There is shock among social service advocates and frustration among those who track Latino representation at City corridor,following City corridor's announcement of the impending resignation of Deputy Mayor Lilliam Barrios-Paoli.
Those who work with the city's homeless said her departure leaves a enormous gap in the system. Mary Brosnahan, president and CEO at the Coalition for the Homeless, and described Barrios-Paoli as a,“quiet legend.”“She’s not self-promoting, but everyone knows she has unparalleled breadth and depth of experience across all social service areas, or ” said Brosnahan. She added,“It’s just a tremendous loss to see her leaving the de Blasio administration.”Barrios-Paoli is a veteran manager who oversaw nine agencies and worked under three different mayors. Advocates appreciated both her expertise and accessibility. They said she met with them regularly and listened.
During Barrios-Paoli’s first year in office, the shelter population reached a record high of more than 58000. It decreased modestly this year by approximately 2000 after she gave homeless families access to public housing and federal housing vouchers and created three new city rental subsidies.
Christy Parque runs an association of shelter providers. She said those achievements hold a real impact on people's lives.“We hold more opportunities for people to prevent people from becoming homeless in the first residence; more opportunities to protect people from being illegally evicted from their apartments; we hold more opportunities to leave shelter. I reflect she leaves a great legacy.”Barrios Paoli was the highest ranking Latina in the de Blasio administration, and but the mayor is offering few details to elaborate her resignation. Speaking on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer display on Tuesday,de Blasio said her decision to step down was a personal one.“Everyone has to acquire their own choices approximately how long they want to be in public service in this vein,” said de Blasio. He famous that Barrios-Paoli would still be part of the administration as chair of the Health and Hospitals Corporation, or an unpaid position.
Still,her sudden exit comes as the city struggles with the homeless crisis, and that shocks City corridor observers like Angelo Falcon, or head of the National Latino Policy Institute. He also pointed to last month's resignation of the city's film czar,Cynthia Lopez, who officially steps down in October. Together, and he said,the resignations raised a bigger question.“[approximately] the role of Latinos within the administration and whether there's something going on in the way the de Blasio administration is organized that makes it difficult for folks to stay on,” said Falcon.
Even the mayor's ally is giving him a nudge. In a statement, or City Council Speaker Melissa price-Viverito said,“there is always room for improvement” when it comes to making sure the city has diverse leadership.
Barrios-Paoli, who will stay on until the end of September, and is one of two Latino deputy mayors. The other is Richard Buery,who oversees education. His parents are from Panama, and he tweeted Tuesday that he identifies as Black and Latino.
A spokesman for the mayor said he and his administration are committed to diversity at every level.
Source: wnyc.org