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Judge Capell
thanks voters
for their support
New York City Housing Court Judge
Heela Capell would like to thank the
Brooklyn voters for engaging in the petition
process and earning her a place on the
Democratic ballot for the Countywide Civil
Court seat.
While Capell does not have a challenger
for her slot and will not be on the ballot for
the June primary, she still wants to remind
voters that she will be on the ballot for the
General Election in November.
Judge Capell’s campaign will remain open
and she will be still engaging with voters, attending
community forums and speaking to
voters from now until the General election.
She also sends a hearty thank you to the many
clubs and organizations that endorsed her.
For more information on her campaign
see her website: https://www.heelaforcivilcourt.
com/
Cornegy BP
campaign picks
up steam
BY STEPHEN WITT
Moderate City Councilmember Robert
Cornegy’s campaign to become the next
Brooklyn Borough President picked up steam
this week with several key endorsements
from across the borough.
In a rally for his campaign at Borough Hall
on May 25, Flatbush Assemblymember and
Kings County Democratic Chair Rodneyse
Bichotte Hermelyn, and Bay Ridge Councilmember
Justin Brannan both endorsed the
Bedford-Stuyvesant lawmaker.
The endorsements come as Cornegy stood
out in the recent Schneps Media/AARP Brooklyn
Borough President debate in saying he
would not fear having a discussion if a large
mega-business such as Amazon or a developer
came to propose a project for the borough.
Cornegy has represented Bedford-Stuyvesant
and Northern Crown Heights for the past
eight years. His campaign planks include championing
small businesses, smart police reform,
combating hunger and improving food insecurity,
supporting NYCHA, and lifting up communities
across the borough.
Caribbean Life, MAY 28-JUNE 3, 2021 13
Mayoral candidate and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams gives the thumbs up among supporters at the opening of
his new campaign headquarters May 21. Photo by Stephen Witt
Adams pleads his case
Mayoral candidate sits down with Schneps editorial board
BY ARIEL PACHECO
As the issue of crime continues
to rise in the city, leading mayoral
candidate Eric Adams today
pushed back on the idea that
only mental health professionals
should answer calls where there
is a mental health crisis, without
the assistance of a police offi cer.
Adams’ comments came as he
sat down with the Schneps Media
Editorial Board, where the current
Brooklyn Borough President
touched on several topics ranging
from affordable housing to crime
to rezoning.
“That to send only mental
health professionals is reckless
and that is irresponsible,” said
Adams. “Every call of a mental
health person is not merely that
someone is feeling depressed.”
Adams pointed to instances
where incidents did turn violent
and says there needs to be a combination
of the two.
“If the call for service is dealing
with a person that is not violent,
no imminent threat or danger,
have a mental health professional
go,” said Adams. “We should also
have that police offi cer on backup
just in case.”
Adams looks to fi x the affordable
housing crisis through various
methods like basement apartments,
apartment sharing, and
lived sharing spaces that are used
in parts of Europe. This is also part
of his plan to help with homelessness,
where Adams says he wants
to retrofi t hotels and move away
from shelters.
A real-time system will be
built that would analyze the pool
of apartments that are currently
built, but where the Area Median
Income (AMI) is too high.
“We need to think not outside
the box, but we have to destroy the
box,” said Adams.
Adams is in support of the
SoHo/NoHo rezoning plan. The
plan would add affordable housing
to two of the more affl uent neighborhoods
in the city.
“We’ve had an improper approach
to affordable housing in this
city. We’ve upzoned poorer communities,
ignored affl uent areas. I say
let’s upzone those areas as well as
42nd street to 14th street, from 9th
avenue to Park avenue.”
He says this would solve multiple
problems like diversifying
schools that are segregated.
“We can get a better return on
our investment by upzoning these
areas.”
Adams believes the Brooklyn-
Queens Expressway (BQE) fi x
should come from state funding,
but if it does fall in the hands of the
city, jobs can be created to “reimagine”
the BQE. This would include
putting it on the ground level, submerging
it in some areas, and creating
a park over the structure.
“This is an excellent opportunity
to rethink how we’re gonna
use that BQE.”
Adams placed a focus on creating
a new position, Deputy Mayor
of Effi ciency, to ensure that city
agencies are on the same page
and communicating. He says this
would allow for everyone to be in
the same room when solving problems.
“We’re going to start bringing
together the agencies that impact
a particular area and have him or
her in charge of that,” said Adams.
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