Treyger, Savino, Harris Blast De Blasio For Forgetting NYCHA
Coney Island Lawmakers including City Councilman Mark Treyger, State Sen. Diane J. Savino and Assemblymember Pamela Harris blasted Mayor Bill de Blasio for visiting Nathan’s in Coney Island this past Saturday while commitments made by his administration to residents of the area’s NYCHA buildings continue to go unfulfilled.
“We are outraged to learn that Mayor de Blasio found time in his schedule to visit Nathan’s today without visiting the west end of Coney Island. We are fast approaching the fourth anniversary of Superstorm Sandy devastating Coney Island, inflicting damage that our residents are still dealing with, yet the Mayor has not found time in his busy schedule to visit the numerous NYCHA community centers which are still in various states of disrepair,” they said in a joint statement.
“The Mayor’s administration promised that work would begin on the centers, as well as the replacement of boilers in the NYCHA buildings, last year, but none of that work has begun. We are entering yet another summer season, but the seniors and young people in these NYCHA developments still don’t have a safe area to engage in recreational activities. We wonder where the Mayor’s priorities are if he has time to stand in a line and scarf down a hot dog, but he cannot find the time to visit his constituents and make good on his commitments. Next time, the Mayor should arrive in Coney Island with an improved transportation plan that includes a ferry, considering the sort of traffic congestion the area faced today.”
Cymbrowitz Celebrates Re-Opening Of Brighton Beach Boardwalk Section
Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz (Sheepshead Bay, Manhattan Beach, Brighton Beach) this weekend joined State Senator Diane Savino (Coney Island, Brighton Beach) and Assemblymember Pamela Harris (Coney Island, Bay Ridge , Brighton Beach) along with Parks Department officials and community leaders to cut the ribbon for the re-opening of a section of the Brighton Beach Boardwalk that had been under repair.
“As promised, we’ve returned the Boardwalk to the people of Brighton Beach in time for the summer season,” said Cymbrowitz. “Thanks to the Parks Department for finishing this project on schedule, so that everyone in our community can enjoy the beach safely for many years to come.”
In 2009, Cymbrowitz allocated $10M along with then-Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny to repair the Boardwalk from Brighton 15th Street to Coney Island Avenue after the previous mayoral administration had allowed it to go into disrepair. His office had received numerous complaints about loose bolts, splinters, and holes that posed a safety risk to residents, including a large senior population.
In attendance at the event were Zinoviy Ginzburg (President, Children of WW2 from former Soviet Union), Vladimir Ripa (President, Holocaust Survivor’s Charity), and residents of Seacoast Towers, the Oceana, and the surrounding area who make use of the boardwalk and have eagerly awaited the repair and re-opening of the boardwalk.
Schumer Calls For More Airport Security Workers
On the heels of a weekend where airport lines were still just too clogged, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer yesterday called for a new surge in the hiring of additional Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers at local New York City airports.
Just recently, Secretary Jeh Jonson, of the Department of Homeland Security, requested a reprogramming of $28 million to fund an immediate conversion of 2,784 Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) from part-time to full-time. Johnson also requested approval to hire an additional 600 agents in light of continued long lines at airport screening. Schumer says this new plan needs swift congressional approval and he will lead the charge to get it implemented as soon as possible.
“With out of control wait times at our nation’s airports, more could and should be done to help unclog the lines and improve security,” said Schumer. “We desperately need to convert thousands of part-time TSA officers to full-time TSA officers in order to ward off the impending ‘flypocalypse’ that will ensue when the busy summer travel season soon begins. Congress should quickly approve this request and TSA should prioritize the hiring and conversion of these officers at local New York City-area airports.”
The TSA says this reprogramming request will enable the agency to screen approximately 82,000 additional passengers each day. Following reports of outrageously long wait times at local airports, Schumer said that Congress should swiftly approve the TSA’s request for these funds so that conversion of officers from part-time to full-time status can begin immediately.
Schumer is also urging the TSA to prioritize transitioning a significant number of officers at New York airports to full-time status, as it will help provide some additional relief to not only to local New Yorkers, but to travelers across the country.
Williams Leads Launch Of Gun Violence Awareness Month
City Council Member Jumaane D. Williams (Flatbush, East Flatbush) will lead other elected officials and anti-gun violence in a press conference rally today to to launch Gun Violence Awareness Month.
In 2013 New York State made history by becoming the first state in the country to designate an entire month to the issue of gun violence. Gun Violence Awareness Month was created in an effort to raise awareness surrounding the issue of needless and senseless gun violence in New York’s communities.
The goals of Gun Violence Awareness Month are:
- to promote greater awareness about gun violence and gun safety
- to concentrate annual heightened attention to gun violence during the summer months, when gun violence typically increases
- to bring citizens and community leaders together to discuss ways to make our communities healthier
The launch is slated for 1 p.m., today in front of the David Dinkens Municipal Building, 1 Centre Street. Additionally, June is Gun Violence Awareness Day. On that day, the Manhattan Municipal Building, City Hall, Bronx County Court, Queens Borough Hall, Staten Island Borough Hall, and Queens Museum will be lit orange in commemoration of the month.
CBID Proposes Set Of Election Reforms
The Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats membership Thursday voted nearly unanimously (with two abstentions and zero nays) to adopt a resolution to seek a number of election reforms that they will send around to other Democratic clubs and elected officials to sign onto.
CBID Executive Committee Members Sean Robertson, Benjamin Solitaire and Richard Bruce wrote the resolution in response to the purging of thousands of voters from the city’s Board of Elections rolls and ongoing election day problems .
The resolution seeks to accomplish a number of reforms, including eliminating the six month early deadline to change party affiliation for primary elections, enact early voting, vote by mail and no-excuse absentee voting, enact the Voter Friendly Ballot Act to improve accessibility and reduce confusion of ballots, establish independent control of the Board of Elections, and require open source software and hardware to be used in the collection and tabulation of votes to restore the confidence of voters that their ballots will be recorded and counted as intended.
The original draft of the resolution also called for open primaries, but that was tabled over widespread disagreement.
