This year, the anti-development Lower Manhattan City Councilmember Christopher Marte is facing a primary challenger with diametrically opposed views—and as he tries to save his seat, Marte has falsely claimed a series of endorsements he didn’t actually earn.
Marte was the only Manhattan lawmaker to vote against the City of Yes housing plan, has made a name fighting plans to build housing on the site of the Elizabeth Street Garden, voted against making outdoor dining permanent, and got the City Council to intervene and kill sidewalk seating at a bar in his district, Le Dive.
His stances have earned him some loyal fans in the neighborhood who see him as a crusader against displacement, but also drawn backlash from the burgeoning pro-growth movement within the Democratic Party. That wing of the party is now embodied by Jess Coleman, an attorney running for Marte's seat who is focused on building more housing, defending congestion pricing, and taking public space away from cars for uses like outdoor dining. Another challenger, former NYPD counterterrorism official Elizabeth Lewinsohn, has focused on public safety.
"People are kind of waking up to the fact that the sort of NIMBY opposition to housing of all forms is at the crux of the problem," Coleman told Hell Gate. "There's a shift happening in our politics on the left." He added, "This is very much an internal ideological battle."