Senator Gounardes Wins a Ridgie Award
Since an outside group, Streetsblog, presented Senator Gounardes with an ‘end of the year’ award, we would be remiss if we didn’t as well! After all, outsiders can’t be the only ones recognizing Gounardes’ work!
We would like to present Andrew Gounardes with the 2019 Ridgie Lemon Award for making people a little more bitter towards a government that doesn’t work for them.
NINE FOR 2019:
1) While we had high hopes for Andrew, those were quickly lost when we saw him passionately rally for a bill to give tax property breaks to everyone BUT not to NYC. Gounardes posted the video – see here The bill didn’t go through, but in the Fall, we saw a Gounardes bill quietly passed for some cities….he wouldn’t explain who received the break when asked. See here
2) At the start of Gounardes term, we read his weekly notes and believed he was trying to make the government more transparent for the people. The day after Community Board 10 voted against bike lanes, Gounardes sent a letter to Keith Bray asking him to ignore CB 10. That evening, residents found out from a special interest group outside of Bay Ridge, that the letter and decision were a done deal. Gersh gushed over paint – See here Then Gounardes shared the letter on social media. Gounardes could have done the right thing and called for covered bike lanes, so that children and teens could ride safely in a ring around Bay Ridge which connected to the existing 4th Avenue bike lane…..but he chose painted lines because a special interest group wanted an immediate ruling. The lemon is awarded to politicians who put special interests over the community and make Brooklyn less transparent.
3) It’s obvious that the people in this community that chose the streets for bike lanes are not road designers or urban planners. They don’t care if a road is unsafe…..clearly the lane by the highway has safety issues. Although residents have complained repeatedly, Gounardes has not done anything to correct the situation. Most bike lanes that were created are hardly used because even the cyclists are afraid of riding in them with the crazy driving that goes on here.
4) Andrew Gounardes sat next to Senator Benjamin as Senator Benjamin told Brooklyn the senate was not going to do anything about property because: “We are waiting for Mayor de Blasio.” It can be seen at 1:15 on video here. Sadly, at the end of the meeting when a woman tried to challenge Gounardes and stand up for home owners, Gounardes gave her “the we are out of time” bum rush, like Dan Donovan used to do people (RUDE).
5) Gounardes continued to survey people over the broken train. He knew riders in area weren’t seeing improvements, but it was a time to pretend to care and give out paper with his picture on it. Let’s check in today with a rider from the area – see here.…make sure to see his last comment.
6) For taking pictures with the Verrazzano Bridge and pretending to do something about the toll. ::SIGH:: this one always gets the Bay Ridge politicians. So far Max Rose is the only politician who stood in front of this bridge and passed a bill. Even the bridge is tired of the these silly pols standing in front of it. Here’s what Bay Ridge didn’t see: Streetsblog wailed on Gounardes for calling for reform for drivers – see here
7) For all the times Andrew Gounardes stood clapping in pictures for other senator’s bills and for sending out press releases instead of getting things done. Different year, different political party -> Same nonsense. We challenge the Senator that 2020 not to issue press releases on nonsense.
8) Why is a donor of Andrew Gounardes on the worst landlord list again? Kadia Goba wrote about this last year and Gounardes won’t speak to her – see here. If someone can accept a check, then that person can have an important conversation as well.
9) Today Andrew Gounardes asked us if we wondered who the federal government is working for (see here). We can’t get our local government to work for us because special interests and Gouanardes wants us to question our federal government? The people we elected are our neighbors and their bills should be affecting this community.
Is Gounardes’ office still labeled with Justin Brannan’s sign? A plastic sign could have been purchased for around $170 and correct that…..(oops we have nine already)
The Ridgie Lemon Award was earned by Andrew Gounardes, as he made his community realize that the government doesn’t represent them! No one in this community thinks it is right that Gounardes’ friends Brad Lander and Mayor de Blasio pay less than half the property taxes of other residents in the same borough.
Andrew Gounardes was silent this week when Councilman Borelli and Brannan brought up a bill which would hurt seniors, who are long-time home owners. (See here)
The one bill Senator Gounardes created is the speed camera bill. The government pushed that bill through SO FAST because they want more of your money. In some areas of Bay Ridge, it has made traffic and situations a lot worse. The police aren’t on the streets, so people do what they want.
With all of these lemons, the year ended without lemonade for Ridgites and a jerk talking about a drone bill for developers.
Hugs,
marlene
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