Jackson Heights Life

Are we talking about the mailer which has the picture of HM's arrest on it ?  If so, the Peralta campaign has acknowledged that it's there's and I don't understand what the big deal is. The mailer illustrates an actual event that happened and we all saw on the news the next day. Hiram's girlfriend did get 41 stitches, Hiram was arrested, Hiram was convicted of a misdemeanor. This is all publicly available information that has been verified, why is it wrong for the Peralta campaign to point this out ?

If we're talking about a flyer sent from another organization, then I still don't see what the problem is, what is advertised in these mailings is verifiable truth, not slanderous lies.

The homophobic literature describing Peralta as the "Gay Caballero" is much more disturbing, especially since Hiram won't denounce it. Even though he voted against marriage equality he has said that he is a supporter of the gay community then why won't he denounce these anonymous and slanderous smears ? This is eerily reminiscent of the flyers the sears campaign "had nothing to do with" during her race against Council Member Dromm. Why do people assume that homophobia wins votes ? This only further serves to show Hiram up for who / what he really is, a biggot.

It was a nice evening of political theater. HM was of course his defiant obnoxious self. Jose Peralta came across as calm and professional. I can't remember the Republican candidates name, nor much of what he said. For the most part it seemed like he didn't even want to be there. Hiram of course encountered a lot of hecklers, my self being one of them at times, though not nearly as vocal as a certain red haired gentleman sitting next to me.

HM did mention that he got $5m in funding for expanding Travers Park, but Jose was quick to point out that that money was merely a proposal as it hasn't been approved by the assembly. 

One of Jose's strongest points was that Hiram was expelled from the senate by a vote of 53 to 8 I believe, so how can he be expected to work well with the 53 senators that voted to expel him ? Makes sense to me.

One of the more interesting moments was this guy in the front row who had a red lipstick with him. Every time Hiram spoke he smeared his face with it, signifying the blood on Carla Giraldo's face. It must have gotten to Hiram who eventually told the guy the lipstick was cute, but not quite his color.

 

The former Flagship video store is not Peralta's campaign office. It is an extra space used to coordinate volunteers since his actual campaign office is too small to accommodate the huge number of volunteers.  When Flagship vacated the space it appears they took their roll down gates with them. The mesh screens, which I agree are ugly, seem to have been put up before the Peralta campaign made use of the space. So, I'm guessing the land lord / owner of the space put the mesh screens up as a quick and cheap way to protect the property from break in. I don't see any reason why the Peralta campaign would have put those screens up.

While they are an eyesore, there are much bigger issues at hand that go far beyond a land lord's poor choice. Please don't blame Peralta or his staff for something they probably didn't do and look at the bigger picture of what they are trying to accomplish.

Malky, I hear and understand your frustration. Like it or not we are kind of stuck with the system we have, for now. Running for public office on any level is no easy task, it takes years of planning and cultivating relationships. Because March 16th is a special election, the party organizations are the ones who pick the candidates. In this case the Democratic organization has chosen Jose Peralta. Personally I'm quite happy with that choice and I believe Jose will make an EXCELLENT Senator. He has worked very hard to get where he is and has consistently put the needs of his district ahead of his political gain.

The idea of a non party affiliated candidate rising form the dust to claim any seat in this area or the state for that matter is nice, but not realistic given the way things work. I'm not defending the process, just calling it as I see it. From what I've seen so far the best way to change the machine is to work from the inside. District Leaders and other party officials are important to the overall process and often times over looked. These are the people who have sway over what candidates the party chooses to endorse, getting to know them or working to become one yourself seems to be the most effective way to influence the system and change it to what is should be  someday.

Also, just to point out in our recent City Council elections Helen Sears was endorsed by the Democratic Party not our current Council Member Dromm who is shaping up to be quite an asset to our district. So there is a trend of defying the machine to some extent. By the way Jose Peralta was an early supporter of Dromm and worked extremely hard for his campaign.

There is a Parks Department Rule that adults can not be in playground areas unless they are in the company of a child. This does not apply to the entirety of Hart Playground, only the areas where there is play equipment. The day laborers will still have access to the Park's bathrooms and areas outside of where the play equipment is. As I understand it they are closing the gate by the 65th St. subway entrance, so they can better control access to the park and prevent adults without children from walking in to theplayground area.

 

What is also important to remember, for registered Democrats, is defeating Sears and Monserrate in their races in September for their respective Democratic District Leader positions.  Unless I am mistaken, they are both currently party officials.

Very true, I think a lot of people over look District Leaders and what they mean to our political process. If both Sears and Monserrate maintain their Disrtict Leader status it means they still have sway over Democratic politics in our neighborhood. Which is unfathomable considering their willingness to caucus with Republican's in the state Senate, which this past year led to 5 weeks of deadlocked nothingness.

Yes, Francis it's a very likely scenario. In fact, that's probably the only reason she is running. Realistically if you consider she lost her city council election with a pretty decent margin she can't possibly expect to win the Senate seat that not only covers the district she lost but expands to areas that don't even know who she is.  Seems to me like she's doing this for another reason.   

Apparently Helen Sears is considering running in the special election on teh Republican line:

From the Daily news:

Sears For Senate?

By Elizabeth Benjamin

A fascinating wrinkle has developed in the fight for Hiram Monserrate's Queens Senate seat, which, assuming Judge William Pauley's ruling today stands, is on track to be decided in a March 16 special election.

A GOP source confirms Helen Sears, a Democrat who lost her Council seat to Danny Dromm in a primary last fall, is in discussions with local Republicans, Conservatives and Independence Party leaders to run on their respective lines for Monserrate's seat.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2010/02/sears-for-senate.html#ixzz0g1GFrDzC