De Blasio, Stringer, Adams Call For Full Audit Following Day Of Polling Irregularities
With a reported more than 125,000 Democratic voters in Brooklyn purged from from the voting rolls since November 2015, and several polling places opening hours late yesterday, Comptroller Scott Stringer, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams called for a full-audit of the City’s Board of Elections.
“There is nothing more sacred in our nation than the right to vote, yet election after election, reports come in of people who were inexplicably purged from the polls, told to vote at the wrong location or unable to get in to their polling site,” Stringer said. “The people of New York City have lost confidence that the Board of Elections can effectively administer elections and we intend to find out why the BOE is so consistently disorganized, chaotic and inefficient. With four elections in New York City in 2016 alone, we don’t have a moment to spare.”
De Blasio said he will support Stringer’s audit and urge its completion well in advance of the June elections so corrective action can be taken. These errors today indicate that additional major reforms will be needed to the Board of Election and in the state law governing it, he said.
“It has been reported to us from voters and voting rights monitors that the voting lists in Brooklyn contain numerous errors, including the purging of entire buildings and blocks of voters from the voting lists. I am calling on the Board of Election to reverse that purge and update the lists again using Central, not Brooklyn borough, Board of Election staff. We will hold the BOE commissioners responsible for ensuring that the Board and its borough officers properly conduct the election process to assure that voters are not disenfranchised. The perception that numerous voters may have been disenfranchised undermines the integrity of the entire electoral process and must be fixed,” said de Blasio.
Adams said on a day when all of Brooklyn should be celebrating incredible voter participation at poll sites across our borough, he is troubled over the tens of thousands of our neighbors who have been inexplicably purged from the voter rolls.
“The New York City Board of Elections must immediately reverse these errors in advance of June’s congressional primaries, and Comptroller Stringer must expedite the completion of his audit of the agency. Our City has a duty to ensure the BOE is properly funded, staffed, trained, and equipped to run 21st century elections,” Adams said.
Richardson Holds Civic Minded Event
Assembly Member Diane Richardson (Crown Heights, Lefferts Gardens) is holding Civic Minded, a event where the lawmaker brings together a coalition of civic minded organizations including block associations, tenants groups, merchants and clergy to effectively identify issues and to develop solution-oriented approaches to solving problems.
The next Civic Minded event is slated from 12 noon to 2 p.m., Saturday April 30 at MS 61, 400 Empire Blvd on the border of Crown hHeights and Lefferts Gardens.
Gentile Decries continued R Train Performance Decline
Bay Ridge City Councilman Vincent Gentile yesterday again decried the decline of the Rapid R Train performance following a recent report that found the R train has biggest drop in service performance out of 24 lines including on-time performance at -20.4%.
“Well, the R train rider’s worst nightmare is true: The line is increasingly operating off schedule. According to data released by the New York City Transit, the R line’s S-KPI (Service Key Performance Indicator) is hitting its mark 69.3% of the time, down 12.9% from last year. Since last year, Weekday Wait Assessment (the interval of wait time between trains) is down 6.3% and Weekday Terminal On-Time Performance is at 59.2%, down 20.4%! Folks, these are frightening numbers. Thus, the R train comes in first out of 24 lines for largest decline in performance since last year. At least it’s first in something,” said Gentile.
“What causes delays? Overcrowded trains for one and the R train is no stranger to that. This past February, out of 50,277 citywide delays, 19,118 were caused by overcrowding. The time is now for the MTA to keep pace with the surge in ridership with nearly 1.8 billion riders hitting the turnstiles across the city led by Brooklyn’s growing population. My message to the MTA: Use your capital funds to boost train service, not Wi-Fi.”
Gillibrand Writes Obama On Military Sexual Assault Cases
In a letter to President Obama, U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) yesterday called for an investigation into Pentagon testimony before Congress after a report released yesterday revealed that Pentagon officials misled Congress about sexual assault cases in an effort to curb efforts to enact legislation to reform how such cases are handled.
The report, which was compiled by the advocacy organization Protect Our Defenders (POD), and follow-up reporting by the Associated Press, found that cases cited by defense officials while under oath at a congressional hearing were inaccurately characterized and that relevant information was omitted.
“The allegations in the Protect Our Defenders report and the AP article include providing inaccurate information to a congressional committee, misleading the Congress, and undermining efforts to make critical reforms to a broken system,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter. “Due to the very serious nature of these allegations, we request that you direct an independent investigation into this matter.”
“The AP article revealed a collaborative effort between the military’s legal professionals and local authorities rather than an adversarial relationship portrayed by the military. The AP also found that the Pentagon’s narrative, which has suggested that local jurisdictions are less inclined to pursue sexual assault cases, and that these specific cases might otherwise have gone unprosecuted were it not for commanders’ intervention, to be erroneous.”
Schumer Announces BPL Gets National Award
U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer yesterday announced that Brooklyn Public Library has been awarded the 2016 National Medal for Museum and Library Service, an honor that recognizes exceptional service to user communities.
Brooklyn Public Library is one of just ten winners across the country. Last year, Schumer wrote to the Institute of Museum and Library Services in support of Brooklyn Public Library’s nomination and noted the library’s outstanding community outreach and innovative library services.
“Libraries like Brooklyn Public Library are vital to our democratic society because they provide citizens with access to literature, computers and other educational resources,” said Schumer. “I am thrilled that the Institute of Museum and Library Services has recognized the tremendous impact that Brooklyn Public Library has had on diverse communities throughout the borough by awarding it with the 2016 National Medal for Museum and Library Service.”
“Our receipt of the National Medal is a tribute to the hundreds of librarians, staff members and volunteers who make Brooklyn Public Library a resource the entire community can turn to, a place where all people can be inspired to pursue their dreams and do their best thinking,” said BPL President and CEO Linda E. Johnson. “We are dedicated to serving a large, diverse borough, including children discovering the joys of literacy, students visiting our branches after school, families on the wrong side of the digital divide, immigrants eager to become United States citizens and the innovators who have remade Brooklyn’s image and economy. And as ever, we provide free access to millions of books housing nearly all of humanity’s accumulated wisdom and experience.”
The award comes as the library sold its Cadman Plaza branch to a private developer for luxury housing and has plans to sell its Sunset Park branch to a non-profit connected with City Council Member Brand Lander and Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Hikind, Ortiz Meet To Discuss School Bus Parking
Boro Park Assemblyman Dov Hikind and neighboring Sunset Park/Red Hook Assemblyman Felix Ortiz met last week with members of the Yeshiva Bus Association to discuss possible parking locations for yeshiva buses.
Despite over 400 yeshivas servicing the community, there aren’t many designated nearby parking areas for the thousands of yeshiva buses.
“It was a very productive meeting; we discussed many possibilities as to where these yeshiva buses can park for the night,” Hikind said. “Obviously our goal moving forward is to find a suitable location for these buses to park.”
During the meeting both elected officials and members of the Yeshiva Bus Association discussed possible locations for the buses. Despite not walking away with a definitive parking location for the buses, areas like Red Hook appealed to both members of the association and the elected officials.
Ortiz suggested several possible parking areas, which would allow the bus drivers to travel to and from their parking locations in a timely fashion. “It is my hope that we’ll be able to resolve this important issue in a favorable manner,” Ortiz said.
