A good list for a good candidate

To the editor:

With so many fine, accomplished individuals running for city council, how should we distinguish between them?

I have a number of criteria that I am using to make my decision about whom to support:

• How well does the candidate know the district and its particular challenges? Have they been a part of the community discussion in both Community Board 8 and Community Board 7, so that they know what our problems are?

• Will the candidate be accessible to constituents?

• What is the candidate’s record on organizing community support for important projects or community improvements?

• Is the candidate able to formulate practical, actable plans to solve the district’s problems?

• When a problem has been identified, how quickly has the candidate worked to solve that problem?

• What are the candidate’s positions on various issues as they relate to the particulars of the council district?

I am supporting Eric Dinowitz for city council because he fulfills all these criteria, and more.

• He is a lifelong resident of the council district, attending our schools, raising his family here, and now teaching our children in New York City schools. He is the chair of CB8’s aging committee, and also attends the meetings of CB7.

• Eric answers calls and emails within a day.

• Eric led the coalition of community groups to get elevator access to the renovation of the Mosholu Parkway MTA stop. He helped organize the rally to preserve express bus service to Manhattan. He walked the picket line to preserve union jobs at the North Riverdale Key Food.

• Eric designed the plan to fix the fiasco of the mail-in ballots in the June primary, and his plan became the blueprint for the law that was enacted by the state legislature.

Eric formulated a plan for the reopening of public schools. Now Eric has formulated a plan for equitable distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines.

• Eric moves quickly once a problem is identified. He rallied our senior citizens to protest the MTA bus cutbacks while CB8’s traffic and transportation committee took weeks to hold a hearing.

• Eric speaks from experience, both as a teacher and union representative of the United Federation of Teachers. Eric proposes practical solutions for student counseling and mental health to keep our children in school, and out of trouble.

I have seen Eric with his family and with his friends, and his genuine love for the people who count on him is the recommendation for how he will approach our struggles here in the council district.

All this is why I am supporting Eric Dinowitz for city council. I ask you to join me to bring great leadership to our city.

Ira Bigeleisen

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