Ja Rule is using his star power to help bring awareness and give back to the city that raised him. Today, the rapper joined residents at City Hall to help protest the state of New York City public housing, including ongoing problems with heating and boiler systems. He held a press conference and rally, where protests chanted “Turn up the heat” and “NYCHA is freezing.”
“City Hall, New York City, the mayor, the governor, they should all be ashamed of themselves,” he said. “These are Americans, New Yorkers, living in Third World conditions, and it should not be this way. Today is just the beginning of it.”
According to the New York Daily News, heat and hot water problems affected 80 percent of NYCHA tenants this winter… that’s more than 320,000 residents who lost their heat or hot water at some point this season.
Ja Rule went on the say that the city’s “terrible” education system also makes it hard for students to succeed in school. “How can the kids go to school and get a good education if they gotta go home and there’s no heat and there’s no water?” he asked. “We ain’t paying no more rent until this situation is dealt with. No heat, no hot water? No money, no rent!”
The protesters are demanding answers. In response, the city claims it’s working with the governor’s office to speed up the installation of boilers and the renovation of heating systems across NYCHA apartments.
TSR STAFF: Myeisha E.! @myeisha.essex
