NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Tensions ran high at a town hall meeting held by Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday, June 28, 2023, when 84-year-old tenant rights advocate Jeanie Dubnau confronted the Democrat over recent rent increases for one million rent-stabilized apartments in the city. The incident took an unexpected turn when Mayor Adams compared Dubnau to a "plantation owner," raising eyebrows.

Who is Jeanie Dubnau?

Dubnau, a longtime resident of New York City and a survivor of the Nazi regime, was born in Belgium shortly after her parents fled the Nazi regime in Germany. After hiding out in the European country throughout World War II, Dubnau and her parents emigrated to America, and she has lived in the Big Apple ever since. "I thought we'd have the opportunity to speak, which we did not because the meeting was completely controlled by [Adams'] people," Dubnau told New York Post. "And that's why I had to stand up and spontaneously speak," she added. "We weren't being called on. It was a person chosen by his people who were going to speak."

In footage from the meeting on Wednesday, Dubnau could be seen interrupting Adams, saying he raised the rent. Adams then told the woman, "I am the Mayor" after she pointed her finger at him and questioned him. "If you're going to ask a question, don't point at me, and don't be disrespectful to me," Adams responded. "I'm the mayor of this city; treat me with the respect I deserve to be treated. I am speaking to you as an adult. Don’t stand in front like you treated someone that’s on the plantation that you own. Give me the respect I deserve and engage in the conversation. Don't be pointing at me; speak with me as an adult because I'm a grown man. I walked into this room as a grown man, and I'll walk out of this room as a grown man," he said.

A continuing battle

Dubnau said that she will continue to call out Mayor Eric Adams "as much as I can." "The main point is that the mayor has shown he's an enemy of all the rent-stabilized tenants in New York City," she told the New York Post. "You know, Mayor Eric Adams is a landlord stooge and the enemy of tenants in New York City. That's the main issue right here."

Dubnau's remarks came in response to the Rent Guidelines Board voting to increase the rent for 1 million rent-stabilized apartments in New York City. The panel, which is made up of mayoral appointees, approved increases of up to 6 percent on two-year leases.

Speaking about =Adams' response, Dubnau said, "He didn't have an answer," and claimed his remarks about her being like a plantation owner were "just a deflection, that's all because he doesn't have any answers." She continued, "He probably is aware of how the entire tenant population and many working-class people have turned against him with time. When he first answered, he said something about his own tenants. He's a landlord himself. He said, 'Oh, I don't raise the rent on my own tenants.' Who cares about his own personal tenants? He's raising rent on thousands and thousands of people in New York City."

Eric Adams' response

Last week, Adams issued a statement applauding the move after initially pushing back when the board signaled hikes could be as high as 7 percent. "I want to thank the members of the Rent Guidelines Board for their critically important and extremely difficult work protecting tenants from unsustainable rent increases," the mayor said, adding, "Finding the right balance is never easy, but I believe the board has done so this year — as evidenced by affirmative votes from both tenant and public representatives."