Manhattan Borough President Candidate Brad Hoylman Meets And Speaks To Roosevelt Island Residents At Farmers Market Last Saturday - Watch Video Of What He Has To Say

Brad Hoylman is a NY State Senator representing the 27th District in Manhattan and running for Manhattan Borough President to succeed Gale Brewer who is term limited. Mr Hoylman was at the Roosevelt Island Farmers Market last Saturday meeting and talking with residents about local issues.

Last weekend of petitioning! ✍️There couldn’t be more glorious weather to be all over Manhattan to:

🌞 march with @JohannaG_NYC & @RJackson_NYC in Washington Heights❗️

🌞 visit Abingdon Square farmer’s market with @villagedems❗️

🌞join @estheryangny on Roosevelt Island❗️ pic.twitter.com/YYgpwFi71m

— Brad Hoylman (@bradhoylman) March 20, 2021

I spoke with Mr Hoylman at the Farmers Market. Mr Hoylman said his number one priority is affordable housing and emphasized need for a "progressive reformer" like himself as the Manhattan Borough President. Here's what he had to say.

Learn more about Mr Hoylman's campaign for Manhattan Borough President at his website.

Mr Hoylman's opponents in the June 22 Democratic Party Primary are: 

• Lindsey Boylan   
• Elizabeth Caputo   
• Ben Kallos   
• Mark Levine   
• Kimberly Watkins 
• Michael Lewyn 
  

You may ask what exactly does a Borough President do? According to The City:

... A borough president is an advocate for their borough in a number of ways. 

First, they have a sizable chunk of change at their disposal to fund local initiatives, groups and projects like buying technology for public schools, renovating local parks or spearheading community health outreach.

Borough presidents share about 5% of the city budget to fund things in their borough — about $4 billion among them, according to the city’s Campaign Finance Board.

Borough presidents can also introduce bills in the City Council, though they do not get a vote.
They weigh in on land use proposals — in other words, development projects that need public approval — with an advisory vote and written decision. Their input is not binding, but it can be quite influential if they are staunchly for or against a project and lobby Council members or the mayor. 

Working with local City Council members, Borough presidents also appoint all members of community boards, the local bodies that weigh in on everything from new bike lanes to liquor licenses for restaurants. With that power, the borough presidents can exert significant sway over neighborhood-level politics and projects....

Click here for more from The City on NYC Borough Presidents.

And the Gothamist has more on what the Borough President does.