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February 5, 2006
Political Relevance: Grassroots politicians need to prove their worth
Daily Gotham coverage of the Democracy for NYC meeting in Park Slope:
Who are the best grassroots candidates? They are the ones who are KNOWN by the community because of community involvement. People like Marty Markowitz and David Yasskey become well known because they show their faces everywhere. That is fine, but I don't know that either of them is connecting solidly with any communities through actual activism that directly helps their community. They are kind of semi-grassroots candidates who get the need for a community connection but don’t really deliver when push comes to shove. Both have been willing to go against their community’s best interests in the name of collecting political backing from people with money or influence. People like Chris Owens do connect through activism. Chris Owens, at least, is active in trying to preserve our neighborhoods and small businesses from developers with grandiose plans that require the destruction of entire neighborhoods. I have seen him out with neighborhood organizers fighting Ratner's scandal-ridden Atlantic Yards project.But, there are indeed so many issues of considerable importance to communities that need addressing and people like Bloomberg are, far from helping, actually hurting communities by closing firehouses and by making secret, back-room deals with developers and threatening eminent domain when neighborhoods don’t welcome those developers. I think a politician that takes a solid leadership role in these community issues will be a stronger candidate. And I don't mean lip service, but actual involvement.
Posted by amy at February 5, 2006 4:34 PM