January 10–16, 2020 Brooklyn Paper • www.BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 260-2500 11
Warren and Castro
stump in Flatbush
By Todd Maisel
Brooklyn Paper
Democratic Presidential
candidate Elizabeth Warren
held a packed campaign rally
at Kings Theatre on Tuesday,
where the Massachusetts senator
unveiled an endorsement
from former Obama cabinet
Secretary Julián Castro.
Castro — who ended his
own White House bid earlier
this month — officially endorsed
Warren’s candidacy at
a packed theatre in Flatbush,
where he spoke of her commitment
to helping workingclass
Americans keep up with
the rising costs of living.
The electric atmosphere in
the concert hall was overshadowed,
however, by the geopolitical
crisis unfolding in the
Middle East — as an Iranian
air strike had rained down on
an American military base
in Iraq just moments before
the politicos took the stage,
which came in response to
the killing of General Qasem
Soleimani at President Donald
Trump’s orders.
Warren began her remarks
on Tuesday by acknowledging
the tensions, and speaking
of the need for a peaceful
resolution.
“My heart is with our military
and our families,” Warren
said. “But this is a reminder
of why we need to deescalate
tension in the Middle East.
The American people do not
want a war with Iran.”
The left-wing senator
quickly shifted her remarks
to her populist economic proposals
— touting her plans
Levin staffer to
run for his seat
By Kevin Duggan
Brooklyn Paper
Brooklyn Heights Councilman
Stephen Levin’s chief
legislative guru announced
she’ll be running for her boss’s
seat on Monday, marking her
the lawmaker’s third staffer
to declare their candidacy
so far.
Elizabeth Adams, a
31-year-old Greenpoint resident,
has worked under Levin
as his legislative director for
less than two years, but aims to
take his seat when he’s termlimited
out of the office he’s
held since 2010, promising to
serve voters as a rallying force
when it comes to issues big
and small.
“I want to bring a bigger
vision to local government,”
Adams said. “I believe there’s
more that we can do to show
up for our communities and
represent the interests of the
33rd District and the city overall.
”B
ut the councilman’s
legislative aide will have to
overcome two of her fellow
colleagues — Levin’s Deputy
Chief of Staff Glomani
Bravo-Lopez and his Participatory
Budgeting Director
Benjamin Solotaire — if she’s
going to make history as the
first woman to represent the
33rd Council District, which
includes parts of Greenpoint,
Williamsburg, Navy Yard,
Fort Greene, Downtown
Brooklyn, Dumbo, Brooklyn
Heights, Boerum Hill,
and Vinegar Hill.
Adams claims that her record
of advocating for better
healthcare, immigrant rights,
and criminal justice will set
her apart from the workplace
competition.
“I think people that know
me know what I have fought
for and where my values come
from and know that I bring
that strong record of advocacy
into this role,” she said.
Meanwhile, Levin — who
has prudently declined to endorse
any of his underlings
with two years remaining before
his final term ends — insisted
that the cutthroat world
of New York City politics
hasn’t infringed upon their
ability to represent the district.
“We’ve gotten a pretty
good working environment
over the years,” Levin said.
“Everyone is so committed
to doing their job. I see everybody
committed to doing
their job in the district with
care and attention and the expertise
that everyone has developed
over the years.”
Adams named housing affordability
one of her cornerstone
issues, along with promoting
small businesses and
environmental sustainability
within the district. She also
discussed expanding homeless
and childcare services as
important issues she’s tackled
during her brief tenure under
Levin.
Prior to signing up with
Levin, Adams spent more than
five years in public relations
Councilman Stephen
Levin’s legislative director
Elizabeth Adams announced
her run for her
boss’s seat on Dec. 30.
for Planned Parenthood, and
previously served on Brian
Cunningham’s failed campaign
in 2017, when he unsuccessfully
ran to unseat
Flatbush Councilman Mathieu
Eugene.
The 33rd Council District
has experienced dramatic redevelopment
during Levin’s
decade in office, including the
approval of the controversial
80 Flatbush mega-project and
the effects of the 2004 Downtown
Brooklyn and 2005
North Brooklyn Waterfront
rezonings. Adams claimed
the city sells its affordability
subsidies too cheaply,
and vowed to push for more
deeply affordable housing for
the district.
“130% Area Median Income
is not what makes sense
for many neighborhoods,” she
said. “We need to look at low
income and supportive housing
and help people against
eviction.”
The candidate may have
difficulty courting drivers in
the coming election, and Adams
vowed to take a stand
against “car culture” by expanding
the city’s bike lane
network and replicating Manhattan’s
14th Street busway in
Downtown Brooklyn.
“Core to planning for our
future is the need to have
public transportation front
and center,” she said. “We
need to invest in infrastructure
that’s needed for that…
we need to shift away from
car culture.”
Adams refused to endorse
any of the numerous proposed
strategies for rehabilitating
the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway,
which remains
one of the most hotly anticipated
issues facing Levin’s
district.
In addition to her co-workers,
Adams also faces Greenpoint
activist and fellow Democratic
Socialists of America
member Victoria Cambranes,
who announced her candidacy
in August, the Brooklyn Eagle
reported.
Photo by Thomas Hill
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for a tax on wealth above $50
million, breaking up big tech
companies, and the “biggest
anti-corruption bill since Watergate.”
In classic Warren fashion,
the event concluded
with a selfie-line, where all
the night’s attendees could
get photographed with the
senator — and Castro — if
they were willing to endure
the long wait times.
Warren capped off the
event by speaking to a gathered
crowd outside the Flatbush
Avenue theatre — who were
denied entry into the venue for
space reasons, but who waited
in the rain nonetheless.
The senator’s campaign
hopes that Castro’s endorsement
will serve to reinvigorate
support for Warren, who finds
Senator Elizabeth Warren received an important
endorsement from Julian Castro at the Kings Theater
in Brooklyn Tuesday night.
Photo by Todd Maisel
herself polling in third place
in national polls at 15-percent,
down significantly from her
mid-October peak of 23-percent,
according to a FiveThirtyEight
analysis.
The endorsement also
comes at a crucial time for
the Democratic Primary, as
the first nominating contest —
the Iowa Caucus — is less than
a month away, on Feb. 3.
State shuts bar
Closes controversial Woodland in Slope
By Ben Verde
Brooklym Paper
State booze officials revoked
the liquor license of a
controversial Park Slope watering
hole — but not soon
enough to avoid a stabbing
just days before the shutdown
took effect.
The State Liquor Authority
elected to close Woodland,
the pub on the corner of Sixth
Ave and Flatbush on Dec. 18
for a laundry list of infractions
dating back to March
2018, with officials citing violations
of the city’s noise ordinance
and inappropriately
storing mimosas, while noting
that the restaurant had become
a “focal point of police
attention.”
However, the decision to
revoke the bar’s liquor license
didn’t go into effect
until Jan. 3 — 12 days after
a Dec. 22 stabbing at Woodland
that sent a man to the
hospital for stitches.
Woodland has been a
longtime source of grief for
nearby residents, and the
city’s open data portal shows
a whopping 551 noise complaints
between June 2, 2012
and Dec. 15, 2019.
“They’ve been a bad actor
for a really long time, and
never really worked to address
the issues,” said Eric
McClure.
McClure claims the bar’s
liberal brunch policy, which
allowed free refills on mimosas
for an unlimited amount of
time for just $20, was largely
to blame for the chaos. After
countless complaints, the
brunch deal was scaled back
to two hours, but the drunkenness
continued.
When state liquor honchos
first started debating
the future of the popular
spot’s license to sell hooch
over the summer, the bar’s
owner claimed his business
was being targeted because
it attracted a predominantly
black clientele to a mostly
white neighborhood, and a
lobbyist hired to represent the
bar at a State Liquor Authority
hearing accused neighbors
of racism.
Local leaders shot back,
saying the bar’s owner Akiva
Ofshtein, who is white, was
making life miserable for
neighbors and looking to
shift the blame away from
his failure to manage his clientele.
“The complaints here have
everything to do with the persistent
refusal of the owner to
be a good neighbor,” Councilman
Brad Lander (D—
Park Slope), said over the
summer. “Other establishments
nearby operate bottomless
brunches responsibly
and do not receive similar
complaints.”
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