Join us Monday, November 22 via Zoom
Log in Monday at 7pm via Zoom with this link.
Bring your neighborhood safety questions & concerns to the 7th Precinct Community Council meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 10 at 7 pm.
Mayor
Eric Adams
Public Advocate
Jumaane Williams
Comptroller
Brad Lander
Manhattan Borough President
Mark Levine
Manhattan District Attorney
Alvin Bragg
City Council District 1
Christopher Marte
Judge of the Civil Court — 2nd Municipal District
(Vote for 2)
Betty Lugo
Christopher Chin
Read our summary of the five ballot proposals.
Other references:
GSD members amended the club bylaws, elected new officers, and got updates on some local issues.
In order to acknowledge GSD’s growth and potential for more growth — and to make sure that the club is prepared for whatever new district lines are drawn in 2022 — we are proposing a few small changes to our bylaws. Essentially, we should make room, as other clubs do, for more than one Vice President, each with a different portfolio. And we also need to strip from our mission statement any reference to “AD65 Part A” which may not exist with these same geographic boundaries after this year.
Amendments can be passed tonight by a vote of 2/3 of the members in attendance.
The officers of the Club shall consist of a President, a Vice President, a Secretary, and a Treasurer. If nominated and elected as such, the Club may have up to three Vice Presidents with separate responsibilities. They shall each serve for one year. Officer elections shall be held at the Annual Meeting, and officers shall serve until the announcement of the results of the subsequent election.
Vice President. The Vice President(s) shall perform such duties as the President or the Executive Committee may direct. If the President is temporarily absent, the Executive Committee will select one Vice President to serve as Acting President.
Officers shall be elected by secret ballot at the annual meeting by a plurality of those voting. A vacancy in the office of President shall be filled immediately by the Vice President. When there is more than one Vice President, the Executive Committee will select which one will succeed the President by majority vote. All other vacancies of officers shall be filled by a majority vote of the Executive Committee.
Update: These amendments were passed by 2/3 of voting members present at our 10/13/21 meeting.
On Election Day, there will be five ballot proposals up for a vote across the state. Whichever ones pass will be written into the State Constitution.
There are a number of changes rolled into one ballot proposal. You must vote “yes” or “no” for all of them together.
The full text of Proposal 1 can be found here from the state Board of Election, Ballotpedia’s guide on the proposal is here and this deep-dive on the measure from Spectrum News is a great resource for understanding the issues at play.
The second ballot measure would add a broad new right to the state constitution: “Each person shall have a right to clean air and water, and a healthful environment.”
Proponents point to states like Pennsylvania and Montana where similar provisions have been used to successfully stop fracking, for example.
Opponents say the new right is too broad and can invite unnecessary lawsuits and judges creating new rules from the bench.
This would eliminate a Constitutional rule that you must register to vote at least 10 days before an election. This would give the legislature a chance to pass laws allowing voter registration to take place much closer to the election, up to and including same-day voter registration.
This proposal would allow no-excuse absentee voting, which means anyone could request a ballot by mail even if they are not going to be out of state on election day. (This was temporarily allowed by Executive Action during the pandemic.)
$25,000 is currently the limit of claims in Civil Court. The last time this was changed was in 1983. This proposal would increase the claims limit to $50,000. Essentially, this shifts some suits from the State Supreme Court to Civil Court.
References:
https://gothamist.com/news/five-ballot-proposals-breakdown-november-2021
Please join us this Saturday, October 2 at the March for Reproductive Rights & Fair Access.
Join pro-choice advocates in all 50 states to send a loud and powerful message to the Supreme Court and politicians everywhere – Bans Off Our Bodies!
GSD is a co-sponsor of the march, and we are joining a coalition of downtown Democratic Clubs in NYC and a large slate of co-sponsors across the country.
Saturday, October 2
MARCH FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS & FAIR ACCESS
12:30 pm
Sign-making at Seward Park Library Plaza
1:30 pm
March to Foley Square
2:00 pm
Rally at Foley Square &
March to Washington Square Park
Why It’s Urgent to March Now
The right to safe, legal abortions is at risk like never before. Texas enacted an abortion ban, making abortions virtually inaccessible in the state. Now the Supreme Court will hear an abortion challenge that could render the protections of Roe v. Wade meaningless across many parts of the country. The Supreme Court will hear a case concerning Mississippi’s abortion restriction on December 1st.
Thank you to GSD members Ellen Garvey and Joyce Ravitz for including our club in this important event!
With new officer elections coming up, GSD members discussed where the club can go from here.
Jumaane Williams is running for re-election as NYC’s Public Advocate against candidates on the Republican and Conservative party lines.
Because this race flew under the radar during the primary (there were no strong primary challengers), Williams has not yet qualified for NYC’s robust matching funds program, but he still needs to compete for the Nov. 2 election.
Once Williams meets the threshold, all eligible contributions from NYC residents up to $250 will be matched at an 8:1 rate. A $250 contribution will become a $2,250 contribution to the campaign which will greatly help the campaign.
Jumaane Williams has served as the Public Advocate of NYC since 2019. Previously, he served on the NYC Council and as a community organizer. Some of his duties as Public Advocate are introducing and sponsoring legislation and fighting for New Yorkers on issues like public safety, affordable housing, transparency in City government, racial justice and more. He is a true activist-elected official, and is strongly endorsed by Grand Street Dems for re-election.
At four years old, Grand Street Dems is closing out its first chapter. We’ve learned the basics of local organizing, been involved in campaigns local and national, and taken our first steps at establishing a local community of progressive activists and concerned Democrats.
I’ve been really proud to lead GSD through this exciting and challenging start. But now the club gets to write its next chapter with a new President and a new leadership team. This is an important moment to decide what issues and candidates to support, and how to engage Democrats in our neighborhood. It’s also the right time to decide how the club itself is organized and can make decisions with more member input.
What changes would you like to see the club make? What priorities do we need to maintain? And are you willing to join the leadership team to make it all happen? Please send an email to let me know.
My time as GSD President is restricted by the term limits we wrote into our founding bylaws, but that’s not the only reason for me to step down. Inviting a new team to lead Grand Street Dems is also just the right thing to do to keep the club energized and relevant.
But we need YOU to raise your hand and volunteer to do the work.
Coming up, we have two meetings scheduled to help determine the future of GSD:
After that, there’s still so much to do. There’s a whole new conversation to have about downtown development; a new opportunity to shape traffic and pedestrian access around Essex Crossing; campaigns for housing, criminal, and environmental justice; redistricting decisions that may change our representation; and important local Democratic primaries in 2022 for Congress, Assembly, State Senate, and Governor.
I still plan to participate in all of that, but I’m looking forward to following your lead for the next few years.
— Jeremy
