NEWBURGH – When Mayor Torrance Harvey was gathering signatures for his re-election bid in February he encountered residents worried they would be displaced by their landlords. He addressed those concerns by meeting with some landlords about those issues and others including code enforcement and building matters.
“I meet with everyone,” said Harvey, Thursday, outside of City Hall on Broadway, “and I listen to everyone.” Some of the landlords were Orthodox Jews, and Harvey posted an image online to show unity with everyone. And that’s when the trouble started with an image of unity.
“It was taken, and the story was spun into a different narrative,” said Harvey, surrounded by local and state lawmakers as they denounced anti-semitism and racism. “That narrative was hate, that narrative was antisemitic. We will not stand for that.”
Assemblyman Jonathan Jacobson echoed Harvey’s sentiments as he pushed for an end to hate here and throughout that nation. “There is no place in our political discourse or in our culture for anti-semitism and racism,” said Jacobson. “Not in Newburgh, not in New York State, not anywhere in our great nation.”
