Yesterday, Councilmember Simcha Felder submitted Intro 1046, a bill to abolish the Public Advocate's office. I personally find it a disgusting, pathetic attack on an office that could do so much good for New York City.

I also find it the natural result of eight years of incompetence and inaction on the part of the current Public Advocate. Four years ago, Betsy Gotbaum actually insisted in a campaign debate that she was doing everything the Public Advocate is supposed to do. The fact is, this was a narrow view of the office. The City Charter provides that the Public Advocate "shall" do things such as receive complaints from individuals and monitor complaints received by agencies around the city, and she has done some of that.  read more »

Latinos for Norman Siegel Party on the eve of Three Kings Day
Monday, January 5th
6:30 to 9:30 PM

at Camaradas el Barrio Bar & Restaurant
2241 First Avenue at 115th Street

Norm Siegel is running for Public Advocate. Well known for his work on behalf of 9/11 widows and firefighters, Norman Siegel is also fighting the Bloomberg term limits coup. But his advocacy for the people of NYC goes back decades to his years with the ACLU’s Southern Justice & Voting Law Project and later as the Executive Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. You can read more about his decades of service to NYC here.

Latinos y Latinas por Norman Siegel is holding their kick-off event for Norman on Jan 5th. This is the first of a series events geared to the Latino community to raise awareness and support for Norman’s campaign for Public Advocate.

Public Transportation:
By public transportation, you can take the No. 6 subway to 116 Street, or any local bus traveling on the East Side of Manhattan (116 Street is a Limited Stop).  read more »

From the Norm Siegel Campaign:

New Yorkers for Norman Siegel will be holding a birthday bash for civil rights attorney Norman Siegel as we rev up the campaign to elect him NYC Public Advocate in 2009. The celebration will take place at Azza Restaurant & Lounge on 137 East 55th Street (between Lexington and Third Ave) from 6:00-8:30 PM on Monday, December 1st.

The program for the evening features guest speakers State Senator Eric Adams, former ACLU Director Ira Glasser, Vanessa Ramos, Deputy Director for Policy at the Committee for Hispanic Children and Families, and Connie Steensma, Chair Emerita of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. There will also be a performance by the New York Granny Chicks of the Granny Peace Brigade. The event has already attracted a wide array of hosts and sponsors from all five boroughs, reflecting the diverse, grassroots, citywide campaign that New Yorkers for Norman Siegel is ready to wage.  read more »

Devin Cohen, candidate for Broklyn's 1st Civil Court in the September 9th primary, has announced two new endorsements: Congresswoman Yvette Clarke and City Councilman David Yassky. All he needs is a Chris Owens endorsement and Devin will have three-of-a-kind from the 2006 CD-11 Congressional race that divided the district so much. Since Devin already got the endorsement of CBID, the club that Chris is now the president of, in some ways Devin already has unified the CD-11 candidates behind him. This brings Devin's endorsement list to the following:

# Congresswoman Yvette Clarke
# Assemblymember Joan Millman
# Assemblymember Jim Brennan
# State Senator Velmanette Montgomery
# State Senator Martin Connor
# Councilmember Letitia James
# Councilmember David Yassky
# District Leader Alan Fleishman
# District Leader JoAnne Simon
# District Leader William Saunders
# Independent Neighborhood Democrats
# Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats
# Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn
# 57th A.D. Regular Democratic
Organization  read more »