Hakeem Jeffries??

This guy wants to run for our district? Who is this guy??

check out this link: http://thepoliticker.observer.com/

Subject: Who is Hakeem?

He's the guy who is going to lose to this guy:

http://www.batsonforbrooklyn.com

Vote Bill Batson for 57th District Assemblyman

I'm going to work my butt off to get Bill into office. Hakeem seems nice enough, but we need somebody dynamic who will stand up to the [insert expletive] in Albany.

~Raul

PS: And in an unrelated gratuitous bit of self promotion, I hope everyone comes to the African Xylophone Festival. Two of my bands are playing in it, and my partners and I are producing it. It's coming up May 5, 6 & 7 at Makor and Columbia. Please visit www.JumbieRecords.com/axf/

Subject: Atlantic Yards and the 57th District

http://thepoliticker.observer.com/2006/04/atlantic-yards-and-the-57th-district.html

Here's a profile of Jeffries from Crain's New York:

http://www.newyorkbusiness-risingstars.com/profile.php?pageNum_profile_detail=17&year=2

Jeffries ran against Roger Green in the past and was enough of a threat that Roger gerrymandered him out of the district in the last redistricting process, preventing Jeffries from running against Roger in the last election (where Roger ran unopposed after pleading down a felony charge to a misdemeanor). The other result of the redistricting: the political power of Prospect Heights has been even more diluted as a we are now represented by two separate Assembly members, with each portion of Prospect Heights making up a small part of each Assembly district.

Daneo, do you know where Mr. Jeffries stands on Atlantic Yards, eminent domain, public subsidies for a billionaire developer/sports baron, an "interim surface parking lot" on the Eastern part of the AYards footprint that would imperile burgeoining Vanderbilt etc?

It seems like his stated goals to promote affordable housing and expand economic opportunities means he's in favor of the project.

Letitia James is also an advocate for affordable housing, yet she's one of the most vocal opponents of Ratner's project. I think that her opposition to "overdevelopment" is perhaps the stronger of the two convictions.

I'm not sure that hypocrisy qualifies as a conviction. Like most pol's in New York who claim to be champions of the poor and middle class, their very public displays of opposition to projects that help relieve the housing squeeze remain somewhat of a mystery.