The Independent Neighborhood Democrats do not typically meet during the summer months, so it will in one sense be quiet until September. However, individual members will be actively promoting their candidates by door knocking, hosting meet and greets and fundraisers.
Petitioning has ended and petitions have either been submitted or are in the process of being bound into volumes for submission to the board of elections. It is not unknown, but it is rare in these parts for there to be challenges to remove individuals from the ballot. It is generally thought that such a challenge will put the highly prized New York Times endorsement in jeopardy.
It is still anticipated that Pete Sikora, IND’s candidate for the Assembly in the 52nd Assembly District, will be on the ballot opposed by two others, as will our judicial candidate Diana Szuchet. We still believe that it is possible that Paige Bellenbaum, our candidate for District Leader, will be unopposed. In our only other contested race, for the seat that Borough President Adams vacated, Jesse Hamilton, who has also been endorsed by the Borough President, has announced that he has submitted 8,000 petition signatures.
Sunday fundraiser at Gowanus shuffleboard palace
I will be attending a joint fundraiser for Paige and Pete at the Royal Palms shuffleboard center at 514 Union Street on Sunday July 13th starting at 6:30. Pete is running in a highly competitive race and needs enough money to get his message out while Paige, as a newcomer to politics, still has to introduce herself to the wider community.
This lull in our activities provides an opportunity to reflect on the successes and disappoints that we have faced as a community. Our greatest disappointment is the prospect of the loss of Long Island College Hospital as a full service facility. The speed with which Downstate reversed itself on its plans led many of us to believe that it was not acting in good faith with our community from the outset.
Cuomo bears the blame for LICH demise
Though I still feel obligated to support IND’s endorsed candidate for Governor, Andrew Cuomo, I place the responsibility for the closing squarely at his feet; he after all appoints the entire SUNY board. I have yet to be convinced that LICH had to close, even as I tried to remain open to persuasion. Since I am most likely to need a health care facility in an emergency for a heart attack or stroke, the remaining services are not of primary importance to me and that perhaps colors my feelings. We, at IND, were certainly aware of the work that Pete Sikora did leading Parents for LICH when we gave him our endorsement. We, at our annual dinner, acknowledged Jim Walden for his tireless efforts first as Public Advocate de Blasio’s and then as the community’s counsel advocating for the continuation of full services at LICH.
What is now promised is far better than the shutdown that we originally faced and the concerted effort by our local and city officials may be credited for the retention of some meaningful services that will at least be overseen by a top quality institution.
Some victories
There are, however, things for us to cheer. Through the hard work of Paige Bellenbaum and Steve Miller, and the membership of the Coalition for Carroll Gardens, a notorious landlord together with an operator of homeless shelters have been thwarted in their attempt to house 170 homeless men in a 10 unit building in Carroll Gardens. Also in an historic first the EPA has included a requirement for a reduction in combined sewer overflows as part of its Record of Decision with regard to the Gowanus Canal Superfund remediation.
Beware the redistricting wolf
On the political reform front things remain either in doubt or bleak. There remains some renewed hope for campaign finance reform in the next session. Unfortunately our best hope with regard to redistricting isn’t progress but to avoid embedding the worst of the current system in our state constitution. We ought to defeat the proposed constitutional amendment with regard to redistricting this November. What reform elements called for was non-partisan redistricting. What the proposed constitutional amendment calls for is “bipartisan” redistricting. This allows the two main parties to continue to conspire to choose their voters rather than the voters being empowered to choose their representatives. If for some reason this system isn’t enough to protect our incumbents, they have written the amendment so that they may reject the “bipartisan’ proposal and do things as they have always done in the past. The proposed redistricting amendment is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
