Tidbits: City Council Candidates (Weekend News)

Pardon Me For Asking reports that City Council candidate in the 39th district John Heyer (pictured left climbing the lamp post) was on hand for the renaming of Palazzo Way, a stretch of Henry Street, between Union and Sackett Streets. The block has officially been co-named "Citizens Of Pozzallo Way" in honor of the Society Of The Citizens of Pozzallo. He even got to climb lamp post and unveil the sign.

According to PMFA: "The Society was started in 1919 by immigrants from the Sicilian town of Pozzallo, Italy who formed an organization, to 'promote fellowship and friendship amongst its members and to educate them to the American ideals in order to transition them to the American way of life and American citizenship.'"

Photo by PMFA

The politicians were out in full force at the Gay Pride Parade on Saturday night. I chatted briefly with Doug Biviano, candidate for City Council in the 33rd district, who asked me to sign his petition. "Sorry, I can't. I'm a 39er." Council Speaker Christine Quinn and City Council members David Yassky and Bill deBlasio were also in the parade.

Brad Lander and Gary Reilly were also marching in the  Brooklyn Pride Parade on Saturday night. Brad marched near his synagogue Kolot Chayeinu, which is informally Brooklyn's gay & lesbian synagogue) so he wasn't up with the other candidates and electeds.

A plan to honor gays and other non-Jewish victims of Nazi persecution in Brooklyn's Holocaust Memorial Park inspired Assemblyman Dov Hikind to say ridiculously: "the Holocausut is a uniquely Jewish event."

Mole 333, who writes a blog for Daily Gotham (and seems to be a supporter of Josh Skaller) had this to say: "And remember this is the same Dov Hikind who is helping City Council Candidate Brad Lander in the Hasid community. Dov Hikind has previously expressed support for racial profiling and segregated neighborhoods and now denies the right of anyone but Jews to consider themselves victims of Nazi Germany. I am now calling Brad Lander out on this one. Does Brad Lander condemn the racism and intolerance of his political ally Dov Hikind? How does Brad Lander feel about Dov's vilifying of Muslim-Americans and African-Americans? How does Brad Lander feel about Dov's Holocaust denial. And let me be clear on this: Dov's version of Holocaust denial is JUST as disgusting as that of Iran or neo-Nazis who deny that Jews were targeted for genocide."

Actually, Brad Lander did have something to say about Dov Hikind's Holocaust comment and it was published on Mole333's Daily Gotham blog.

I strongly support the New York City Parks Department’s inclusion of the full range of victims of Nazi atrocities – Jews, gays, Romani, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the disabled, and political prisoners (as well as Catholics, Slavs, trade unionists, and others) – in Brooklyn’s Holocaust Memorial Park.

Honoring all victims of Nazi persecution does not diminish the immensity of the six million Jews murdered by Hitler and the Nazis. It is important to commemorate all victims of the Holocaust, both to accurately record history, and to learn its lessons. To me, the lesson of the Holocaust is never again to anyone, anywhere. I have been proud to stand with Jews and many others in opposition to genocide in Darfur, and to vicious bias murders in New York City – activism which stems from a shared history of oppression, and an unyielding commitment to human rights.

I am grateful to have the support of Assemblyman Dov Hikind in my campaign for City Council (as well as Congressman Jerrold Nadler, State Senators Liz Krueger and Daniel Squadron, City Councilmember Rosie Mendez, Frederick A. O. Schwarz Jr, Ruth Messinger, and many others who are champions in the fight for human rights). While Assemblyman Hikind and I agree on the need for affordable housing, support for small businesses, public safety, strong social service organizations, and improved neighborhood quality-of-life in Boro Park (where his Assembly District and the City Council district I am seeking to represent overlap), I strongly disagree with him on this issue.