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Brooklyn Dems’ new rules draw fi re
Reformers say two changes will reduce transparency party governance by curtailing
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and insurance plans accommodated
those people are tourists. They
are not community people that
live in this area,” said Dave
Ocaña. “I have asked numerous
years to give the community
one of those months.”
But the state Parks Department’s
regional director described
the complaints levied
at the community board’s January
meeting as overblown,
claiming that her office had
received a trivial volume of
complaints that do not warrant
serious consideration.
“I’ve heard exactly two
calls for this time off during
July or August,” said
Leslie Wright. “The answer
is no, in 2020 there’s no plan
for that.”
Smorgasburg has proven itself
a reliable partner since the
festival began leasing parkland
back in 2011, according
to Wright, who added that organizers
have funneled some
of their proceeds to help fund
jazz performances and the
upcoming construction of a
public restroom at East River
State Park.
Moreover, she emphasized
that opponents of the wildly
popular food fest represent a
distinct minority in terms of
both visitors — and locals.
“As ardent as you are in
framing your question, we
have people with equal ardency
who are also residents
of the community and visitors
to the community who like
it the way it is,” said Wright.
“The minority of voices we
hear are critical.”
Smorgasburg co-founder
Eric Demby joined Wright
at the meeting, and — while
the Parks official addressed
concerns relating directly to
the market’s concession with
the state — the festival organizer
appealed to his critics’
sense of fairness, saying
he’s a Brooklynite just like
they are.
“We are not some corporation
from some other part of
the world, we live and work
in Brooklyn,” he said.
Continued from page 1
By Rose Adams
Brooklyn Paper
Brooklyn Democratic Party
leaders voted to hold fewer
meetings and restrict memberdriven
resolutions on Jan. 20
— two changes that reformers
claim will reduce the body’s
transparency.
“They’re just obvious tools
to disengage people,” said Jessica
Thurston, the Vice President
of Political Affairs at the
reform-minded New Kings
Democrats. “It consolidates
power and reduces accountability.”
At a closed-door meeting,
the Executive Committee of
the Kings County Democratic
Party — which is made up of
46 district leaders, one male
and one female from each of
the borough’s assembly districts
— voted to enact the two
rule changes, causing an uproar
among their fellow Democrats,
according to one district
leader who spoke on the
condition of anonymity.
“It really sparked a very
fierce, contentious conversation,”
the person said.
The amendments come amid
a changing of the guard, as outgoing
party boss Frank Seddio
announced that he would
be stepping down earlier this
month, and backed Assemblywoman
Rodneyse Bichotte (DFlatbush)
as his successor.
Just before her fellow district
leaders officially made
her the new chairwoman of
the party, however, they passed
the two controversial amendments.
The first resolution reduced
the number of times
that the county committee
convenes, from twice yearly
to just once.
The second change limits
the scope of member-introduced
resolutions — proposals
introduced by average
Brooklyn Democrats to make
changes within the party establishment
— so that they can’t
address “any aspect of the internal
governance” within the
party.
Both reforms negatively
affect citizen participation in
the ways in which average
citizens can make their voices
heard, according to one district
leader, who expressed optimism
that the changes could
be undone.
“Folks like myself, and other
reform coalitions, fought really
hard to create additional avenues
and additional meetings for
the conduct of party business,”
said Doug Schneider, whose district
includes Park Slope and
Windsor Terrace. “It remains
my hope that this is not a permanent
change.”
Party leaders told attendees
that reducing meetings was a
necessary step for the cashstrapped
party, which had just
$40,327 in its account as of Jan.
15, and is $226,000 in debt, filings
show. Executives claimed
the party couldn’t even spare
the money for postage to announce
the meetings by mail
— let alone front the cost of
the events’ venue.
Seddio, who declined to
comment for this story, has
claimed in the past that the
low finances resulted from the
party declining donations from
the real estate industry.
But even if cost restraints
limited the number of meetings,
other critics argue that
a lack of funds doesn’t explain
the committee’s vote to
restrict the power of resolutions
— a change that limits
members’ ability to implement
changes to the party, Thurston
claimed.
“It’s the primary tool that
allowed members to participate
and be engaged,” said
Thurston.
One member-driven resolution
that passed at the September
meeting called for the
creation of a finance committee
to audit the party’s spending
and low funds, which was
set to present their findings at
the following meeting scheduled
for February — but that
gathering is now canceled, and
there’s no evidence that such a
committee was even created,
the reformers claim..
Bichotte did not return several
requests for comment.
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