Council District 2 Update! Vote AGAINST Rosie Mendez!

As a resident of District 2 and a City Council Candidate, I feel it is important to point out some of the schinanigans on the Democrats side. Remember, most of the residents in D2 are Democrats, the party they believe is the democratic party, the better party. The party of freedom and choice. Well, apparently, that is not the case.

The 13 candidates battling for the seat: Michael Beys, Darren Bloch, Joan Brightharp, John Carlino, Manuel S. Cavaco, Claudia Flannagan, Brian Kavanagh, Michael Lopez, Mildred Martinez, Rosie Mendez, Christopher Papajohn, Daniel Peterson, Gur Tsabar

The first to announce candidacy was Councilor Margarita Lopez' Chief of Staff, Rosie Mendez. It's very normal for someone who is part of the current councilor's team to succeed a seat and it was first reported in The Villager.

The second to announce a run was Brian Kavanagh, a former chief of Staff for Councilor Gale Brewer. His announcement was also reported in The Villager.

Slowly, more residents threw their hat in the ring. The wonderful neighborhood minister, Rev. Joan Brightharp (no website) and aide to Council Speaker Gifford Miller, Gur Tsabar, who began to issue Op-Ed Press Releases to promote his candidacy.

Then, the list of candidates began to expand in the Spring of 2005. Darren Bloch jumped into the District 2 race and immediately picked up an endorsement from former Council Speaker, Peter Vallone.

By May, debates featured additional candidates: Mildred Martinez, Michael Lopez and Christopher Papajohn on the Democratic side and the Republican Party through in two of their own with Daniel Peterson and John Carlino. A month later, we saw the addition of Michael Beys, Claudia Flannagan and Manuel S. Cavaco.

On July 5, the most complete debate, with 11 of the 13 candidates attending, was held at the Henry Street Abron's Art Center in Corlear's Hook. It was organized by Grand Street News and featured 12 questions, 9 of which were about affordable housing. I'm guessing that affordable housing is a very important issue with those who already live in apartments and they did a good job skipping a question about crime (12 questions were given to the candidates in advancy). A democrats personal take was also featured in the lower east side publication. New York Newsday also spotlighted the district in their Thursday's Neighborhoods section.

The petition season ended on July 14, and every candidate filed their signatures with the Board of Elections. Then, All hell broke loose. Rosie Mendez and her cronies over at Coalition for a District Alternative [CoDA] challenged all the minority candidates in the Democratic Primary. Ms. Mendez is a female, so she felt the need to knock off the female candidates: Rev. Joan Brightharp, Mildred Martinez and Claudia Flannagan (who, like Ms. Mendez, is gay). She challenged anyone who is hispanic, so on the male side, that included Michael Lopez and Manuel S. Cavaco. Mr. Lopez is also handicapped. She was successful knocking off Mr. Lopez, Mr. Cavaco and Ms. Flannagan to bring the Primary down to 8 candidates. I happened to run into Mr. Lopez at Veselka yesterday and he informed me that Ms. Mendez was successful in her undemocratic attack on her fellow opponents. Fortunately for two of them, Mr. Cavacao & Ms. Flannagan, they are petitioning for Third Party ballot status.

Many of the Democratic candidates, Gur Tsabar, Chris Papajohn, Mildred Martinez & Rev. Joan Brightharp, stood at City Hall and attacked the ruthless actions of CoDA and the Mendez team. Mr. Bloch, Mr. Kavanagh, John Carlino and Daniel Peterson also stand with the democrats in agreement that all who seek office should have a right to be included in the political process.

The Primary for the Democratic Party is still a month away and we could find these actions damaging for Rosie Mendez. Voters may decide to unite behind other candidates and seek to shrink the vote total for Margarita Lopez' successor. If Ms. Mendez is successful winning the Democratic Party line for the November election, alliances may form for the other candidates that will appear in November. Manuel Cavaco has a good shot of winning the Working Families ballot line, Claudia Flannagan could be successful being on the ballot as a Libertarian. John Carlino will have both the Republican and Independence ballot lines. The person who can benefit the most is John Carlino and it would be wise for him to start reaching out to some of the democrats.

Alternatives in the Mayoral Election

I hope many New Yorkers who will vote this November won't think they are limited to simply the Mayor and the Democrat who wins the Primary this September. There will be other candidates on the ballot and you really need to think about expressing your true voice and not throw your vote against the candidate you like least.

Tom Ognibene may have lost his chance to challenge Michael Bloomberg in a Republican Primary, but he will be on the ballot as your Conservative Party candidate. If you are a conservative New Yorker, whether your registered with the Party or as a Republican or Democrat, you should protest your displeasure with the Mayor and his challenge to freedom of choice. We do not live under communism where all dissentors are silenced in an election.

Audrey Silk is running as the Libertarian candidate. If you loathe anything Republican or Conservative and can't bring yourself to vote on a candidate that sits on the "right" of the political spectrum, and all your Democratic choices appear weak in your opinion, Ms. Silk is a good choice for you. The Libertarian Party is for your civil liberties, your privacy and lower taxes to boot. If you feel Mayor Bloomberg will simply walk into the City Hall this election and hate your Democratic choices, protest with Audrey Silk. Let the media open their eyes in surprise.

As for the Democrats voting in the Primary, from my standpoint, your two choices are Gifford Miller and Anthony Weiner. Forget about Fields and you should certainly forget about Ferrer. A two-time loser in the mayoral elections, Mr. Ferrer has already stated he intends to raise your taxes in more than one area just so our City Budget is larger than what it already is. Our City Budget is already at $50,200,000,000 a YEAR! Think about that for a minute. Think about how big that is. Can't get a good idea? Well just think of it this way. The City of Detroit runs a $1,500,000,000 annual Budget. That's 33 1/2 times smaller than NYC. Think Detroit is a bad example? How about the State (STATE) of New Jersey. Their annual Budget is roughly $27 billion a year. That's almost half the City of New York. And Mr. Ferrer wants more money taken from New York taxpayers to make the City of New York even bigger. Not good. You remember his Two New Yorks motto? Well, apparently, he is completely ignorant to the fact that his ideas will only expand the "divide" he's trying to fight against.

At this point, do I believe Mayor Bloomberg will win? Likely. But maybe if enough of us play our own game with this election, he will realize he's not as loved as he thinks.

Wanted: Republican for the 64th.

If you are a Republican living in the 64th AD and you have thought about being involved in politics and serving your State up in Albany, then we have a job for you.

Must be articulate and capabable of raising substantial cash. We can help with organizing events.
Must be in favor of major government reform on the State level without increasing our taxes.
Must be willing to be in the public eye as often as possible during a long and what could be a difficult campaign.
Must be able to connect with the residents in the 64th and explain the many errors of the current Assemblyman.

If you are out there, then please contact me through this site and I will connect you with the right people in order to make your dream true. You will be our primary candidate and divert 90% of our energy to your campaign. The remaining 10% is all you need with your personal staff.

The High Line's best Use?

If any of you have ever been along the West Side of Manhattan between 14th & 30th Street, you may have walked under a tressle and not thought much of it. Queens and Brooklyn residents certainly wouldn't. Well, that tressel is for train tracks of the old High Line that used to transport freight along 1.6 miles of track.

On August 4, Sen. Hillary Clinton joined Rep Jerrold Nadler in pushing for federal funding to convert the strip of elevated rail into a Park.

There's been a major movement to prevent the demolition of the tressel and convert it all into a Park. The organization, Friends of the High Line was organized to do just that. This is a great idea and I am open to creating as much park space on this rock known as Manhattan, but has it ever been suggested to renovate the elvated track into an Air Tram?

There's been much talk about extending the No. 7 train from 42nd St down along the West Side and terminate where a sports facility would be constructed over the Pennsylvania rail yard. But that's roughly down to 32nd Street. What about a train extending further down? Politicians say they want to develop the West Side of Manhattan and make it easily accesible, but what are they really doing to provide such accessibility?

It appears we are getting pieces from our politicians that simply do not fit together. Let's do this, then do this, then do this. Use tax payers money and not have anything make sense. In the end, someone will say, "I regret we didn't consider utilizing what we had and done it this way." But I'm just bloggin here and not at any of these meetings, so who am I to say my thoughts on this issue haven't been suggested.

Here are my proposals on the High Line use.

1. Renovate the High Line into an Air Tram that runs from Ganesvoort St & Ninth Ave up along the existing track to Eleventh Ave & 30th St and the Jacob Javits Center. This would improve West Side commuting and do it in a way that provides beautiful scenary of our piers and the Hudson River.

2. Renovate the High Line into a promenade as suggested, but secure funds to extend the L Train under 14th Street to reach 10th Avenue, then dig a track underground running up 10th Ave to connect to the proposed No. 7 line extension. You have to have a transfer point for the 7 extension. It would be useless to have a track terminate in the middle of the West Side without a connection point.

Where are our councilors on this? The High Line is something our city government should be talking to the people about. Wouldn't you feel more connected with your City Council if they discussed matters such as the High Line, instead of passing legislation that has nothing to do with City legislating?

If you live in Manhattan, remember your Councilor is a Democrat. Rather than finding out if you want the High Line as a Park or an Air Tram, they pass Resolutions that mean nothing, do nothing. They punch the clock in the morning, earn a salary paid by our tax dollars, pass Resolutions and then punch out at the end of the day. Not one Republican candidate campaigns on passing useless Resolutions lke the above. They are running issues campaigns and want to work with the communities on issues like the High Line. And keep your taxes down. So remember this when you vote in November.