Roosevelt Island NYC Council District 5 Candidates Forum - Presentations By Ben Kallos and Ed Hartzog, But Micah Kellner A No Show
Following last evening's NYC Office of Emergency Management Roosevelt Island Hurricane Evacuation Presentation, the Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) held a NYC Candidates Forum. Appearing at the forum were Democratic Party candidates:
- John Liu-Mayor
- Reshma Saujani-Public Advocate
- Ed Hartzog- City Council
- Ben Kallos- City Council and
- Jessica Lappin- Borough President
First Mr. Kallos responded to these questions
and answered a question from a resident about the long sought dream of building an elevator from Roosevelt Island to the Queenboro Bridge. Mr. Kallos also spoke about the sexual harassment allegations brought against opponent Micah Kellner saying that:
... it made me sick to my stomach and its harmful to democracy because as I am trying to run a great campaign all people can think about is how rotten politicians are...
Mr. Kallos issued this press release:
Assembly Member Micah Kellner failed to show up to the Roosevelt Island candidate forum last night, making this the second forum he has missed. The forums were the only two opportunities for the Council Candidates in Manhattan's CD5 (Upper East Side and Roosevelt Island) to engage in-person with voters. The other candidates for the seat, Ben Kallos and Ed Hartzog, both attended the Roosevelt Island forum, along with citywide candidates Jessica Lappin for Manhattan Borough President, John Liu for Mayor and Reshma Saujani for Public Advocate. Kellner also missed the Lenox Hill Neighborhood House Forum on August 21, attended by Kallos, Hartzog and Republican David Garland.Earlier today, I asked Mr. Kellner's campaign why he did not appear at last night's Roosevelt Island Candidate's Forum. Have not received a response yet. Mr. Kellner's campaign had previously reported that he was ill with a fever and lost his voice for the August 21 Lenox Hill Forum.
"I was disappointed that Micah Kellner didn't show up to either event to discuss the issues that are important to our community. Whether it was because of the seriousness of the investigations into the harassment of his staff or he didn't feel it was important, it's not what the Upper East Side and Roosevelt Island deserves," said Kallos.
At the forums, candidates spoke about solutions to increase the amount of affordable housing, promote better transportation solutions, hold developers accountable to communities and more. Though Kellner missed both community forums, candidates for Manhattan's District 5 will debate on NY1 on September 3, airing at 7PM and 10PM.
Here's City Council candidate Ed Hartzog's presentation to the Roosevelt Island Candidate's Forum.
Will also post presentations by Mayoral Candidate John Liu, Public Advocate Reshma Saujani and Borough President Jessica Lappin.
12 comments :
Does it matter that the postcard denouncing Micah Kellner as a sexual harassment aggressor was not "paid for" nor "sponsored" by any candidate or group?
Has candidate (insert name here) set foot on the Island since the campaign for (insert office here) began?
Even though we were all safe during an event like Sandy we now have to evacuate if a similar thing happens again. Where is the logic?
I'm still frustrated by this OEM presentation. No announcement about provisions for evacuating Coler-Goldwater hospital patients. Telling us to get out on the F train is a joke...it flooded and shut down during Sandy. The F train can hold 2500 people...right, especially if it's a weekend and they're skipping this rock because they're doing track work. Right...2 days before a big storm notice...nobody from OEM notified anyone that Sandy was going to be that bad until right before it happened. Call 311 if you're disabled and need a ride? Are they crazy? Ever watched our neighbors waiting for Access-A-Ride? Even without a storm they are often not on time or reliable! Take the F train to 21st street and walk to the shelter at Newcomers HS? Let's see...that's 7 blocks while carrying or lugging a suitcase and kids. Yeah, OEM, you did a great job Brownie <quoted GW Bush)!
Why is it they always say something about affordable housing than do nothing. Where Were they during the mess of eastwood
And what are they doing to keep rivercross affordable . They all say the same b.s
Bloomberg started warning people October 26th - "don't be complacent", while they were evacuating some from hospitals on the 26th. the storm hit on October 29th. That's a lot of warning. We're on an island in the middle of the east river... If, like before, 3 days before the storm they start evacuating hospitals, I'd suggest you be ready to go, and not wait until the last minute hoping the OEM will find a way to rescue your luggage...
Just saying.
Very true, OldRossie. The city does not do evacuations by saying "OMG leave NOW and take the subway." Heaven help us if there is something sudden, like an earthquake. But with hurricanes, we really will have a lot of notice. Living where we live, we need to be extra cautious and heed that notice.
I don't know why they talk about affordable housing to the people who were at this meeting. As these people already are living in their apartments so why the hell should they care about affordable apartments.
Even if there's a mandatory evacuation, the police cannot make people leave their homes. Of course, those that stay face risks.
Thousands out in the Rockaways and Red Hook never left their project homes during/after Sandy, despite having no electricity, running water and so forth.
If every resident had left, Bloomberg could easily have condemned and leveled those crumbling buildings, which are already in need of thousands of repairs the City of NY - NYC's biggest landlord - is deliberately dragging its feet on performing. With these waterfront projects gone, Bloomberg could then give the land to his friends the developers for redevelopment as luxury condos and so forth.
The displaced project dwellers? Has anyone ever seen Bloomberg care about their fate? Hah! Heck no, Bloomberg doesn't care about NYC's poor, elderly, disabled, or otherwise disadvantaged; Bloomberg is the one that wants every Food Stamp recipient and project dweller finger-printed; Bloomberg is the one that is still fighting court orders striking down stop and frisk as unconstitutional!
The only possible upside of Bloomberg's pro-developer neo-fascist mentality is that it seems likely to doom the chances of any of the Bloomberg-clone Mayoral candidates (Lhota, Catsimatides, etc.) including Bloomberg's long-time lapdog Quinn, of becoming the next Mayor. Hmm, I wonder why..
YetAnotherRIer, I agree: it's not clear why a mandatory evacuation would be necessary. Sure, there was some flooding, but insisting that people leave? Giving OEM the benefit of the doubt, in OEM's hindsight there must have been some criteria (new criteria) that would now cause them to conclude that Roosevelt Island would have been mandatory evacuation. I'll try to find out more on OEM's position and report back.
Read here about "3rd-term" Quinn's mutually advantageous alliance with Vito Lopez "a synonym for scandal". http://www.wnyc.org/articles/wnyc-news/2013/aug/29/tangled-dealings-link-quinn-lopez-and-his-brooklyn-machine/
It's great that Ben Kallos said the behavior of Micah Kellner four years ago ". . . made me sick to my stomach and its (sic) harmful to democracy because as I am trying to run a great campaign all people can think about is how rotten politicians are..."
Now that I've received two postcards about Kellner's sexual harrassment past, sent by an unamed person or group, and one phone call, also paid for by an unnamed person or group, it turns out these three efforts were created by Ben Kallos.
http://politicker.com/2013/09/ben-kallos-skewers-micah-kellner-in-anonymous-mailer/
I'm sick to my stomach, too-- about these anonymous attacks by someone who claims to support transparency in government.
Will the city provide rafts?
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