Manhattan Borough President Candidate Mark Levine Meets And Speaks To Roosevelt Island Residents At Farmers Market Today - Watch Video Of What He Has To Say About Imagining A Better Manhattan & Roosevelt Island

Mark Levine is a NYC Council Member representing the Upper West Side, Harlem & Washington Heights and is running for Manhattan Borough President to succeed Gale Brewer who is term limited. Mr Levine was at the Roosevelt Island Farmers Market today

meeting and talking with residents about local issues.

#TeamLevine joined @MarkLevineNYC at the Roosevelt Island farmer’s market! We loved talking to residents about how they #ImagineABetterManhattan, including public banking, reinvesting in the Roosevelt Island community, and bike lines. pic.twitter.com/L1FZKlDzNN

— Team Levine 👟 (@TeamLevineNYC) May 8, 2021

46 days until the primary, and here’s another idea to #ImagineABetterManhattan:

==> Let's make mountains of trash bags a thing of the past on crowded Manhattan sidewalks. It's time we catch up to other cities and install sealed, on-street containers. pic.twitter.com/QV4d8e0pMM

— Mark D. Levine (@MarkLevineNYC) May 8, 2021

I spoke with Mr. Levine at the Farmers Market about his ideas to #ImagineABetterManhattan and better Roosevelt Island including bringing a local bank branch to Roosevelt Island, making sure resident needs are prioritized by the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) and working to insure that Cornell Tech gives back to the Roosevelt Island Community. Mr Levine spoke of his role as Chair of the NYC Council Health Committee fighting the Covid 19 pandemic too. 

Here's what Mr Levine had to say.

Saw the lovely @MarkLevineNYC at the farmers market on Roosevelt island earlier! Even though I can’t vote cuz of my immigration status I’d still like to voice my support for this guy for his amazing job over the past few months with covid vax and many other issues! pic.twitter.com/uSR1SFDNAN

— Robert Yuzhe Song (@astrorobb) May 8, 2021

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

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

• Lindsey Boylan   
• Elizabeth Caputo   
• Ben Kallos   
• Brad Holyman (Roosevelt Island Farmers Market Interview here)
  
• Kimberly Watkins 
• Michael Lewyn 

Roosevelt Island will have an early voting site from June 12 to 20 at the Sportspark facility (250 Main Street) for Manhattan Borough President and other June 22 NYC election day contests.

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 Gothamist has more on what the Borough President does.