In response to the growing climate crisis, Brooklyn Borough President and Democratic nominee for mayor Eric Adams on Friday unveiled his new Climate Resiliency Plan in Coney Island — a month after the remnants of Hurricane Ida flooded swaths of the city. “Let’s face it, we screwed up the planet. Folks, climate change is here,” said Adams. “We are facing a series of issues that are impacting the quality of life. It’s impacting our health, it’s impacting our public safety.” Adams’ plan is meant to …
Pennsylvania town offers big incentive for people to fix homes
In an attempt to reverse decades of economic decay and attract investment, a city outside Pittsburgh is dangling a major incentive on its vacant homes. Monessen Mayor Matt Shorraw said his administration will wipe out back taxes on properties if a new owner commits to cleaning them up and renovating, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Pennsylvania city has so far managed to find owners — about half of whom are investors — for
De Blasio, women’s leaders condemn ‘dystopian’ Texas abortion ban, SCOTUS ignorance
SOURCE: Brooklyn Paper – Read entire story here.
Ranked-choice voting calculations released for borough president, City Council races
The city’s Board of Elections (BOE) on Friday, July 2, released results from its preliminary ranked-choice voting (RCV) calculations for the Brooklyn borough president race and local City Council contests. Results had been expected to be released earlier in the week, but following tabulation errors in the mayoral race, the BOE elected to hold off on revealing results for the local races. The tabulations are still preliminary, as they do not yet take the results from absentee ballots into account. According to the newly released results for…
Opinion: What’s wrong with politicians
It’s an exciting time in New York politics! At the state level, New York is in the process of distributing vaccines to everyone over 30 and then over 16, halting most solitary confinement in the city and state, legalizing marijuana, and a generous budget financed by the fed “stimmy” and new taxes on the rich. Meanwhile, at the city level… Uh, we’re still sick of de Blasio and the mayor’s race looks pretty similar to the way it looked a month ago. At …
2021 Elections: Who’s running for City Council in the 45th District
City Council District 45 is made up of Flatbush, Midwood, Flatlands, East Flatbush and parts of Marine Park. The district — currently represented by Councilmember Farah Louis — faces an influx of mega-developments, food and job insecurity, and other quality-of-life issues excascerbated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Louis, who first won the seat in a special election to replace now-Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, is one of just a handful of New York City Councilmembers who are not term-limited this election cycle. According to current Campaign Finance Board filings, Louis has three challengers for the upcoming June primary. Louis and two other candidates responded to Brooklyn Paper’s questionnaire. Below are their responses, in alphabetical order by…
Mayor signs bill barring certain convicted felons from running for city office
Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday signed into a law a package of bills, one of which will prevent felons convicted of betraying the public trust from running for city office again. Such a bill would disqualify people like former state Senator and City Councilmember Hiram Monserrate — a twice-disgraced ex-lawmaker from Queens still seeking public office — from running for mayor, public advocate, comptroller, borough president, or city council. While he comes to mind for many, the bill’s prime sponsor said his legislation is about more…
Watch Two Brooklyn Boro President Candidates Live on VOICES of East New York Sunday Feb 14
This Sunday, February 14, 2021 @9am, Brooklyn Boro President candidates Khari Edwards and Kim Council will be guests on VOICES of East New York with Nikki Lucas. ; Edwards and Council will be talking about their ideas for the future of Brooklyn, their platforms, ranked choice voting and why people should vote for them on election …
Lawmakers blast Cuomo over hidden COVID-19 nursing home data
A bipartisan coalition of city and state lawmakers have turned the heat up on Gov. Andrew Cuomo following a Thursday bombshell in the New York Post revealing that the number of nursing home residents in the state who died of COVID is higher than reported. In a video call with Democratic state officials, Melissa DeRosa, Cuomo’s top aide, admitted the governor refused a legislative request in August to conduct an accurate count, lest the Trump White House politicize the numbers. The revelation comes a month after state Attorney General Letitia James’ January report suggesting deaths were about 50 percent higher than what was announced. This led to the count increasing from 8,711 deaths to 12,743 between January 18 and 19. As of Wednesday, the tally of nursing home residents…
Nicole Malliotakis votes to strip Marjorie Taylor Greene of committee assignments
Southern Brooklyn Rep. Nicole Malliotakis joined with House Democrats on Feb. 4 to strip Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of her congressional committee assignments, citing “deeply disturbing” comments made by her fellow freshman Republican lawmaker. Malliotakis was one of 11 Republicans who signed onto the effort to boot Greene from her committees — which are specialized panels where bills typically begin the legislative process — after new reports unearthed her support for 9/11 conspiracy theories and other hateful beliefs. “Past comments made and endorsed by Congresswoman Greene are deeply disturbing and extraordinarily offensive and hurtful to thousands of 9/11 families and first responders, our Jewish community, and many others in our district,” said Malliotakis, who also represents Staten…
Brooklyn protesters call for Trump’s removal at Barclays Center
Hundreds of anti-Trump protesters marched through Brooklyn on Thursday to call for the president’s impeachment after his supporters launched an insurrection at the US Capitol Building. Beginning with a rally at Barclays Center, the demonstrators marched down Flatbush Avenue to the Prospect Park West apartment building of incoming Senate majority Leader Chuck Schumer — where they demanded the legislator act to both remove Trump and expel the Republican politicians they claim are equally responsible for perpetuating …
BK Dems sued for consolidating vacancy appointments to party leadership
A dozen Democrats sued the Brooklyn Democratic Party on Thursday over a recent rule change shifting the power to fill thousands of membership vacancies from its rank-and-file to the party’s executive leadership. The 12 County Committee members filed a complaint Dec. 3 requesting a Kings County Supreme Court judge void an amendment giving the party’s 42-member Executive Committee the power to appoint thousands of people to currently-vacant lower-level seats, saying it violated both state Election Law and a previous order from the court. The controversial clause was part of a Nov. 29 rule change allowing for gender non-binary Democrats to run for 84 new gender-neutral…
NY Attorney General Tish James Files Suit To Dissolve the NRA Due To Years of Illegal Self Dealing
Brooklyn native, Tish James, who is the New York Attorney General, is starting the official process to dissolve the NRA, the powerful gun lobbying organization that has fought to keep guns on the streets of the United States. Official Press Release from Attorney General Letitia Tish James New York Attorney General Letitia James today filed …
Brooklyn Dems form task force to address party gender rules
The Brooklyn Democratic Party formed a new task force on Aug. 6 to examine whether gender parity rules for hyper-local elected offices discriminate against gender-non-conforming people. “As a new county chair my first priority is to expand voting rights and the ability for all to participate in our democracy and run for office, and that very much includes individuals in Brooklyn regardless of identification as binary — male or female, non-binary, gender fluid, genderqueer, or transgender,” said party boss Rodneyse Bichotte in a statement…
Who made de Blasio’s real estate reopening council — and who didn’t
It’s rarely a good sign when a press release is issued late on a Friday afternoon, as was the case this week when Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled his construction and real estate advisory council. That’s when the fewest people (and journalists) are paying attention to the news, which makes it a good time to air dirty laundry or just put out information not viewed as having PR value. But perhaps the panel names were
Bushwick councilman drops out of Borough President race
Bushwick Councilman Rafael Espinal dropped out of the Borough President’s race on Thursday, saying he couldn’t endure another two years campaigning for the beep’s hotly contested seat. “While my dream has been to serve as the Brooklyn Borough President and lead the Borough forward, my heart wasn’t in the idea of spending the next two years running for office,” he told the Brooklyn Paper. The north Brooklyn legislator had amassed a meager war-chest of only $11,649, raising only $4,444 since announcing his candidacy in September and suspending fundraising efforts in November. Espinal’s sudden dropout coincides with the circulation of rumors about First Lady Chirlane…
The latest threat to US landlords? Cities are arming tenants with lawyers
Half a dozen U.S. cities plan to provide tenants free legal counsel in eviction cases in an effort to reduce evictions and prevent homelessness. The programs are expected to be costly and challenging to implement, but advocates contend they will help keep people from becoming homeless and entering the shelter system, according to the Wall Street Journal. The cities include San Francisco, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Newark, and Santa Monica. All but San Francisco limit assistance to
Opinion: Max Rose’s post office Cabrini tribute is a sham!
What do you think of our postal service? For most, the response would be pretty negative and include some choice words that can’t be printed here. However, in a cynical attempt to pander to the Italian-American community and Catholics in his district, Congressman Max Rose has proposed renaming the Dyker Heights Post Office after Mother Cabrini. A saint should be revered and not relegated to having their name slapped on an aging and architecturally bland federal building. To add insult to injury, this proposal seems to have been made for purely political purposes. For background, this all began when the She Built NYC Initiative was created in 2018 to erect public monuments or statues to honor women’s history. There was an open call for nominations…
Back in Brooklyn, Sanders predicts White House win in 2020
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Saturday returned to Brooklyn, his birthplace, for the first rally of his second presidential campaign and sought to tie his working-class background to his populist views that are helping reshape the Democratic Party. He predicted he would win the nomination in a field of now-double digit rivals and then defeat President Donald Trump, “the most dangerous president in modern American history.” The emotional peak of Sanders’ speech came as he remembered his childhood in Midwood, not far from where the rally was held. “I know where I came from,” he said. “And I will never forget that. Unlike …
Amazon’s about-face will hit Greenpoint developers, but it’s not a knockout punch
Greenpoint landlords may miss out on long-term profits because Amazon’s not coming to Long Island City — but it won’t be the end of the world. “For Greenpoint, Amazon was the cherry on top,” Mike Salvatico, an associate broker at Marcus and Millichap, told the Brooklyn Eagle. The behemoth company had planned to use nearly $3 billion in city and state subsidies to build a headquarters in Long Island City and hire 25,000 employees. Over a five-year period, Amazon’s presence would have sparked a 20 percent increase in Greenpoint apartment rents…
News about L Train brings joy followed by anger and confusion
(Credit: Getty Images) With yesterday’s announcement that the L Train shutdown has been cancelled, most of us affected have gone from feeling shock, to joy, to confusion. Commuters and business owners are the biggest winners, but let’s not forget about our lucky neighbors who received rent reductions: Rents in North Brooklyn have fallen a cumulative 1.5 percent since the shutdown was first announced, while rents borough-wide increased by a cumulative 3.3 percent. “Look for rents to rise sharply as many who thought they were forced to look elsewhere adjust …