Former Governor and mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo did not appear at an alleged campaign stop at the Peter Cardella Senior Citizens Center in Ridgewood on Friday, May 16, prompting backlash from demonstrators and Assembly Member Claire Valdez.
The protesters—many of them relatives of individuals who died in nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic—gathered outside the center assuming Cuomo would attend. However, his campaign said the visit had never been scheduled or confirmed, and that the center had been informed the week prior that he would not be attending due to scheduling conflicts.
Protesters believed the Ridgewood stop was part of Cuomo’s mayoral campaign swing through Queens and arrived expecting to confront the former governor over his administration’s 2020 directive requiring nursing homes to admit COVID-positive patients—a policy critics have linked to thousands of deaths.
The rally was led by Assembly Member Claire Valdez, who joined approximately 25 protesters holding signs, chanting slogans, and demanding accountability. “I wish I could say I was surprised Cuomo canceled his visit to the Peter Cardella Senior Center rather than face working-class New Yorkers hurt by his policies, but the former governor has spent his entire mayoral campaign dodging public scrutiny,” Valdez said.
“There are New Yorkers standing here who lost loved ones as a direct consequence of his policies, and they want answers to why he let their loved ones die,” she added. “He’s a coward for not showing up. And if elected mayor, he’s going to throw working people under the bus and underfund our city just like he did when he was governor.”
While the Peter Cardella Senior Citizens Center is not a residential facility — it serves as a community gathering space for meals and programming — protesters viewed the site as symbolically charged given the impact Cuomo’s COVID-era policies had on the elderly.
“No one on the campaign ever spoke to the senior center, and we were never confirmed for the stop — it is our understanding that they knew that as of this past Wednesday, but we look forward to visiting it as Andrew Cuomo continues to meet voters and discuss his vision for a safer and more affordable New York City,” said campaign spokesperson Rich Azzopardi .
“This group is many of the same people who had lawsuits against the state dismissed because there’s no truth whatsoever to their claims and I don’t know what they were hoping to accomplish with this particular performative stunt, but how they choose to spend their time is not our concern,” he added.
According to reports from the U.S. Department of Justice Inspector General, the New York State Attorney General and the state’s COVID-19 After Action Review, the state’s guidance was consistent with federal recommendations and similar to policies issued in a dozen other Republican- and Democratic-led states. The reports found no credible empirical evidence linking the guidance to increased deaths. Two civil lawsuits related to the matter have also been dismissed.
*Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include a response from Andrew Cuomo’s campaign and additional context from state and federal investigations, which found no evidence of wrongdoing related to the state’s COVID-19 nursing home admission policy.
