‘Poor’ Rivera
CARLINA Rivera — the leading candidate to replace her former boss, term-limited City Councilwoman Rosie Mendez — lives in federally subsidized Section 8 housing reserved for the poor. Rivera (inset) is married to
James Rogers, a Cornell Law School graduate who once worked at the white-shoe firm of Sullivan & Cromwell.
The couple, who wed in 2015, live in the building on Stanton Street where Rivera grew up, and they qualified for Section 8 even though the income limit for a family of two is only $61,050.
Since Rivera’s salary as Mendez’s legislative director — until she left in February — was $41,770, that means Rogers, the unpaid chairman of Community Board 3, earns less than $20,000 a year. Rogers is coowner of Pushcart Coffee on Second Avenue and a partner in Citizens of Chelsea, a cafe on West 25th Street. A third business he founded, Bustler Coffee, went bust. A Democratic supporter said, “He’s a small businessman who is barely breaking even.” Matt Rey of Red Horse Strategies, the firm handling Rivera’s campaign, told me, “They went through a rigorous process to qualify for Section 8. All of their income was verified.”
If Rivera wins the council seat and its $148,500 salary, she and Rogers will no longer qualify for the subsidy. Rey said they will move so that some other deserving family can have their apartment.
“I am proud of the business risks my husband took,” Rivera said.