Dear friends,
A number of you have remarked on the work that goes into these posts. Today, my work was made light by the contributions of some other work-from-homers. This is a group that welcomes and appreciates all its members.
The local activist I live with, Citizen Stanley Greenberg, graciously agreed to rank the choices for Brooklyn Borough President. He started by admiring Antonio Reynoso’s cogent definition of the BP’s job:
BPs are the highest elected officials in each of New York City’s five boroughs. Through the role, BPs advocate for the needs of their borough’s residents, control a portion of the city’s budget, play a role in the land use process, and appoint members of Community Boards.
Reynoso goes on to discuss each part of the role, a primer I appreciated. These civics lessons are free, people!
There are ten candidates for Brooklyn Borough President; Stanley did not write about Kim Council, Robert Elstein, Pearlene Fields, Anthony T. Jones, and Lamor Miller Whitehead, all of whom are political novices. The BP job is often a political stepping stone, as evidenced by the current BP’s mayoral run.
Stanley did research Khari Edwards, who has served the city in non-profits, city agencies, and most recently as a Vice President at Brookdale Hospital, and ranked him fourth (“good on housing and health issues”). I do not think we need to rank to four when there are three better-known and better-qualified candidates.
Antonio Reynoso, Robert Cornegy, and Mathieu Eugene are all term-limited council members, with voting records on important NYC issues.
Here’s what Stanley had to say about Antonio Reynoso, the Working Family’s Party candidate:
He has the strongest policies on transportation improvements and got StreetPAC’s No. 1 endorsement. He’s been a progressive force in the City Council, and was instrumental in helping pass the Commercial Waste Zones bill. He’s good on a whole host of other issues, and his website is very detailed.
Stanley had nothing kind to say about our own council member, Matthieu Eugene, who
has a website that cannot be accessed. This is a perfect metaphor for his campaign and his entire time in the City Council, where he achieved virtually nothing.
Stanley admires Robert Cornegy’s
strong platforms on police reform and safe streets for pedestrians and people on bikes. He’s the only candidate who specifically mentions the arts as an important way to bring the city together.
Stanley is concerned that Cornegy has been endorsed by the Brooklyn Democratic machine, but noted that he also has progressive endorsements.
Joanne Simon, familiar from her service in the state Assembly,
also has excellent progressive credentials and she has StreetsPAC’s No. 2 endorsement. Her website is very vague though, so it’s hard to determine what she will push for most. She is in favor of congestion pricing, excellent on disability rights and environmental justice.
Note: A poll of Brooklyn voters found Reynoso and Cornegy “neck in neck.”
Rank Reynoso #1 for Borough President. Cornegy and Simon are solid, but we are leaving it to you to determine who should be #2 and who should be #3.
Adam Grumbach agreed to contribute his input on the District 39 council race, which seems important since a fair number of you live in Lander’s old district. Adam’s pithiest contribution, however, concerned the duck and her ducklings who went to the bagel shop in the district:
“There were sure to be foxes in the woods or turtles in the water, and she was not going to raise her children around foxes and turtles.” And the availability of a decent bagel was a requirement, too.
Note: Robert McCloskey’s Make Way for Ducklings turns 80 this year.
Adam’s assessment of the CD 39 candidates is personalized, which is where we all begin:
I'm leaning hard on the endorsement of AOC, which puts the DSA candidate Brandon West at my number 1. I'm sticking with Shahana Hanif at number 2 — she was my first, but I've tuned into a couple of her zoom forums, and I haven't been particularly impressed with her policy proposals. She tends to speak in empowerment generalities, which I agree with but find unenlightening.
Beyond that, I'm putting Justin Krebs third, since I've been volunteering with Camp Friendship food pantry/delivery, and it seems well-organized and generally useful.
It turns out that AOC didn’t exactly endorse candidates for city council; her Courage to Change PAC approved them on the basis of candidate responses to its questionnaire.
The questionnaire asked candidates to take a number of pledges, such as to not to take money from real estate developers or fossil fuel companies, to vote for funding increases of $100 million for mass transit improvements, $50 million for new bike lanes, $50 million for NYCHA, and $50 million for improved school infrastructure, to defund the NYPD, and to oppose proposals to “privatize” NYCHA like RAD and the NYCHA Blueprint. The questionnaire also included a pledge to refrain from negative campaigning.
In District 39, Courage to Change backed Shahana Hanif, Brandon West, Justin Krebs, and Briget Rein.
Hanif is an activist on behalf of immigrants, tenants, and survivors of domestic violence, as well as a former Lander staffer. She is endorsed by the Working Families Party, AOC, and Sunrise, among others. West, the Democratic Socialist’s candidate, is a long-time public servant and voting rights activist; he is endorsed by AOC, VOCAL NY, and a pile of other progressive organizations and people. Krebs runs a non-profit theater group, helps to manage Camp Friendship Food Pantry, and has organizing experience locally and nationally with MoveOn. There are seven candidates for the seat, and the only other one I’ve heard of is Douglas Schneider, a civil rights attorney and local activist.
Hanif and West are the candidates calling for the NYPD to be defunded by $3 billion. Krebs doesn’t name a number, but he’s got the right idea. Schneider does not have an issues page on policing.
So, although Adam wasn’t sure he was well-versed enough to rank candidates for work-from-homers, his little primer pointed me in the right direction. StreetsPAC ranked West #1, and gave the #2 spot to Hanif, Krebs, and Schneider.
NOTE: I have not researched Mamnun Haq, Briget Rein, or Jessica Simmons.
I agree with Adam. For CD 39, #1 West, #2 Hanif, and #3 Krebs.
I watched every minute of the mayoral debates last night, including the first 20, when the sound was not right. I won’t recap, but I will say that I liked the way the moderators pointed out non-answers to questions. Instead, I will mention the few things that stood out to me.
The lightning round education question about extending the school day got a no from only Morales and Stringer. People in schools understand that strong extended-day options are essential, but a longer school day is not.
Candidates were asked to prioritize desegregating the public schools or improving school quality, and most wisely recognized the false choice. Wiley pointed out that quality schools are integrated, because we learn from one another and build a better society. Donovan’s answer was also among my favorites, and I remain a fan of his Education Recovery Corps idea.
Garcia emphasize an end to “screening four-year olds” for Gifted and Talented programs and making art, music, and theater available in every school. I didn’t understand Garcia’s answer about integrating schools by using student grade-point-average, but it seems that she wants to skim the top ten percent of students (by GPA) into top schools in every borough, while keeping the SHSAT in place for the specialized schools. I’m not sure where this leaves most students.
Check out this chart from Class Size Matters to compare candidates on education issues.
All of the candidates support the idea of getting building owners to retrofit to reduce emissions, with some public financing, and all favored a ban on gas hook-ups going forward, with time to make that transition.
Eric Adams, who appears likely to win the primary, talked repeatedly of his housing-insecure childhood. It was affecting. He is a bright man and I believe that his lived experience makes him sensitive to the situation of many New Yorkers. He noted that “it’s very expensive to be poor.”
While Yang talked about getting “boots on the ground” to address crime, Adams tried to moderate his tough guy police captain talk. At one point, he talked about stopping criminality (I think he meant criminalization) of young people, and he seemed to be walking back from the fear-mongering.
We are down to the final days of the race, and each of the candidates is an imperfect package.
My rankings remain #1 Wiley, #2 Garcia.
Thanks to Adam and Stanley for their thoughtful contributions!
with love,
L