Politics

Delia Hunley-Adossa’s not the only one gunning for Tish James’ City Council seat in the 35th District. The latest challenger is a man named Medhanie Estiphanos and, despite a loquacious introductory blog post on his website Change35.com, we can’t tell you a whole lot about him other than that he grew up in Asmara Eritrea and made his way with his family to San Diego. (As a commenter points out, his bio was in a tab on the side of the page: He’s a financial consultant with a background as a teacher and housing policy and administration in Los Angeles.) The rest of the verbiage is pulled from the early Obama playbook of sweeping generalizations and calls for change. At the very least, his entry into the race adds a little gender diversity to the all African-American race.
Medhanie’s Announcement [Change35]
A New 35th District Candidate [AY Report]

Eyemaze captured the mood in Brooklyn last night with these pics of partying on the streets of Fort Greene. (There was just a touching eye-witness account given on the Brian Lehrer show as well.) We believe the appropriate word would be psyched. Check out these photos of ebullient Brooklynites.

… who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

Where were you last night? What’d you think of the speech?

Where to go tonight, either to celebrate or commiserate? McBrooklyn has gathered up a guide to tonight’s festivities (or grief gatherings), including Brooklyn Based’s Red+Blue party at the Bell House; Galapagos‘ Obama-Fabulous party with kissing booth and the Yes We Can-Can girls; and Union Hall‘s return-watching groups. Many more at McBrooklyn and Gowanus Lounge.
Photo by enwiiE.

Already, Flickr folks are posting photos, and even this video, of long lines at the polls, all across Brooklyn. In Park Slope, the line stretched out even before the booths opened at 6AM. Bring coffee. Prepare to wait. Where did you vote? How long did it take? Any problems?
Video by wnyc.

As we saw in the Brooklyn political donations map last week, Brooklyn tilts heavily toward the blue. Perhaps that’s why the British newspaper The Guardian chose it to represent left-leaning America. “If New York city epitomises liberal America; and if Park Slope, a neighbourhood of Brooklyn heavily peopled by writers, artists and other creative souls, epitomises left-leaning New York; then the co-op epitomises left-leaning Park Slope.” That’s where they perched to poll Obamamaniacs about their feelings, which were “somewhere between excitement that Obama might be about to win, and uncontrollable anxiety that the Democratic cause was about to be ravaged once again.” Apparently, anxiety is the prevailing sentiment. “One Park Slope food co-op member said a man in her block of apartments had stopped shaving until victory day; his beard was already long and bushy. Elsewhere across the liberal heartlands, a woman from Denver was reported to have put her love life on hold until the Colorado result came in, while a psychotherapist from Manhattan’s Upper West Side said about 90% of her patients were raising electoral fears in their therapy sessions.” By tonight, folks should be able to revert to shaving, dating discussing their parents in analysis, one way or another. By the way, the other America? Orange, Texas. “‘I am not for socialism. Let’s just put it at that way,’ [the voter] snapped and then stalked angrily into the local Wal-Mart.”
Fear and Loathing Divide Two Americas on Eve of Vote [Guardian]
Photo by atdubya.

This morning the Columbia Journalism Review Journalist puts into pictures what most of could have guessed about the political leaning of King’s County: Brooklyn’s pretty blue. Working with data from opensecrets.org, CJ mapped political contributions to Obama and McCain by zip code. Only seven areas donated in McCain’s favor, and they were all in the south. By far the most pro-McCain neighborhood was Bensonhurst, where the white-haired war hero got 95% of the loot. The percentage was flipped in Park Slope, where Obama raked in a total of $496,089.

In the wake of last week’s term limit vote, Council Member Bill de Blasio is changing course, packing in his campaign for Borough President (a role which, presumably, Marty Markowitz will continue in) and setting his sights on the office of Public Advocate. Although incumbent Betsy Gotbaum has announced she will not be seeking re-election, the Daily News reported (via GL) yesterday that “hyper ambitious” Queens Council Member John Liu will also be gunning for the Advocate position.

As expected, Councilmembers Letitia James and Bill de Blasio have formally announced their intention to file a lawsuit over yesterday’s vote to extend term limits. “New Yorkers twice voiced their opinions on term limits,” said de Blasio in their joint press release, “and yesterday their will was subverted.” And James: “The vote taken by the City Council yesterday represents a great step backward for democracy.”

So now that the City Council has voted to extend term limits, what does that mean for Brownstone Brooklyn? Assuming Marty decides to re-up for Borough President, Councilman Bill de Blasio will have to seriously rethink whether he wants to go up against the man who’s come to personify Brooklyn or ride out another term representing Brooklyn’s 39th District. And, over in the 33rd District, will Councilman David Yassky pull the plug on his bid for Comptroller? (Council member Letitia James is technically still in her first term and was always going to run again for her seat.) On the Atlantic Yards Report, Norman Oder thinks both will “seek a relatively safe (because of the power of incumbency) third term rather than pursue a more competitive citywide office.” What do you think?
Council Backs Bloomberg Bid to Run Again [NY Times]
The Future of Term Limits Is in Court [NY Times]
Photo by Hussain Akbar

The Democratic Primary results are in. The big news on the state level was 28-year-old Daniel Squadron’s victory over incumbent State Senator Martin Connor and Ed Towns’ trouncing of challenger Kevin Powell in the 10th Congressional District. The most disappointing aspect of the day for us was the fact that when we went to our polling station at 6:15 last night we were the only person there voting! As it turns out, in many districts in Brooklyn, less than 5,000 people turned up at the polls. So that got us thinking about the Brownstoner readership turnout in general: Is it as apathetic as the general population? If you are a registered Democrat, did you vote? If not, why not?

Tomorrow’s primary day, and the more time we spend in both our roles as blog master and flea master, the more we realize how important these local positions are. And while it’s easy to feel like one’s vote might not make a difference on the national stage, all it takes to get elected to most of these local positions like city council and assembly is a few thousand votes. Which is why we want to urge everyone to take the 10 or 15 minutes required to swing by your local high school gym and pull the handle. It’s not always easy to keep up on what differentiates some of the candidates, so we’d direct your attention to the excellent coverage The Brooklyn Paper has this week. The biggest race in our neck of the woods is Kevin Powell‘s effort to unseat long-time incumbent Ed Towns; The Brooklyn Paper presents such an unflattering portrait of Towns (let’s just say the guy’s not too up on his current events), it’s hard to imagine anyone voting for him based on his record. The other biggie in Brownstone Brooklyn pits newcomer Daniel Squadron versus long-time State Senator Martin Connor; the Brooklyn Heights Blog live-blogged their debate last week. There’s a lower profile but important race in the 57th Assembly District (which encompasses Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights and parts of Bed Stuy). Bill Saunders, a fixture in the area for decades, is being challenged for the position of District Leader by Walter Moseley, a former employee of Clarence Norman, supporter of Atlantic Yards and part of the Ed Towns machine. As for Saunders, he’s taken firm positions on two issues that may interest Brownstoner readers: He’s been a critic of the Atlantic Yards process and, along with State Senator Velmanette Montgomery and Councilmember Tish James, spoke up in defense of The Flea this summer when it was briefly under fire; Saunders has been endorsed by the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats.
Six men and The Paper [Brooklyn Paper]