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Get
Williams elected Advocate
By Kevin Duggan
Brooklyn Paper
Flatbush Councilman Jumaane
Williams will be the
city’s next Public Advocate,
after claiming victory in Tuesday’s
special election that featured
a whopping 17 candidates
battling for the office.
Williams came out on top
after winning some 33 percent
of votes, according to
the New York City Board of
Elections , which reported he
earned some 133,809 out of a
total 402,778 ballots cast with
more than 98 percent of precincts
counted by Wednesday
afternoon.
The Brooklyn pol handily
beat his second-place competitor,
Councilman Eric Ulrich
(R–Queens), who won some
77,026 votes, roughly 19 percent
of all cast, according to
the board.
Williams celebrated his
win at an East Flatbush cafe,
where he spoke about the office’s
important role of holding
city leaders accountable, and
rebuked legislation to abolish
the position that his colleague
Councilman Kalman
Yeger (D–Midwood) introduced
last year.
“The public advocate — the
people’s advocate — is a role
that I am incredibly excited
to fill, and one that is crucial
to our city. I know that there
are some who have sought to
get rid of it — and now, I’m
Councilman Jumaane Williams won Tuesday’s special Public Advocate election,
trouncing the 16 others who competed against him for the seat.
Photo by Steve Solomonson
sure there are powerful people
who want it gone even more.
But we aren’t going anywhere.
Instead, we’re going to hold
the powerful accountable.
The mayor, the police commissioner,
the governor, the
big-money interests — we are
watching, and we will speak
out,” the pol said.
Williams’s win comes after
his several previous unsuccessful
bids for higher office,
including two runs for
Council speaker in 2013 and
2017, and his campaign for the
state office of lieutenant governor
last year, when he lost
to incumbent Lieutenant Gov.
Kathy Hochul in the September
primary election.
The pol, while delivering
his victory speech, teared up
as he addressed his past mental
health struggles and the
challenge of overcoming stereotypes
facing young black
men, calling his win a success
despite those obstacles.
“I’ve been in therapy for
the past three years. I want
to say that to black men who
are listening,” Williams said.
“I know there’s a young black
boy somewhere who’s young,
cries himself to sleep sometimes
— nobody knows what
he’s going through, and this
world tells you that you have to
hide it and can’t talk about it.
But I’ve got something to say
to that young man: his name
is Jumaane Williams and I’m
the public advocate for New
York City.”
Williams could only serve
as public advocate for 10
months, however. A partisan
primary will be held as
soon as June, followed by a
November general election to
determine who will finish out
James’s second term, which
also ends in 2021.
ON THE RADIO
BQE plan a landmark disaster
By Moses Jefferson
Brooklyn Paper
The city’s proposal to turn
the Brooklyn Heights Promenade
into a six-lane speedway
in order to repair the Brooklyn-
Queens Expressway’s crumbling
triple cantilever could undermine
decades-old local and
federal landmark laws put in
place following the destruction
of the old Penn Station, according
to a preservationist.
“I dislike going back to that
well, but this has the opportunity
for having profound implications
for how landmarks
are treated in New York,” Simeon
Bankoff, head of the privately
run, citywide preservation
group the Historic Districts
Council, told Brooklyn Paper
Radio co-hosts Anthony Rotunno
and Johnny Kunen on
an all-new episode.
The Promenade is protected
by no less than three designations,
Bankoff explained. It
is within the city’s first-ever
protected neighborhood, the
Brooklyn Heights Historic
District, an enclave the Feds
later recognized with two separate
distinctions, including a
spot on the country’s list of National
Historic Landmarks, and
another spot on the National
Register of Historic Places —
whose main purpose is to ensure
local governments do not
destroy historically significant
sites as they execute public projects,
according to the preservationist.
And should officials proceed
with turning walkway
into speedway, they risk setting
a dangerous precedent that
could defang those landmarking
restrictions established to
protect historic homes and
other sites.
“How are you supposed to
tell somebody that they need
to reconstruct their stoop when
the city is destroying a major
national landmark with public
money?” Bankoff asked.
Tune in now to hear it all
go down.
Brooklyn Paper Radio can
be found on BrooklynPaper.
com, iTunes , and Stitcher .
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