February 13, 2012 · www.gothamgazette.com |
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The Race ...
City Council
District 11
Bedford Park, Fieldston, Jerome Park, Norwood and Riverdale
Know something we should know? Let us know at campaign05@gothamgazette.com
General Election Results
G. Oliver Koppell
Primary Results
G. Oliver Koppell
The Incumbent:
G. Oliver Koppell
General Election Challenger(s):
Steve Bradian
Primary Election Challenger(s):
Ari Hoffnung
- Steve Bradian has not filed
- Ari Hoffnung
- G. Oliver Koppell
Feature Articles ...
The Incumbent:
G. Oliver Koppell | Dem |
Oliver Koppell was elected to the City Council in 2001. Prior to that, he served as a member of the New York State Assembly for 22 years, after which he became the State Attorney General in 1994. Koppell is a board member of the Anti-Defamation League and the Riverdale Senior Center. He is also the President of Community School Board 10. Koppell currently works as an attorney in New York City.
Challenger(s):
Steve Bradian | Rep | Con |
Ari Hoffnung | Dem |
Ari Hoffnung, employed by Bear Sterns, is chairman of the Community Board 8 Parks and Recreation Committee and co-president of the Riverdale Jewish Community. He is a board member at Kingsbridge Riverdale Van Cortlandt Development Corporation.
Campaign Trail ...
Below are the latest Campaign Trail items for the District 11 race. For the full Campaign Trail archive, go here
Koppell Gets Help From Another Councilmember
August 25, 2005
Bronx Councilman Oliver Koppell, one of the very few incumbents facing a stiff challenge for reelection this year, had company campaigning this morning in Norwood. His Council colleague Miguel Martinez joined the former attorney general for a meet-and-greet on the stairs leading down to the D train. With only one primary opponent—who hasn't reported a dime in campaign contributions—Martinez can afford to lend a hand elsewhere in the city. And with plenty of Latino voters in the part of his district that lies east of Koppell's Riverdale power base, he could use the help. (Village Voice)
August 24, 2005
The pharmacy door near the D train's 205th Street station in the Bronx is pitching Ari Hoffnung, not District 11 councilmember Oliver Koppell—one of the few incumbents in a tough scrap for re-election...Koppell was the assemblyman from Riverdale for 23 years and has been the area's councilmember since 2002. But those roots haven't spared him a race this year. "I am confident that I'll win," he tells the Voice. "On the other hand it's not a walk in the park by any means." The reason, he says, is "I have a very aggressive opponent who's quite well funded, and Mr. Hoffnung is very nasty, very negative in his campaign."
Ari Hoffnung has certainly run hard, staking out subway stations every morning, faulting Koppell for devoting too little time to his council job and slamming him for being ineffective at City Hall. The magic number in this race could be as many as 10,000 votes, coming from a diverse district that includes the relatively affluent and largely Jewish Riverdale section, Irish Woodlawn, black Wakefield, and mixed areas of Norwood and Kingsbridge. The race is not exactly on everyone's lips in the northwest Bronx: Asked if the election is news to the people he meets, Hoffnung quips, "Outside of Riverdale, the City Council is news to them." He blames Koppell—one of the few councilmembers without any leadership posts or committee chairs—for that....Koppell, never a favorite of former Bronx Democratic boss Roberto Ramirez, acknowledges that his outsider stance at first posed "very substantial obstacles" to his getting things accomplished in the council. Now things are better, he says. "I've sponsored a fair number of bills that have become laws," he says, "the most important one to change the zoning in Riverdale—to downzone to prevent buildings over seven stories being built in central Riverdale."
Downzoning is a catchphrase in races this year, but in District 11 it goes to a major difference in how the rivals see their district. To Koppell, overdevelopment is the major concern in the area. But Hoffnung has supported new housing. He also backed the unpopular filtration plant in Van Cortlandt Park. "I figured, 'This thing's going to happen. What I have to do now is get a fair share of the mitigation funds,' " Hoffnung says, referring to the $200 million allocated to Bronx parks to compensate for the plant—a project that Koppell equated to "a rape of the park."
Rival to Koppell Comes Out Swingin
July 26, 2005
Peace doesn't reign in Riverdale these days. Despite a peace pact between City Councilman Oliver Koppell and the Bronx Democratic organization he's fought for much of his 35-year political career, Koppell still finds himself in a political battle. This time it's coming from a 31-year-old challenger, Aaron (Ari) Hoffnung, whom Koppell, 64, described as a former friend. "I nominated him for appointment to Community Board 8," Koppell said yesterday. "I recommended him for appointment to the local development corporation I founded." Koppell, a former state legislator who served as state attorney general in 1994, said he was "totally surprised" when Hoffnung decided to challenge him in the Sept. 13 Democratic primary for his seat in the 11th Council District (Kingsbridge, Riverdale, Woodlawn). Married to a psychologist and a vice president for credit surveillance for Bear, Stearns & Co., Hoffnung is a first-time candidate. But he seems familiar with the Bronx's hit-them-hard, hit-them-low tactics. (Daily News)
Council Candidate Wants Incumbent To Pay His Portion of Mailings
July 26, 2005
A candidate for City Council in the Bronx asked the Campaign Finance Board yesterday to hold the incumbent he is running against, Oliver Koppell, financially responsible for his portion of a recent $1.6 million council mailing. The candidate, Ari Hoffnung, 31, called on the board to count the four mailings that went out in Mr. Koppell's Riverdale district, which featured pictures of Mr. Koppell next to the council speaker, Gifford Miller, against the $150,000 spending cap set for the race. In his letter to the board, Mr. Hoffnung said Mr. Koppell "derived an unfair benefit" from the mailing, which went out the week before a three-month blackout period that bars candidates from using government offices to pay for mass mail. Mr. Miller, a Democrat running for mayor, has come under fire for the mailings, partly because a council spokesman initially estimated the cost of the work as $37,000. But yesterday's complaint was the first filed against another member. Mr. Koppell defended himself, saying the mailings were perfectly appropriate.
Full District 11 Campaign Trail Archive
District 11 Campaign Trail in RSS format. 

