Gary Axelbank host of Bronxtalk a local cable television show on Bronxnet was the moderator for the Town Hall meeting in Van Cortlandt Village in which Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, Councilman Andrew Cohen, and State Senator Elect Alessandra Biaggi answered questions from members in the audience.
While the districts may overlap in many areas they are different in size, with the State Senate district being the largest. Questions were on many different topics effecting different areas of all three elected officials districts were asked. It should be noted that Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz has been in office for over twenty-four years, Councilman Andrew Cohen has been in office for five years, and State Senator Alessandra Biaggi will be sworn into office the first week of January.
Questions included - What is State Senator Biaggi going to do first when she takes office? Senator Biaggi answered by saying that there were fifteen new Democratic State Senators elected, Democrats now have a strong majority there, and that the current Senate Democratic Conference Leader Senator Stewart-Cousins will become the Senate Majority Leader. As for first items, fiscal compliance, election reform, early voting, ending voter suppression, and Women's Health Right's.
A question of what will happen to the old Van Cortland Village library building when the new library opens up was answered by Assemblyman Dinowitz, who said that the building is privately owned, and he doesn't know. To a question of supporting Daylighting Tibbetts Brook, and paving the Putnam Trail all three were in favor of the Tibbetts Brook project. On the matter of the Putnam Trail Cohen is in favor of the proposed Putnam Trail, Dinowitz having mixed feelings, and Biaggi admitting that she was not fully knowledgeable on the Putnam Trail.
A question on the future of the local private PreK program in the neighborhood, Councilman Cohen answered that the local public schools do not have any space for PreK programs in his council district.
Other questions were about a controversial housing project in Riverdale, healthcare, pot holes, future plastic bag legislation, the MTA, the future of the now empty nearby Visitation Church, the Amazon deal with the city and state by the mayor and governor, the possibility of free tuition returning to city colleges and Gary Axelbank's favorite topic the Croton Water Filtration Plant and the Jerome Park Reservoir.
The packed room may not have gotten all the answers they wanted, but almost everyone left with a good feeling that they received not only answers, but truths when new State Senator Alessandra Biaggi honestly answered the questions even admitting that she did not know as much as the other two elected official at the table, for the moment. After the town hall was over the elected officials stayed to talk with anyone who may not of had their question asked.
