind-the-scenes negotiations said Flax — whom they described as a genial guy with a penchant for progressive politics — was immediately pegged as a swing vote and besieged by both tenant and landlord advocates.
Flax was aware City Hall wanted a freeze, but seemed torn, according to a source.
The Brooklyn resident, who made an early $175 donation to de Blasio’s City Hall campaign more than two years ago, works at M&T Bank. He is in charge of community reinvestment.
Even before he got out of town, it was clear the negotiations had taken its toll on him.
“This moment is a nightmare,” he said before casting his decisive vote.