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March 31, 2009
The Day: One More Challenger for Letitia James
The Local [Fort Greene/Clinton Hill]
by Andy Newman
Tish James gets another challenger.
The scrum for the 35th district City Council seat grows more crowded still: Enter Medhanie Estiphanos, a 32-year-old financial analyst and political neophyte.
Mr. Estiphanos, who was born in Eritrea, grew up in California and lives at Franklin and Lexington in Bed-Stuy, told us on the phone last night that he is taking on incumbent Letitia James and challenger Delia Hunley-Adossa because he sees at this historic juncture an opportunity to “change America’s psychology” and unite Brooklynites to help save themselves and the planet.
...While Mr. Estiphanos said he shared many of Ms. James’s reservations about Atlantic Yards, for example — “From the get-go,” he said, “I thought the scale of it was much bigger than Brooklyn could handle” — he faulted her for aligning herself as strongly with the project’s opponents as she has.
“I think she could’ve played a much better role being facilitator between Bruce Ratner, Paterson, the residents being affected by this, and really bring people to the table to cooperate,” he said.
In any case, Mr. Estiphanos added, “Atlantic Yards has been incredibly detrimental to the community in a much more important way: it’s taken too much of people’s time and focus. There are so many other issues in this community. Our education system’s a dismal failure. People can’t afford to live in their homes anymore. Affordable housing is almost an anachronism. All these issues are much more important to me in the long run than Atlantic Yards, and I think they’re much more important to the people of Brooklyn than Atlantic Yards.”
NoLandGrab: Mr. Estiphanos sounds almost as sick of Atlantic Yards as we are. Project opponents, however, this blog included, have a deep fidelity for Ms. James.
More coverage...
Atlantic Yards Report, New 35th District candidate: AY too distracting and James should have been a "facilitator"
If City Council Member Letitia James is a prominent opponent of Atlantic Yards and challenger Delia Hunley-Adossa is a prominent supporter (even if she's not talking about it), third candidate Medhanie Estiphanos is apparently trying to split the difference.
In an interview with the New York Times's blog, The Local, Estiphanos, who doesn't mention AY on his web site, says the project has been "incredibly detrimental to the community" mainly because "it’s taken too much of people’s time and focus" from other, more pressing matters.
Perhaps, but issues he prioritizes like education and affordable housing are also citywide issues, involving a larger number of stakeholders, giving local political officials somewhat less of a voice. Atlantic Yards is a local land use issue--or, at least, should have been, had it not gone through the state process overriding local zoning.
Posted by eric at March 31, 2009 8:01 PM