by Emma Davey Correction 06/24/24: This piece has been updated to reflect that while Simpkins lives near the Meeker Avenue Plume, the boundaries of the Superfund site do not encompass her Newel Street address.
We’re kicking off another season of our election coverage, which for us always means interviews with each of the candidates running. This year, Greenpoint locals will vote for State Assembly, State Senate, and District Leader. You can check out our interview with Assembly Member…
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The Editor’s Note comment was totally unnecessary if you’re trying to write an unbiased article.
On the other hand, the note is very helpful from the perspective on not letting a politician get away with an obvious lie.
Among my neighbors, even people who lean more conservative have been impressed with the quality of the constituent services that Emily’s office provided when they needed help.
According to this interview, Anathea lives near Newell & Messerole which is well outside the Meeker plume. Plenty of people have been actually harmed by living above the plume. Not sure if this candidate is lying about living above the plume for clout or if she just cant read a map. Seems suss. I would love some clarification if they actually think they live above the plume or they just like to repeat that as a talking point
Stop trying to dox the candidate.
Candidates’ home addresses are public record when they file to run for office and she also refers to her own cross streets in the piece. No one is being doxxed.
Love that this candidate wants to focus on schools, youth and education all of which have been neglected at this level over the past few years. Conversation, collaboration and compromise is also refreshing to hear. Our community is diverse and not only on the fringes of the political spectrum. We need a leader who listens and works with everyone, sounds like Anathea actually wants to work in that way.
She does not strike me as progressive, which I guess is a positive quality to some, but not for me.
As a small business owner in the district, I welcome a leader who is open to engaging with everyone, including businesses. We design our products and manage our business here in Brooklyn and distribute all over North America and Europe. Not once have we been approached by the current assembly member or their office.
Simpkins is being funded by AIPAC and a dark-money outfit calling itself “Solidarity PAC” that is dedicated to the same ends as AIPAC. It is disappointing that she was not challenged about this, and what appears to be corporate backing, in what is nothing more than a puff piece. The executive director of “Solidarity PAC” has gone so far as to tweet “Progressives are the MAGA of the Democratic Party.” Surely support from an organization with huge amounts of money to throw around that puts forth such odious nonsense merits a challenge. Voters are not served by letting a candidate ramble on unchallenged; they can get that from the candidate’s campaign materials. Reporters (I was one for many years) should not be stenographers.
New York Solidarity is an org that supports your Jewish neighbors in NYC. When the other candidate refuses to denounce antisemitism in our community, of course an organization that represents Jewish residents in NY would support an opponent who is inclusive and vocally against hate, in ALL forms. I would imagine same would be said by relevant orgs if there was a huge uptick in hate crimes against any other minority group in our city, and without backlash.
This is not a legitimate fact but an opinion to place shade on a candidate. Gallagher has also accepted money as she clearly is spinning an agenda, and that is my opinion based on how she is never available when I call or present myself to her office.
I didn’t see Anathea’s comment in the Emily interview……
Love that she is talking about communities beyond Greenpoint’s gentrified sector. She’s showing interest in NYCHA and youth. That’s refreshing.
Anathea, you have run a fantastic campaign talking about today’s community issues. You know you’re a threat when your opponent sends in a strike team to discredit you in the comments. Keep walking the walk till primary day.
This comment is ridiculous as you can not at all prove what you are saying because it’s not based on facts.
I have no affiliation with either campaign but I can see thru BS and will not be voting for Simpkins.
In response to Cathy Peake, I not only have no affiliation of any kind with the Gallagher campaign, I am not even a registered Democrat. Some of us, however, believe Palestinians are human beings and that who backs a candidate and what the agenda is of that backer are legitimate areas of inquiry.
Put this comment in the Emily interview but with the constituent services shade thrown here I wanted to add that I have had great constituent service from Emily’s office the one time I contacted them earlier this year.
Emailed both Emily’s team and Lincoln Restler’s team on a Saturday afternoon. Emily’s team replied Monday morning and by Thursday had secured a detailed promise to address the issue from the NY State Parks department. That is great constituent service.
I got an auto responder from Lincoln Restler and no followup. It has been about six weeks since that email. That is horrible constituent service.
I am not a shill at all, and have issues with some of what she focuses on, but Emily earned my vote with going back to the basics: Good constituent services.
Sorry, your defensive reactions prove my point. Anathea has run a great campaign. I want her to win. And those of Jewish faith or culture have a right to financially support whoever they want without it being some big dark conspiracy.
Gallagher NEVER responds! I totally regret voting for her!
Ditto. The only time she responds is when there is a photo opportunity at the other end.
Hi Peter,
I am a Greenpointer, and I care about our neighborhood. A state assembly member is meant to listen and represent her constituents. Emily went on a rant against Israel out of nowhere in an email sent to us on April 1st titled “The big money funding my opponent”. I had no idea about her position on the subject since I don’t follow her on social media.
This is the paragraph she shared about it:
“And then there’s Israel’s terrible war crimes in Gaza. For months, I’ve been calling for a ceasefire, the release of all hostages and freedom for Palestine, a principled stand for justice that has put me on the target list for a Republican-backed pro-war PAC. ”
This is it. “Israel terrible war crimes”, no condemnation or even mention of Hamas. We all know how emotional this conflict is for so many of us. We need a representative capable to empathize for all. We all want this war to end, not a representative only blaming Israel and writing “freedom for Palestine” without defining what it means. Based on this statement it is not even clear Emily believes Israel has a right to exist.
As far as I know, AIPAC didn’t finance this email. Emily decided to send it to all of us on her own.
I really wish she stayed out of this topic instead of going for a vague and divisive statement. I want a representative focused on her local community and aiming to represent us all. And it is a lot more courageous today to have a measured statement on the situation than to go for something that will only please one side.
Emily put herself in this corner on her own and now calls for a conspiracy against her instead of taking any accountability.
I wish the best to Anathea for her campaign.
In response to Josh, I, too, care about the neighborhood and I have lived here for 28 years. You statement about “listening” to constituents implies that everybody in the district, or in Greenpoint, opposes Gallagher’s position on Israel. That is very much not the case. That Hamas’ October attack is a despicable act of terrorism is not in dispute, certainly not by me, but that does not give Israel “permission” to commit larger crimes against humanity, nor does it give ex post facto permission for Israel’s ongoing crimes against humanity for the past 80 years. Israel has killed 20 times more Palestinians than Hamas did in its October attack. How large a ratio of killing is necessary for the need for revenge to be slaked?
Having said all this — I make no apologies for believing Palestinians are human beings in direct opposition to the positions of the Israeli government and AIPAC — local issues ought to be predominant in a local race such as this. Why then, we should ask, is AIPAC and its spawn so intent on mounting primary challenges to so many progressive office holders? It is Simpkins, and her corporate backers, who have injected the Israel/Palestine conflict into this race and as such there should be no surprise that there will be pushback from people who can see beyond Israeli apologia and AIPAC propaganda points and see all peoples as human beings. Human rights means just that — they apply to all human beings. Palestinians included.