Bronx and Queens residents mock AOC as absentee 'rockstar' who's never in district
Frustration with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has reached a breaking point on her home turf, with fed up Queens and Bronx constituents telling The Post they're sick and tired of being second fiddle to the jet-setting socialist's primary focus — herself.
Her district offices in the Bronx and Queens offer little to justify the $1.9 million the congresswoman gets to run them — one is only open a single weekday and the other is closed on Fridays, with phones that go unanswered and constituents urged to discuss their problems 'by appointment only.'
AOC's town halls used to be monthly events – now are only held once in a blue moon, there's virtually no way to get in a question, and sometimes she only phones in and doesn't bother coming in person, galled constituents said.
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12 Ocasio-Cortez, here in Arizona, recently traveled the country with Bernie Sanders on a Fight the Oligarchy tour.
AP
'This woman has done nothing for the community she was once again elected to serve,' said Lauro Vazquez of Woodside, Queens.
Vazquez echoed a sentiment heard in all corners of AOC's bi-borough district — that they and the 'mundane' issues they care about — jobs, public safety, traffic — are an afterthought for a representative with her eyes on the national stage.
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The perception turned into a reality last week at a town hall in Jackson Heights, when AOC gave a packed auditorium of people just under an hour of face time before dashing for the exit to an idling SUV. She took only six questions.
12 AOC's recent town hall in Jackson Heights drew an estimated 450 people – the biggest crowd yet.
Michael Nagle
The public meeting had already been postponed from its original date because the lawmaker fell ill after wrapping her nationwide Fighting the Oligarchy tour with Bernie Sanders.
'Of course, it's cancelled — too busy jet setting around on private jets screaming about 'oligarchs' and setting up her bid for a POTUS run,' said Vazquez. 'This woman has done nothing for the community she was once again elected to serve.'
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'It's hard to find a private plane – it's Easter weekend,' mocked Jackson Heights resident Tatiana Lacatus of the cancelled event. 'She is too big for us.'
Elmhurst's Ramses Frias, a Republican City Council candidate, called Ocasio-Cortez an 'absentee landlord' disconnected from the reality of her working-class constituents.
12 AOC left the town hall from the back door and hopped into an idling black SUV.
Michael Nagle
'She's flying around on private jets, talking about the oligarchy, which is not really resonating with the regular guy – the person going shopping over here at the supermarket,' he said, sarcastically adding, 'She's a rock star.'
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On matters big and small, critics in her district — which includes Astoria and Jackson Heights in Queens, and the South Bronx — said AOC is failing the people that put her into office.
12 Ramses Frias of Elmhurst said AOC is a 'rockstar' who's barely in the district.
Michael Nagle
She has done little on a controversial $8 billion casino proposal by Mets owner Steve Cohen on parkland near Citi Field, which opponents fear will become a blight on the community.
At the town hall, all AOC could do was shrug off the concerns.
'The Citi Field Park has been redistricted out of my district,' she said. 'I have respectfully made my position on this known to folks who are weighing in on it. I don't really have anything to do on that besides making my position known.'
12 The Jackson Heights town hall had to be rescheduled after AOC fell ill after touring the country.
Michael Nagle
But critics said she will pounce on an issue that suits her — even if it is nowhere near her district.
She made headlines in 2021 by briefly volunteering to work at a Houston food bank and help raise more than $5 million for Texans after the state was devastated by winter storms – yet some of her own constiuents said she did little to assist New Yorkers that same year who were slammed by Hurricane Ida and still dealing with the pandemic.
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The congresswoman paid only lip service after the Trump administration last month announced it was cancelling $200 million in grants for climate-friendly 'cloudburst projects' that help absorb heavy rains, according to critics. Some of these projects were slated for parts of flooding-plagued parts of Queens.
But in March she loudly advocated for Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, who is not her constituent, after the anti-Israel activist was arrested and detained.
'Mahmoud was a Columbia student — but our office has been able to take the lead on that case for the New York City delegation,' she boasted at the town hall.
12 The town hall's Q&A consisted of six pre-vetted questions, with no chance for others to walk up and ask questions.
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Locals expect more from the lawmaker who recently boasted about commanding crowds of 86,847 people, including in far flung places like Missoula, MT, and Nampa, ID.
'I wish she did more,' admitted Aimee Rosato, an AOC campaign volunteer. 'We don't need a casino, it drives me a bit wild.'
12 The casino proposal near the Mets' Citi Fields in the Bronx is a huge community concern right now.
Michael Nagle
'She will help if it gets her name on national issues,' sniffed Jackson Heights' Gloria Contreras. 'She's about her and getting worldwide attention while ignoring her constituents.'
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12 At her main office in the Bronx, a constituent waits to be seen as workers break for lunch until 1pm.
J.C. Rice
Even fellow comrades are tired of the schtick.
'She's always on TV trying to build up her profile – not to represent her neighbors and fight for funding for her constituents,' a longtime lefty Queens pol told The Post.
Another slap in the face came this week after her office asked business owners to fill a survey about the impact of tariffs, which was viewed as a shameless attempt to bash President Trump's policies and elevate herself on the national scene.
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12 Her main office, in Hunts Point in the Bronx, closes for lunch – and on Fridays.
J.C. Rice
'Now you are digging for dirt?' slammed retired nurse Jeanette Geary
Many pointed to a failure not just to bring economic development to her district — but to sabotage it, like killing the deal to bring an Amazon headquarters to Queens after she first got elected. It would've created 25,000 jobs and was backed by most of her constituents.
'We need to focus on good healthcare, living wages, affordable rent. Corporations that offer none of those things should be met w/ skepticism,' she posted on X at the time.
12 AOC's Astoria office, which she shares with Tiffany Caban, is only open Thursdays by appointment.
J.C. Rice
'She killed the Amazon deal, ghosted her district, and thinks viral TikToks make her a legislator,' said Republican mayoral candidate and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa.
One of AOC's two district offices, in Astoria, is open only one day a week and is shared with Queens Councilwoman Tiffany Caban, a fellow socialist. Typically, Caban's workers are forced to take in-person messages left for AOC because the congresswoman isn't regularly staffing the office, sources said.
Ocasio-Cortez' main constituent office in the Bronx' Hunts Point is closed Fridays and shuttered for long lunch breaks the other four days.
When The Post paid a visit, a Spanish-speaking constituent, who was seeking help on an immigration matter, had to wait outside the office Until 1pm before she was allowed to enter.
12 The fight the oligarchy tour drew tens of thousands of people at every stop.
Getty Images
Phone calls usually go unanswered, leaving the public with no way to contact staff unless they show up in person.
Forget about actually seeing AOC in town.
She has spent at least $101,788 in campaign funds on flights across the US in just the past year, Federal Election Commission records show.
Many believe she is eyeing the White House.
She raked in a jaw-dropping $9.6 million in campaign donations during the first quarter of this year, shattering her own personal record and fueling rumors of a future presidential run.
12 AOC's main constituent office is in this building in Hunts Point in the Bronx.
J.C. Rice
Her office did not respond to questions how often the congresswoman was in her district in the past year, only boasting she is the most popular NYC politician, according to a Siena College poll in April.
'She is a constant presence in the district and deeply engaged with the issues that matter to her constituents' her chief of staff Mike Casca told the Post.
However, Councilman Robert Holden, a moderate Queens Dem, said he 'hears from her constituents constantly — and AOC is nowhere to be found.'
'She can't be bothered doing mundane constituent services like addressing quality of life issues in her district,' he said.
Holden added: 'She's too busy trying to make our entire country into a carbon copy of the failed Soviet Union — Queens and the Bronx deserve better.'
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