Lincoln Restler easily won the primary to be the Democratic nominee for the 33rd City Council District seat presently occupied by the term limited Stephen Levin. Mr. Restler has no declared opposition in the coming general election so, failing a successful write-in campaign, he will be our next City Council member. He grew up in Brooklyn Heights, and his parents still live here, but he has lived in Greenpoint for over ten years.

If you’re wondering how the Heights and Greenpoint managed to be put in the same council district, you’d be right to conclude that it involved what must have been some very creative boundary drawing. I couldn’t find a map of the district that I could easily incorporate into this post, but there’s one on Council Member Levin’s website. As you can see, it borders the East River all the way from Newtown Creek to Atlantic Avenue, and takes in Greenpoint, part of Williamsburg, the Navy Yard, Vinegar Hill, DUMBO, the Fulton Ferry District, Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill, Downtown Brooklyn, and part of Gowanus. In three places, Greenpoint/Williamsburg, the Navy Yard, and Brooklyn Heights/Boerum Hill/Downtown/Gowanus, it extends inland. In others, part of Williamsburg and DUMBO/Vinegar Hill, it is quite narrow.

Mr. Restler was recently interviewed by Emma Davey in Greenpointers. Asked about his view of the new ranked choice voting system, he said

I think that ranked choice voting encourages candidates to build broad and diverse coalitions across their district. You can’t rely on the support of just Greenpoint or just Brooklyn Heights. You gotta be able to build across disparate communities.

He was also asked how he, as one who identifies as progressive, anticipated working with a likely Adams mayoral administration. He said he would try to “work collaboratively” with the administration “where we can find common ground” but would “push back to fight for our community” where necessary. He identified some issues on which he thought there were strong possibilities for progressives working with the new administration. These include the enhancement of pedestrian space, providing more protective bike lanes, and “investing in the crisis management system” to provide “an alternative to traditional policing.”

Photo: Run For Something

Despite hot and humid weather, a sizeable crowd gathered in front of the War Memorial in Cadman Plaza Park for the City Council Candidates Forum on Sunday, starting at 5:00 p.m. The candidates, from left to right in the photo above, are: Elizabeth Adams, Victoria Cambranes, Sabrina Gates, Toba Petosky, Lincoln Restler, Stu Sherman, Benjamin Solotaire, and April Somboun. Three of the candidates, Ms. Gates, Mr. Potosky, and Ms. Somboun, live in Brooklyn Heights; Mr. Restler grew up in the Heights and now lives in Greenpoint.

On issues particularly important to Heights residents, all want some solution to the problem of the crumbling Brooklyn-Queens Expressway that doesn’t involve a six lane “temporary” highway in place of the Promenade. All were concerned about the effect of rising commercial rents and city bureaucracy on locally owned businesses; Ms. Gates emphasized her role as a business owner.

On citywide issues, all recognized the need for affordable housing, with Mr. Potosky emphasizing his experience as president of his Mitchell-Lama co-op in the Cadman Towers, and Ms. Sonboun speaking of her experience coming to New York as the child of a refugee Laotian single mother and living in public housing. Mr. Restler stressed the need to make developers more responsive to community needs. On the issue of “defunding” the police, all agreed that the NYPD is now tasked with duties, including responding to mental health crises and traffic control, that should be the responsibilities of mental health professionals and the Department of Transportation, respectively.,

The proceedings were, as a whole, marked by civility and respect among the candidates. An exception was when Ms. Cambranes was given, as were each of the candidates, an opportunity to ask a question of one of the others. She asked Mr. Restler why his campaign had violated a pledge not to engage in negative attacks on others, saying that she had been personally attacked by his. Mr. Restler emphatically denied that he knew of any such personal attacks, said it was contrary to the principles of his campaign, and that anyone who engaged in such would be asked to leave the campaign.

Mr. Restler was then given the opportunity to ask a question of another candidate. Turning to Ms. Sonboun, he asked how she, as a mother with school age children, felt about how the re-opening of schools was being handled. She said she thought a remote learning option should be continued for now. This Tines opinion pieceagrees with her.

There’s more about the candidates in this Brooklyn Paper piece. Early voting for the primary election starts this Saturday, June 12.

There are eight candidates running to take term limited Stephen Levin’s City Council seat for District 33, which includes Brooklyn Heights. This Sunday, June 6 from 5:00 to 7:00 PM, there will be a live forum for these candidates in Cadman Plaza Memorial Park. The event is sponsored by, among others, the Brooklyn Heights Association, the Cadman Park Conservancy, North Heights Neighbors, and the Willowtown Association.

The Annual Meeting of the Brooklyn Heights Association will be held this evening by Zoom, beginning at 7:00 p.m. At least eight of the nine announced candidates for City Council from District 33, which includes Brooklyn Heights, will be present on line and available to answer questions. Incumbent Council Member Steve Levin is term limited. You do not need to be a BHA member to attend, and admission is free, but to get the Zoom link you must register here.