The Great Debate To Take Place in District 36

http://www.nostrandpark.com/home/2009/9/2/36th-district-city-council-debate.html:

Event: Debate - Brooklyn’s 36th Council District Candidates

Where: St. Gregory’s RC school auditorium, 991 St. Johns Place (btwn New York and Brooklyn).

When: Tuesday September 8, 2009 at 7pm.

Who: Candidates Hon. Albert Vann (incumbent), William Carrington, Robert E. Cornegy Jr., Mark W. Griffith, David Grinage, Saquan Jones, Adrian Straker and Tremaine Wright.

Opening Remarks: Assemblyman Karim Camara. Assemblywoman Annette Robinson

Moderator: Errol Louis, New York Daily News Columnist/ Editorial Board Member; Ferentz Lafargue, Community Activist and Professor at the New School

Hosted by: Crown Heights Revitalization Movement (CHRM) and Crown Heights North Association (CHNA).

The following questions have been delivered to each candidate and will be addressed by them.

1. Intake Center: What is your position on the DHS proposal to add an intake center for homeless men at the Bedford Atlantic armory shelter given that Crown Heights North already has 6 times the borough median social service beds and the highest level of any community in Brooklyn?

2. Health care: How would you improve delivery and increase access to primary medical care within low and moderate income communities? How would these ideas impact the 36th Council District?

3.Schools and community facilities: What do you see as educational issues in District 17? How would you address them? What is your position about making NYC schools more accessible to their communities? Would you support a policy where community groups are given access to school facilities during the times when they’re not being utilized by the Dept. of Ed.? How would you implement it?

4. Affordable Housing; Dilapidated Buildings: What measures would you support to increase the amount of affordable housing in this community? What efforts would you support to rehabilitate abandoned or dilapidated structures? How would your programs impact the 36th Council District?

5. Crime: How would you make the criminal justice system more responsive to the community and enhance its ability to deter crime?

6. Saturation of Supportive Services: Given our community’s heavy burden of supportive services and the negative effect this has on both the population being served and the community, what would you do to ensure that all NYC communities take their fair share of supportive service programs in accordance with the NYC Charter?

7. Uniting our Communities: What would you do to unite the communities of Bedford Stuyvesant and Crown Heights North?

About CHRM, formed in 2007, seeks to foster a neighborhood that is safe, thriving and meets the many needs of a diverse community, through direct action, education, mobilizing efforts and advocacy. CHRM is currently engaged in combating the over saturation of Crown Heights North with residential social service beds - a violation of the city’s fair share laws. Visit www.revitalizecrownheights.org.

About CHNA, formed in 2002, is dedicated to preserving the architectural jewels of Crown Heights North. Having obtained landmark status for much of Crown Heights North in phase one, CHNA is now working on phase two. Upon completion, Crown Heights North may be the largest landmarked district in Brooklyn. CHNA’s annual Crown Heights North House & Garden Tour will be Saturday, October 3rd . Visit www.crownheightsnorth.org.