You wouldn’t have known it till late October, but there are two sides to the controversy over banning horse-drawn carriages in Central Park ─ or anywhere else in New York.
I have been a Democratic district leader in Greenwich Village for 31 years and a political issues activist for over 58 years. Electoral politics was not my first dance. Vietnam, the draft, the Black Panthers, Nixon, nuclear power plants, workers’ rights, tenant activism, and expanding park space for my kids preceded that.
Well it’s that time of the year … mid-term elections. I sure do hope all dem democrats ─ including Republicans, Democrats and independents ─ vote for a democrat/Democrat. I say this because the Republican Party seems to have lost its way.
And here is the surprise. Where once one would expect the candidates to declare their party and choose their party’s theme colors ─ red for Republican, blue for Democrat, something else for independents ─ that tradition has been upended here. In TV ads, social media, yard signs and billboards, there are the usual claims to cut taxes and make the economy strong, but there’s something missing.
Of all the political races heading to this November’s vote, the one I am most interested in is for the House of Representatives NY-11 District. This includes all of Staten Island, and several areas in Brooklyn such as Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, and Bensonhurst.
In 2016 Donald Trump’s chief lieutenant, Kellyanne Conway, created a fresh starting line for the political lie, introducing “alternative facts” into the political vocabulary. Voila! Trump gets elected and sets about his version of governing, while the Washington Post keeps a running count of the lies: 30,573 in his first term; a number so outrageously high that the press, public and political opposition turn away with disgust and horror. The lying continues, but the counting stops. The liar learns that if no political price is paid, the lie becomes mere backdrop.
Most prominent in leading the demand for Dapolito renovation was Andrew Berman, director of Village Preservation, who was present by Zoom. I have enthusiastically supported many of VP’s proposals, but not this one. Berman encouraged the audience to ignore Caccapolo’s direction and discuss both Dapolito and 388 Hudson as they are linked by community needs, budget, and geography.
The Parks Department has again confirmed plans to demolish the Tony Dapolito Recreation Center. It has been closed since 2020, despite $120 million previously allocated to its repair and Mayor Mamdani’s campaign promise to restore the 118-year-old landmarked facility at Clarkson Street and Seventh Avenue South.
President Trump’s rantings from the White House, and his appeal to the most base instincts of the American population, have included calls to wipe out large swaths of American history (even going so far as to deny that the Civil War was about slavery). He has also included calls to restore the United States as a “Christian Nation,” whose guiding light should be the Christian Bible and not the Constitution.
This election cycle, there are five questions for voters — or five opportunities for New Yorkers to vote yes or no on amendments to the City Charter, a constitution that establishes the framework for city government.
