In the Press

Brooklyn Activists Claim Victory in Primary

Jeanine Ramirez
NY1, 09/17/2009

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Two longtime community activists won their primary races in Brooklyn and may soon be the newest faces in the City Council come November. NY1's Jeanine Ramirez filed the following report:

Brad Lander is already getting an earful from voters now that he's won the primary election in the 39th District City Council seat. It was an open seat held by Bill de Blasio who ran for public advocate. Like de Blasio, Lander is from Park Slope.

He is a community activist founding the nonprofit group the 5th Avenue Committee where he worked for 10 years and is now heading the Pratt Center for Community Development.

"What I know is in nonprofit organizations, in civic groups, in PTAs, people are doing this amazing work that I've had the chance to be a part of," Lander said. "But they also really need allies at City Hall who share their values and share their goals and they want to work together."

Lander got 41 percent of the vote out of a crowded race of five contenders Tuesday. The district covers Kensington, Windsor Terrace, Park Slope, part of Cobble Hill and Borough Park.

Lander says his two priorities are public education and responsible development. "Too much of the development that we've had in recent years is kind of big, out of scale, too expensive, doesn't add to the quality of life in our neighborhoods," Lander said.

Over in the neighborhoods of Flatbush, East Flatbush, part of Midwood and Canarsie, voters turned to Jumaane Williams to lead the 45th councilmatic district over incumbent Kendall Stewart.

"It's still surreal and dreamlike. We had a wonderful victory. And I'm just really taking some time to soak it all in," Williams said.

Williams is another longtime community organizer doing most of his work around youth and housing issues. He says his top priorities are employment, affordable housing and fighting foreclosures.

Williams didn't have negative things to say about Councilman Stewart, only that the voters had enough. "I think that the community voted for term limits twice. And I think they just wanted to say that this is what we wanted. And they said two terms is what we voted for and we want to stick to it," Williams said.

While Lander and Williams have plenty of plans for their districts, they still need to win in the general election on November 3rd.