With only days left in Albany’s legislative session, now is the time to put pressure on the State Senate and Gov. Cuomo to strengthen New York’s gun safety laws by passing the Extreme Risk Protection Order Act (ERPO) sponsored by our State Senator Brian Kavanagh.

According to the Giffords Law Center: “ERPO empowers families and law enforcement to prevent gun tragedies by allowing them to petition a court to temporarily remove guns from individuals at an elevated risk of endangering themselves or others. An ERPO prohibits individuals in crisis from purchasing or accessing firearms and requires them to relinquish any guns they possess while the order is in effect.”

The bill has already passed the Democratic-led State Assembly but will need Gov. Cuomo’s full support to pass the State Senate. Please take a moment on Monday to share on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other social media channels your support of ERPO.

This past year we’ve petitioned for District Leaders, County Committee Members, and been part of the district convention to choose a nominee for our State Senate special election. On a democracy scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is Tammany-style selection by party bosses and 10 is Quaker town-hall consensus, each of these selection procedures gets a different grade somewhere in the middle.

Learning how all that works has been like sitting through Civics 101. And with a year of elections under our belt, we’re ready for Civics 102: electing judges to the New York State Supreme Court.

The NY Supreme Court is the state’s major trial court (not the state’s highest court, which is confusingly called the Court of Appeals). Candidates for Supreme Court appear on the November general election ballot. Before that, in late September, each major party nominates judicial candidates at a party convention. And before that, delegates to that convention are selected by voters on the primary ballot on September 13.

Any New York State resident who is an enrolled member of a political party can run for judicial delegate, but generally district leaders, local political clubs, and even elected officials in each assembly district endorse a slate of delegates and help them qualify for the primary. That’s where Grand Street Democrats — and you — come in. At our May 3 spring meeting we will ask the club to endorse 2 or 3 members who are interested in being judicial delegates and alternate delegates for 2018.

The responsibilities of judicial delegates include getting to know the people running for NY Supreme Court and attending the judicial convention (likely this year between September 18-24). At the convention, delegates will cast their votes for those candidates they believe would be the best choices for the Democratic Party’s nominees in the general election.

We’d also like you to commit to getting at least 50 signatures in June on the designating petitions that you (and all candidates for party or public office) need to have to qualify for the primary. Also: you must be a member of Grand Street Democrats to be considered for our endorsement as a judicial delegate.

Please let us know if you have questions about the role. And let us know if you’re interested, so we know before May 3 how much discussion time we need to set aside. And then please prepare a resume we can share and a brief statement about why you are interested in this role.

For more information on this position and process, you can review this helpful guide from the New York City Bar Association (particularly pages 25-27): https://www2.nycbar.org/pdf/report/uploads/20072672-GuidetoJudicialSelectionMethodsinNewYork.pdf.

After the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando in 2016, local artist and GSD member Kim Sillen organized the Senator Portrait Project — images of the US Senators who take NRA money and vote against gun safety laws. Artists from around the country contributed to the project, and the images are clarifying: here are portraits of Senators with actual blood on their hands.

This week, the paintings are being shown at nearby BestWorld Gallery at 219 Madison Street. And on Saturday evening at 6:00 pm there will be a reception and silent auction to benefit the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Victims’ Fund and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Kim says, “The NRA knows how easy it is to buy a senator. So we wanted to offer everyone the same opportunity.” She suggests the portraits would make great protest signs (or gifts for your NRA-supporting uncle).

Also included in the silent auction is an anti-NRA leather jacket by street artist Hektad.

As an official Democratic club, Grand Street Democrats has been asked over the past couple months to endorse upstate Congressional Democratic candidates and outer-borough State Senate No-IDC challengers. The GSD Executive Committee met recently to discuss our process of providing endorsements. After much discussion, we realized that the best use of our time and attention would be to focus our efforts on races in which our members can actually vote.

To officially endorse any campaign, we would need to follow the rules we established in our bylaws for fairness to all candidates: we need to invite candidates to meet with our members, then give members a chance to vote on an endorsement. We will go through this process for all important races that affect us directly, but to do it for every campaign looking for support is not logistically practical.

Nor is it effective — what does a GSD endorsement really mean for a Democrat not looking to represent the Lower East Side? Let’s face it, they’re looking to talk to local Democratic activists outside their district mainly for one reason: money. We can’t vote for them, but we can contribute, and they probably need all the help they can get. “Endorsed by Grand Street Democrats” is not really what they need, so we’re not going to waste your time trying to give it to them.

But contributions are important; so is awareness of races outside our corner of Manhattan. GSD wants to encourage this kind of political engagement. How can we give candidates the attention they deserve?

We will try to do this in a few different ways. First, we’re partnering with Sister District, a national organization whose goal is to direct volunteer energy from deep blue districts like ours toward competitive races around the country. Secondly, we are working with other local Democratic clubs to sponsor a No-IDC forum where you can meet these progressive challengers all at once. We’ll let you know when the details have been nailed down, but we think it will be an exciting, thought-provoking event.

And third, we will help promote events hosted by GSD members for progressive candidates. So if you really care about that race in Brooklyn/Columbia County/North Carolina, and you want to help raise some money for it, host a meet-and-greet and let us know about it — we’ll tell GSD members about it through our growing email list and our active Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook accounts.

Promoting an event for GSD members to meet a progressive candidate is not an endorsement — but for those campaigns, it’s probably better than an endorsement; it’s definitely more effective and meaningful.

If you have other ideas, please let us know.

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 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.

Request to join PSAC

Big D

• 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.

Request to join Big D

Civics and Education

• 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.

Request to join Civ-Ed

The Nabe

• 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.

Request to join the Nabe

Outreach

• 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.

Request to join Outreach

Events

• Women’s March 2018. We put together a strong local contingent for the Women’s March this year, and will look for similar opportunities.
• Trivia Night March 5. We’ll be holding a night out at Lucky Jack’s, featuring CivEd trivia.
• Partner with parks. June 6 is Family Fun Day at Corlears Park, and GSD will be preparing some games and educational material.

Request to join Events

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!

Thanks to everyone who came out to march this weekend!

Thanks for marching with District Leader @carolinelaskow & @grandstreetdems! Thanks to all who marched everywhere. This is what democracy looks like. #GSDMarches #womensmarchnyc #actinglocalthinkingglobal ?: @patarnow

A post shared by Grand Street Democrats (@grandstreetdems) on Jan 21, 2018 at 7:49am PST