Pol Position: Holy Sh*t? He Said That?

Hizzoner is known for wild statements and his antics. But he surprised the city, and even got national attention last week, when he declared at an interfaith breakfast where he declared he didn’t believe in the separation of church and state.

“When we took prayers out of schools, guns came into schools,” Mayor Adams said at the February 28 press conference, where he emphasized how his faith drives his governing.

Adams also noted that he had a “Godlike approach” to governing and his aide Ingrid Lewis-Martin said that Adams was one of the chosen people.

He’s going to need divine intervention if he wants the people of New York to feel the same way about his “Godlike approach” to implementing policies.

A February 1 poll from Quinnipiac University found that a plurality (43 percent)  of respondents disapprove of Mayor Adams’ first year in Gracie Mansion, with 20 percent saying they “didn’t know” and 37 percent saying they did approve.

On the issues a majority of respondents disapprove of Adams’ handling of crime, homelessness and a plurality of respondents disapprove of Hizzoner’s handling of public schools, the city budget and immigration issues. There wasn’t a single issue where the mayor had either a plurality or majority approval.

While it’s been speculated that Eric Adams could run for president in the future, his comments were reminiscent of someone on the stump for the Republican ticket in Iowa.

Adams has already started to walk back his comments after the comments got national attention. His comments regarding the church and state and prayer in schools were convenient panders for churchgoing voters, but his other remarks about having a godlike approach reveal his own narcissistic liturgy.

Throughout his first year in office and on the campaign trail, Adams has made a series of remarks that show his vanity.

Adams has acted like he has a larger mandate than he has ever since he was sworn in,, even though he won the 2021 Democratic Primary by just a little over 7,000 votes in the final round against Kathryn Garcia.

Before even getting sworn in, Adams dismissed critics of solitary confinement since they didn’t wear a bulletproof vest for over 20 years like him. At a May 12 press conference announcing his Dyslexia Screening program,  Adams leaned into his own backstory as someone with the learning disorder and said that if he had earlier intervention he would be Mr. President rather than Mr.  Mayor.

His narcissism is  what he likes to call his swagger but maybe if he spent more time crafting legislation and working with other officials instead of raking in on the photo-ops, he wouldn’t sound as ridiculous as he does.

Poll Position: Fighting for relevance

The Guardian Angel, media personality and prolific cat owner Curtis Sliwa has a new venture: breaking the democratic stronghold in Astoria. 

At least, that’s what he plans on doing. Whether he can be successful is a much bigger question.

Sliwa, 68, is no newcomer to politics. BUt even more so, he is no newcomer to generating some media buzz.

As a savvy PR operator, Sliwa knows more than most on how to generate a press cycle. Just back in January, Sliwa was able to generate a similar buzz by announcing his offer to help the mayor clean up rats at his Bed-Stuy apartment with cats.

What both these stories show, more than anything else, is Sliwa’s ability to generate press and cling on to relevance while his political cache has waned in recent years.

His new venture, the Ronal Reagan political club seeks to challenge the growth of DSA within the neighborhood.

“We’re going into the belly of the beast of the Democratic Socialists of America in New York City. We’re going to take on AOC and Caban,” Sliwa said in his announcement.

The club aims to challenge DSA’s grip on the Western Queens neighborhood by  promoting “ fiscal responsibility, small government, and lower taxes in Queens while maintaining an open dialogue with the community about the issues facing them,” per the announcement’s press release. 

While the announcement got some press, his venture to actually make change will be a much more uphill battle and nearly impossible.

In the 2021 City Council election cycle, Tiffany Cában resoundingly won the primary against other more liberal candidates, capturing 62.6 percent of the final vote in the final round. In the general election the candidate only netted 30.5 percent of the vote, a measly 6,209 votes to Cabán general election total of over 12,000 votes. 

The large gap in the polls demonstrates the stronghold that Astoria is. If Sliwa was more interested in actually spreading his message and trying to get more conservatives elected he would focus on closer elections like South Brooklyn or in the Bronx where the issue of crime is much more salient on voters minds and actually has a chance of change in representation.

But of course, this whole announcement was more pomp than anything else –  hoping to score a few headlines for an increasingly irrelevant person in Big Apple politics.

In Our Opinion: Legislative Staffers deserve a union

Staffers of the state assembly announced that they are trying to get union recognition, as City and State first reported last month. We believe that they deserve recognition.

The move follows organizing efforts by staffers of the state senate to be recognized as the  New York State Legislative Workers United group. 

As reporters who engage with these offices regularly, good staff are the unsung heroes of a successful politician. Many staffers who work these jobs often can’t afford to live in the district they are representing despite long hours and demanding work. 

Behind every good policy proposal, solving constituent services complaints or positive perception of a politician is a hardworking staffer.

“Far too many of us can barely make ends meet, regardless of our office, credentials, seniority, or responsibilities. Most of us work long hours, including late nights and weekends, and our overtime is unpaid. Compounded by the rising cost of living these factors disadvantage employees from less privileged backgrounds and make long-term careers with the Assembly increasingly difficult to manage,” a Jan. 17 letter from New York State Legislative Workers United, explaining their want for a union.

If we want New York’s brightest to keep working in government rather than go to the private sector, a union is the best way to ensure they are able to stay for the long haul. If we want the staff to reverse the economic and racial diversity of our city, having a union to secure decent wages is of utmost importance.

This is especially true when the legislature voted at the end of last year to boost their own salaries by 29%, making them the highest paid legislature in the country and netting them an $142,000 annual salary. 

A Nonagenarian and WWII Veteran Looks Back at His Life

By David Paone

news@queensledger.com

They call them the Greatest Generation: those who lived their childhoods during the Great Depression, only to have to fight the Second World War when they became of age.

Bill Isaacson, a resident of North Shore Towers, can check both those boxes. The Navy veteran sat down with The Queens Ledger and looked back over his 97 years.

Beginnings

Isaacson was born in the Fort Hamilton section of Brooklyn on May 5, 1925, the second of five children of Russian immigrants. 

His father owned a furniture manufacturing and sales company, but during the Depression, lost the business. He also lost the family house, which he owned. 

Isaacson said his family survived, “as best we could.”

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed the US naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and America entered World War II. Isaacson remembers the day.

“I was in a basement socializing with a group of teens,” he said. “And we heard about the war breaking out. And I went to enlist. My father wouldn’t sign the papers.” 

Isaacson was only 16 at the time but sensed the need to volunteer. “I felt I wanted to do my part,” he said.

His friends were eager to enlist and all were later drafted. “Likewise, they wanted to do their part, of course,” he said.

Uncle Sam Wanted Him

When Isaacson turned 18 in 1943, the war was not over, making him eligible for the draft. 

“I didn’t get drafted right away because I had pneumonia at the time of my 18th birthday, and the draft board gave me 90 days to get well,” he said.

By this point Isaacson had one friend from the neighborhood – also 18 – who was in the service and had died in Italy. 

Isaacson chose the Coast Guard, but the draft board had a different plan for him and he was inducted into the Navy in April 1943.

As an honor graduate from signalman school, Isaacson was a Signalman Second Class and appointed to Flag Command, which is the personal staff of admirals. 

“I served with Admiral Sherman aboard the USS Missouri and with Admiral Fechteler aboard the USS Wisconsin,” said Isaacson.

“I was on all the biggies,” said Isaacson, regarding the ships on which he served. These included the USS Wisconsin, the USS Missouri, the USS Enterprise, the USS New Mexico and the USS Guadalcanal, which brought back 495 former prisoners of war from Japan. 

“I was on duty when five of them jumped overboard,” said Isaacson. 

He saw each of them light a cigarette and jump, in what Isaacson believes were definite suicides. “This was in the middle of the night,” he said. They circled until daylight but never found them.

Japan surrendered in 1945, bringing an end to the war. Isaacson was on the island of Guam at the time. It just so happened his younger brother, Boris, was on a minesweeper in the harbor, and the two were able to connect for four hours. 

Once the end of the war was announced, “Everyone was celebrating,” said Isaacson. “Guam was muddy up to your knees and everybody was dancing.”

Isaacson said he served, “Two years, six months and 15 days.”

He was offered the rank of Signalman First Class, if he reenlisted, but decided to pursue his education instead.

Having served in the military, Isaacson was eligible for the GI Bill, which would cover his college tuition. He earned his Bachelor’s with a major in Spanish (inspired by his high school Spanish teachers) from Brooklyn College in 1949 and his Master’s in 1951 from there, too.

Isaacson calls himself a member of the “52-20 Club.”

“We got $52 for attending school for 20 weeks,” he said with a laugh.

A Brush with Death

In 1950, Isaacson was a student at the University of Havana, in Cuba.

On November 1, a student strike was called for 72 hours. At breakfast, his cook told him, “Something happened in Washington,” and there was no school that day.

Isaacson phoned his professor who said he was conducting class nevertheless and he should attend.  Isaacson did.

On the steps of the university, Isaacson was stopped by three men who began to interrogate him. “I answered all their questions,” said Isaacson, and then one asked to see his student ID. It was green, which signified he was from the United States.

“One of them pulled out a pistol and held it to my head and walked me to my room,” he said.

One of the others nudged him and said, “We’re not looking for an incident,” which Isaacson interpreted as his desire to avoid an international incident.

Two of them marched Isaacson and his professor to the curb at gunpoint. They were told, “If you come back in the next 48 hours, you will be shot on site.”

The man who told the gunman not to start an international incident was the president of the student union who called the strike, and a law student as well. It was Fidel Castro.

His professor later told him that the man who held a pistol to his head was the son of Enrique Collazo, the Puerto Rican nationalist who attempted to assassinate President Truman in the Blair House on the same day.

 

The 20th Century

Isaacson was born before the Empire State Building and George Washington Bridge were erected. He remembers when “peddlers” sold their wares from horse-drawn carriages in Brooklyn.

But the 20th Century saw endless advances in modern comforts and Isaacson was there for most of them. 

During the Golden Age of Television in the 1950s, he watched TV comedy pioneers Sid Caesar, Milton Berle and Lucille Ball. But it was the moon landing in 1969 that struck him as the greatest achievement.

During his childhood, the “Buck Rogers” serial was a complete fantasy; space travel was only achieved through movie magic.

But watching an actual human set foot on the moon was real life and not a special effect. 

“I couldn’t fathom people walking on the moon,” he said. 

Isaacson’s family had relocated to Bayside and he met his future wife in Queens. They had a son and a daughter.

In 1959, Isaacson became an appointed Spanish teacher at Bayside High School and remained there working in various administrative positions until 1985, ending his tenure as assistant principal of the Department of Foreign Languages.

Isaacson spent his entire career in education, also teaching on the college level at Brooklyn and Nassau Community Colleges, and as dean of instruction at Five Towns College. He retired in 2020 after spending 70 years in the classroom when Covid-19 struck.

Modern Times

For most of Isaacson’s life, computers were something the government and huge corporations used; nobody owned one. “Software” and “internet” weren’t even words. But Isaacson has embraced modern technology and uses email and carries a cell phone, although he uses it, “very seldom.” 

“I feel it’s a wonderment that I will never understand,” he said.

The Isaacsons were married for 52 years.

It took him 77 years, but Isaacson recently joined American Legion Post 103 in Douglaston.

Isaacson is the picture of health. His memory is still sharp and although he sometimes walks with a cane, he’s still very spry.

World War II veterans are passing daily and in a few short years there will be none left.

“All my friends are gone. They were all in the service,” said Isaacson. “That’s the punishment for living to 97.”

Swastika found at Greenpoint Playground

By Matthew Fischetti

mfischetti@queensledger.com

A swastika was found defacing one of the trees at American Playground in Greenpoint this past Sunday.

“This is one of the most wonderful spots for kids in our community,” Councilman Lincoln Restler, whose office was first alerted about the vandalism, said in an interview with the Greenpoint Star. “And I was deeply disturbed to learn of this hateful imagery appearing in the park.”

The councilman said that he turned the hateful carvings into a square with a key when he first went to check on the Franklin Street park, between Milton and Noble Street, on Sunday Feb. 26.

The councilman then alerted the local precinct and parks department about the issue, he said.

“Unfortunately, we have experienced anti semitic incidents in Greenpoint over many years. And a number of anti-semitic incidents across the city has grown exponentially over the last few years,” Restler said. “From swastikas being scraped, painted or drawn to physical attacks against Jewish people, and we need it to stop. Unfortunately, the anti-semitic attacks have been disproportionately targeted towards Orthodox Jews, who are more obviously Jewish, based on their dress and custom.”

The United Jewish Organization of Williamsburg and North Brooklyn did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

Restler said that creating cross cultural engagement opportunities with various community leaders and developing curriculum for schools are part of the solution to battling anti-semitism across the district.

Shortly after his election, Restler participated in neighborhood canvases along with Jews for Racial & Economic Justice in order to address anti-semitism, as the Jewish-Telegraphic Agency first reported.

There have been no arrests at time of publication.

Black Veterans for Social Justice receives $1M in funds

By Matthew Fischetti

mfischetti@queensledger.com

Over 70 people packed into the halls of Black Veterans For Social Justice last Friday to witness the unveiling of a $1,000,000 donation to the group.

The Bed-Stuy Veterans Resource Center and Community Organization was founded in 1979. The 665 Willoughby Avenue location helps connect veterans returning home from combat with resources and helps place veterans with benefits such as housing, benefits, employment and more during their transition back to civilian life.

“Serving Black veterans – people who have fought in wars, to lift up to the principles of American freedom, liberty and justice for all, equal protection under the law, protecting democracy – you all have been a part of that black history and that American history. And were so thankful for you and your work,” said U.S. minority leader and Brooklyn Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, who delegated the funds, at the announcement.

The funds were made available through Community Project Funding, a program where congress members can appropriate funds to their district.

After the announcement was made, Veterans and attendees were able to connect with a series of government offices in a veteran resource fair: including the Veterans Justice Outreach Program, which helps connect veterans with Veteran Administration benefits; the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program; the Jobs to Build On Program, a city program that helps unemployed people with job preparation and placement; among many others.

“That’s what today’s veterans resource fair is all about – continuing that work. To make sure that our veterans upon their return can live a decent, comfortable life. Having sacrificed for us, we should always be there for them,” Jeffries said.

Army Veteran and member of Brooklyn CB-2’s Veterans Committee, Andre Parker, 65, said that he came to familiarize himself with the services and check on some of his personal benefits.

“When you get out of the military, they don’t really give you too much information,” Parker explained. “But if you look at the benefits, or if you’re looking for like medical issues – this place here is good with job placement, housing, and it’s just not widely available.”

Parker emphasized that resource centers like Black Veterans for Social Justice are especially important for younger veterans, who may have recently left and not know what kinds of benefits they qualify for.

“I think it’s good – especially since we have our congressman leading the way. That was a good thing. As you can see, it was pretty packed downstairs,” Parker noted about the recent $1 million in funds that BVSJ can now tap into.

BVSJ President and CEO Wendy McClinton said that the funds would go a long way in providing programming and services for formerly incarcerated veterans coming home.

McClinton said in an interview that the program aims to engage veterans in the 90 day period that veterans re-enter society after incarceration.

“The veteran must be engaged within those 90 days, and then set up with those wraparound services, which may mean little basic things like clothing, job readiness, employment, making sure their mental status is correct, and tying them into other wraparound services,” she said.

McClinton also said that the funds would help hire more individuals to work on the program, which could have up to nine staff people in order to help reduce veteran recidivism and “learn that time served means new beginning.”

“We can employ more veterans, with the right background and credentials, peer to peer, to make sure that these formerly incarcerated veterans transition back into society with a veteran, with tender love and care and a listening ear,” McClinton said.

U.S. Army Corps hosts resiliency town hall

By Matthew Fischetti

mfischetti@queensledger

Over 100 Greenpoint residents packed into the Triskellion Arts Center last week in the neighborhood  to attend a town hall co-hosted by the North Brooklyn Parks Association and U.S. Representative Nydia Velazquez to address draft plans from the U.S. Corps of Army Engineers for creating a more resilient waterfront.

While the town hall was attended by mostly Greenpoint residents, the event marked the first time both representatives from the Queens waterfront neighborhoods along the Newtown Creek were working cooperatively over the issue. Elected officials franging from Sunnyside Assemblymember Juan Ardilla to Greenpoint Councilman Lincoln Restler were in attendance last Thursday to discuss the draft plans.(Queens residents were able to log-on and attend the meeting virtually as well to voice their concerns.)

The tentatively selected plan would include sea walls along the coastline and storm surge barriers as well as raised promenades as mitigation measures.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineer representative Byrce Wisemiller emphasized that the Army Corps main focus was reducing storm surge risk.

“Some refer to our view on storm surge as somewhat myopic. But that is the impact that has caused 10s of billions of dollars of damage and has the greatest life safety threat of all those risks,” Wisemiller said.

Many residents who spoke out at the town hall were concerned with proposed renderings for a 17 foot tall sea wall in Greenpoint, stretching from Kent Street to Newtown Creek. At the Town Hall Wisemiller noted that the rendering was five feet too high and emphasized the designs are subject to change following the public comment period.

“But the bottom line of what we’re really trying to communicate is this neighborhood goes as unaddressed, severe coastal storm risk – as you probably all know that way better than me having lived here. We need to do something,” Wisemiller said. “Maybe the seawall, bigger flood wall, maybe the location needs to change. But this is not something that cannot be addressed.”

Willis Elkins, the executive director of the Newtown Creek Alliance, raised concerns about how the plan will affect the remediation of the creek and how the current plan could limit connection between the East River and the Newtown Creek and cast aspersion on storm surge gate would adequately protect the area.

“But for us more than anything, the exchange between Newtown Creek and the East River is incredibly vital to the health and the remediation of Newtown Creek, we have strong current flows that are coming in and out twice a day,” Elkins said, referencing the proposed clean-up of the creek which is supposed to happen within the next five years. “And anything that’s going to inhibit the flow of that water is going to have, in our opinion, strong impacts on the water quality of Newtown Creek and how Superfund remediation is going to happen.”

Elkins’s presentation also noted that he believes the storm surge gate as it ignores other causes of flooding like sea level and groundwater rise.

In a Feb. 17 letter addressed to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the North Brooklyn Parks Alliance also had several critiques of the draft plan ranging from that is cuts access to long fought for waterfront parks; that the plan doesn’t protect the Williamsburg waterfront; that the sea gates will restrict water flow and lead to increased combined sewer overflow, thereby slowing down the Superfund clean up; and not having enough “natural and nature-based solutions.”

“In summary and conclusion, the North Brooklyn Parks Alliance feels it is incumbent on the USArmy Corps of Engineers plans to fully incorporate community feedback and visions; employ an environmental justice framework; consider the potential impacts of past, current, and future New York City and State projects; and clearly address existing environmental conditions—especially where hazardous toxins, contaminated sites, and greater risk of flooding are involved,” the letter reads. 

During the question and answers point of the town hall, western Queens Councilwoman Julie Won raised equity issues with how Queens and Brooklyn are getting their flood protections.

“We have had the least amount of public and social infrastructure investments in all five boroughs. And Brooklyn is not too far behind that,” Won said at the meeting, noting that Manhattan has received funding for flip-up barriers, a type of flood protection that would leave pedestrian spaces unimpeded. 

Construction for the project would start around 2030 with a duration of 14 years.

Comments are available until March 7th about the proposed design. Readers interested in voicing their position can email their comments  to  nynjharbor.tribstudy@usace.army.mil.

Brooklyn Community Mourns After U-haul Attack

 

Mayor Eric Adams joined other local representatives to express condolences.

By Iryna Shkurhan | ishkurhan@queensledger.com

Bay Ridge residents gathered for a vigil on Monday night in honor of the victims of the deadly U-Haul rampage that killed one person and injured eight last week.

On the corner of Bay Ridge Parkway and Fifth Ave in Brooklyn, several city officials, including Mayor Eric Adams, joined community leaders to express their condolences and offer support.

On the same corner, 44 year-old YiJie Ye, a food delivery driver for Uber Eats, was intentionally struck by the assailant who violently pummeled through the streets of the city and drove onto sidewalks in a rented U-Haul truck. Ye sustained a severe head injury and died hours later in NYU Langone Hospital. According to his family, he was a hard-working single father to three teenagers and lived just blocks away. 

“His American dream was not supposed to end on this street corner,” said Andrew Gounardes, State Senator of District 26. “The American dream of his children was not supposed to end in a nightmare on this street corner.”

The alleged assailant, Weng Sor, was charged with one count of second-degree murder and seven counts of attempted murder. Police said that the 63-year-old was experiencing a mental health crisis and reportedly saw an “invisible object” approaching him before he took off on the 48 minute rampage before his capture by police in Red Hook. 

“Never did I think that this could happen,” said Janice Schiavo, 74, a Bay Ridge resident for over 23 years. When she heard about the vigil she encouraged about ten of her neighbors to also show up in support of the families affected. 

It was not lost on the attendees that several of the victims were riding electric scooters and bicycles, a commonality with food delivery workers. And as many pointed out, almost all of the victims were also immigrants. 

Mohammed Zakaria Salah Rakchi, another food delivery bike driver, survived the attack but remains hospitalized in critical condition. The 36-year-old father of two dropped off his daughter at school the morning of the attack. His wife attended the vigil but chose to not make a statement at the time. 

The attack “left truly a trail of terror in this neighborhood that is haunting a lot of people to this day and has a lot of people on edge,” said Councilman Justin Brannan. “So all we can do is come together and be with each other and make sure these families know we’re here for them.”

For some residents, the attack evoked memories of a similar violent attack involving a U-Haul truck in 2017 where the driver fatally struck eight people in Manhattan. But closer to home, and less than a year ago, a man opened fire on a crowded train in the neighboring area of Sunset Park. 

“Something like this could happen anywhere, but it’s shocking when it happens so close to home,” said Kay Chow, 30, a Bay Ridge resident who attended the vigil in support of the families affected. 

Some community leaders offered solutions alongside condolences. Steve Mei, Director of Brooklyn Community Services at Chinese-American Planning Council, called on the city to invest in more mental health services for elderly adults. 

“I can’t help but acknowledge the perpetrator happens to be an older Asian male,” said Mei and recalled two recent mass shootings in California that were carried out by elderly Asian men in their 60s and 70s. 

“Part of the reality is for a lot of people in our community, there’s a cultural impact where we suffer in silence, especially older asian males,” Mei said. “We worry that by speaking out, or speaking of, we are burdening everyone else, and that becomes problematic.”

“We light these candles to honor the grief and the loss felt by so many of us gathered, and to honor the memory and the life of YiJie Ye,” said Karen Tadros of Bay Ridge Cares.

Several volunteers with the organization walked through the crowd to light the candles held in the hands of attendees as the press conference concluded. 

“My heart is warmed because I know when one of us is hurting, Bay Ridge comes together in support,” said Marwa Janini, Executive Director of the Arab American Association of New York based in Bay Ridge. “It also aches because we lost one of our own and a Brooklyn family is hurting more than ever, the family of Mr. YiJie Ye.” 

 

Pol Position: Progressive Caucus Fallout?

Last week, The New York City Progressive caucus lost 15  members of its caucus after debating over language surrounding police reform.

“We will do everything we can to reduce the size and scope of the NYPD and the Department of Correction, and prioritize and fund alternative safety infrastructure that truly invests in our communities,” the passage that caused the tension read, according to the Daily News.

While the loss of members generated a few days of bad headlines, the new membership roster might actually make the progressive caucus a more functioning one.

In previous BQE Media reporting, co-chair of the caucus Lincoln Restler told this newspaper that he was operating a “big-tent progressive caucus”. To more seasoned observers of the New York City Council, this didn’t make a lot of sense. Operating under a “big-tent” philosophy is fine for a party which naturally has different ideological wings, but for a caucus, which is supposed to represent certain interests – it seemed odd and possibly counter productive.

Beyond the new membership roster, the progressive caucus is instituting new bylaws reform, stating that members must co-sponsor at least 75 percent of the legislation debuted in the Progressive Caucus agenda, attend ⅔ of caucus meetings and support broad statement of principles, per a release sent out last Friday.

While the police funding language lost the caucus 15 members, they may be able to gain one with Harlem Councilwoman Kristin Richardson Jordan.

“I was hesitant to engage with what felt like a vague agenda in the beginning but am excited to see where the Progressive Caucus is at now. While it is disappointing that some members have left over this pledge, I believe a smaller and more disciplined caucus could wind up making more meaningful change for all,” a screenshot of an email, which Councilwoman  Richardson Jordan posted to instagram,  addressed to Progressive Caucus co-chairs Lincoln Restler and Shahana Hanif reads.

Opinion: Shut up Councilman Salamanca

In the progressive caucus fallout, Bronx City Councilman Rafael Salamanca Junior took to Twitter trying to slam Brooklyn Councilmembers Lincoln Restler and Shahana Hanif for their position on “defunding the police.”

“I challenge far left dems @LincolnRestler & @CMShahanaHanif (representing the wealthiest communities in NYC) to come to Hunts Point/Longwood & address my community on how defunding @NYPDnews @NYPDPBBronx is a positive thing to ensure their safety. #cometothesouthBX,” the February 8th tweet reads.

This critique relies on demonstrably false cliches that do nothing but try and negate one side of the conversation from happening at all.

A 2014 report from the Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness, based off of data stemming from 2009 to 2013 found that 29.3 percent of people in 33rd council district (currently represented by Lincoln Restler) earned below the federal poverty level. More recent data from the city, measured by community districts, found that Greenpoint and Williamsburg found that 40.3 percent of residents live at or near city poverty levels.

Salamanca tweets were nothing more than mindless pandering. If there’s a discussion, have it. In earnest. If you really cared about them showing up, you probably should have sent an email rather than score internet points.

Otherwise you can shut up with the snarky tweets before you try and write off our communities.

Fill the Form for Events, Advertisement or Business Listing