Who's running for City Council in Brooklyn: District 33

(John Moore/Getty Images)

By Curtis Brodner

(NEW YORK) Primary elections for the New York City Council will be held June 22.

The New York City Council is responsible for proposing and voting on legislation for the city, which is then approved or vetoed by the mayor. The Council can override a veto with a two-thirds majority vote.

The 51 councilmembers wield an immense amount of power in deciding how the city manages housing, development, policing, education and other elements of city life.

The Council negotiates a budget with the mayor every year. Councilmembers control a discretionary budget for their own district, which means your representative decides which projects will be funded in your neighborhood.

District 33 covers Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn Navy Yard, Downtown Brooklyn, Dumbo, Fulton Ferry, Greenpoint, Vinegar Hill and Williamsburg.

Incumbent Stephen Levin is not running again due to term limits that prohibit holding office for more than two consecutive four-year terms.

Below is a list of candidates and the policies they are prioritizing in their campaigns.

• April Somboun: Member of North Heights Community Group, Brooklyn Bridge Park Community Advisory Council, leads the BQE initiative for the Bridge Harbor Heights Condominiums, Brooklyn Book Bodega board member
• Community: Continue Levin’s participatory budget in which community members vote for how district funds are distributed
• Schools: Increase funding for schools
• Childcare: Expand subsidized and free daycare, distribute free child care necessities
• Business: Rent relief for businesses, eliminate fees for starting a business
• Ben Solotaire: Community Liaison and Director of Participatory Budgeting for City Councilmember Stephen Levin, worked with re-entry program for formerly incarcerated people, Policy Chair of the Brooklyn Food Coalition and Leadership Committee Member of the Food Systems Network of New York City
• Housing: Build more affordable housing, increase value of rent assistance waivers
• Community: Expand Levin’s participatory budget in which community members vote for how district funds are distributed
• Schools: Equitable funding for schools, reform classrooms to create equitable learning
• Police: More training for police, empower Civilian Complaint Review Board, require police to live where they work
• Elizabeth Adams: Legislative Director in the City Council, Planned Parenthood advocate
• Housing: Empower communities to have larger role in city planning and zoning, increase funding for NYCHA, rent stabilization
• Transit: Make open streets permanent, renovate Brooklyn Queens Expressway, expand bike and bus lanes
• Police: Defund NYPD by at least $1 billion, decouple policing from mental health and child welfare response
• Justice: Decriminalize sex work, expand SNAP/EBT
• Lincoln Restler: Founding member of New King Democrats, housing activist, Community Board 2 member, Brooklyn Public Library Board
• Environment: Switch from gas to electric power, tax incentives for solar, wind farm at Brooklyn Navy Yard
• Housing: Lower rent by forcing landlords to list vacant buildings, mandate rent decrease for vacant buildings not sold over extended periods of time
• Business: Streamline application, approval and permitting for businesses, tax penalties for landlords who keep storefronts vacant
• Workers: Guaranteed paid time off, increase minimum wage
• Sabrina Gates: Volunteer work and non-profit leadership, business owner
• Housing: Says lack of affordable housing is a problem
• Business: Encourage small businesses
• Education: Fund schools, expand after school programs, encourage use of pre-k for all program
• Healthcare: Says hospital closures and overworked hospital staff are problems, increase focus on mental health and wellness
• Stu Sherman: Started the first free legal program in New York City for the families of people with dementia and Alzheimer’s
• Healthcare: Provide homecare for seniors, open city-run pharmacies with price controls, separate mental health treatment from incarceration, stop hospital closures
• Housing: Reform rezoning law so that all land rezoned for housing for residential use is 100% affordable housing, prioritize long-term housing for homeless people over temporary shelters, fund NYCHA
• Business: Debt relief for small businesses, legal aid for small businesses, forgive lease payments during emergencies like extreme weather or terrorist attacks, create NYC public bank to provide loans
• Police: Cut funding to NYPD, remove police from traffic enforcement, mental health response, homeless outreach, school safety and public hospital security
• Toba Potosky: Activist and organizer
• Housing: Build affordable co-ops, make renters homeowners, fund NYCHA, replace homeless shelters with provisional housing
• Business: Remove “bureaucratic red tape,” create Small Business Advisory Task Force to encourage local shopping
• Transit: Make transit 100% accessible, get bikers off sidewalks, ban non-essential helicopters, ban loud mufflers
• Police: Remove NYPD top leadership, evaluate precinct leadership
• Victoria Cambranes: Marketer
• Housing: Moratorium for all rezoning, fund NYCHA, reform affordable housing program to better reflect local income as basis for rent rates
• Police: No new jails, NYPD reform, increase policing of hate groups
• Environment: Prepare waterfront for rising sea levels and extreme weather, invest in green energy

Follow me to see more articles like this.

...

Follow