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  • Grand Street Democrats urges formal review of MTA/DOT mitigation plan for L Train shutdown

    At last night’s regular meeting, Grand Street Democrats approved the following resolution:

    The L Train East River Tunnel requires extensive repairs that will disrupt the commute of thousands of New Yorkers for 18 months or more. These repairs are necessary, and the disruption is unavoidable. However, the current MTA contingency plans fail to adequately address the challenge. For example, with the current plan, non-HOV cars will be forced off Delancey onto smaller streets that already suffer from congestion and unsafe conditions for pedestrians. We urge the MTA to consider several important changes to its plans and approach.

    1. Fully review the impact on residential streets surrounding the 14th Street and Delancey Street corridors, particularly along Grand Street and Clinton Street.
    2. Assign electric buses, not diesel, to the Delancey and 14th Street corridors. The sheer volume of additional bus traffic on these routes as part of the mitigation plan makes diesel a disastrous choice for air quality.
    3. Provide long-overdue access for people with disabilities and elderly to all subway stations undergoing renovation.
    4. Vet mitigation plans through a formal and collaborative environmental review and impact study and commit to getting approval from Community Boards in the affected neighborhoods before work begins.

    We support the lawsuit brought by community groups, individuals, and organizations representing the disabled which would require the MTA and NYC DOT to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and prepare an environmental impact statement.

    We urge our city council members and state representatives to officially support these efforts to improve the existing L Train contingency plan.

  • Executive committee authorized to negotiate full slate of delegates with GSD nominees

    At last night’s regular meeting, GSD members initiated the process for determining this year’s slate of judicial delegates and alternates from Assembly District 65. Four members were nominated to join the slate of delegates, and the executive committee was authorized to negotiate the final make-up of the slate with other Democratic District Leaders from AD65.

    The GSD nominees are Ian Rosenberg, Diego Segalini, Hariette Skidelski, and Peter Herb. Since members ranked nominees when voting, these nominees will be considered for the final slate in this order.

    GSD members also approved a resolution to give the executive committee authorized to negotiate a full slate of judicial delegates (5) and alternates (5) with the other Democratic District Leaders from AD 65. The delegates endorsed last night by GSD members will make up AD65 Part A’s contribution to that slate.

  • GSD Judicial Delegates to be endorsed at May 3 meeting

    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.

  • May 12: Volunteer at Corlears Hook Park

    Corlears Hook Park

    Saturday, May 12
    8:30 am – 2:00 pm

    Corlears Hook Park
    Cherry Street & Jackson Street

    RSVP by May 4

    Join the New York Junior League’s Playground Improvement Project to help beautify and improve Corlears Hook Park.
    Lunch provided if you RSVP by May 4.

    Corlears Hook Park — our neighborhood’s entryway to East River Park — has undergone significant upgrades over the past five years thanks to local organizing by Friends of Corlears Hook Park.

    This year, the park has been selected as the subject of an intense month-long volunteer project by New York Junior League’s Playground Improvement Project. Working weekends since April 14, volunteers are gardening, landscaping, and renovating the park and playground.

    We will join them during the final weekend of park improvements, on Saturday, May 12. Volunteers should be ready to start working at 8:30 am. Lunch will be provided only if you RSVP below.

    Corlears Hook Park is a vital outdoor space for our community, with playground, outdoor grills, baseball and soccer field, a dog run, and one of the most vibrant displays of Chinese magnolias in New York City. It’s important that we do our part to make sure this park has the local resources necessary to keep it looking its best.

  • May 7: State Candidates Forum

    State Candidates Forum

    Monday, May 7
    Doors open 6:30 pm
    First speaker 6:45 pm

    PS 41
    116 W. 11th Street

    This year’s state primary is heating up! Hear from Democratic candidates for Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, and Comptroller. Open to the public.

    We are grateful to Village Independent Democrats for arranging the event. GSD and other downtown clubs are co-sponsoring the event to make sure members of our community have a chance to hear directly from all these Democratic campaigns.

    PS 41 is close to the West 4th Street subway stop (D, B, F, A, C). From our neighborhood you can also take the M14A to 6th Ave. and walk down just three blocks.

  • May 3: GSD Spring Meeting

    GSD Spring Meeting

    Thursday, May 3
    6:30 – 9:00 pm

    Seward Park Coop Meeting Room
    387 Grand Street

    At our next regular meeting we will:

    • Discuss and vote on endorsements for NYS Assembly and NYS Senate elections.
    • Nominate and select delegates to the NYS Democratic judicial convention.
    • Discuss and vote on resolutions regarding the MTA’s current contingency plan for the L Train shutdown.

    The meeting is open to the public. Only members with voting privileges* will be allowed to vote on endorsements and resolutions. (Members with voting privileges who cannot make the meeting may designate in writing any other member to vote on their behalf.)

    * A member has voting privileges if they meet the following conditions:

    1. is a registered Democrat;
    2. has been a member for at least 90 days;
    3. has completed a participation requirement as defined by the Executive Committee.

    If you are unsure if you meet these requirements, please email hello@grandstreetdems.nyc.

  • Community Leaders continue to push for more information from DOT

    Following a letter from local elected officials last week urging NYC DOT to address the ongoing traffic problem in our neighborhood, Grand Street Democrats District Leaders and other community leaders involved in January’s Traffic Town Hall have sent their own letter to DOT Commissioner Trottenberg asking for the release of traffic study data that was promised in 2017 and for the development of a strategy to address the traffic.

    With new retail opening this fall at Essex Crossing, and especially the L Train shutdown starting in 2019, we need to develop a better plan to handle cars now so that the problem doesn’t get out of control.

    Below is the letter we sent out today:

    Commissioner Trottenberg,

    We write to you about the intersection of Clinton Street and Grand Street on the Lower East Side. Significant traffic congestion at this intersection continues to impact the surrounding streets and neighborhoods. We urge the Department of Transportation to release data, progress, conclusions, and recommendations from any traffic study at this intersection conducted in 2017 or that is underway, and to commit to developing a comprehensive plan for community review that will route bridge traffic to wider streets with more capacity.

    The conditions at this intersection and nearby streets continue to worsen.
    • Narrow streets that approach the Williamsburg Bridge here are inadequate for the number of cars leaving Manhattan by this route.
    • Gridlock at Clinton and Grand creates a backlog of cars in two directions, impacting East Broadway and extending up the FDR Drive as far as Houston Street.
    • This bottleneck creates a safety hazard for pedestrians and bicyclists over several blocks.
    • Incessant honking from frustrated drivers, often late at night, is a serious aggravation for residents.
    • New construction of several high-rise buildings with active retail will compound the congestion problem within this traffic zone.
    • The L Train shutdown starting in 2019 will have a big effect on these same streets, as non-HVO cars are diverted from the Williamsburg Bridge.

    We must make plans now to help this neighborhood accommodate its rapid growth. It is not appropriate to use this residential area as an on-ramp to the Williamsburg Bridge.

    Sincerely,

    Caroline Laskow
    Lee Berman
    Daisy Paez
    Democratic District Leaders

    Sandra Strother
    President, Grand Street Guild Residents Association

    Doron Stember
    President, Seward Park Cooperative

    Vaylateena Jones
    Lower East Side Power Partnership

    Naama Laufer
    President, PS 110 PTA

    Jeremy Sherber
    President, Grand Street Democrats

    [View PDF]

    Update: Howard Stern has also signed the letter for the Hillman Board of Directors. [PDF]

  • Local elected officials pressure DOT for more action on Grand Street traffic

    Local elected officials this week petitioned DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg and NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill about the ongoing traffic problem at Grand and Clinton Streets.

    State Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou, State Senator Brian Kavanagh, US Reps. Nydia Velázquez and Carolyn Maloney, Borough President Gale Brewer, and Councilmember Margaret Chin all signed the letter, writing, “It is critical that your agencies work swiftly with the community to find solutions to this ongoing traffic problem.”

    The letter indicates that DOT will present findings of its traffic study at a Community Board meeting in May. No date for such a presentation has yet been announced.

    Elected officials wrote to Commissioner Trottenberg almost 1 year ago, after a Community Board resolution, to ask for a traffic study of the area. On June 1, 2017, Trottenberg promised the study would begin, but no results have been released.

    Earlier this year, Grand Street Democrats convened a Traffic Town Hall with elected officials to help make sure DOT officials understood the seriousness of the growing problem.

    Click for PDF.

  • April 15: Canvass for Shelley Mayer in Westchester

    If Democrats have any hope of gaining control of the New York State Senate this year — gaining an upper hand on progressive priorities like expanding voting rights, campaign finance reform, promoting reproductive justice, affordable housing, criminal justice reform, and gun control — then we have to win the April 24 special election in lower Westchester.

    Volunteer with GSD President Jeremy Sherber in Westchester on Sunday, April 15 to canvass for Shelley Mayer. This will be classic campaign door-knocking: after a brief orientation, volunteers will be sent out in pairs with a list of target voters. (If you’ve never done this before, you’ll get the hang of it pretty quickly.)

  • April 7: Pop-up exhibit and silent auction for gun safety

    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.

    Senator Richard Shelby, by Janice McDonnell
    Senator Mike Lee, by Elizabeth Berdann
    Senator Ted Cruz, by Kate Kretz

    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.