10/29/2007

DeBlasio for Borough President?

Lots of news popping into my inbox today, first off an announcement from Councilman Bill De Blasio announcing that he is running for Brooklyn Borough President. This doesn’t surprise me as he alluded to this at a bloggers meeting I attended last month that he hosted at Park Slope’s groovy Tea Lounge (F.I.B. will go anywhere for a free pastry.)

One of DeBlasio’s main issues is to stop overdevelopment and please remember while reading this that he is a supporter of the Atlantic Yards project. Here is a quote from his announcement:

My first priority as Borough President will be to keep Brooklyn affordable by building and preserving affordable housing. On the City Council I've played a key role in winning legislative and land-use victories that have led to the construction of thousands of units of affordable housing throughout Brooklyn. As Borough President I will work to ensure that we aggressively leverage our zoning code and land-use laws to build more affordable housing and protect our neighborhoods from development that prices out working families.

I believe that preserving our neighborhoods means not only keeping them affordable, but also stopping out-of-control and out-of-character development, keeping neighborhoods clean and ensuring support for vital community based organizations. As Borough President I plan to crack down on illegal development, partner with community groups to keep neighborhoods beautiful, and support institutions that contribute to Brooklyn's richness and diversity.


The announcement has members C.O.R.D(carroll gardens COalition to Respectfully Develop) up in arms, as they are STILL WAITING FOR ANSWERS about the 360 Smith Street building. It seems that Bill has disappeared after becoming quite involved with the Carroll Gardens community’s grassroots quest for a moratorium on building out of scale buildings and has left them hanging.

Meanwhile, Katya over at Pardon Me For Asking reacts similarly by asking Where was Bill for the last 7 years?

To me, Bill DeBlasio is thoroughly likeable, and a master at public relations, he WAS Hilary Clintons campaign manager for christs sakes so he learned from the best. He seems like he cares but when you compare what he says to what he is actually doing as far as building and development there is a disconnect (that’s politics for you!) and the citizens of Carroll Gardens are seeing right through it.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The majority of de Blasio's constituents oppose the size and scale of the Atlantic Yards project but the "Pol" de Blasio has always supported this ill concieved idea.

I would call on all voters -Dems and independents -to toss out de Blasio and Markowitz on their duffs. THANK GOD FOR TERM LIMITS!

Oh yeah,. if you run into de Blasio ask him why he couldn't get a mailbox put on Ocean Parkway for some elderly residents. Or why it took the State Assembly member Brennan to have a townhall meeting about the horrendous Kenningston Post Office. And good 'ol Bill de Blasio showed up 45 minutes late to the meeting and all he could say was that it was a Federal problem, sorry.

Well it took a State Assembly member to take some action. de Blasio I'm afraid is just a slimy politician. Go listen to him and see for yourselves.

I plan on supporting Barron or anyone else that has a chance of beating de Blasio. It will be a disaster for this borough if he gets elected. Believe me, I've been one of his constituents for his whole time on the council