Waiting for Gowanus
COURIER L 30 IFE, JAN. 29-FEB. 4, 2021
OPINION
In my day job as district
manager of Brooklyn’s
Community Board 6,
we’ve been in a holding pattern
— as a community —
with regards to the Gowanus
Rezoning. We have had multiple
meetings on numerous
aspects of a possible plan
for years. (I recall attending
meetings as an employee
of former Assemblymember
Joan Millman. She hasn’t
been in offi ce since 2014).
However, a lawsuit and
corresponding Temporary
Restraining Order have left
us in limbo. Maybe when you
read this piece, the TRO will
have been lifted, but for now,
we must again wait; wait with
more time on our hands and
continue to be denied new
information derived from
the Environmental Impact
Study. CB6 alone has submitted
nearly 30 pages of questions
we await scientifi cally
grounded answers.
No matter what happens
in the end, we as a community
and the communities
across the city should take
into the future. Considering
the limited space and time
I have, I’ll focus on the need
for continuing community
oversight. If anyone in authority
wants to give community
boards binding review
and oversight powers,
you can stop reading and go
ahead and make that happen.
For anyone else, I’ll explain
what I mean.
In my opinion, community
oversight means the supervision
of part of a larger
process made up of various
institutions and organizations
within a community.
They regularly meet and get
in front of issues before they
get out of hand. For example,
the collection of groups
known as the Gowanus
Neighborhood Coalition For
Justice (GNCJ) has called
for what they refer to as an
Environmental Justice Special
District that would track
commitments as part of the
pending rezoning.
In my discussions with
NYCHA tenant leaders, we’ve
agreed that there is a need to
have a regular and focused
review of work done and how
their developments should,
and are, used. One idea was
having a partnership of the
NYCHA properties corresponding
Council member,
resident association representatives,
and the community
board. Regardless of
what combination of representation
is cobbled together,
such bodies would keep the
pressure on to ensure commitments
once made are
kept. If they haven’t been
kept, community oversight
groups are in place to work
together and correct it with
the best possible solution
consensus solution.
Lastly, I think it’s necessary
to say that this type
of community oversight,
whether in Gowanus or anywhere
in our city, is not confused
with Not In My Back
Yard exclusionism. While
NIMBYism invariably starts
by denying its existence, it
comes repeatedly and in different
forms. It opposes a
homeless shelter while claiming
to be progressive, displaying
virtue-signaling posters
with things like “refugees
welcome here.” In the end, we
attempt to conceal our hypocritical
acts and waiting.
Mike Racioppo is the District
Manager of Community
Board 6. Follow him on
Twitter @RacioppoMike.
MIKE DROP
Mike Racioppo
32 sentences about Council races
To keep doing experiments
with column style,
this week I’ll write about
how four unions of the #LaborStrong2021coalition
announced
endorsements for 31
candidates for city council.
Mostly what they have in common
is they’re likely to win, so
the next 31 sentences of this article
will be about those races.
In Lower Manhattan’s District
1 they support Jenny Low,
but Chris Marte or Gigi Li could
also win. Carlina Rivera of District
2 is great and unopposed.
Erik Bottcher is Council
Speaker Corey Johnson’s chief
of staff in District 3: he is Manhattan’s
most-favored non-incumbent.
Incumbent Keith
Powers in District 4 maybe has
no opponent. They are supporting
former New York City Census
head Julie Menin in the Upper
East Side’s District 5, but
I’m with Kim Moscaritolo and
others are with Tricia Shimamura;
it’s a strong fi eld.
Borough President Gale
Brewer drops back down to her
old Upper West Side District 6
position and should win handily.
Shawn Abreu in District 7 is
running against a strong fi eld.
Ydanis Rodriguez’s former
Chief, assemblywoman Carmen
De La Rosa, is expected to
succeed him in District 10.
In Manhattan/Bronx’s District
8, they endorsed incumbent
Diana Ayala. They endorsed
the council’s newest
incumbent Kevin Riley in District
12 on the other side of the
Bronx. Althea Stevens would
be only the third-strongest candidate
if she were in District 15,
but luckily she’s running in District
16. To round out the Bronx,
Amanda Farias is favored in
District 18 now that Ruben Diaz
Sr is no longer running.
In Queens, they endorsed
two incumbents. Francisco
Moya of District 21 faces many
opponents, while Jamaica’s
Adrienne Adams isn’t facing
any in District 28. Tiffany Caban
is heavily favored in District
22 after nearly becoming
Queens DA two years ago.
In District 32, Felicia Singh
has nearly as many endorsements
as Tiffany does. #LaborStrong2021
endorsed Sandra
Ung in District 20, but the
Flushing-based seat will be a
battle. Labor unions generally
will go hard for Austin Shafran
in District 19, but Richard Lee
is looking to put up a fi ght.
In lovely Forest Hills, they
endorsed Lynn Schulman for
District 29; she ran for it back
in 2009. They’re supporting Selvena
Brooks-Powers for Donovan
Richards’ seat in the 31st
district special. My old buddy
tenants attorney Shekar Krishnan
got the nod in District 25.
Finally, Brooklyn: Lincoln
Restler is favored in District
33 unless all the other candidates
gang up on him, and
maybe even then. The coalition
endorsed Antonio Reynoso’s
chief Jen Gutierrez for District
34 (she’s such a favored non-incumbent
she doesn’t even have
an opponent!). Incumbents Alicka
Ampry-Samuel (41), Justin
Brannan (43), and Farah Louis
(45) also were endorsed.
But these unions endorsed
Sandy Nurse in District 37
against new incumbent Darma
Diaz, and good on them! They
also endorsed Alexa Aviles in
Sunset Park’s District 38, as
has DSA. They endorsed Henry
Butler in Bed Stuy’s District 36.
Henry’s a nice guy but I’d want
someone more progressive;
I’m not sure who. In southern
Brooklyn, they endorsed Ari
Kagan in District 47 and Boris
Noble in District 48.
Probably some of these candidates
will lose. It seems I only
needed 31 sentences for this
piece, but I like an extra.
Nick Rizzo is a former Democratic
District Leader and a
political consultant who lives
in Greenpoint. Follow him on
Twitter @NickRizzo.
WORDS OF
RIZZDOM
Nick Rizzo
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