LICH Meeting Recap

Gowanus Lounge has some details from last night's meeting. I was over at a CB6 meeting, but I understand that Barbara and Beverly were among residents of Carroll Gardens that spoke out last night.

Obviously a matter of grave concern for the community.

MEETINGS TONIGHT: LICH, CB6

Lot's going on tonight. CGNA has cancelled our meeting tonight, instead encouraging Carroll Gardens residents to attend the Borough President's meeting tonight on the future of LICH. In addition, the Executive Committee of CB6 is meeting tonight, and under consideration are changes to the Bylaws of the Community Board. This could also be a very important meeting.

“Long Island College Hospital and the Ongoing Health-Care Crisis in Brooklyn.”
6:30-8:30PM, TONIGHT
Brooklyn Borough Hall Courtroom
209 Joralemon Street (between Court and Adams Streets).
Speakers are limited to three minutes and asked to bring ten copies of testimony. Per and email: “This meeting will address the closing of LICH by Continuum. Please take this opportunity to let the BP know what you think…”

Nov 10 CB6 Executive & Fin/Pers/Law
Discussion and consideration of possible amendments to CB6 by-laws.
Board member attendance review
Other business

Cobble Hill Community Meeting Room
250 Baltic Street
(between Court/Clinton Streets)
Brooklyn, NY 11201
6:30 PM

I'll be attending the CB6 meeting tonight to see what kind of changes are under consideration. Rumors of an attempted non-board member disenfranchisement swirling.

Obama Wins Big; Dems To Take Majority in NY State Senate

And I feel like a million pounds have been lifted off of my shoulders!

Many of the things I want to happen in NYC over the next several years (mostly huge infrastructure investments) were predicated on the Democrats taking control of the White House and expanding majorities in Congress. Now that that is a reality, we can actually get down to the business of rebuilding the country that the GOP has driven near to bankruptcy and ruin.

Investing in our infrastructure (transit, clean energy, clean water, etc.) is what will get the city and the country back on its feet. I am fired up!

Also, having spent half the day in Queens today, and half of Thursday as well, it was highly gratifying to see Joe Addabbo pick off Serph Maltese . . . we're going to have a Democratic State Senate for the first time since 1964 . . . 10 years before I was born!

VOTE TODAY . . . And Plan On Waiting A While

Over at PS 58, the line for our electoral district (79th) was the longest I've experienced . . . but the people there are doing a great job of moving the process through. A pleasant surprise - Maria Pagano of CGNA was among those working the table when Mia and I finally made it to the front of the line.

We arrived at 7:30 and were out at 8:30 . . . your results may vary, but give yourself plenty of time . . . and be sure to vote! Ran into Dan Squadron, our next State Senator at First and Court and wished him luck.

We voted a straight Democratic ticket (left column) from Barack Obama to Devin Cohen, and I encourage you to do the same!

Off to IND to pick up some palm cards. Their is excitement in the air . . . and also the smell of baked goods: be sure to pick up a coffee and snack from the PTA on your way into the polls. A buck a piece to a good cause, and money well spent when you're standing in line for an hour!

To find out where to vote: http://govote.org/

Or text: "pp street address zip" to 69866
(For example: pp 400 E. 8th Ave. 80203), texted to number 69866.

Go vote!

Electronics Recycling: SATURDAY 11 - 4 in Cobble Hill

Thanks to Paco Abraham of Cobble Hill Association and Tom Gray of Bill deBlasio's Office for bringing this to our attention (and for making it happen!)

Electronics Recycling -
Saturday, November 1st.... 10am - 4pm
Schoolyard of Brooklyn PS 29, 425 Henry Street, entrance is on Baltic between Henry & Clinton St in Cobble Hill

We will accept Working and non-working:
-Computers (laptop & desktop), Monitors
-Printers, scanners, fax-machines, copiers
-Network devices (routers, hubs, modems, etc.)
-Peripherals (keyboards, mice, cables, etc.)
-Components (hard drives, CD Roms, circuit boards, power supplies, etc,)
-TVs,VCR & DVD Players
-Radios/Stereos
-Cell Phones, pagers
-PDAs,Telecommunication (phones, answering machines, etc.)
-Media (SMALL QUANTITIES of floppies, cd's, zips, VHS tapes)

-Sponsored by Councilmember Bill DeBlasio, the Cobble Hill Association, and PS 29 PTA.

Remember, all of these items have toxic chemicals and heavy metals that leach into surrounding soils if not disposed of properly. They also contain some exotic elements that can be recycled into new components, obviating the need for new mining . . . so it's a win - win.

Killing Conservative Lies

Over at NY Mag, Matt Taibbi tears Byron York into tiny, perfectly coiffed pieces over the roots of the economic crisis. A sample:

M.T.: You don't think the unregulated CDS market was a major factor in the current crisis? Were you watching when AIG almost went under? Were you watching the Lehman collapse?

B.Y.: I think that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were also major factors. And I believe that many of the problems in the mortgage area can be attributed to the confluence of Democratic and Republican priorities: the Democrats' desire to give mortgages to people, particularly minorities, who could not afford them, and the Republicans' desire to achieve an "ownership society," in part by giving mortgages to people who could not afford them. Again, I believe that if you are suggesting that the financial crisis is a Republican creation, or even more specifically a McCain creation, I think you're on pretty shaky ground.

M.T.: Oh, come on. Tell me you're not ashamed to put this gigantic international financial Krakatoa at the feet of a bunch of poor black people who missed their mortgage payments. The CDS market, this market for credit default swaps that was created in 2000 by Phil Gramm's Commodities Future Modernization Act, this is now a $62 trillion market, up from $900 billion in 2000. That's like five times the size of the holdings in the NYSE. And it's all speculation by Wall Street traders. It's a classic bubble/Ponzi scheme. The effort of people like you to pin this whole thing on minorities, when in fact this whole thing has been caused by greedy traders dealing in unregulated markets, is despicable.

Primary Day!

Tuesday September 9th is the Democratic Primary . . . and in these low turnout contests, your vote does matter.

With the presidential primary long past (February), many people are simply unaware that there are a lot of hotly contested Democratic contests Tuesday . . . so turnout really matters.

You can find your polling place with THIS handy tool on the Board of Elections website.

Tomorrow I'll be proud to pull the lever for DEVIN COHEN, candidate for Civil Court in the 1st Judicial District and a solid progressive. I am confident that Devin Cohen will be scrupulously honest and fair behind the bench. While Devin is a true progressive Dem and a selfless volunteer, his mercenary opponent Roger Adler has a long history of working with the Conservative Party, even authoring their amicus brief against same sex marriage. In addition, Adler represented disgraced former Democratic leader Clarence Norman. We need to elect a good Democrat in this race; we need to elect Devin Cohen.

I'll also be voting for State Senator Marty Connor. Marty has served our neighborhoods for decades now, in the frustrating position of the minority party in the Senate. But this is the year that we will break the Republican hold on the Senate, and for the first time since 1965 win a Democratic majority. There is a lot to be said for institutional memory, and Connor is an old hand in the Senate: he has the experience to take a leadership role once again, and would be well positioned to provide a strong voice for our community. I've met Connor's challenger, Dan Squadron, a number of times, and I have nothing bad to say about him. In fact, I like Dan. But given the unique situation we are in this year, I believe we should place a premium on experience. And so I think we should reelect Marty Connor.

Lastly, it's outside of Brooklyn, but I want to express my support for Assembly Candidate Paul Newell. Paul has waged a courageous campaign against Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Silver is an example of an entrenched politician who could benefit from a primary challenge. Silver, you'll remember, let the congestion pricing plan wither and die. Paul Newell will make better transit, and transit funding, a reality for our City. If I could vote in the 64th, my vote would go to Paul Newell.

Now get out and vote . . . these are low turnout contests and quite literally, every vote counts.