Ortiz Signs Onto Golden’s Bulletproof Glass Bill
Sunset Park/Red Hook Assemblymember Felix Ortiz will sign onto Bay Ridge Sen. Marty Golden‘s bill to equip police cars statewide with bulletproof glass, Kings County Politics has learned.
Ortiz will become the first Democrat to sign onto the bill and could be a key figure in getting it through the Democratic-controlled Assembly. Golden, a Republican, will have an easier time getting the measure heard in the GOP-controlled senate.
The assemblymember is working on the particulars of the bill and plans to work with GOP Assemblyman Jim Tedisco in co-sponsoring it in the assembly, said Ortiz legal council Jeff Wice.
Golden announced he would introduce the measure following the execution-style shootings of NYPD officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu through the front passenger window of their patrol car as they sat watch over the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant. Both Ramos and Liu were also Brooklyn residents as Ramos lived in Cypress Hills and Liu in Gravesend.
The measure would have the bullet proof glass installed in police cars over a phased-in period starting with the NYPD. The lawmakers are calling for part of the $5.1 billion state surplus to be used to pay for the statewide retrofit.
The bill already has the support of Bay Ridge/Staten Island Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis and Senator Phil Boyle – both Republicans.
Ortiz, a 20-year veteran of the assembly, has sponsored or co-sponsored several bills in his tenure, most notably a bill to ban use of handheld cell phones while driving, making New York one of the first states to introduce the measure.
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Cornegy Works To Bring Community Together
Bed-Stuy City Councilmember Robert Cornegy is taking action to heal rifts between the community he covers and the police through a continued effort to bring down gun violence in his district, The BKReader reports.
Cornegy’s 36th Council District has seen 18 shoot deaths this year including that of NYPD officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu last Saturday. Cornegy, a vocal advocate of police reform, also called on a moratorium on any action in support of reforms until after Ramos and Liu are laid to rest out of respect to both their families and the NYPD.
“I am eager for us to come together soon thereafter. Ismaaiyl Brinsley’s action cannot be allowed to stand as a representation of our community. Instead, we will demonstrate our true spirit through our actions,” Cornegy wrote for the news outlet.
Cornegy plans to hold a peace rally and vigil in Bed-Stuy Restoration Plaza on Fulton Street Jan. 4.
“Together, we will begin the new year with shared determination to reduce gun violence, increase support for the troubled, and to continue marching the paths that lead to greater justice in the year to come,” he wrote.
