NYCHA in Your Neighborhood: Bronx Edition
On May 20 in the Bronx, the Classic Community Center in Melrose served as the setting for a new kind of conversation between NYCHA residents, NYCHA senior leaders, and City agency representatives for the first NYCHA in Your Neighborhood forum.
“Tonight is about you,” NYCHA CEO Lisa Bova-Hiatt said as she welcomed residents. “This is a new way for us to connect with you and bring our senior leaders and experts to you for face-to-face conversations and focus on the issues that matter most to you, so we can find solutions together.”
Instead of a traditional town hall with microphones and a single stage, the room was set up with discussion tables, each focused on a specific topic — from heat and public safety to pest and waste management and capital projects — giving residents the opportunity to sit down directly with NYCHA leadership for more personal, focused conversations.
One of those leaders was NYCHA’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) Eva Trimble, who hosted an “Ask the COO” discussion table. Before the event began, she told residents, “I hope you come with all of your questions tonight, and I hope you leave with many answers.”
Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning Leila Bozorg joined COO Trimble at her table and also spoke on behalf of Mayor Mamdani’s administration: “Our administration is truly committed to bringing you into the policy-making process with us; that is why we are here today – to hear directly about what is working, what’s not working, the things that need to change.”
In addition to the discussion sessions, residents were able to visit resource tables staffed by NYCHA departments and City agency partners, including the Department of Social Services, Department for the Aging, Department of Youth and Community Development, and Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Approximately 400 residents registered for the event, and many Bronx resident leaders were in attendance, including Citywide Council of Presidents (CCOP) Chair Daniel Barber, President of the Jackson Houses Resident Association.
NYCHA in Your Neighborhood builds on the Authority’s ongoing commitment to resident engagement; NYCHA regularly hears from residents through resident associations and the CCOP, as well as roundtables, property management offices, the Customer Contact Center, and MyNYCHA.
The next NYCHA in Your Neighborhood will be held in Brooklyn at the Van Dyke Community Center on June 3, which will be followed by a June 17 event in Manhattan at the Ethel Velez-Johnson Community Center. Future sessions will be held in Queens and Staten Island, as well as a second round of forums in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and the Bronx. NYCHA residents can register to attend here: NYCHA in Your Neighborhood.
