With upcoming primaries for New York City officials, from Mayor to City Council, this is a critical moment to express our policy priorities for the next city administration.
One important topic we have discussed but never acted on: the Chinatown Working Group’s detailed proposal for special zoning districts in the Lower East Side and Chinatown that would promote affordability, limit displacement, and still allow for development that fits within appropriate height limits.
Next week we will hear a presentation from CWG representatives and have the opportunity to signal our support for their plan (joining dozens of other local organizations).
We also have one last set of endorsements to make for 2021, for Civil Court Judges, and will be discussing what petitioning will look like in March to get all our endorsed candidates on the ballot.
At last night’s marathon endorsement meeting, Grand Street Dems endorsed a full slate of candidates for New York City’s epic 2021 primary.
Grand Street Dems 2021 Endorsements SCOTT STRINGER for Mayor (endorsement updated 5/10/21) JUMAANE WILLIAMS for Public Advocate BRAD LANDER for Comptroller LINDSEY BOYLAN for Borough President ALVIN BRAGG for District Attorney CAROLINE LASKOW and LEE BERMAN for District Leaders
And a reminder that we had already voted to endorse CHRISTOPHER MARTE for City Council District 1.
Club members voted to make no endorsement for City Council District 2, where Carlina Rivera is running for re-election.
New York City’s 2021 primaries may be the most consequential we’ve ever had. Mayor, Comptroller, Manhattan Borough President, Manhattan District Attorney are all open seats, with many qualified candidates running in all these races, and the post-pandemic fate of our city on the line.
Add to that the unpredictability of ranked-choice voting being offered to voters for the first time ever, and the burden on voters to educate themselves on the candidates and issues becomes even heavier. You can’t just decide who your favorite candidate is, you should be thinking of four other candidates you find acceptable as well.
That’s even more true for members of local political clubs like Grand Street Dems, who are often asked by their neighbors for advice about complicated local races.
Mayor Bill de Blasio is term-limited. There are too many candidates to review in full; many of them have done so little fundraising and campaigning that it’s fair to say they have no chance of getting elected. We are focusing on a still-large number of viable candidates.
Current Comptroller Scott Stringer is term-limited (and running now for Mayor). At least five candidates are now running for this open city-wide position, though the final list of candidates is still in flux (Zach Iscol, for example, just recently announced he would not run for Mayor and is running for Comptroller instead).
Current D.A. Cyrus Vance does not appear to be running for re-election (though has not yet officially made his intentions clear). There are eight candidates running to replace him.
Note that since this is technically a state position, there will not be ranked choice voting for this position in June; you will only be able to vote for one candidate, and whoever wins a plurality will be the Democratic nominee.
Grand Street Dems members met with District 2 Councilmember Carlina Rivera and NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who are both running for re-election this year.
In a reply to a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request, NYC’s Department of Design and Construction (DDC) stated that the City’s Value Engineering Study on the East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) plan could not be sent because:
“DDC’s search of agency records revealed no responsive documents for [the FOIL] request.”
This means that the present massive $1.45 billion plan lacks the main justification for the change that doubled the cost and destruction.
According to a “Fact Sheet” from de Blasio’s office on Sept. 28, 2018, “The adoption of the new design follows a value engineering study performed earlier this year and a review of the project by a panel of experts with experience from around the nation.”
When an independent analyst from the Dutch firm, Deltares, hired by Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, reviewed the present ESCR plan (Alternative 4) in 2019, he also requested this Value Engineering Report: “The ‘value engineering report’ leads to the conclusion that Alternative 4 can be completed faster and with a greater degree of certainty,” he wrote. However, he never saw the document. “This value engineering report is not publicly available,” he noted.
The Value Engineering Report was used by the City as justification for approving a plan that would:
completely raze the 46 acre East River Park;
kill approximately 1000 mature trees and all other vegetation in the 82-year-old park;
add a million tons of landfill over 1.2 miles of waterfront;
double the initial cost of the project plan; and
postpone even temporary flood protection for years.
If there is no Value Engineering Report, then there is no justification for the approved plan.
There has been a sustained outcry from community members and over 14,000 signers of petitions opposing the plan, including 2,000 NYCHA residents, who will be disproportionately affected. Advocates call for flood control that will not completely destroy the park as well as interim flood protection and robust alternate park spaces during the years of construction.
Due to this latest news, we demand the city suspend the ESCR project until it can be reviewed in full, including all documents used to support the conclusions in the City’s final environmental impact statement, by a panel of independent experts.
This position should be communicated to the Mayor and all City, State, and Federal elected officials who represent Grand Street Democrats.
These are the last of our 2021 candidate interviews for two races that are not heavily contested but nevertheless very important to our community — City Council District 2 and NYC Public Advocate.
GSD January Meeting Wednesday, January 27 7:00 – 8:15 pm Register for Zoom
We will also be participating in full candidate forums for Public Advocate on Feb. 6 and NYC Mayor on Feb. 7 ahead of our big endorsement meeting on Feb. 8.
Grand Street Dems was proud to sponsor this forum with other Democratic clubs from Downtown Manhattan. Please take the time to watch or listen to this forum before our large endorsement meeting on February 8.
There are a lot of candidates and a lot to take in, but it’s worth watching (or listening to) this candidate forum for Manhattan District Attorney since there are so many outstanding individuals running to bring real systemic justice reform to the office of Manhattan’s top prosecutor.
Grand Street Dems was proud to sponsor this forum with other Democratic clubs from Downtown Manhattan. We will do so again in January and February for the several other big NYC campaigns — Manhattan Borough President and NYC Comptroller on January 10, and NYC Mayor and Public Advocate on February 7.
Manhattan Young Democrats is focused on driving policy changes via legislative advocacy and grassroots organizing on issues affecting younger Americans, including affordable housing, the climate crisis, and education affordability/accessibility.
Applications to the 2021 Board are open to individuals between the ages of 18-35 who either live or work in Manhattan. Applications are due by December 21 at 11:59 pm.
