Democratic Candidates' Forum: 7/20

four words:

Bill Batson
Chris Owens

Subject: re: Candidates

I emailed this information to everyone in my building. One of our residents noted that the candidates were invited but nowhere did it confirm that they would all be there. Will they all be there?

Subject: Re: re: Candidates

SterlingGuy wrote: I emailed this information to everyone in my building.

Thanks!

Anyone up for a post - forum drink at Seppia? I'm sure someone will have a soapbox to stand up on after a couple of hours of politico posturing!

Subject: Post-Forum Drink

Sounds good to me, i'll be there.

We were still on vacation so I couldn't go. Is there any sort of transcript or written post-mortem available? I'd love to hear how it went.

How did the Congressional candidates do?

Subject: my take...

This is the breakdown of my impressions that I sent to a few friends...

Freddie Hamilton: in her opening remarks, she said that she was never given a description of what this evening was going to be about, but that since she had signed on to a Ratner CBA, she was not at liberty to discuss anything related to the Atlantic Yards (drawing the first shout of abject outrage from a woman in a Develop Don't Destroy t-shirt). She did answer many questions throughout the evening regarding education, poverty, redistricting, pollution, and rebuilding the network of social services in the borough. Although she was theoretically at total liberty to discuss THESE things, she still answered each question with, "I am willing to work with any relevant state agencies to develop a plan." My opinion: an entrenched bureaucrat on the defensive without new ideas.

Ben Batson: a former-artist-turned-neighborhood-activist, he talked a lot about his experiences with local organizations and his old boss, David Paterson (Lt. Guv.-elect under Spitzer) and brought every questions back to the Atlantic Yards. He scored some great points on recidivism and prisoner re-entry and was the most relaxed of the three candidates (and thus the most charismatic, in a way). But by turning each question into an anti-Ratner statement (sometimes of a rabble-rousing nature), he ended on a down-beat of discontent rather than summing up any positive details for a solution to a specific problem. My opinion: I would vote for this guy because he seems honest and we may need him as a rhetorical billy-club to beat some reason into Ratner's skyline, but I'd be hard pressed to give you details to how he would go about doing anything.

Hakeem Jeffries: the only candidate to wear a suit throughout the evening despite the wilting humidity. He was smart and professional, with a good story of his growing up in Crown Heights and now raising his family here. But, unlike Batson, who told many stories throughout the evening to show his local experience and empathy for his neighbors, this was the only personal story Jeffries told. Instead, he talked specifics about how to address certain aspects of each question posed by the audience. He sometimes sounded wonky, and Batson did well to challenge him directly on this a few times, but his answers were the most appealing to me for this very reason. Two answers I liked: he named the prison-industrial complex that ships inmates from neighborhoods of central Brooklyn to upstate prisons where they are exploited as cheap labor (and are counted as legal residents of Republican districts) and he said that rehabilitation will never exist so long as there is an economic need for this cheap labor (getting strong nods from the other candidates -- they are all democrats, and, as has been said, there was a lot of overlap); and he talked about greater MTA oversight to bring more trains (and more options) to our neighborhood (again, bringing nods from the other candidates, and some applause). The downside: the Daily News has quoted Jeffries speaking as a Ratner cheerleader (Batson scored another point when Jeffries went on an anti-Ratner tirade and Batson invited him to the next Develop Don't Destroy rally to repeat his comments for the press). My opinion: he talks a good game but I don't really trust him.

Who would I vote for? I guess Batson, but it depends on how Jeffries
addresses the Yards issue in the weeks ahead (I feel it is the deal-breaking over-riding issue for the neighborhood and for my vote). My apologies for such a long posting -- my longest ever. Hope it helps.

Did anyone else notice that the end of the article provided a link only to Yassky's website and no one else's?

Full disclosure: I'm supporting Chris Owens:

http://voteowens.com/

In the interest of fairness:

http://www.voteyvette.com/
http://www.peopleforcarlandrews.com/

I'm sure you're right, but it seemed unfair to me.

And thanks, SterlingGuy.

I had a canvasser for Hakeem Jeffries knock on my door last night (which makes me wonder a bit how secure our building's entrance really is, but I digress). I realize canvassers are volunteers and not always very thoroughly trained, but one of the first things she said to me was something about how Jeffries "doesn't just care about people your color." I know that's how things are and didn't find it offensive, but it wasn't the smoothest thing for someone who's trying to convince anyone to vote for a particular candidate to say.

I thought, Wow, I've been gentriconfronted!

She also tried to persuade me to let her mark me down as supporting Jeffries, although I'd already explained I was undecided. Uh uh. I will check him out and I'm not going to hold the canvasser's lack of tact against him, but I'm also not going to say I'm supporting a candidate I don't know that much about yet.

Livetotravel wrote: [quote=apollonia666] ... Jeffries "doesn't just care about people your color."

Do you think it's because you are yellow?

I should have clarified. I am a rather peachy/pinkish color, ranging to bluish fishbelly tones in the wintertime.

Carnivore wrote: [quote=apollonia666][quote=Livetotravel][quote=apollonia666] ... Jeffries "doesn't just care about people your color."

Do you think it's because you are yellow?

I should have clarified. I am a rather peachy/pinkish color, ranging to bluish fishbelly tones in the wintertime.
I think Livetotravel was talking about your avatar!

Yeah, I got that. But I also realized that I didn't mention what my color was, so I replied just in case my Caucasianasity wasn't clear from the context.

iowagirl wrote: [quote=apollonia666]I had a canvasser for Hakeem Jeffries knock on my door last night (which makes me wonder a bit how secure our building's entrance really is, but I digress). I realize canvassers are volunteers and not always very thoroughly trained, but one of the first things she said to me was something about how Jeffries "doesn't just care about people your color."

Am I missing or mis-reading something? Why would she tell you that and then expect you to be interested in supporting him?

Well, she pretty clearly realized it wasn't a great thing to say immediately because she started backpedaling like crazy, so I think she at least got that. I'm not going to base whether I vote for someone on how clueless one volunteer is, but I would think not everyone is going to be so understanding.