My Decision on Running in the 11th City Council District - By Robert Press

 

When looking at the candidates for the 11th City Council race there are few if any of the candidates who can match any part of what I have accomplished. I may be older than the candidates, but with age comes experience that those candidates lack. Which of the candidates has the experience in education that I have, having been not only a Parents Association President, President of District Ten's Presidents Council with over 45,000 mostly minority students, but an officer of the Chancellor's Parent Advisory Council for all 1.3 million mostly majority minority NYC Public School students, advising chancellor's, and holding them accountable.

As a member of Community Board 8, I gained valuable experience as a Vice-Chair of two committees and became the Chair of the Budget Committee where because of my experience with city agencies the 50th Precinct received a new police van, the red tape was cut to finally allow for the construction of a new library in Van Cortlandt Village, and other items on the Budget Priority list were accomplished. 

Back when the Jerome Park Reservoir was the prime site for the Croton Water Filtration Plant, CB 8 appointed me to the JPRCAC that prevented the city from building the water filtration plant in the reservoir, and I gained valuable information about the NYC water supply system, and why it was so important that a water filtration plant was built to filter the Croton Reservoir water that is now being used in place of better quality Catskill/Delaware water that needs repairs to its tunnel. 

My years as a political reporter and Associate Editor of a Muslim Media newspaper gives me another advantage by getting to know other key people, what they and their followers are thinking. I have been able to question people in power up to the mayor, when in 2016 I was the first reporter to question Mayor de Blasio on the living conditions in NYCHA buildings. Since then I have asked the mayor a variety of questions relating to policing, homelessness, parks, education, and MIH-ZQA which is the key to getting more affordable housing.       

It would not be too late to enter a City Council race, unless a political club whose president has said there will be a special election one month before the mayor has to make that call. Said political club is also pushing its club elections off due to COVID-19, but trying to rush an endorsement vote so the club assemblyman's son who is one of seven announced candidates will have the club's endorsement. In fact, with the COVID-19 indicators continuing to rise two weeks after Election Day, all special elections should be postponed to the June Primary as was the case in March of 2020. 

That and the fact that one of the other announced candidates 80th A.D. District leader Marcos Sierra made a statement on his official City Council D11 Facebook page, "So you feel either of those contests can better benefit from an older white cis male running to represent a majority minority district huh?Robert Press" is why probably the best qualified candidate and others will not be entering the 11th City Council race.

Finally there is early voting for a special election going on right now in the Northeast Bronx 12th City Council district. Indoor dining has been stopped in NYC, and the mayor says that the city should be going on pause again right before the Christmas holiday. I can not see how this special election is happening or others that may be called by the mayor due to upcoming departures of Bronx City Council members be called, before the public can get the COVID-19 vaccine in the spring of 2021. All special elections should be postponed until the June primary 2021 date as was done in early 2020 when all special elections were postponed to the June 2020 primary date.

As for me, I have decided to not run in the 11th City Council race, and will be looking at a more localized assembly race in 2022. I will cover the 11th City Council race, to let the voters know as much as they can about the candidates, and exactly how to vote in Rank Choice Voting. RCV will bring its own problems, as one high placed Bronx Democratic Party principal and I had a very interesting discussion about RCV. I gave that person some interesting facts about what should happen in certain elections where RCV is to be used.