Month: September 2009

34th District Candidates Forum

09/06/2009 | Comment

This is being billed as a “combined pre-primary candidates forum” for Mayor and 34th District council member. So far, only Tony Avella in the mayoral race and Gerry Esposito in the council race are comitted, but Bill Thompson, Diana Reyna and Maritza Davila are all invited. At least, hopefully the council candidates will show.

The event is being put on by WG News + Arts and the Brooklyn Rail, and will be moderated by Brooklyn Rail editor Ted Hamm. It’s all happening this Tuesday at The Boiler – even if the other council candidates don’t show up, this is a rare opportunity to hear at least one of the contestants for the 34th seat speak.

When: Tuesday, September 8, 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Where: The Boiler (Pierogi Gallery), 191 North 14th Street



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With regard to the Times

With regard to the Times endorsements today, Real Reform Brooklyn continues to see Atlantic Yards conspiracies at every turn. Norman Oder of Atlantic Yards Report, on the other hand, is suspicious but less willing to call foul when it comes to the Simon endorsement. Being less in the AY loop, I am skeptical, but I will agree with RRB (and AYR) that the Times’ 33rd endorsement was lukewarm at best.

The Times endorsement in the 33rd is particularly frustrating because they don’t say why they are choosing one candidate over another. They start out by saying that there are three “excellent candidates”, and they are clear on why Steve Levin is out of the running – he “would be a prime candidate except for his entanglement in the Brooklyn Democratic Party machine”. But if you are looking for some insight on Jo Anne Simon or Evan Thies, you won’t get it here. Instead we get a Cliff Notes version of the two candidates’ resumes – Thies “an aide to [David] Yassky, has been active on reform and clean-air issues”; Simon “has an impressive legal background and has been a strong community organizer who has done important work for the disabled”. The endorsement could just have easily ended “We endorse Mr. Thies”; instead, they went with “We endorse Ms. Simon” and no explanation. In a competitive race like this, where the Times’ endorsement can have a major impact, its readers deserve better.

By contrast, the endorsement for the 34th is pretty clear. It highlights what the Times sees as Diana Reyna’s qualifications – her “show of independence should be enough to re-elect her”; “she has also grown into a strong advocate for small businesses and struggling families in her area”. Maritza Davila is dismissed out of hand (“a community activist who has worked with Mr. Lopez on development issues”), and Gerry Esposito doesn’t even get a mention.

As to the 35th, where the Times chose not to make an endorsement, the AY influence would appear to be more at play here. Unless, of course, the Times simply considers the race not to be among the “most competitive districts where winning the Democratic primary usually means capturing the seat”. But that is outside my jurisdiction.

Times Endorses Simon, Reyna

09/05/2009 | Comment

The Times is out with its endorsements for City Council, and in the local races, it is endorsing Jo Anne Simon in the 33rd and Diana Reyna in the 34th.

In the 33rd, the Times sees a three-way race, with something to be said for Simon, Steve Levin and Evan Thies:

There are several excellent candidates vying to replace Councilman David Yassky, who’s also running for comptroller. Stephen Levin would be a prime candidate except for his entanglement in the Brooklyn Democratic Party machine. Evan Thies, an aide to Mr. Yassky, has been active on reform and clean-air issues. Jo Anne Simon has an impressive legal background and has been a strong community organizer who has done important work for the disabled. We endorse Ms. Simon.

In the 34th, the Times sees a two-way race, with only one candidate worth considering:

Party bosses sometimes try to intimidate a rebellious politician by threatening to support a challenger in the next election. That is what has happened to Councilwoman Diana Reyna, who dared to oppose a housing development backed by Assemblyman Vito Lopez, the leader of Brooklyn’s Democrats. Mr. Lopez now supports Maritza Davila, a community activist who has worked with Mr. Lopez on development issues. Ms. Reyna’s show of independence should be enough to re-elect her. But she has also grown into a strong advocate for small businesses and struggling families in her area. We endorse Ms. Reyna in this race.



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Endorsements

09/04/2009 | Comment

There were a few noteworthy – and interesting – newspaper endorsements over the past few days. In the 33rd Council District, Evan Thies has picked up the support of the Brooklyn Paper and the Brooklyn Downtown Star. Meanwhile, the Courier-Life papers have gone for Steve Levin.

In the 34th District, Courier-Life endorsed Diana Reyna, while the Star endorsed Gerry Esposito. (As far as I can see, the Brooklyn Paper hasn’t weighed in on the 34th yet.)

A couple things of note in these endorsements. First, as Norman Oder notes (in a slightly different context), Courier-Life can’t be accused following the party line by picking Steve Levin, given that they also endorsed Diana Reyna. And second, for those (like Norman) who have been worried that News Corp’s ownership of both the Brooklyn Paper and the Courier-Life papers would mean that all would follow the Murdoch party line, at least for the moment, there seems to be editorial independence between the two.



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Pictures on the Radio

09/04/2009 | Comment

steve-leviano.jpg

WNYC ran a brief piece on the 33rd Council District race, focusing on three leading candidates – Steve Levin, Jo Anne Simon and Evan Thies. The station has transcribed the piece in a blog post, complete with pictures. Good thing you can’t see pictures on the radio, because the image above is what you see in the slide show for Steve Levin. (For the 99.999999% of the world that doesn’t understand this post, that picture is from here, not here.)



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Jo Anne Simon’s “Questionable” Money

09/04/2009 | 2 Comments

On a more substantive note, Real Reform Brooklyn’s latest broadside against Jo Anne Simon tries to connect the dots between a few Simon contributers and Atlantic Yards. The crux of the argument is that Simon received contributions from three board members of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation (BBPDC), as well as a contribution from the wife of one of those board members. RRB claims that the contributions from these “real estate related interests” pose a conflict of interest, in that Simon is opposed to the development of luxury housing in Brooklyn Bridge Park. This is enough of a stretch – and belies a complete misunderstanding what a conflict of interest is. But RRB really jumps the shark when it claims that the contributions create the “appearance of a conflict of interest” because the BBPDC is a subsidiary of the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), and ESDC is – wait for it – overseeing the development of Atlantic Yards.

For the record, the “questionable” contributions came from BBPDC board members Joanne Witty, David Offensend and Henry Gutman and from Gutman’s wife Karolyn. All three are heavy contributers to various campaigns – notably Yassky, Markowitz and de Blasio. The total of the contributions from the four was $2,750 ($6,250 when matched with city matching funds).

The BBPDC contributions are interesting, and may raise a question about Simon’s commitment to keeping luxury housing out of Brooklyn Bridge Park for those who are concerned about the issue. But they are not a conflict of interest, and they are certainly not an indication of a connection to Atlantic Yards. If you want to troll the CFB records for questionable donations, there are far bigger fish out there. Take for instance Joshua Guttman – two “T”s, he of Greenpoint Terminal Market fame – and his family. He, his son Jack and wife Vera have given a total of $6,000 in direct donations to Isaac Abraham’s campaign.



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Ratner Eyeing SHoP for AY Arena?

The choice seems a face-saving move for Forest City, as a substantial backlash from public officials and the press followed its decision to drop Mr. Gehry in the name of cost

Whatever the reason, it’s a good choice. Policy and procedure aside, if Forest City Ratner is going to build an arena, it oughta be a damn nice one. SHoP has the potential to design a better arena than Gehry – though I doubt it would be substantially cheaper.

[via Curbed]