Freeze the rally

A “freeze the rent” rally featuring two lefty mayoral candidates was scheduled to take place Thursday night at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. That was, until plans changed the day before, leaving tenant advocates scrambling to relocate to Riverside Church near Columbia University.

“The pastor decided that they felt uncomfortable with a rally instead of a town hall – was the given reason,” said Cea Weaver, director of the New York State Tenant Bloc, a new group dedicated to supporting tenant-friendly candidates. “We changed it from saying it was a town hall with mayoral candidates to a rally with mayoral candidates, and the pastor said he was uncomfortable with that,” she added, saying they started calling it a rally late last month.

The Rev. Kevin Johnson of Abyssinian endorsed Andrew Cuomo for mayor in early April. Cuomo’s opponents Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani and Comptroller Brad Lander are set to headline the rally. But the church said that Johnson endorsed in his personal capacity, and that had nothing to do with the venue change. 

“When Abyssinian agreed to the event a few months ago, it was a nonpartisan community town hall which Abyssinian was happy to host,” said Abyssinian spokesperson LaToya Evans. “However, the details of the event were changed very recently, and given the church’s nonprofit, religious organization status, they are not able to hold partisan rallies and events favoring a particular candidate.”