A Third Candidate Enters District 35 Council Race
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…
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]
Dear Brownstoner:
I would be happy to talk with you and provide the details of my positions. Please feel free to contact me directly. Below is the link to the contact page of our website.
http://www.change35.com/?page_id=17
I look forward to hearing from you.
Best,
Medhanie
Well, there’s spouting rhetoric and then their is falsely manipulating facts to pander to poorly informed populists. Its not about volume; it’s about truth. If you’re saying that all politicians lie, then you’ll get along great with my mom. I for one don’t find it inevitable and don’t make excuses for it when it does occur.
Hey Altervoce, thanks to you as well for giving me something specific to chew on. Unfortunately, when it comes to economics though, I gotta tell you that we won’t have a very long discussion. That’s just not an area I know a whole lot about and I won’t waste both our time trying to go there. So, for sake of argument, let’s say you nailed it. On the Barclay’s Bank-AIG-AY thing, councilwoman got caught talking some bs!
Even so, it seems to me that the essence of your gripe is that Tish James is a rhetorician who insults your intelligence. Well, gee. Isn’t ability to spout rhetoric one of the key criteria for being a good politician? Shoot, I’ve never known of a politician, at least not a successful one, who didn’t spend a great deal of time spouting rhetoric. I’ve also never known a single politician, btw (even the ones I’ve wholeheartedly supported– like our new president)who at some point didn’t insult my intelligence.
No, from what I can see, the real problem with Tish James that has been identified by her detractors so far is that she’s just not spouting the right kind of rhetoric. So, for Ftgreenecorey, the councilwoman is not putting out enough rhetoric about street crime. And for you, altervoce, she’s putting out way too much rhetoric about white collar crime. Hmmmmm! What a dilemma for the self-professed people’s politician of FG/CH!:)
Okay, Brooklynista, I’ll bite. Here’s an illustration, using a recent statement, of why I am not a fan of Councilwoman James.
Quote from the councilwoman’s March 18 press release regarding funds paid by the federally-rescued AIG to Barclays Bank, which has (a contract to) purchase(d) the naming rights to the arena planned by Forest City Ratner (FCR):
“Here we have a private bank trying to use taxpayer money to put their name all over a privately-held sports arena. That is clearly not what President Obama intended the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) to accomplish. TARP is supposed to get banks lending to small businesses and homeowners, not to bail out a billionaire and his stalled mega-development,†said Council Member James.”
Well, no. Here we have a bank that, due to financial dealings with AIG, was eligible to receive compensation from the American company, which had received federal bail-out money. Neither company was required to cease all advertising/marketing as a condition of receiving the money and that is all naming rights are–marketing. And Barclays isn’t ‘bailing out a billionaire,’ as if Barcalys bought the naming rights because FCR was looking a little light in the pocket. Not to mention the fact that Barclays did the deal long before it received any TARP money, so the naming rights fee isn’t taxpayer money.
I absolutely defend Tish’s right to oppose the arena and the Atlantic Yards project in general, but this whole rhetorical gambit is bulls#it, and she knows it is bull#it. I hate having my intelligence insulted this way. There are only 51 city councilmembers; everyone of them has to count.
Thanks, Corey for backing up your pov with some real particulars. That’s really all I was asking for and I appreciate your response! Look,I hear what you’re saying about the uptick in crime. (Although, when you mentioned that hush hush talk going on about the projects,I immediately got this throw-back image of the colonialists whispering and wondering about the meaning of them injun campfires.) 🙂 But I’m just not so sure what Tish is supposed to do about the crime uptick other than to go on some type of “law and order” type of publicity campaign. And, since traditional wisdom says that crime increases as the economy weakens, and since there seems to be reported increase in crime in areas considered to be even more “prime’ than FG/CH, one would think there would be a rise in vigilante politics all over the City. I’m not seeing that and, FWIW, I sure hope I don’t! I guess that’s because I’m one of those PC type people who thinks that crime and criminals are the symptom, not the root, of what ails us all.
I agree with Brooklynista. Tish represents only a couple of blocks of Crown Heights, yet she consistantly shows up at our events, meetings, rallies, etc. She is at the forefront of the fight against the Armory becoming the intake center for all of the city’s homeless, and is out there for her constituents, of all classes and races. We see her much more than we see Al Vann, who is our city council person. He sends his people, she shows up herself.
She can only do so much. There are other politicians representing Clinton Hill, where are they regarding crime, and other issues? I think Tish has done a great job, in a thankless job.
Well, it ain’t race based because I’m black, but maybe (non-code) class based if you want to go down that road. In my opinion, Tish has also been a staunch advocate for the lower income families in the hood, which is great, because the needs of the lower and working class are rarely (if ever) represented on the council level. At the same time, I think she has done a piss poor job in addressing the concerns of the middle class families (black, white, asian whatever) that now represent the majority of her district. For example, the middle class family consitutiency has been going ABSOLUTELY NUTS over the recent uptick in brazen violence in the hood (the chopped up body in Ft. Greene Park, the shooting deaths in the salon on Fulton, the early morning rape of the nurse and countless muggings) and yet barely a peep out of Tish. To be fair, she’s probably smart to avoid the subject because there’s a definite undercurrent (hush hush talk in the restaruants bars and shops in the hood) that there’s a correlation between repopulation of Ingersoll, Whitman, etc. and the crime uptick. Nobody (including Tish) wants to touch the subject with a 10 foot pole in public (because it ain’t PC to say, and there ain’t no way to quantify it anyway).
I don’t get the anti-Tish James sentiment. I don’t live in her district but, from afar, it looks like she’s been doing a great job for her constituents. From what I can see, she jumps out on the issues, shows up at community meetings, is present for votes in the council,and consistently advocates the positions she ran on as a candidate. Seems like no surprises or . . . what you see is what you get.
Honest question for all who have a problem with the councilwoman: Can you be more specific about what it is you don’t like about her representation? And, btw,Ftgreenecorey what is meant by the “changing demographics of the neighborhood are probably going to work against Tish anyway”? Or am I not supposed to interpret that as race and/or class-based code? Please explain.
Other than Norman Oder, who can be expected to do in-depth, original reporting on this race? Perhaps you’ll get some from the New York Times Fort Greene blog.