Gotham Gazette

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Alicka Ampry-Samuel

Alicka Ampry-Samuel

  • Push Begins to Educate New Yorkers About Ranked-Choice Voting Ahead of 2021 Implementation

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    Eric Adams, Susan Lerner, and Alicka Ampry-Samuel, right (photo: @AlickaASamuel41)


    A push is now underway to ensure voters are educated about the new ranked choice voting system New York City will be adopting for some elections starting in 2021, and it is being driven by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, a top contender in the mayoral race where the new format will first be tested.

    At a press conference Wednesday in front of New York City Board of Elections headquarters in Lower Manhattan, Adams, along with Brooklyn City Council Member Alicka

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  • New Veterans Services Commissioner Lays Out Agenda at Council Oversight Hearing

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    DVS Commissioner Hendon (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    At a City Council oversight hearing on Tuesday, the new commissioner of the city’s Department of Veterans’ Services (DVS), James Hendon, outlined two main priorities for the next chapter of his department’s work and its efforts to help the city’s hundreds of thousands of military veterans.

    Testifying before the Council’s Committee on Veterans, Hendon, who was appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio in October 2019, said he is focused on internal restructuring of DVS and outreach to the

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  • Max & Murphy Podcast: A 'Mass Shooting' in Brownsville & the Community Response, with Council Member Alicka Ampry-Samuel

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    (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    July 31, 2019 - Max & Murphy Podcast: A Mass Shooting in Brownsville & the Community Response

    cm alicka wbaiCity Council Member Alicka Ampry-Samuel joined the show to discuss the "mass shooting" that occured in her district on Saturday night at the end of a traditional, celebratory community block party, how the community is responding, and what

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  • City Council Public Housing Chair Weighs in on HUD Deal, NYCHA’s Future

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    Alicka Ampry-Samuel (photo: Jeff Reed/City Council)


    As Mayor Bill de Blasio recently announced his “NYCHA 2.0” plan to secure the future of the city’s public housing authority, an agreement with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development that includes a new federal monitor of NYCHA, and a new interim chair to lead the authority, the City Council member charged with oversight of NYCHA has some questions.

    Alicka Ampry-Samuel is the chair of the City Council’s public housing committee and represents parts of central

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  • Max & Murphy Podcast: The Future of NYCHA with City Council Member Alicka Ampry-Samuel

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    Ben Max, left, of Gotham Gazette, and Jarrett Murphy, right, of City Limits


    February 7, 2019 - Max & Murphy Podcast: City Council Member Alicka Ampry-Samuel

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    City Council Member Alicka Ampry-Samuel chairs the Council's public housing committee and represents a Brooklyn district with a large NYCHA presence. She joined the show to discuss NYCHA's future,

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  • At Brooklyn Town Hall, Angry NYCHA Residents Told to Vote as a Bloc

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    (photo via NYCHA)


    The myriad issues plaguing the New York City Housing Authority came to the fore at a town hall on Wednesday night, with NYCHA residents excoriating public officials and officials scrambling to respond.

    The town hall, hosted by BRIC TV at its downtown Brooklyn studio, featured an audience mainly consisting of NYCHA residents and a panel of City Council Members Alicka Ampry-Samuel and Ritchie Torres, NYCHA tenant leader Lisa Kenner, New York Daily News reporter Greg Smith, and NYCHA historian Nicholas Dagen Bloom, along with

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  • In Wide Open Lieutenant Governor Primary, Hochul Targets Votes in Williams’ Backyard

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    Lt. Gov. Hochul, center, in Brooklyn (photo: @KathyHochul)


    Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, in campaign mode, has appeared in the Bronx and Brooklyn several times over the past few weeks. The Democratic lieutenant governor, facing a challenge from Brooklyn City Council Member Jumaane Williams as she seeks a second term, has been spending more time in New York City as primary day gets closer.

    Hochul’s focus on the city, and its communities of color in particular, are indicative of the importance of voters from the five boroughs,

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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, ...

  • City Council Members Outline Priorities for New Term

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    City Council members (photo: William Alatriste/City Council)


    The New York City Council is gearing up for a new agenda under Speaker Corey Johnson, with several newly created committees and fresh faces in the legislative body. As the Council begins to schedule its first committee hearings and readies for the reintroduction of legislation from the last session, there are a number of priorities that Council members are planning to pursue. Returning members say they want to pass bills that have been pending and build on their work from the last four

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  • 'Tears of Joy,' Hope for a District in Alicka Samuel's Win

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    Alicka Ampry-Samuel (via Facebook)


    It was late Tuesday afternoon, primary day, in Brooklyn, and amidst the rattle of the subway and wafting aroma of a not-far-off Popeyes fried chicken restaurant, Alicka Ampry-Samuel danced on the sidewalk with Corey Johnson, a current City Council member from Manhattan, to “Ain’t No Stoppin Us Now.” Although the outcome of Samuel’s race -- she was a leading candidate in the crowded Democratic

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