Brooklyn Heights Blog Open Thread: 52nd NYS Assembly District Debate

By on August 29, 2014 6:40 pm in Election 14

On Tuesday (9/2), Brooklyn Heights Blog will be hosting a debate between the Democratic candidates for the 52nd AD. BHB Founder/Publisher John “Homer Fink” Loscalzo will moderate and questions will be asked by our own Claude Scales, the BHA governor Marla Simpson, Ted Hamm political commentator / Chair of Journalism and New Media Studies at St. Joseph’s College New York, and George Fiala, Publisher of the Red Hook Star-Revue. We will open the floor to invited press and the general audience.

RESERVE YOUR SPOT NOW AT THE DEBATE HERE

This will surely be an action-packed two hours and we’d like to cover some new ground that hasn’t been discussed in the candidates previous debates or in their interviews here. We’d like to hear your thoughts. What questions would you like to ask? Think of this more as a job interview as much as a political debate too when contemplating your query.

Comment away!

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  • marshasrimler

    I want each candidate to describe their plan to save and refurbish the brooklyn heights and brooklyn business library. All say they are against the current BPL plan so we need to get

    specific

  • Jazz

    I cannot wait for that library to be torn down so we can stop hearing from you. Buy a kindle for crissakes.

  • miriamcb

    In the line of viewing it like a job interview rather than politics as usual, I’d like to know how they plan on running their office so we know, as citizens/voters how we can expect to reach the representative himself/herself. How do they each plan on taking citizens’ feedback in a meaningful way?

    Of course, some level of triage will be expected, but accessibility is very, very important especially when there are looming issues that will determine the landscape of the neighborhood for years to come.

  • marshasrimler

    Happy labor day to
    You too

  • Doug Biviano

    At CDL meeting Sunday, Sikora’s solution was to TAX THE RICH and Simon’s was to give space away to museum for revenue.

    Despite my harsh words for the lobbyists, machines and special interests who my opponents are part of and supported by, there’s no doubt I am very personable and accessible. If everyone recalls our 2009 Montague Street campaign office we were the extreme of accessibility doing” healthca re uncovered” forum with LICH department head educating community and Charlotta Jansen’s Freedom Riders and Bus Boycotters art exhibit that springboarded nationally from our office to DC and Oprah.

    As for library, fund capital improvements for library and use office call out if not and expose schemes like how we’re being attacked now by lobbyists Berlin Rosen and Forest City Ratner. Get funding at state level when city fails. But the bigger picture is ending the public giveaways to developers especially tax breaks and abatements that deplete tax base to run institutions including schools are ironically driving the destruction of these vital institutions like library and LICH. The Shelly Silver and Como giveaway to Extell was $35 MILLION. There’s a flyer on my website flyers page with several steps to save library including capital reserve studies for all public buildings to ensure proper funding by itemizing all capital funding and maintenance for structures over long term planning period so that no politician or department like BP can act surprised as if budgeting crisis came out of nowhere. This is where my civil engineering finance experience will contribute greatly to the office

    http://dougbiviano
    Com.

  • Doug Biviano

    Replied below

  • Doug Biviano

    Replied below in detail

  • Mimi

    Is anybody else hearing the racket caused by construction work at 44 Monroe Pl?
    It’s loud sawing, sounds like sawing of metal.
    Is it legal to do this on weekends?

  • Lori

    Personally, I like Joanne Simon’s response regarding LICH – her proposal would affect all hospitals in the city if not the state, not just LICH. How did Interfaith get re-funded when it was on the verge of collapse? Why did St. Vincent’s Hospital close – that was a terrible loss. We cannot think only of Bklyn Hts.

  • Lori

    Regarding the library, that building is a disaster as are most buildings built during that era. I would rather see housing (with space for library) built there than in the park!

  • marshasrimler

    The library needs to
    Be refurbished not destroyed. Pier 6 is another matter

  • petercow

    I know it’s popular to say that the closing of St. Vincent’s was a bad thing – but where’s the evidence that health care has been impacted?

    How many hospitals does a city need? Can a city NEVER close a hospital – ever? Should we build 1,000 more of them?

  • Remsen Street Dweller
  • marshasrimler

    Does Peter Sikora have ANY woman endorsers
    I do not see any on his literature

  • Harry LR

    I’d like each candidate to detail exactly where they’re getting their campaign money from. Specifically, who is each candidate refusing to take money from? Most importantly, how does where they are getting their money from distinguish them from the other two candidates?

  • ujh

    These reports date from 2010 and 2012, respectively. Unfortunately, it took four years for a free-standing emergency care facility to open in the white “ship-like” building on 7th Avenue, run by North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System. I hope the new facility’s effectiveness will be examined in follow-up reports in a year or two.
    According to the New York Times (July 14), “The new E.R. … is part of a trend that has as much to do with a hospital’s bottom line as it does with providing acute care. Free-standing emergency rooms – which are distinct from urgent care centers, which treat non-life-threatening illnesses and injuries at low cost – have sprouted up around the country in recent years, driven to competition to capture lucrative markets … They can bring in significant revenue, since they are allowed to charge the same high fees that hospitals charge while having lower overhead. And, since half of admissions come from the emergency room, free-standing E.R.s can funnel patient business to their parent hospitals.”
    It is well-known that many more treatments can now be administered on an outpatient basis; in some instances a patient may remain in the hospital overnight for observation without being technically admitted. This strengthens the position of insurance companies and puts pressure on hospitals to reduce the number of inpatient beds.
    Whether the “breakdown” at LICH to credential and re-credential its physicians, which led to the insurance companies’ refusal to reimburse the hospitals, was intentional and represented collusion between Continuum and SUNY is an open question.

  • Doug Biviano

    JoAnne is supported by Party Boss Seddio and she supports him (see her BHB interview). Seddio’s longtime law partner, Frank Carone was hired by SUNY and Carl McCall to work tirelessly to close LICH. What does Simon’s proposed plans have anything to do with reality when Simon not only remains silent about this troubling connection (because she benefits) but condones it. Disgusting. The outcome of any other neighborhood vital institution (whether Library, condos in park — Carone working for Lori Schomp so you know — or any future in jeopardy should be fully predictable with Team Seddio/Simon at the helm.

  • Doug Biviano

    Just one example. Simon took $3,500 from Henry Gutman and Marty Connor big Condo in the Park BBP Board Members. Connor also worked for Cuomo tirelessly to throw Zehpyr Teachout off Ballot. Simon and Connor are friends. Use relationships, loyalties, $ to predict outcomes of candidates no matter what they say or put on their mailers funded by special interests.
    http://dougbiviano.com

  • Howard Graubard

    Excuse me, but Fiala is an open supporter of Sikora. How can he be an unbiased questioner?

  • BrooklynBugle

    Each panelist is asking one question. Mr. Fiala’s is unbiased. Any panelist who has publicly endorsed a candidate will disclose that fact. Regular readers know the BHB’s editorial team never endorses candidates. We will -as usual- hold a reader poll the winner of which receives the BHB READER endorsement.

  • Howard Graubard

    Mr. Fiala’s position in this race as a Sikora partisan has been reflected in practically every public comment he’s made about this race, and everything he’s published in his paper. I suppose you can find a definition of bias that does not encompass Mr. Fiala’s coverage of this race, but I’m not sure what the point of that would be.