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Learn more about this district in Searchlight 2002
General
Election Results
x-Angel Rodriguez, Dem 10,862 - 70 percent
Leonard Silver, Rep 2,570 - 17 percent
George Martinez, Ind 1,773 - 11 percent
Harris W. Davis, Lib 234 - 2 percent
Primary
Election Results
Incumbent: Angel Rodriguez
The Candidates:
- Harris W. Davis (Lib)
- George Martinez (Ind)
- Angel Rodriguez (Dem)
- Leonard Silver (Rep/Con)
Contributors to these candidates, according to the Campaign
Finance Board:
Joann Cox has not filed.
Harris W. Davis has not filed
Contributors
to George Martinez
Contributors
to Angel Rodriguez
Leonard Silver has not filed.
City's
Official Primary Election Voter Guide for Residents of District
38
Campaign
Tangle:
George Martinez was knocked off the Democratic ballot. "The
organization brought out a laundry list of challenges, before
they even knew what we had," said Martinez. Martinez is working
with his lawyers on an appeal. Martinez will still appear on the
general election in November as an Independence party candidate.
For more details, see the Campaign Update. Posted
8/22/01
Campaign
Feature:
[Campaign
Update]
Green Dreams for Red Hook
When Councilman Angel Rodriguez looks at the Brooklyn waterfront,
he sees Parks, not abandoned factories.
"I want to build a beach in Red Hook, waterfront gardens on the
Gowanus Canal, and have boat access there as well," says Rodriguez.
He is even looking into the possibility of putting the elevated
section of the Bronx-Queens Expressway underground.
These are long-term goals, but they could get a boost if Rodriguez,
who is running for his second term in office, is also elected
as the next Speaker of City Council, as he hopes.
Will he get 25 other Council members to vote for him? "I'm in
pretty good shape," he replies.
George Martinez, a 27-year-old doctoral student at the City University
of New York, sees it differently. He says Rodriguez has failed
to educate the area's residents, particularly its low-income residents,
about the possible consequences of development. "Rather than focusing
on 26 votes in the City Council, I am focusing on the 150,000
residents in our community," says Martinez.
While the incumbent Councilmember and challenger disagree on
who can do a better job, it is clear that the future of district
38, which includes Sunset Park, Red Hook, and South Park Slope,
is largely tied to the waterfront.
The area was once a bustling seaport and manufacturing center,
then went through a period of neglect and decay, and is now making
a comeback by improving recreational areas and welcoming new housing
and businesses.
Angel Rodriguez cites his record of working toward a community
development plan that he says benefits the whole area. In the
last two years, Rodriguez secured $150,000 to study the feasibility
of dismantling the Gowanus Expressway and constructing an underground
tunnel to replace it. Not only would it cut down on noise and
pollution, Rodriguez says, it would make room for new housing
for both middle and low-income families.
Rodriguez also worked to develop 22 acres of waterfront land
in Sunset Park into a shoreline park. And in the next five years,
he hopes to get $15 million in city funds for more park development
in district 38. All these projects, Rodriguez notes, must be pursued
in an "environmentally and socially responsible way."
But George Martinez says the discussion of redevelopment plans
so far have been closed to all but a few local residents.
"I am worried that the poor people of color in Red Hook will
be seen as part of the problem to be solved when redevelopment
plans are evaluated," says Martinez. "The people will either be
crushed or we can help them realize they are the backbone of the
economic development."
Martinez adds that some businesses and residents are already
being pushed out by rising rents, and that a portion of Red Hook
has recently been given a more upscale nickname. "Is Red Hook
Red Hook or is it Liberty Heights?" he asks.
While the fears about large scale gentrification may be somewhat
premature, (a recent sign in Red Hook that read "Coming Soon:
Starbucks" was a practical joke) both Rodriguez and Martinez agree
that for new development to help current residents, it must bring
both industrial and technical jobs and be accompanied by diverse
housing construction.
Another major issue is the New York State Power Authority plans
to put new power plants in the district.
"Where is Angel's leadership on the power plant that is being
built two blocks from where our children live and play?" asks
Martinez.
Rodriguez says he opposed the plan and that the Power Authority
circumvented the proper review process by claiming that it would
only generate 79.9 megawatts of energy, just under the 80 megawatt
level that would have required a more comprehensive review process.
"I vigorously opposed this, but they got around the law," says
Rodriguez.
Recently, the State Power Authority also proposed a much larger
power plant in the district, which Martinez is against, in part
because of the potential environmental hazards it poses to residents.
"I had asthma as a kid myself," says Martinez. "Any further power
plant construction must be part of a comprehensive environmental
justice plan." Rodriguez says the city has seven or eight years
to consider its options, but that for now the argument that the
city faces massive blackouts without the plant is "complete nonsense."
So far the campaign for district 38 has been a series of polite
but pointed exchanges.
Rodriguez calls Martinez a "a smart young man" that he knew little
about until this spring. "He has been invisible in the district,
[and] has no history of doing anything there," says Rodriguez.
Martinez says he has been active through the Police Athletic League,
the New York Public Research Group and Welfare Rights Initiative.
Martinez says Rodriguez is a "a smart and decent man," but that
"he has not done the job."
Despite the daunting task of running against an incumbent, Martinez
says he is not running just to boost his name recognition in hopes
of running again later. "Some of these issues are pressing enough
that two years down the line might be too late to interject into
the conversation."
posted 6/25/01
Campaign
Update:
George Martinez was knocked off the ballot for the Democratic primary. "The
organization brought out a laundry list of challenges, before they even knew
what we had," says Martinez. "This is really a dig toward grassroots
campaigns."
Martinez says he turned in 1,300 valid signatures to the Board of Elections
(only 900 are required) but his list was cut down as Angel Rodriguez's
lawyers challenged the addresses of people who signed. "We did not know it
but some people had moved or were confused about what district they lived
in," says Martinez.
Martinez is working with his lawyers on an appeal and will still appear on
the general election in November as an Independence party candidate. "I feel
I've been doing really good work as an independent Democrat, so I'm still
excited and we're not going to stop," says Martinez.
Four other candidates are also running: Republicans Christopher Conroy and
Joann Cox, Liberal candidate Harris Davis, and Conservative candidate
Leonard Silver. None of the candidates could be reached.
Posted 8/22/01
Candidate Biographies
Christopher W. Conroy (no information available.)
Joann Cox (no information available.)
Harris W. Davis (no information available.)
George Martinez is an adjunct professor of political science
at Hunter College. Also a hip-hop artist, Martinez co-founded
the Blackout Arts Collective, a non-profit arts education organization.
Angel Rodriguez has served in the City Council since 1997
and is a member of the finance committee and the budget negotiating
committee for the Black and Latino caucus. Before taking office,
he worked as an accountant.
Leonard Silver (no information available.)
Campaign Trail
08/11/01
Dozens of City Council candidates are still clinging to the corners
of the ballot in race after race. George Martinez, the Democratic
challenger to incumbent Angel Rodriguez in the 38th District in
Brooklyn, says he will
appeal this week's decision by the Board of Elections that knocked
him off the ballot. (New York Times)
08/01/01
George Martinez, a Council candidate at City Hall yesterday to
support racial-profiling legislation proposed by Fernando Ferrer,
said that he was flattered because he was being challenged by
the incumbent in his Brooklyn district. "I've been out knocking
on doors since February in the projects before anybody was even
thinking about challenges," he said. "So this just means that
our message is being heard." (New York Times)
06/10/01
Though gentrification is creeping in, Red Hook maintains a suburban
remoteness and industrial character. Unlike DUMBO and Williamsburg,
this Brooklyn waterfront town has not been overrun by chic youthful
urbanites yet. (The New York Times)
5/24/01
Night after night in New York City, fundraising events take
place, in people's apartments or slightly garish catering halls.
And whether the affairs are standard or eclectic, they are all
driven by the same desire: campaign cash. And they are taking
place with a frequency that politicians and donors alike say is
unprecedented in modern city politics.
George Martinez, a candidate for a Council seat in the Sunset
Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, has also sought to attract first-time
voters to his candidacy. But Mr. Martinez, 27, a doctoral fellow
at the City University of New York and adjunct professor at Hunter
College, has sought to make his appeal to twenty-something voters
through music and poetry.
Mr. Martinez brought together more than 100 people for a minimum
contribution of $10 apiece to the Brecht Forum in Manhattan recently
for an evening of hip-hop and Latin dance music interspersed with
the performances of "spoken word" artists. The event, which was
sponsored by Malik Yoba, the actor, raised about $3,500 for Mr.
Martinez's insurgent campaign against the incumbent councilman,
Angel Rodriguez, in the Democratic primary.
"I want politics to be accessible," Mr. Martinez said. "And having
D.J.'s playing hip-hop and spoken word artists is speaking the
language of the younger generation. That represents the way in
which younger people express themselves socially and politically.
It's not a traditional fund-raiser, but it is effective." (New
York Times)
4/29/01
Councilman Angel Rodriguez, who wants to be the next speaker of
the Council, figures the ambitions of his expected challengers
for the Council's top spot work in his favor. Backing him, Rodriguez
argues, will let newcomers scope out their colleagues and seek
the top spot after 2003. (Daily
News)
04/26/01
While hundreds of candidates around the city are vying for open
Council seats, there is at least one who's decided to run for
a seat that's held by an incumbent. George Martinez, who teaches
political science at Hunter College, is aiming to take the job
of Councilmember Angel Rodriguez. "I believe there's no free rides
for incumbents," said Martinez. Martinez, a resident of Sunset
Park, also works with youth through his not-for-profit arts and
education organization. He said that concerns about potential
power plant construction and improving education were top on his
agenda. When asked, he said that he was not affiliated with Assemblymember
Felix Ortiz, with whom Rodriguez has a chilly relationship. He
also said that he wasn't running just to boost his name recognition
for another bid two years from now. "Some of these [local] issues
are pressing enough that two years down the line might be too
late to interject into the conversation," said Martinez. (Courier
Life Newspapers)
3/26/01
George Martinez, who teaches political science at Hunter College,
is challenging Councilmember Angel Rodriguez, one of the councilmembers
not being forced out by term limits. Martinez, a resident of Sunset
Park, also works with youth through his not-for-profit arts and
education organization. He said that concerns about potential
power plant construction and improving education were top on his
agenda. (Brooklyn
Courier Life Newspaper, reprinted by Lambda Independent Democrats)
3/5/01
Councilmembers Kathryn Freed, Philip Reed and Angel Rodriguez
let a reporter tag along with them on their rounds. All work very
long hours and all say that no one appreciates what they do. The
powers of the Council, they agree, are in its ability to negotiate
around the edges of the $37 billion city budget, and in its role
in occasionally passing crucial legislation. (The New York Times)
2/18/01
At least three current Council members are vying to be the new
Speaker: Bill Perkins, Gifford Miller, and Angel Rodriguez. A
fourth, Adolfo Carrion, says he'll be in the running for Speaker
if he does not run for Bronx Borough President. (NY
Post)
01/16/01
With a four-way tussle in the Democratic primary for mayor and
with wide openings amongst the city's most powerful positions,
we'e headed for a revolutionary election year. One of the new
Councilmembers is more likely to become the next speaker than
one of the incumbents--though several carryover incumbents, including
Angel Rodriguez, are already vying for the post. (Village
Voice)
11/16/00
Councilmember Rodriguez criticized the Fire Department's efforts
to increase the number of minorities in its ranks as inadequate.
(The New York Times)
3/23/00
Fairway may open a new supermarket in a city-owned warehouse on
the Red Hook waterfront, a move that could jump-start nascent
development efforts. Councilman Angel Rodriguez sees the prospect
of a big-box store on the waterfront as a waste of prime land
and said he would oppose the plan if it went before Council. (The
New York Times)