Protests in Borough Park + Menchaca, Wiley Eye Mayoral Runs

Local News:

• NYPD intends to arrest City Council candidate Heshy Tischler for inciting a riot after a reporter with Jewish Insider was violently attacked at an anti-mask protest in Borough Park. The protests were in response to the Governor’s new restrictions on mass gatherings, which were strenuously opposed by elected officials aligned with the Hasidic community such as State Senator Simcha Felder and City Council Member Chaim Deutsch. A 34-year-old Hasidic man was beaten unconscious after urging compliance with coronavirus safety measures.
• A federal judge denied a legal challenge filed by religious groups seeking to suspend the Governor’s new restrictions on mass gatherings.
• Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents misidentified themselves as “local police” during a raid in Inwood last week. Immigration advocates and local officials decried the raid as the latest instance of ICE impersonating other law enforcement agencies in New York City.
• The Manhattan Detention Complex, also known as “the Tombs,” will close before the end of the year.
• An arbitrator has overruled the City’s attempt to defer a $900 million payment to City teachers.
• NYPD detained Black Lives Matter activists for over 30 hours on low-level charges in response to activists recording video of a large group of police officers on a street in Bed-Stuy.
• New York’s real estate market is returning to its pre-COVID state, but the industry is nervous that NYC-DSA may gain a “foothold” in upcoming City Council elections and deliver victories for tenants.
• Members of Voice of Gowanus, a local community group, penned an op-ed critiquing Council Member Brad Lander’s framing of the Gowanus Neighborhood Rezoning.
• An investigation found that Phoenix Graphics, the firm responsible for sending mislabeled ballots to thousands of Brooklyn voters, received preferential treatment in the bidding process. Elected officials are now demanding a refund from the firm.
• A group of Manhattan residents are raising money to fight against a proposed relocation of 240 homeless residents from an emergency shelter located in a hotel on the Upper West Side to a permanent facility in Lower Manhattan. The group has already hired a law firm and is expected to file an emergency injunction against the plan.
• Confidence in the Department of Education is particularly low with parents of color, who are opting for fully remote learning at higher rates than are white parents.

Elections: 

• Council Member Carlos Menchaca (District 38, Sunset Park) opened a mayoral campaign account with the city Campaign Finance Board.
• Maya Wiley, a civil rights attorney and former counsel to Mayor De Blasio, announced she is running for Mayor in 2021.
• Five Democrats running for Manhattan Borough President spoke at a forum hosted by the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce.
• The Democratic Senate Campaign Committee sent $350,000 to the reelection campaign of State Senator Andrew Gounardes (District 22, Bay Ridge), who is facing a Republican challenger in one of New York City’s few remaining swing districts.