Hannah Sennesh Day SchoolThank goodness Bill De Blasio's two terms as our councilman ended in 2009.
He certainly seemed to be on the opposite side of his constituents on many neighborhood issues. He approved of the Atlantic Yards project, opposed the EPA Superfunding of the highly toxic Gowanus Canal, but supported the Toll Brothers' out of scale development along said canal. And just weeks before leaving the council, he sneakily tried to amend and erode a distinct 150 year-old city law that protects the unique front yards on the Carroll Gardens 'Place' blocks by requesting an exception for Hannah Senesh, the private school at the corner of Smith Street and First Place, so that the school could build an extension on city owned property.
Because of community out-cry, De Blasio decided against pursuing his "Courtyard Caper."
Now, in his first day in office, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio is launching "the Public Advocate’s Community Organizing and Constituent Services Department to help organize communities to play a more meaningful role in City Government." According to a press release from his office, the department "will provide New Yorkers with specific organizing tools and strategies in addition to helping them navigate City bureaucracy and connecting them to the services they need."
“Our communities deserve a greater say in the policies that affect their lives,” said Public Advocate Bill de Blasio. “Giving New Yorkers the tools they need to organize will help make our Government more democratic and responsive to the needs of the people. My office will help neighborhood activists build grassroots coalitions so they can have a greater impact on all levels of government.”
From today's NYTimes "the city’s new public advocate, Bill de Blasio, will unveil a plan on Monday to train aggrieved residents to organize petition drives, demonstrations and civic actions"
Hey Bill - I'd like to start some civic action to stop the courtyards of our historic neighborhood being developed because of sleazy political backroom deals done by local council members who put their career ahead of their constituents. Wanna help me out with that?
Ironic is right.
Check out her post here.
What do you think, dear reader? Would love to know.
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6 comments:
I became pastor of Old First church in Park Slope in 2001. Not once since I came did De Blasio's office ever return a phone call or respond to a communication. I really don't expect him to start now, unless I manage to find something that serves his interest.
Well, in a way I feel better if the pastor of Old First couldn't get a phone call returned. Our neighborhood learned that we had to engage in community organizing to get a response and most of the time once Bill did respond he wanted to turn the issue into a press conference.
Bill's campaign targeted disenfranchised low information voters. They are in for a rude awakening should they ever need the assistance of the Public Advocate's office. Can't wait until those who partake in the training organize against him.
Oldest guerilla-politics trick in the world is to set up loyal cells throughout the 'hoods. De Blasio, as a good graduate of the Bill Clinton School, is running for mayor, so all of his actions will reflect that. He'll play the developers nicely for the cash; string along easily-duped liberals with strategic press releases about the children, and build his power base.
Had a really good chuckle over that NYT article yesterday. What world is he in? First he tries to stick it to the Carroll Gardens neighborhood and then pretends he's our advocate, oh give me a break. Is this going to be his campaign theme when he runs for mayor.
I agree to a large extent with Matthew about Bill's motivations. But I have another a thought. A lot of us know Bill's pattern going back to the days of his tenure on the school board which is to disappear and ignore while focusing on furthering his own career. This will be harder to do on a city wide level. He is giving the tools people need to advocate for themselves so he doesn't have to and can begin to focus on his next campaign.
deBlasio for mayor is a very scary thought is that's what his ultimate goal is. Too bad he got elected to Public Advocate post. Proves that you can fool most of the people at least some of the time (voting time).
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