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.

April 12: Cynthia Nixon fundraiser in Seward Park

Actor and public education advocate Cynthia Nixon is challenging Andrew Cuomo for Governor of New York this year. Grand Street Democrats has not yet had a chance to make an endorsement in this important race, but two GSD members in Seward Park are opening their home for a fundraiser and meet & greet for candidate Nixon this month. If you want to get a head start on understanding the issues and personalities that will dominate this year’s NYS political news, consider coming by.

Thursday, April 12
6:30 – 8:00 pm
at the home of Ella & Brett Leitner
417 Grand Street, Apt. D1704

RSVP and donate on ActBlue.

To endorse or not to endorse?

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.

GSD rallies to end gun violence in NYC and DC

Grand Street Democrats made it to rallies in NYC and Washington, DC on Saturday. District Leader Caroline Laskow and her family and GSD President Jeremy Sherber and his family joined other members and neighbors on a bus to Washington. GSD Treasurer Daria Segalini with her family lead locals uptown to join the NYC rally.

March with your neighbors for gun safety: March 24

America, finally, is at a turning point. Large majorities of us favor common-sense gun safety legislation, yet Washington has ignored even the most reasonable regulations because of the outsized influence of the NRA. Now there is a growing movement, inspired and led by the survivors of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, strong enough to take on the NRA.

Join that movement on March 24 for the March for Our Lives rally in Washington, DC. Sign up below for a spot on the Grand Street bus. Space is limited, cost is $50 per seat. (And thank you to East River cooperator Cynthia Pappas for chartering the bus and letting us team up.)

Follow-up letter to DOT on Clinton/Grand jam

District leaders Caroline Laskow, Lee Berman, and Daisy Paez, along with other GSD members, joined a call last month with Luis Sanchez and Sean Quinn of the Department of Transportation to follow up from our Traffic Town Hall in January. There was very little new information on the call. DOT officials said they needed time to gather and analyze data from traffic counters that have been placed in several locations around the neighborhood.

Below is a letter from GSD President Jeremy Sherber to Sanchez and Quinn being sent today. Our goal is to set reasonable deadlines for DOT to deliver data analysis and new plans.

March 5, 2018

Luis Sanchez, Manhattan Borough Commissioner
Sean Quinn, Senior Director, Office of Bicycle and Pedestrian Programs
NYC Department of Transportation
55 Water Street
New York, NY 10041

Commissioner Sanchez and Director Quinn,

Many thanks for continuing to speak with community members about the growing traffic problem around Grand and Clinton Streets.

First of all, I’d like to get a follow-up meeting on the calendar for the week of May 21. That should provide enough time to read preliminary data from traffic counters and for us to have a more meaningful discussion of possible solutions and how to present options to the community.

Are you free Tuesday, May 22 or Wednesday, May 23 at 10:00 am or 11:00 am?

Second, I want to make sure to emphasize a point that I keep hearing from neighbors, and that we tried to convey in our call last month. High-rise development in the area right around the Grand/Clinton intersection has only just started: residents and stores have yet to move in to the three buildings already constructed, two more buildings are underway, and three new developments have been announced all within the immediate area we are discussing. The new buildings will be constructed as-of-right, so DOT may never be asked to weigh in on their impact — but that does not mean they won’t have an impact. Any plan we make now to mitigate the traffic in this area must take into consideration the rapid growth these few blocks are experiencing.

The existing traffic problem creates a noise and safety challenge for our residential neighborhood. New development will only add to the amount of legitimate local traffic and to the people being affected by congestion. Next year’s L train shutdown will undoubtedly create even more traffic on these narrow streets. So the solution we are asking for is one that routes Williamsburg Bridge traffic around these blocks, not through them.

We shouldn’t have to wait years until construction has stopped to plan a better traffic pattern. Drivers need to be directed to major arteries like Houston Street, Essex Street, Allen Street, and Delancey Street. The smaller streets in this residential area are not an appropriate approach to the Williamsburg Bridge — and tweaks to signage and traffic light timing are not going to change that.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Jeremy Sherber
President, Grand Street Democrats

March 5 = Pub Night + Civics Trivia

Let’s celebrate the 1-year anniversary of the start of Grand Street Democrats’ campaign to bring progressive, active, local politics back to the neighborhood! Join us Monday night for a drink at Lucky Jack’s and try your hand at our Civics Trivia Quiz.

No cover. Cash bar. $10 quiz entry. Kitschy prizes for the trivia-est in the neighborhood. See you there!

Grand Street Democrats endorses Carolyn Maloney (NY-12)

After speaking with Rep. Carolyn Maloney and her challenger Thursday evening, Grand Street Democrats members voted to endorse Rep. Maloney for re-election in 2018.

We’ll be petitioning to help her get on the ballot starting next week, and encouraging all Democrats in her district to vote for her in the congressional primary on June 24.

Representative Carolyn Maloney with District Leaders Caroline Laskow and Lee Berman.

Rep. Maloney has a strong record of support for women’s rights, gun safety, and affordable health care. She’s fought for years to take care of 9/11 first responders. As a NYC public school teacher and member of the city council before she was elected to Congress, Rep. Maloney has a long history of progressive, active public service.