As I walked into the auditorium of the Harry Van Arlsberg School in Williamsburg, the excitement was palpable. Supporters of Even Thies were handing out flyers at the entrance to the school.
"Here you go m'am," one of them said.
You talking to me? You talking to me? Who you calling M'am?
Nobody calls me m'am.
A good sized crowd was already seated in the auditorium. It was a young group even some elementary school kids handing out flyers inside. There were locals, hipsters, Hasids, yuppies, bloggers. All sorts of folk.
Candidate Steven Levin was in the house and his supporters were wearing buttons that said, Levin. Buttons. Now that was notable in this City Council campaign, which has been seriously bereft of buttons.
New Kings Democrats, sponsors of the event, is a grassroots organization with a mission: "to achieve the goal of an
inclusionary and participatory democracy by making it easy for
individuals to run for local, elected office. NKD will serve as a
training ground for individuals seeking higher office, and hopes to
build and nurture a new group of Brooklyn Democratic leaders."
Aaron Short, a reporter with the Greenpoint Gazette and the blog, Bushwick BK was one of the moderators of the debate. A bit of a character and a funny guy, Short was joined by Sabrina Gates, a Kings County Democratic County committee member who was particularly good at telling the candidates to stop talking: "I am going to have to ask you to stop. Please stop. Please," she said again and again.
Gates read short bios of the candidates that were provided by their campaigns. That meant no opening statements, which I sort of missed because I'm interested to see how this group is doing in the stump speech department.
Overall the debate/forum was high spirited if not exactly illuminating or dynamic.
Ken Baer, who often had a smile on his face, is the only one of the group who seemed to be having fun. As usual he was having trouble with his microphone and suffered for a speaking style that is less than engaging. He is not, however, an equivacator. A longtime environmentalist, Baer was an early opponent of the Atlantic Yards and now supports superfund status for the Gowanus Canal. A professional accountant, he was chair of the Sierra Club for 5 years and has an impressive list of indiviudal endorsements, including Eric McClure of Park Slope Neighbors and Joe Holz who runs the Park Slope Food Coop. I wonder about his ability to be forceful and convincing in the City Council setting.
Doug Bivano, who was missing from last week's forum in Park Slope, told me that like Steve Levin, he was not invited to that forum which was organized by the Park Slope Civic Council. In some ways he is the liveliest member of the group and the most unpredictable. A civil engineer and an eCommerce programmer, he has no political experience but is a Brooklyn Heights resident and an PS 8 parent with some very idealistic, out-of-the-box ideas. Some of them may be wacky (like his idea to give community boards and borough presidents say over eminent domain) but he expresses them with convincing enthusiasm. He has a very conservative look — clean cut, stylish suit and tie — but his ideas are far from that. I am now convinced that he is a huge fan of Amy Goodman and Democracy Now.
Bivano is also capable of waxing poetic about Main Streets and the city state ("The city state is the future. We are the experts. We will lead the world). He makes unexpected connections between the federal war budget and the problems in our cities.
Issac Abraham, who is the first Hasidic candidate for the City Council, displayed his usual anger and exasperation toward city government and the elected officials he's dealt with as a tenant advocate and longtime volunteer in Williamsburg: "Boy am I familiar with the way government doesn't work. Again and again elected officials react and respond to crisis. I will be active, I will not just react," he told the crowd. Abraham has Borscht Belt comic timing and brings a dark, piercing levity to these events again and again.
Appearing for the first time at one of these forums, candidate Steve Levin, who studied Classics and Comparative Literature at Brown University came to Brooklyn to work as a community organizer. He is now chief of staff to Assemblymember Vito Lopez, Chairman of the Assembly Housing Committee, who sometimes seems like the Darth Vader of the Brooklyn democratic scene. Levin, who lives in Greenpoint with two rescued cats, came across as professional and well spoken though for some reason he addressed all of his answers to the moderators and not the audience. He's already been endorsed by a giant union and the interests of working people and the elderly seem to be important to him.
Ken Diamondstone is a progressive's progressive. He told the Williamsburg crowd that he is a longtime fighter for civil rights and issues that pertain to lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders. "I have a core set of values that guide me," he said. He also mentioned experience with the Brooklyn Solid Waste Advisory Board. He speaks very articulately and it is clear that he is an authentic progressive but there's something cold about the way that he presents himself. It was, however, fetching when he said that his favorite music right now is Pete Seeger (because he attended Seeger's 90th birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden). How appropriate.
In answer to the question, Why are you running for the City Council? Jo Anne Simon gave the most clear and forthright introduction to herself that I've heard her do. "I believe that there's a seat at the table for everyone…I care about the issues you care about." She talked about neighborhood preservation as being "the green way to go." and described her roots in the neighborhood as very deep. In answer to shorter questions she speaks way too fast as if she is summarizing something she thinks you already know. Simon has a warm, inclusive message that she presents in a way that isn't all that warm.
Evan Thies, who lives in Williamsburg and is very comfortable with the young professionals there, opened with "I know this isn't sexy but reform of city government is the most important issue we face." In his characteristic low key way, Thies expressed some strong ideas: "The Greenpoint/Williamsburg rezoning of four years ago last week was an utter failure. We were sold a bill of good about acres of open space and affordable housing that hasn't been built. As a City Council member I want to see that promise fulfilled," he told the crowd. He went on to quickly describe his 360 Planning Plan which would "force the city to tell the truth about infrastructure" when contemplating new development.
For me the most interesting part of the forum was the opportunity to see Steve Levin and his supporters in action. I expected some kind of junior Darth Vader but he's a low key professional guy, who gives off a very corporate vibe. Asked about his affiliation with Vito Lopez, he said "I am proud of my work with Vito Lopez but I will be an independent voice. About the term limit extension I was against it and I told him so."
About discretionary funding he said: "The allocation of discretionary funding is a huge responsibility. I will not stop funding groups providing great services for seniors, affordable housing, parks, after school programs, arts and education.
About small business Levin said: "It's the bread and butter of Brooklyn. We need a rental structure that allows small businesses to know what they're facing, to keep smal businesses growing."
As usual the yes/no questions round was the most fun as it is amazing what a hard time politicians have answering yes or no. Some like Baer are incapable of it. There were also some fun (and reavealing) get-to-know-the-candidates questions like:
What are you reading now?
Abraham said something about his own biography.
Baer: the New York Times, local papers, the Brooklyn Paper, newsletters
Biviano: local papers and I listen to Democracy Now constantly.
Diamondstone: “The Nation”
Levin: A People's History of the US.
Simon: “The Great Bridge"
Thies: Kurt Vonnegut
What is your favorite restaurant?
This turned out to be a tough question for some. Others were very decisive.
Biviano:" Ahhhhh. It's so hard to say. Ahhhhh. There are so many but I love the key lime pie at Pacifico."
Diamondstone: “I love diner food. Any diner."
Levin: “Grimaldi’s”
Simon: “Downtown Atlantic”
Abraham: “Peter Luger’s”
Baer: “Vegetarian Palate: I'm a vegetarian."
What's on your MP3 player?
This proved to be a tough question, too. Baer and Abraham didn't know what a MP3 player was. So the question was changed to what is your favorite music?
Levin: Springsteen, Dylan and Brahms.
Simon: I don't have one. On a CD I have that singer who died…ahhhh…(Patsy Cline someone called out form the audience…that was me). That's right, Patsy Cline.
Thies: I have 30,000 songs on my iPod. Inew U2 album is a huge disappoitment.
Abraham: This goes out to my opponents: Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better.
Baer: Born in the USA
Doug: I like Springsteen, too. But I'm a big Frank Sinatra fan. And the Kareoke favorite: "New York, New York."
Diamondstone: I've been listening to a lot of Pete Singer since his 90th birthday concert.
So it was a good natured debate. Kudos to New Kings Democrats for running the event in a fun and professional way. There wasn't much nasty between the candidates. No jabs at Simon from Diamondstone. No weird comments about IND from Thies. Not much in the way of fireworks but it was probably the best representation of the candidates yet.
