Seward Coop (apartment will be emailed to you after RSVP)
Sister District is a national organization created out of the ashes of the 2016 presidential election. Its goal is to harness Democratic energy from deep blue districts like ours to help get out the vote in truly swing districts around the country. Focused especially on state legislative races (which will help determine new congressional districts after the 2020 census), Sister District helped with the tremendous successes in Virginia in 2017, and now is resetting targets for 2018.
First up is a special election for Florida State House in February, where Democrat Margaret Good is hoping to flip this Sarasota District.
Margaret GoodGrand Street Dems launches its 2018 partnership with Sister District with this phone bank for Margaret Good on February 12. Help us make calls and participate in this year’s Democratic #BlueWave across the country.
Today, Public Advocate Letitia James called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to protect Lifeline, a program that provides subsidized phone and internet services to millions of low-income Americans, including over 1 million New Yorkers. In a letter to the FCC, Public Advocate James urged the Commission to reject a series of proposals that would significantly defund the program, and drastically reduce the number of Americans able to afford basic phone and internet service.
Council Member Margaret Chin said, “Seniors in Lower Manhattan are no stranger to this program, and for many these recipients, Lifeline also serves as a key tool to complete various daily tasks — including paying the bills, applying for affordable housing and completing their annual public housing recertification. I urge the FCC to protect this vital program and support proposals that fight for internet access and equity for every American — regardless of age or income level — and encourage fellow New Yorkers concerned about the future of the Lifeline program to make their voices heard to FCC before the February 21st deadline.”
“The FCC’s current proposals for cutting back the Lifeline program will inflict a cruel blow to low-income households,” said Caroline Laskow, District Leader, Assembly District 65 Part A. “It is a joke to pretend that phone and broadband services are anything but a necessity, whether for work or homework, for education or a job application. Without proper access to the digital world, low-income communities are increasingly left out and left behind. We must protect these consumers who are being unjustly targeted by the FCC with proposals that would serve to literally disconnect and disempower them.”
“Families should not have to worry that they will no longer be able to keep in touch with loved ones, or fear that in case of emergency they can not afford a telephone,” said Lee Berman, District Leader, Assembly District 65 Part A. “Nor should children in low-income families have yet another stumbling block put in their way when trying to learn. Without the ability to participate in the Lifeline program’s broadband discount for participating households, the working poor find it yet again harder to just keep up. Low-income children should have the same access to the internet, to do their homework and to study and research using broadband as the rest of America does.”
The Lifeline program was created in 1985 under President Reagan and serves nearly 13 million low-income Americans, including more than over 1 million New Yorkers. Access to a telephone is not only a key connection to opportunities and loved ones, but also a safety necessity during emergencies. With Lifetime subscribers earning an average of just $14,000 a year, the proposed changes to the program would have significant impacts on their ability to continue affording basic service.
Our next regular meeting will kick off with a report from our state representatives, Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou and State Senator Brian Kavanagh. They will be reporting, and taking your questions on, the 2018 legislative session and budget process.
Immediately following the Albany Report, GSD will hold its first regular meeting of the year.
Our Committee-palooza! at the beginning of the year was a very productive evening. Members split up into break-out sessions for each of our standing committees, defined at least two near-term goals, and outlined specific action steps to take for each.
The basic goal of Grand Street Democrats is straightforward: support (and create where necessary) an infrastructure of local activists that can raise issues, amplify local voices, and pressure officials for change. The strength of that infrastructure will come from fully engaged members with a real sense of ownership for our shared goals. So active committee participation is essential to bringing about the change we want.
Here’s what we’ll be working on right away:
Policy and Social Action (PSAC)
Traffic & congestion pricing. We’ve started this effort with our Traffic Town Hall, but this challenge is not going away and the solutions are not obvious or easy to implement. We will continue to pressure our local elected officials and the Department of Transportation to send Williamsburg Bridge traffic to more appropriate avenues.
Judicial elections. One of the important roles local Democratic clubs play in our civic structure is to nominate judicial delegates and help select our judges. This process happens largely without voters’ active participation, so it’s our job to be engaged in these decisions.
Communication with elected officials. We want to make sure our elected officials have ample opportunity to address local residents directly — and vice versa. We’re starting with an Albany Report on February 8 with our two state representatives, Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou and State Senator Brian Kavanagh.
Partnership with Sister District. Ours is a Democratic stronghold, unlikely to elect a Republican in the foreseeable future. So if we want to turn our energy to addressing progressive change across the country, Sister District is a national organization that could be a perfect partner. We hope to help elect progressive Democrats in other parts of the country who can really turn the tide in the U.S. Congress.
Youth vote initiative. When young people vote, more Democrats are elected. By creating a video campaign and partnering with other organizations focused on educating and registering young people, we can contribute to a generational shift that will make this country more progressive.
Civics trivia and guide to local politics. By helping more of our neighbors learn the ins and outs of local government, we can support a more active political community. We’ll start on March 5 with a Pub Night + Trivia at Lucky Jack’s on Orchard, then bring trivia games to other events around the neighborhood.
Register more Democrats. You may think of yourself as an independent, but if you are not registered as a Democrat in this neighborhood you don’t get to vote in primaries — which means, essentially, your vote is not going to count. To keep residents engaged, we believe everyone should register as a Democrat.
Historic preservation. Our neighborhood has a deep heritage that speaks not only to the history of our city but the history of our country — yet there is no historic neighborhood defined in the Lower East Side to preserve and celebrate that heritage. Working with LESPI and the City Council, we will seek to get historic acknowledgement for some of the tenement blocks in the neighborhood before it all disappears.
Zoning and development. This neighborhood is at the beginning of a major period of development. While recognizing that new development can be an improvement to the area, we will advocate for appropriate zoning to make sure that the special character of this neighborhood is not lost.
Neighborhood beautification. By partnering with our local parks and finding new ways to keep our streets looking sharp and fresh, we hope to keep this neighborhood livable and vital.
Partner with other neighborhood groups. Our specific district (AD 65 Part A) is narrowly drawn, but the issues we care about are shared by our diverse community. We want to make sure we are reaching out beyond any one affinity group to bring a broad coalition of progressives together.
Partner with local businesses. We want to promote and support local businesses, and ask them to promote and support us — political goals like safer streets and better traffic management affects us all.
We expect all members to join at least one committee and participate actively in its projects — or bring your own idea and start a new project. We’re in it for the long haul, and hope you are too!
Manny Cantor Center was filled Thursday night with 175 residents, half a dozen elected officials, and two high-ranking Department of Transportation officials to talk about the growing traffic problem on Grand and Clinton Streets. District Leaders Caroline Laskow and Lee Berman hosted the event.
The problem is focused on the corner of Grand and Clinton Streets, where cars coming west on Grand Street from the FDR Drive and north on Clinton Street from downtown Manhattan converge before getting on the Williamsburg Bridge. The bottleneck there keeps our streets clogged with honking cars during evening rush hour and late at night, dramatically impacting safety and quality of life. (See Matt Marello’s video to witness the problem.)
Existing traffic conditions.
How did this come about? Sean Quinn, from DOT’s Office of Bicycle and Pedestrian Programs kicked off the evening with a presentation detailing 10 years of pedestrian safety improvements in the neighborhood that have left these streets unable to cope with the increase in automobiles. Most impactful was the decision in 2012, in response to the growing rate of accidents on Delancey and the tragic death of 12-year-old Dashane Santana, to block left turns from Essex Street onto Delancey and to open Clinton Street as an access route to the bridge. This made it more difficult for drivers to get to the Williamsburg Bridge from the Houston Street exit of the FDR, and pushed them to Grand Street.
The drivers who come through, honking in frustration at the traffic, do not live here, or work here, or shop here.
Since then, we’ve watched as our residential neighborhood has been turned into an on-ramp to the Williamsburg Bridge. The drivers who come through, honking in frustration at the traffic, do not live here, or work here, or shop here — they are just trying to get out of Manhattan. And despite a petition last year signed by more than 1000 residents, letters of concern from our elected officials, and a resolution from the Community Board, no progress has been made by DOT to improve the situation.
Grand Street Democrats members Jeremy Sherber and William Rockwell presented two short-term ideas to relieve pressure at Clinton and Grand. One would force Grand Street drivers to drive past Clinton and make turns on Norfolk or Essex Street to get to the bridge, while allowing Clinton Street drivers to continue to feed onto the bridge. The idea here is that both streams of traffic might flow more smoothly if they were not forced to merge together.
One interim solution would reduce gridlock at Grand and Clinton.
The other idea would be to stop the Clinton Street approach south of Grand Street altogether, making sure drivers from downtown used larger streets like Allen and Essex to get to the bridge. In this scenario, the number of cars on Grand would not decrease, but the flow of traffic would improve, hopefully getting rid of the angry honking.
Or eliminate bridge traffic from Clinton Street altogether.
But even these suggestions don’t address the real issue: these streets are not appropriate for bridge traffic at all. That’s why DOT needs to explore changes that take commuters off these residential streets altogether and push bridge traffic to larger, more appropriate avenues on the perimeter of our neighborhood.
Bridge traffic should be routed to larger avenues on the perimeter of this neighborhood.
Essex Crossing construction is in full swing and will bring thousands more residents to this neighborhood, along with significant new retail that will draw shoppers, car service pick-ups, and delivery vehicles. The streets directly involved today in feeding the Williamsburg Bridge are facing a major increase in local traffic in 2018. To support the residents and businesses in these new developments, DOT must find some other way for drivers to get to the bridge.
Many residents spoke Thursday about other ideas that need to be explored, including a safer, dedicated left-turn lane from Essex to Delancey; moving bike lanes to streets not also used by so many cars; an exit from the FDR directly onto Delancey; better timing of traffic lights at Grand and Clinton; and a general realignment of tolls that would limit the attraction of the free Williamsburg Bridge to commuters and delivery vehicles. Undoubtedly any comprehensive solution will need to consider all of these options, and more.
These residential streets are not appropriate for bridge traffic at all.
So what’s next? DOT did not give any new information about its plans or offer any specific recommendations of its own. In fact, Manhattan Commissioner Luis Sanchez said that they don’t like to do full studies unless they have a baseline “normal” traffic to start with, and since Essex Crossing construction will continue for another 5-6 years, there won’t be any “normal” traffic pattern for years. District Leader Lee Berman countered that the long lines of cars, the gridlock, and the honking — these are the new “normal” for our neighborhood, and DOT can’t keep dragging its heels on producing real recommendations to solve this problem.
Thursday’s large, passionate turnout will help convince the elected officials in attendance that this is an issue of great concern to our community. Grand Street Democrats will continue to put pressure on our elected officials and DOT officials to deliver meaningful results.
There’s a lot to say about last night’s Traffic Town Hall — 175 neighbors, five elected officials, DOT officials and engineers all getting together to address the problem made for a successful meeting. But nothing’s fixed yet, the problem is growing, and we need to keep the pressure on. So we’ll have more to say later.
In 2018, Grand Street Democrats is teaming up with Sister District to help shape elections outside our immediate neighborhood, leveraging our strong Democratic advantage to swing districts where the outcome is in doubt and the balance of power in state government is decided.
To kick-off our partnership, we’ll be preparing together for the January 20 Women’s March in NYC with a protest poster-making party on Saturday, January 13.
This is a family-friendly event — kids are more than welcome, they are great artists and natural protesters!
Our residential neighborhood is being turned into an on-ramp for the Williamsburg Bridge. The intersection of Grand and Clinton is the main center of the problem, creating a honking backup for several blocks in both directions. Despite a resolution from Community Board 3 and letters from our local elected officials, the Department of Transportation has not adequately addressed the situation. In fact, it’s gotten worse.
Councilmember Margaret Chin has helped us secure the DOT Manhattan Commissioner for a town hall on Thursday, January 11. Other elected officials will be participating, and several community groups are co-sponsoring the event because this is a matter that effects the quality of life of everyone in the neighborhood.
Seward Coop resident Matt Marello filmed the intersection last winter to illustrate exactly why the traffic pattern is causing such a problem.
We will be presenting two short-term solutions to keep cars moving more efficiently and safely, while pushing for long-term changes that would keep this traffic out of our neighborhood entirely.
Please join us to show DOT how important this issue is to all of us.
At our regular meeting in November our members outlined a half dozen committees that will help us direct activities for Grand Street Democrats. So we’re not going to waste any time — let’s start 2018 with a Committee-palooza!
What’s a Committee-palooza? Honestly, we just made it up. But here’s how we think it works: You and your neighbors (and the friend you bring with you) break out for the GSD committee you care about and brainstorm specific goals and actionable steps for the new year. Then each committee shares those ideas with the whole club, so we can align our priorities and get to work.
For example, let’s say you care about helping Democrats across the country pick up seats during the 2018 mid-term elections. You sit down at the Big D table to decide what projects will be most effective — fundraising, phone banks, out-of-state canvassing — then make a plan to identify candidates to support or outside organizations to partner with.
Or, you’re dismayed by the massive new skyscrapers going up on the waterfront combined with the new developments closer to home. So you join the Political & Social Action Committee and start coming up with a plan to support zoning changes on the Lower East Side or pressure the MTA to increase access to public transportation.
The idea is to do some talking … and then chart a path from talking toward action. We want to find real opportunities for progress, and deputize club members (you!) to make change happen.
