DeB given e-warning of people’s Rev-olt
City Hall was warned of grassroots complaints last year that Mayor de Blasio was spending too much time hobnobbing with the Rev. Al Sharpton and ignoring the “little people,” internal emails obtained by The Post reveal.
Kirsten Foy, a former top aide in de Blasio’s Public Advocate’s Office and now Brooklyn rep to Sharpton’s National Action Network, flagged for City Hall as “must read” complaints that Crown Heights activist James Caldwell made in a community paper.
“FYI Caldwell’s comments are reflective of increased murmurings,” Foy cautioned in an email last summer to City Hall Director of Intergovernmental Relations Emma Wolfe, former Sharpton and thenCity Hall aide Rachel Noerdlinger and others.
“We are not yet at a critical mass of detractors, but there is a slow steady erosion of progressive euphoria,” added Foy.
Caldwell, president of the 77th Precinct Community Council, had been quoted in the Our Time newspaper chiding City Hall and 1 Police Plaza for ignoring his community’s needs.
“With de Blasio, the rookie mayor is coming out. He’s not touching the little people in the community. He feels since he’s friends with Al Sharpton and the big wheels of David Dinkins that they don’t have to reach out to us,” Caldwell was quoted as saying in a July 5 story. “The de Blasio administration would rather just deal with the namebrand clergy.”
Reached by phone Friday, Caldwell stood by his comments and asserted that nothing had changed over the past year.
“They’ve been out of touch with us, with the local community — and they are still,” the 64yearold Army veteran told The Post. “If we don’t take action ourselves, we certainly won’t get any help from City Hall. It just ain’t going to happen.”
Caldwell said he’s been seeking more resources for jobs and other initiatives for black youth in the neighborhood.
De Blasio spokeswoman Karen Hinton responded, “The mayor understands how important it is to remain connected with people at the grassroots level directly in neighborhoods, and this administration prides itself on having a robust outreach and engagement strategy with communities across the city.”