News

RSVP for #GetOrganizedBK’s “Organizing Bootcamp” on Mon. March 27th

Posted on March 10, 2017

The organizing we’ve done together in recent weeks -- here in Brooklyn, and across the country -- has been extraordinary. The town halls. Another powerful set of womens’ protests. The #NotInOurCity vigils against hate. The rally for a free press. Standing together against Islamophobia & anti-semitism. Hundreds of thousands of postcards and phone calls. Read more »

Get Organized BK!

March madness, PBNYC style! (a.k.a "Meet Your Ballot")

Posted on March 9, 2017

March madness! For some, that means the NCAA college basketball tournament. Good luck choosing your brackets.

But here in NYC, March also brings another great set of choices: Participatory Budgeting (PBNYC) Vote Week. The time of year when New Yorkers gather together for “revolutionary civics in action” and vote to fund community projects, submitted by their neighbors, designed to improve our neighborhood public schools, parks, libraries, and more. Read more »

Participatory Budgeting

Too Hot To Learn!

Posted on March 7, 2017

Students, Teachers & City Council Members Rally for Air-Conditioning in All NYC Public School Classrooms

New #TooHotToLearn report reveals 10,000 classrooms without air-conditioning, as temperatures rise. But the NYC School Construction Authority reports zero A/C installations in progress. New coalition demands a five-year plan for A/C in all schools.

CITY HALL - NYC public school students, teachers, administrators, and City Council Members across all five boroughs gathered on the steps of City Hall to rally for NYC air-conditioning in all NYC public school classrooms. The rally took place the afternoon prior to the Council’s budget hearing with the NYC School Construction Authority (SCA) and Department of Education (DOE).
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Public Education

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88 Prospect Park West Fire

Posted on March 6, 2017

I have been doing a lot of communicating about troubling developments at the national level, but today I am writing to share about an incident closer to home. This past weekend, a fire broke out in the basement of 88 Prospect Park West, destroying four apartments and temporarily leaving the building without hot water, electricity and plumbing. For now, none of the residents can return to their homes. Read more »

Park Slope

Two Steps This Week Toward A Fairer NYC

Posted on March 5, 2017

As New Yorkers, we believe that everyone should have a fair shot, no matter who they are, or where they live.

This week, the City Council took two steps toward making our city a little more fair. Read more »

Jobs & Economic Development

The Trump regime is erratic. But we’re staying focused.

Posted on March 3, 2017

Another week, another wild ride.

After Trump’s speech to Congress, some applauded his “Presidential” tone -- as if an hour of reading from the teleprompter was enough to distract from the ongoing bigotry and corruption of this Administration. Read more »

Get Organized BK!

Rally for NYC School Air-Conditioning: Tues, 3/7 at 4 P.M.

Posted on February 23, 2017

In October, hundreds of student, teachers, and parents responded to a New York City Council survey about air-conditioning in your schools.

What you told us: in hundreds of NYC public schools, on too many days, it’s simply too hot to learn.

In response, we are launching the #TooHotToLearn campaign, to demand that the NYC School Construction Authority (SCA) & Department of Education (DOE) develop a plan & provide the necessary funding to get A/C in all of our classrooms & public spaces. Read more »

Public Education

Part of something bigger (see you Monday night for #GetOrganizedBK)

Posted on February 23, 2017

Just one month into the Trump regime, I fear I’m starting to sound like a broken record. Each time we meet, some new darkness -- that we had not even imagined yet -- threatens us.

For me, this week, that was the desecration of the Chesed Shel Emeth cemetery in University City, MO, where my own grandparents are buried. It is still hard to believe that hatred has risen to the point where even our cemeteries are under attack.

And yet, the power of organized resistance continues to build bridges that heal and inspire. When our Brooklyn neighbor, Women’s March organizer, and friend Linda Sarsour organized Muslim Americans across the country to raise funds to repair the Jewish cemetery, she showed the power of compassion and solidarity to light even this dark hour. Read more »

Get Organized BK!

Statement of NYC Council Member Brad Lander on NYS DEC Commissioner’s Newfound Support for a NYC Plastic Bag Ban

Posted on February 22, 2017

“After failing to weigh in to support NYC’s efforts to reduce plastic bag waste at any point over the past three years, it takes a lot of chutzpah – and very little concern for good public policy – for the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner to start telling New York City what we should do.

Just last week, Governor Cuomo promised to form ‘a statewide task force to develop a uniform state plan for addressing the plastic bag problem’ by the end of this year. Did the task force meet? Did I miss it somehow? Read more »

The Environment

Inspiration in every act of resistance

Posted on February 17, 2017

After President Trump’s bizarre press conference on Thursday, I’m in need of a new dose of inspiration and action.

Trump promised to push forward with plans to bar immigrants and refugees and to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Amidst many attacks on the press, he angrily ignored the respectful-to-a-fault question of an Orthodox Jewish reporter from Brooklyn who simply asked about the spike in anti-Semitic incidents (like the two our #NotInOurCity working group highlighted in their most recent vigil). Meanwhile, the growing ICE raids are terrorizing immigrant families, despite the sanctuary our cities are working to offer.

Fortunately, inspiration and action are not hard to find. Read more »

Get Organized BK!