First Campaign Mailer

Sent to targeted Democratic voters last week:


Gary Reilly Has What it Takes to Get Things Done for Our Community -

Mayor Endorses Gary Reilly's Proposal for F Express / V To Brooklyn

Yesterday Mayor Bloomberg announced a number of proposals for improving transit service (which I'll get into in more detail later).

The headline for the city-wide media is the proposal for free cross-town bus service in Manhattan (a good idea). But the big news for Brooklynites is the Mayor's belated support for enhanced F/V service on the Culver Line in Brooklyn, which I and other transit advocates have been calling for for years. From the Brooklyn Paper,

“Closer to Downtown, you’re talking about a couple of minutes. As you get farther out towards Coney Island you’re talking about potentially saving 20 minutes — that’s huge. But it’s also about the possible alleviation of crowding everywhere,” said Gary Reilly, a Democratic candidate for City Council in Carroll Gardens, who has advocated for years on behalf of the F line. “We need this and we deserve it. It’s a low–hanging piece of fruit.”

Back in 2007, over 4,300 people signed on to my petition to restore F Express service and extend the V line out to Brooklyn. Ben from Second Avenue Sagas, Jen from KensingtonBrooklyn and I have kept the pressure on the MTA and elected officials over the years to ensure that Brooklyn gets these despeerately needed transit improvements when the Culver Viaduct reconstruction is complete - and we led the fight to ensure that the Viaduct reconstruction would include the necessary track and signal work to accommodate express service.

In the summer of 2007, I held a press conference at the Church Avenue F station with Councilmen Bill deBlasio, Simcha Felder and Domenic Recchia, along with Paul Steely White from Transportation Alternatives and Gene Russianoff from the Straphanger's Campaign to demand enhanced F/V service fro Brooklyn.

In these difficult times we need to make the most of our transit infrastructure. The restoration of express/local service on the F/V to Brooklyn is a relatively cheap and efficient way to not only improve the quality of life for tens of thousands of Brooklynites, but also to aid in the revitalization of Coney Island and South Brooklyn.

Brooklyn deserves enhanced F/V service. And our time is coming.

All posts on the F/V Petition

The battle for better transit service is what inspired me to run for City Council - if you care about improving the state of our transit system, visit my campaign website at www.garyreilly.org. Our team is growing every day, and you too can help to make our city a better place to live.

Overflow Magazine - Primary Education

Overflow Magazine interviewed the 5 candidates for City Council District 39 including yours truly. It's a fun read and includes pictures of all the candidates in our native habitats.

Flash, so I can't cut and paste . . . but copies are available for free at participating local establishments. Lots of other good stuff in there too.

Rallying Cry For Transit Advocates

What Ben said.

When the MTA had to turn, cap in hand, to Albany this year, politicians trotted out the old tired tropes in an effort to portray the MTA as a less than scrupulous organization. Some claimed the MTA keeps two sets of books, a charge found to be untrue in a court of law. Others called the agency heads “untrustworthy and corrupt,” as Sander puts it an Op-Ed in The Times today. In the end, the MTA, a transit agency entrusted with making the trains on time, were no match for a bunch of politicians whose specialties all seem to be making themselves look good even when approving poorly-constructed funding fixes.

The politicians are the problem - not the MTA. The MTA has been used as a scapegoat for politicians in Albany, aided and abetted by years of journalistic malpractice. We need to elect people to office that understand the importance of transit, and that the root of our current problems lies not at the MTA, but in Albany. That's one reason I am running for office myself.

City Council Candidate Debate Tonight

IND and CBID are co-hosting a panel of candidates for the 39th Council District tonight at Church of Gethsemane in Park Slope.

This blogger, also known as Gary Reilly, will be among the candidates. Come check it out!

May 19, 2009 - 7 pm
Church of Gethsemane
1012 8th Ave (at 10th St)
Park Slope

F Train to 7th Ave. Front of Coney Island bound train exits to 8th Avenue, rear of Manhattan bound train exits to 8th Ave.

Gowanus Grind Saturday 12:00 - 4:00pm

It should be a beautiful day . . . sounds like a nice way to unwind after the CORD/SoBNA "Dazzle Me" Forum at the Brooklyn Library branch at Union and Clinton Streets. All of the Democratic candidates for the 39th Council District (including yours truly) plus the Green candidate will be there. The Forum starts at 10:30.

The Gowanus Grind, a completely separate event, is sponsored by Friends of Douglass Greene Park.

Breakfast-of-Candidates (39th Edition): Gary Reilly

Only The Blog Knows Brooklyn is running a series of profiles of candidates for local office, including yours truly. We had a good long chat about my background, the issues facing the district, and how I came to be a candidate for City Council. An excerpt:

Thousands of F-train commuters signed Gary's petition. Later he testified before the MTA Board and at City Council and State Assembly hearings on transportation issues.

As an advocate for public transportation, Gary found his issue and his voice. This powerful experience also cemented his belief that public transportation is an equalizer and an important engine of democracy. "It creates mobility which equals opportunity," Gary told me. It also ties in with environmental sustainability, another issue close to Gary's heart.

"Transportation policy dovetails with development policy, land use, how we view our streets, how we share our space and making the city safe for pedestrians and cyclists," he said. The F-Train petition experience also convinced Gary that he would one day run for office. But he didn't think it would happen quite so soon. It was when he realized that Bill deBlasio was at term limit that he decided to jump in. But not before asking his wife how she felt about it. "Let's do it," she said. And that was that.

I highly recommend reading the entire series as they are posted. I've also read her profile of Bob Zuckerman, and it is a refreshing to get a look at the candidates in their own words. I know I am eagerly awaiting the next installment.

City Council Campaign Event

For those of you following the campaign, the Brooklyn Paper covered our fundraising event on Monday June 30th. I owe a debt of gratitude to Hilary Meyer and David Caress for signing in guests and allowing me to spend all of my time talking and listening to constituents. Thanks also to our friends Lou and Dave at Layla Jones for hosting us in their space.

We raised nearly $2,000 that night, which will yield an additional $10,000 in matching funds from the Campaign Finance Board. While I wouldn't wish the paperwork on anyone, the campaign finance system allows the average citizen an opportunity to compete with the candidates who raise tens of thousands from developers, and that is a great thing.

We recently added to Team Reilly: Bart Robbett will be working with us throughout the campaign on media and mailing. Ben Schaffer's Media Mezcla will be putting together a top notch website for the campaign. We'll be rolling that out in a couple of weeks.

It's going to be a great campaign. I'm looking forward to hearing from as many people as I can about the issues affecting the workers and families and transit riders of Brooklyn.

More on Sander's State of the MTA Address

The entire speech is available at the MTA website HERE and the slideshow (must see, but pdf warning) HERE.

Ben Kabak has a great analysis of Sander's speech over at Second Avenue Sagas, including the meat of the proposals for expanding the system.

The City needs the projects Sander is selling here, and someone needs to step up and take the reins. It’s one thing to talk vaguely about subway expansion and the need for more lines. It’s another thing entirely to do what Sander is doing and putting forward plans that could revolutionize and modernize New York’s subway and public transit system.

For too long have the city and state leaders allowed the MTA to eke by on next to nothing. While Sander’s plan may be unrealistic, it takes a visionary to move things forward, and as the MTA sits on the precipice of its next 40 years, today’s speech made me think that Sander is the right man for the MTA at the right time.

As he said near the end of his speech, “As the MTA goes, so goes the region.” Now, let’s see what he can do.

I'll quibble only to say I don't think the vision is unrealistic. I think our transit policy for the past 50 years has been, and we are turning a corner now. This isn't merely about transportation: it's about sustainable development, smart land use policy, reducing pollution, weaning ourselves off the car and off of oil. In that sense, it's also about national security. The car makers and the oil companies set the agenda for development in this country for most of the 20th century. Unfortunately, it's taken decades for a majority to see the negative impacts to our society from automobile-based development patterns.

Sander frames the situation well: NYC is an international hub, that risks falling behind as Shanghai and other major cities catch up, and then outpace our infrastructure development. As Sander notes, "“Next year, we will have four tunnel-boring machines operating to expand the subway and regional rail systems. Sounds impressive?” he said. “Right now, Shanghai has 90 such machines at work on rail and other projects…Our biggest global competitor, China, spends 9 percent of its gross domestic product on infrastructure.Meanwhile, the United States spends less than 1% of its GDP. That is unacceptable.”

We are on the cusp of a new age. This is the sort of visionary leadership we need from our transit planners, and from our elected officials.

One thing I can promise you: if I am elected to the City Council next year, I will fight like hell for a major overhaul and expansion of our transit systems.

Other links, which have more information about the proposed circumferential:
Triboro RX
Streetsblog on Triboro RX

My Campaign Website Is Up!

The basics are there now, at www.garyreilly.org. Check it out! And if you have a few bucks, consider making a contribution. There's also a permanent link now in the left margin to the campaign site.

I'll be adding a lot more as the campaign progresses, links to sign up for the mailing list and to volunteer, as well as a comprehensive platform of positions on the issues.

I'm looking forward to a good race, and to working with you to address the needs of our community.