Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Justin Brannan

Justin Brannan

  • To Ensure Safety and Increase Participation, Let’s Allow Public Government Meetings to be Conducted Virtually

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    (photo: @CMFarahLouis)


    Whether we like it or not, COVID-19 has fundamentally changed the ways we work and gather. While there is no substitute for being in the same room as family, friends, and colleagues, for the past 18 months, this once-in-a-lifetime pandemic has taught us how to come together virtually and get things done.

    Most of us had never even heard of Zoom before offices started closing, but it and other platforms like Webex and Microsoft Teams have become part of our daily lives as we adjusted to this new

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  • The Race to be the Next City Council Speaker is in Full Swing

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    (l-r) Council Members Keith Powers, Adrienne Adams, Justin Brannan, Carlina Rivera


    The New York City Council is set for seismic change, as new members will be elected to more than two-thirds of the 51 seats this year. With those new members will come the election of a new Council speaker to preside over the legislative body and exert control of its agenda, and four Democrats are already vying for the powerful position.

    Council Member Justin Brannan from Brooklyn, Council Members Carlina Rivera and Keith Powers from Manhattan, and Council Member Adrienne Adams of

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  • De Blasio Pledges Last Gasp Property Tax Reform Effort

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    New York City (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayoral Photo Office)


    After getting "derailed" by the pandemic, Mayor Bill de Blasio is reviving one of his earliest and most delayed mayoral commitments: to reform an out-of-date and unequal property tax system. The city's Advisory Commission on Property Tax Reform will begin holding public hearings, originally scheduled for last March, on its preliminary recommendations and will produce a final report by the time de Blasio leaves office at the end of the year, he said Thursday

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  • Leveraging City Assets and Community Input to Jumpstart Our Economic Recovery

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    Construction workers at work (photo: Emil Cohen/City Council)


    As our city stays focused on managing what we hope to be the final chapter of the COVID-19 pandemic, we also need to keep thinking proactively about driving a strong and just economic recovery.

    It’s no secret that in my Brooklyn district and across the five boroughs, there’s a long road ahead. Our official citywide unemployment rate is now hovering around 12%, with the highest jobless rates still in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx.

    A recent report showed that year-to-date filings for new

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  • New York City's Arab Community Deserves Full Democracy

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    Council Member Justin Brannan, the author, with constituents and allies


    As the City Council Member representing the 43rd District in Brooklyn, I represent the largest Arab community in the City of New York. This community has weaved itself into the complex fabric of my district, especially in Bay Ridge, where our avenues are lined with Arab-owned businesses, and several non-profit organizations that have been serving Arab-Americans and Arab immigrants for decades. I am proud to serve this community, and proud that its members are a part of what makes our district so

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  • Democrats Flipped a Brooklyn State Senate Seat in 2018; Is It In Play In 2020?

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    State Senator Andrew Gounardes in Albany (photo: @sen_gounardes)


    Pro-NYPD and Black Lives Matter protesters clashed, sometimes violently, in Southern Brooklyn last weekend, a conflict emblematic of the changing and complicated politics in traditionally moderate to conservative neighborhoods that have been home to leftward political movement, partially due to an influx of new residents.

    One marker of the changes was the 2018 election of Democrat Andrew Gounardes in State Senate District 22, where he defeated long-time

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  • No to Austerity, Yes to Efficiency and Fairness: Getting Our Budget Priorities Straight for a Strong Post-COVID New York

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    Major budget questions loom as coronavirus takes its toll (photo: Edwin J. Torres/ Mayor's Office)


    As we work to show COVID the door, tough budget decisions are ahead. Governments at every level are grappling with the unprecedented toll this pandemic has had on the economy. 

    COVID has laid bare structural inequities too stark to ignore. While some work comfortably from home, others put themselves in danger on the front lines. While some flee to the Hamptons, others pass the virus between family members in cramped New York City apartments.

    These choices become

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  • City Council to Pass Bill Capping What Food Delivery Apps Can Charge Restaurants, Sponsor Says

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    Restaurants are struggling to survive during the lockdown (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayor's Office)


    As New York City’s mom-and-pop restaurants struggle to survive in lockdown conditions owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the New York City Council appears poised to help them cut costs by passing a bill to cap fees charged by third-party delivery services, which have proliferated in recent years via phone apps.

    Small restaurants that cannot afford delivery workers or have recognized the popularity of the apps rely on the third-party services like Grubhub, Seamless (which

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  • We Deserve The Right To Be Forgotten

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    (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayoral Photo Office)


    An old school newspaper editor once told me through a cloud of cigar smoke, “The accusation? That's front page news. The acquittal? You're lucky if that makes the paper at all.” 

    Being “innocent until proven guilty” is one of the most sacred tenets of the American criminal justice system. But in the modern digital age, “innocence” is something the acquitted or the wrongfully accused never fully achieve, because, on the internet, their name stays forever affiliated with the crime for which they were

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  • It’s Time to Bring MTA’s Paratransit Into the 21st Century

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    (photo: MTA)


    There is a reason why Access-A-Ride is better known as “Stress-A-Ride” for the approximately 170,000 New Yorkers who depend on it. 

    The bill for Access-A-Ride will hit $616 million this year and the MTA is seeking additional funding from the City of New York. It’s mind-boggling to think this service can cost the cash-strapped agency so much for such low-quality service. That’s why before anyone kicks in additional funding, the MTA must fundamentally transform the way it runs its paratransit program and bring it into the 21st century.

    New

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  • What to Watch for When the City's Property Tax Commission Finally Issues Its Report

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    (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    “To be the fairest big city, you need a fair tax system. For too long, New York City taxpayers have had to grapple with a property tax system that is too opaque, too complex, and just feels unfair,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in May 2018 after announcing the creation of a commission to examine the issue. “New Yorkers need property tax reform, and this advisory commission will put us on the road to achieve it,” he said.

    When the New York City Advisory Commission on Property Tax Reform releases its

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  • City Council Considers New Office to Aid Non-Profits

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    Council Member Farah Louis (photo: New York City Council)


    The New York City Council is considering legislation that would create a new office to assist non-profit organizations in navigating regulations and applying for city contracts and funding.

    Council Member Farah Louis, a recently elected Brooklyn Democrat, has proposed legislation that would mandate that the mayor institute an Office of Not-For-Profit Services. The bill is set to be examined by the Council’s Committee on Governmental Operations at a ...

  • How Vulnerable is Max Rose?

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    Rep. Max Rose (photo: @MaxRose4NY)


    Max Rose calls himself a “centrist populist.” The first-term Democrat who represents New York’s 11th congressional district, which spans across Staten Island and along the shore of Southern Brooklyn, appears set on trying to make that label stick, and in doing so earn a second term when voters head to the polls next year.

    Rose’s pitch and politics seem to match the district well: he’s a moderate, center-left politician and military veteran with a no-nonsense but affable and energetic personality. His mantra is serving constituents above political

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  • 7 Years After Sandy - Part II: The City’s Limited Resiliency Efforts Since

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    Rendering of Coney Island wetlands project (photo: mayor's office, Oct. 2013)


    This is part two of a three-part series on '7 Years After Sandy.' Find part one -- Pieces In Place That Worked, Rebuilding Efforts That Failed -- here. Find part three --

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  • Getting New York City Ready for the Next Big Storm - & the Next Heat Wave, Flash Floods & Other Climate Emergencies

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     (photo: William Alatriste New York City Council)


    Billy Joel’s dystopian vision for New York City, laid out in the very upbeat but equally terrifying “Miami 2017,” is coming true. The lights have indeed gone out on Broadway. Perhaps the only difference is that Queens won’t stay. 

    This is New York City in 2019: a near 100-degree heat wave shut down power for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, who then trudged through flooded streets once the high temperatures gave way to torrential

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  • Max & Murphy Podcast: Examining the City's Resiliency Planning & Emergency Preparedness

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    (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    July 24, 2019 - Max & Murphy Podcast: Evaluating the City's Emergency Preparedness

    cm justin brannan 150 wbaiCity Council Member Justin Brannan represents parts of southern Brooklyn and is the chair of the newly-created Council Committee on Resiliency & Waterfronts. He joined the show to discuss recent emergencies

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  • Dominating Harvard, and Redemption

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    (photo: @BPIBard)


    One of the oldest and highest-regarded debating teams in the world just got beat by a team of incarcerated New Yorkers. But we shouldn’t be surprised; they’ve done it before. In addition to this most recent match with Cambridge, the Bard Prison Initiative debate team’s 9-2 record includes wins against Harvard, Morehouse, and the University of Pennsylvania.

    For 20 years, BPI has been championing the talents and potential of underestimated students, and debate, it turns out, is just one of the things our fellow New Yorkers are really good

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  • Advancing Efforts to Hire People with Disabilities Across New York's Economy

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    Victor Calise, front-left, is one of the authors (photo: @NYCCalise)


    In the fairest big city in America, everyone deserves the opportunity to be employed. Unfortunately, the reality is that people with disabilities in the United States are twice as likely to be out of the workforce as their nondisabled peers.

    Data collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics at the U.S. Department of Labor shows that the proportion of Americans with disabilities ages 16 to 64 that was employed last year was only 30.4% compared to 74% for non-disabled individuals in the

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  • Time for the City to Pay Up

    Justin Brannan

    Justin Brannan, the author (photo: @JustinBrannan)


    Talk is cheap. The city needs to pay up.

    We have all been impacted by the important work of hundreds of human services providers across the city, many of which are deeply rooted in our communities. These vital non-profit organizations deliver services to New York City’s most vulnerable – the poor, the hungry, the homeless, our children, our grandparents. The clear and powerful impact of this sector makes it easy for politicians to praise the services these non-profits provide — but such talk is cheap if you

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  • After Parent’s ‘Gut-Wrenching’ Testimony, Next Step in City Council School Bus Reform

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    Council Member Justin Brannan (photo: John McCarten\City Council)


    Sally Kabel was diagnosed with infant leukemia at ten months old, the treatment for which led to seizures, three broken bones, and a weak immune system. She developed epilepsy, and after her third bout of pneumonia she required continuous oxygen support. None of this stopped her from going to school more than complications with her school bus, according to her mother, Nicole Kabel.

    After missing the first day at Manhattan Star Academy on the Upper West SIde

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  • Brooklyn Girl Scouts Find City Isn’t Fully Implementing Menstrual Equity Law

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    Mayor de Blasio signs menstrual equity laws (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    When a few Brooklyn Girl Scouts realized their middle school had no sanitary bins to dispose of menstrual products in the bathroom stalls, they sprung to action.

    Putting their demands into a petition, they garnered 32 signatures from students during morning recess and presented the list to their principal. Before, girls had to throw away their wadded up menstrual products in a trash can outside of the restroom. After presenting the petition, however, their principal

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  • Without Chair, Council Committee Hears Bills Aimed to Help Discharged Military Veterans

    Council Member Chaim Deutsch

    Council Member Deutsch (photo: Emil Cohen/City Council)


    A bill that would require the New York City Department of Veterans Services to help veterans discharged from the military solely for their LGBTQ status to upgrade or change the narrative of their discharge status and “extend all city benefits and services” to them was introduced to the City Council’s Committee on Veterans at a hearing on Monday.

    Introduced alongside it was a bill that would require DVS to create a unit to assist veterans with discharge characterization upgrades and offer

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  • Fostering Feeder Schools Will Improve Diversity at the Specialized High Schools

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    students (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    The public education system in New York City remains one of the most segregated and unequally resourced school systems in the country, reflective of segregation and inequality in other areas of our civic life.

    That segregation is starkly obvious in our specialized high schools. In a city where two out of three public high school students are black or Latino, it is unacceptable that they comprise only 10% of the student body across all eight of our elite high schools.

    Much has been made recently of

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  • Added Scrutiny of City’s Delinquent Contracting Practices

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    Council Member Levin (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    The new city budget does not do enough to address the tremendous backlog of city contracts with nonprofit groups that have been left languishing by city agencies, the groups say. This comes after a recent report from the city comptroller that shows

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  • Brooklyn City Council Member Setting Early Foundation for Speaker Run

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    Council Member Justin Brannan (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    City Council Member Justin Brannan is everywhere.

    He’s at the governor’s mansion discussing the state’s efforts to empower women- and minority-owned businesses. He’s meeting with the president of the Building and Construction Trades Council about the city’s construction industry. He’s at the Chinese-American Planning Council’s 53rd anniversary celebration, ...