I arrived late for coffee at Ozzie’s with Evan Thies but he didn’t seem to mind. He is hoping to replace David Yassky as City Councilmember in the 33rd District 33rd, which includes Park
Slope, Williamsburg, Greenpoint, DUMBO, Cobble
Hill, Brooklyn Heights and Boerum Hill.

He lives in the Northside of Williamsburg and worked with Hillary Clinton, and David Yassky as a senior advisor for five years, where he worked on a wide
range of local issues in the Council, as well as citywide issues.

He’s a very down-to-earth, wonky, policy-oriented guy, who loves to talk about government reform and affordable housing

We immediately started talking about a wide range of topics including blogging and the role that Brooklyn blogging has assumed in the media and political information landscape of Brooklyn.

Thies talked passionately about education and the need to advocate for public school education and undo some of the wrong-headed aspects of the Bloomberg administration’s education policy.

Development is Thies sweet spot. He is frustrated by the way huge swaths of Brooklyn have been developed without concern for infrastructure, affordable housing or education.

Today’s conversation was more of a "getting to know you" type of thing. It was early and I wasn’t taking notes but I must say I got a very positive impression of Thies and his desire to be a really practical, community-oriented city councilmember willing to lend his ear to those in the community who wish to share ideas.

At his December campaign kick-off at Union Hall in December Thies shared with the crowd some of his thoughts on development in this city. I found this excerpt at the NY Observer.

If there’s one constant in New York, it’s change—and right now things
are changing faster than ever. Development is our biggest issue today.
It affects everything: where we can afford to live, the quality of our
neighborhoods, and even where the jobs are. In the Northern part of
this council district alone, where I live and my grandmother used to
work, we will add 10,000 new residents in the next few years. Park
Slope, Boerum Hill, Downtown Brooklyn are all growing. But who benefits
from that? If billions are invested in our communities, shouldn’t that
mean that the folks who live here now can still afford to later; that
our schools improve, not slide; that this becomes a nicer place to live
and not a harder one to?