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Grand Street Democrats

  • Climate and Sustainability Group Report — March 2023

    Thank you, Mary Jo Burke for sharing the Climate and Sustainability Update and to Alec Appelbaum for the update on Army Corp of Engineers Resiliency plans.

    • There is a drug take-back bin located in CVS, at the corner of Grand and Willet Streets, located near the pharmacy. Use this link for information about which drugs are accepted and which are not included for takeback.
    • The Lower East Side Ecology Center will have an electronic recycling takeback event in Thomkins Square Park on Sunday March 19th, from 10am – 2pm.
    • Precycle is hoping to open their space in Essex Market during the week of March 20th, 2023. Keep your eyes open for their booth when you’re in the Market.
    • Governor Hochul signed into law the “natural organic reduction”, or human composting, legislation. Further work will be required to regulate the activity within the state. Recompose is a company that is based in Washington State, and they currently provide human composting for anyone in the US. They work with local funeral homes to handle the death care which will facilitate transportation of the body to Recompose in Washington. Articles on the legislation from Bloomberg News, The Guardian, and SILive.
    • For information on the orange compost bins in lower Manhattan, including a link to the app, FAQs and bin locations, use this link. Bins are accessible 24/7.

    The Army Corps of Engineers has produced the first iteration of a multi-stage study on how to prioritize federal funds for protecting the waterfront communities of New York and New Jersey from storm surge and sea level rise. Its favored solution is fugly and impractical, relying heavily on walls. Enter you, the citizen. If you send comments to NYNJHarbor.TribStudy@usace.army.mil (deadlne extended to March 31st) and include ‘Harbor and Tributaries Focus Area Feasibility Study” in your message, they promise to take you seriously, The civic activists at Rebuild by Design offer this “comment writing template” to make effective comments easy and replicable.

    Folks should email Alec Appelbaum with questions or concerns. Thanks again and be well.

    Climate and Sustainability Group Report – May 12, 2022

    The Climate and Sustainability Committee has 3 action items:

    1. Mayor Adams suspended Curbside Compost program. The City Council introduced a bill to make it more accessible citywide. Thank Speaker Adrienne Adams for publicly supporting the bill. 
    2. The Build Public Renewables Act passed the NYS Assembly Corporations Committee. Thank our Assemblywoman, YuhLine Niou, for being a co-sponsor. 
    3. Join Weekly Hour of Action with Climate Change Makers

  • GSD Fall 2022 Fundraiser-October 18 6PM @Donnybrook

    It’s here! The time to celebrate all the hard work Grand Street Dems has done over the past year has finally arrived. We’ve petitioned, knocked on doors, dropped literature at apartments, introduced candidates around the neighborhood, passed literature out on the street, made phone calls and sent texts. We have all earned a drink! We will also celebrate our sponsors, guests, and honorees.

    To sponsor this event or to attend with a contribution, please RSVP here.

    If you do not want to contribute but still would like to attend, please do! You can RSVP here.

  • Resolution: No More 24

    Grand Street Dems supports the “No More 24” Home Attendant Bill (Int #0175) introduced to the City Council by Councilmember Christopher Marte.

    The Maximum Working Hours For Home Care Aides bill would set the maximum working hours that an employer may assign to a home care aide. The hours would be limited to 12 hours for any one shift, or within any 24 hours period, and 50 hours within a week. A home care aide could be assigned additional hours in the event of an emergency.

    For more information, you can review the full text of the bill, which is available online at https://on.nyc.gov/38Xtige.

    Resolution adopted August 11, 2022.

  • It’s official: GSD Members endorsed Mondaire Jones for Congress

    GSD is proud to endorse Mondaire Jones — a true progressive with a proven track record on voting rights, affordable housing, public education, child care, climate change, protecting fundamental rights for women’s health, LGBTQ+ community, affordable healthcare for all.

  • GSD Traffic Committee June 2022 Update

    ACTION ITEM: Call on our state legislators to reauthorize NYC’s speed safety camera program with no restrictions on hours of operation.
    Tell them you want 24/7 speed safety cameras. Here’s what you can say:
    “I want New York City’s streets protected from speeding drivers every hour of every day. Please reauthorize the speed safety camera program without restrictions on times and days of operation.”

    Together, we can push this bill over the finish line — and more than double the hours that New Yorkers are protected from speeding drivers.

    •  Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou (518.455.3640 or 212.312.1420)
    • Senator Brian Kavanagh (518.455.2625 or 212.298.5565)

    Questions? Suggestions? Contact Bill Ferns or join the Traffic Working Group Action Volunteers

  • June 29 & June 30: Downtown Democratic Forum for NY-10 Congressional Candidates

    Grand Street Dems is joining with other Democratic clubs from downtown Manhattan to meet with the candidates for the newly drawn NY-10 Congressional district. The forum will be on Zoom, over two nights to accommodate the large number of candidates.

    RSVP at https://bit.ly/NYCD10Forum.

  • Grand Street Dems announces 2022 endorsements

    Grand Street Dems 2022 Endorsements

    Governor: Jumaane Williams
    Lt Governor: Ana María Archila
    US Senate: Chuck Schumer
    NYS Attorney General: Letitia James
    NYS Comptroller: Thomas DiNapoli
    NY State Senate District 29: Vittoria Fariello
    NY State Assembly District 65: Grace Lee
    NY Democratic State Committee AD 65 (F): Kathryn Freed
    NY Democratic State Committee AD 65 (M): Joshua Goodman

  • GSD Traffic Committee May 2022 Update

    The Traffic Committee is looking for people who are willing to mobilize on traffic issues: writing letters to our elected officials, CB3 or call 311. There is power in our voices. Sign up here. GSD plan to have members hold a discussion on congestion pricing in the near future. 

    Traffic Working Group Message – March 29, 2022

    Traffic Working Group (TWG) Colleagues:

    ACTION ITEM: Sign Transportation Alternative’s online petition to our legislators to give NYC ‘home rule’ on traffic control cameras:
    https://p2a.co/ZCLnKkZ
    This will take only a minute…please do it:

    BACKGROUND: Traffic cameras (red light cameras, speed cameras, bus lane cameras) have been shown to reduce accidents, reduce personal injury and property damage, and augment NYPD enforcement. NYS Law, however, limits the number of cameras that NYC can use to only 150 active cameras; this has been the case since 1994 (https://www.transalt.org/home-rule-means-safe-streets-nyc).

    I discovered recently that one of our incumbent legislators was not aware of the traffic camera law nor of the limitation the state has imposed on NYC regarding traffic control cameras (https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/VAT/1111-A). With this being a state election year, now is the time to press for changes to this law. This petition will go to Governor Hochul and our state representatives (in our case, State Senator Brian Kavanagh, and State Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou) asking them to work to change the law and allow NYC “home rule” in setting up traffic cameras. 

    So…ACTION ITEM: Sign https://p2a.co/ZCLnKkZ

     If you willing to volunteer to take some action to fix our traffic mess, sign up at: 
    https://forms.gle/mwT2HLB7o7CKwk4F9
    If you have questions, contact me at bill.ferns@gmail.com . 

    Yours, 
    Bill Ferns My pronouns: he / him / his

    Resources:

    NYS Traffic Camera Law: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/VAT/1111-A
    Data on Traffic Camera Efficacy:  https://www.transalt.org/home-rule-means-safe-streets-nyc

  • Climate and Sustainability Group Report — March 2022

    ACTION ITEMS: ADVOCATE FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE AT ALL LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT! At the City level, Chris Marte’s office helped to lead a community meeting with the Department of Sanitation (DOS) regarding composting, or the lack thereof, in our neighborhood. However, Mayor Adams is suspending rollout of the program. Therefore, no more curbside program is in the works which is contradictory to what he campaigned on. Adams claimed it’s to save money. This program is .02% of the city budget. WHAT CAN WE DO?We send a pre-written letter to Mayor Adams and City Council to share our support for the Curbside Composting program  https://act.newmode.net/action/save-our-compost/save-composting-nycAt the State level, the NY State Assembly and Senate are working on the NY State budget. We need to go big and set up funding at the state level that will allow climate justice initiatives to be funded annually. WHAT CAN WE DO?CALL!! This one-click tool will connect you with New York State leadership (the Governor, Speaker, and Majority Leader), so that you can tell your leaders directly: We need to see an immediate, unprecedented commitment to climate justice funding in 2022. Script and Prompts from NY Renews

    Let them know you are part of Grand Street Dems when you call
    At the Federal level, we can contact our Senators to show we support passing major climate and clean energy investments that match the scale of the crisis. Even if our Senators support this, it is important to call so they can log constituents’ interest. Urge them to work with their colleagues. WHAT CAN WE DO?Here is more information and a script to follow  www.call4climate.com Does calling Senators matter?
    Yes. Your representatives use the number of calls they receive for or against a particular topic to decide what to focus on, and what to fight for.

    Should I call even if my Senators are Democrats?
    Yes. Democrats have to follow through on their commitment to pass the bill we need. 50 Democratic Senators say they want Congress to act, it’s up to us to make sure they do. Calling them will encourage them to fight harder.

  • GSD Traffic Committee March 2022 Update

    1. 44 people have signed on to the TWG, 12 since last GSD meeting. We are building an ‘Action Volunteer’ list – 15 people so far. We need more folks – this is really a non-partisan organizing opportunity
    2. The CB3 Transportation, Public Safety, & Environment Committee met a second time on Tuesday, February 8th to hear the DoT’s proposed plan for Grand/Clinton Street;
    -DoT claims changes would be ‘self-enforcing’There were no provisions for bus lanes or pedestrian / bicyclist safety;
    -DoT said the plan could increase traffic throughput by 13%
    -The centerpiece of DoT plan is a ‘no right-hand turn” from w/b Grand onto Clinton, and sends w/b traffic down to Norfolk to get to Delancey.
    -The proposal was mostly small tweaks but still keeps Grand Street as an on-ramp to the Williamsburg Bridge.
    -We are discussing how to best address this proposal: Ideas range from pushing CB3 to not endorse it to pushing DoT to clarify a lot of the vague details in the plan;
    -The Transportation Committee rejected the proposal;
    -The full CB3 also rejected the DoT proposal on 2/22;
    -Thanks goes to Michelle Kuppersmith and Lee Berman, who are on the CB3 Transportation Committee, and lots of TWG and neighbors who showed up at the CB3 meetings;
    -It is entirely possible that the DoT will ignore CB3’s position

    The Working Group Proposal:
    Based on participants’ feedback, the TWG has developed a clear set of goals (aka ‘wants’) that IPP Jeremy Sherber has put together in a handout

    -The basics:Essex Crossing becomes primarily a pedestrian mall;
    -A bus lane for the westbound M14A;
    -Two-way bike lane on the south side of Grand Street to consolidate the bike lanes and allow more space for the proposed bus lane;
    -Consistent but random traffic & parking enforcementAmending current NYS Traffic Light laws;
    -Making the Essex / Delancey subway stop fully accessible

    There has been some progress:
    -DoT has put up more safety barriers along the Clinton Street bike lanes from South Street to Delancey;
    -The pedestrian signal at the corner of Delancey and Clinton was askew so that it wasn’t viewable, but a couple of calls to 311 got DoT out to fix it;
    -Capt. Barcia of the 7th Precinct has found some funding for part-time traffic enforcement agents (TEAs) on the corner of Grand and Clinton
    -Relentless 311 reports have started to have an effect on truck parking in the pedestrian crosswalk and bike lanes on Clinton Street, although there are still offenders;
    -Katie Archer from Essex Crossing community affairs is interested in our efforts because of our pedestrian-friendly orientation.