This election season has seen lots of positioning around the various troubles the city presently faces, but that positioning has often turned to issues surrounding the children of the candidates for public office.
In his third run for the office of public advocate, Norman Siegel is making sure you know how much he wants this job, and just how qualified he is – to the chagrin of his opponents.
‘Tis the season for city elections, so in advance of the September 15 primary, Brooklyn The Borough has compiled a list of incumbents and challengers in this year’s contested City Council elections for Brooklyn. There are many challengers this year, and open seats in the 33rd and 39th districts have made for heated races. Issues surrounding sustainable development have driven many candidates out of the woodwork. The pro-development Brooklyn political machine is still alive but questions remain about whether candidates supported by the county’s party boss, Assemblyman Vito Lopez, will sustain themselves despite criticism for their ties to a machine that makes the money flow from Brooklyn based business interests. The term limits extension has also sparked a renewed political engagement in the borough. Many candidates who had planned on running for seats that would have been open before term limits were extended have chosen to challenge incumbents that voted for the extension. We’ve compiled detailed information on each race as well as fundraising totals as the candidates head into the final weekend of the campaign.
A tipster sends in an email, with pictures, regarding the 35th City Council district race, where incumbent Letitia James is being challenged by Delia Hunley-Adossa. Ms. Hunley Adossa is in favor of the Atlantic Yards project and it’s been speculated that her campaign is funded by developers who want to challenge Ms. James’ opposition to the controversial project. The full email after the jump.
At the end of May, we learned that Mayor Bloomberg thought a reporter asking a question about term limit extensions was “a disgrace.” While it’s no surprise that the mayor’s campaign twitter account links to his press releases, a curious tweet popped up today, linking to the Cobble Hill Blog.
Bloomberg-subscribed tweeters, including Brooklyn The Borough were pointed by the campaign via twitter, to read about the mayor’s, and Borough President Marty Markowitz’s, efforts to revitalize the Brooklyn waterfront. What readers didn’t know is that the Cobble Hill Blog merely re-posted, word for word, a press release sent out by the borough president’s office.
City Comptroller, and Brooklynite, Bill Thompson kicked off his five-borough mayoral campaign swing on the steps of Borough Hall and his supporters were intent on emphasizing the comptroller’s average New Yorker credentials at the expense of his incumbent opponent, Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
At first sight it’s obvious that the Gowanus Canal is filthy. Yet, residents continue to congregate around it, canoe across it, build vessels to tour it, and wonder if its beauty will ever again surpass its usefulness as an industrial center. Efforts to revitalize expansive industrial lots in the area have advanced, with bars, restaurants and music venues opening along Second and Third Avenues. Artists work in nearby studios, and the BKLYN Yard, a venue alongside the canal, draws young people from all over the city to afternoon dance parties, barbecues and swap meets on summer weekends. However, over 150 years of heavy industrial activity combined with sewage and storm water run-off, and its proximity to factories and gas refineries have made the canal a site of controversy since the Environmental Protection Agency announced in April that the waterway is a candidate for the Superfund National Priorities List.
