Is there a community issue you want to discuss with me? Join me in person at my next Java with Jo Anne. We will meet at Dawn's 'Til Dusk at 33 Main St in DUMBO from 4:30-6:30pm on Wednesday, November 2.
Please RSVP here.
Sincerely,
Jo Anne Simon
BQE Meetings & Funding Opportunity for Community Groups. Your voices and input are necessary in the BQE visioning process. The next meeting is Thurs. Nov. 3rd and will focus on the BQE North & South. Click here for the full list of the upcoming events in November and December. You can also see the list of the newly formed Community Visioning Council (CVC). Please also see details below from NYC DOT on their upcoming grant opportunity; applications due November 7th.
NYC Department of Transportation is excited to share that with our consultant team, we are accepting applications through November 7th for the BQE Corridor Vision Community Partner program. Up to 20 organizations will receive up to $25,000 in funding to support creative engagement around the BQE Corridor Vision including information-sharing through events and grassroots mobilization, such as canvassing and phone-banking. NYCDOT encourages applications from a diverse pool of organizations and urges all interested groups to apply. Organizations should have meaningful community ties and demonstrated experience in mobilizing their constituencies. Priority will be given to organizations serving underrepresented communities and those serving constituents whose primary language is not English.
Early Voting Starts this Saturday,10/29. Early Voting starts tomorrow, Sat. Oct. 29 and continues through Sun. Nov. 6th. Hours vary by day, and your early voting site may be different from your Election Day site, so check your poll site and the schedule here before you go.
Other important details for the Nov. 8th General Election:
- Nov. 7th: Last day to apply IN-PERSON for absentee ballot at the board of elections (BOE).
- Nov. 8th: Last day to postmark ballot. Must be received by the BOE by Nov. 15th. Military voter ballots must be received by Nov. 21st.
- Nov. 8th: Last day to deliver ballot IN-PERSON to the BOE or to any poll site.
- If you need to vote in person after requesting an absentee ballot, you must vote with an affidavit ballot at your poll site. This ballot will look different. Ask a poll worker for help if you need it.
New York Blood Center Opens at 30 Flatbush Avenue. I helped welcome the New York Blood Center for their grand opening at 30 Flatbush Avenue. They are one of the largest non-profit independent blood donation centers in the world, and I’m glad to welcome their life saving services into our community. We were joined by the Singh family, whose family has benefitted from multiple blood donations. Their son is now in remission from cancer thanks to the many people who gave blood, and he got to meet some of his donors at this event.
New York City is experiencing a blood shortage emergency, so please donate blood if you can. Make an appointment here.
Community Events:
- Join me at the many Halloween events in our district:
- Sat. Oct. 29 10:30am: Brooklyn Heights Halloween Parade on the Promenade beginning at the Clark St entrance and ending on Remsen.
- Sun. Oct. 31 at 11am: Scarroll Park Halloween party at Carroll Park
- Mon. Oct. 31 at 4pm: Cobble Hill Association Halloween Parade at Cobble Hill Park
- 76th Precinct Community Council Meeting, Wed. Nov. 2nd at 7:30pm. You may join via zoom. 718-834-3211
Mammogram Bus Event, Nov. 18, 2022. I’m glad to provide this service to the community in partnership with the American-Italian Cancer Foundation. We are scheduling appointments for Fri., Nov. 18th, between 9am and 4:30pm in front of my district office at 341 Smith Street -- easily reached from the Carroll Street F/G Station stop.
Screenings are open to those who are medically eligible for a screening mammogram, aged 40-79, currently living in NYC, who have not had a mammogram in the past year. The mammograms are provided at no cost, so you do not need insurance, and no co-pay is required even if you have insurance. If you'd like to schedule an appointment, please call or email our office: 718-246-4889; [email protected].
Apply for Student Loan Relief! The application is now open for President Biden’s Student Loan Debt Relief program. Apply here. This program provides full or partial discharge of loans up to $20,000 to Federal Pell Grant recipients and up to $10,000 to non-Pell Grant recipients. The program is for individuals who made less than $125,000 in 2021 or 2020, or families that made less than $250,000 in 2021 or 2020. Apply today, and no later than Dec. 31, 2023.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program: Apply by 10/31/22. The PSLF program forgives the remaining balance on your Federal student loans, but you must complete a brief application by Oct. 31, 2022. The PSLF is available to a variety of government or nonprofit sector workers. The application process takes about 30 minutes. Start with the federal government's quick Help Tool StudentAid.gov/PSLF to see if you are eligible.
MTA’s Reduced-Fare Metrocards Now Available on OMNY. Seniors and people with disabilities who qualify for Reduced-Fare Metrocards now have more options for how to pay bus or subway fares. Reduced-Fare customers can use any personal payment device compatible with OMNY like a smartphone, wearable device, or contactless debit or credit card. This change makes the MTA’s ongoing “Lucky 13” fare capping program, where customers ride free after 12 paid OMNY taps in a week from Monday to Sunday, available to Reduced Fares riders. Customers can make this switch online in three easy steps. Watch a how-to video here or visit here.
Congratulations to our Youngest Readers. One of this past summer’s Reading Challenge Participants stopped by the office to pick up their 40 Days of Reading completion certificate! Great job to all the kids who read books through the summer.
4 Proposals on the November 8 Ballot. This year, our New York City ballot will have 4 proposals to vote on. To view a sample ballot and read the proposals in full, you can visit
here. To view a version of the proposals in plain language, check out
this guide.
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Proposal 1 Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act of 2022: To address and combat the impact of climate change and damage to the environment, the "Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act of 2022" authorizes the sale of state bonds up to four billion two hundred million dollars to fund environmental protection, natural restoration, resiliency, and clean energy projects.
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Proposal 2 Add a Statement of Values to Guide Government: This proposal would amend the New York City Charter to:
Add a preamble, which would be an introductory statement of values and vision aspiring toward “a just and equitable city for all” New Yorkers; and
Include in the preamble a statement that the City must strive to remedy “past and continuing harms and to reconstruct, revise, and reimagine our foundations, structures, institutions, and laws to promote justice and equity for all New Yorkers.”
The preamble is intended to guide City government in fulfilling its duties.
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Proposal 3 Establish a Racial Equity Office, Plan, and Commission: This proposal would amend the City Charter to:
Require citywide and agency-specific Racial Equity Plans every two years. The plans would include intended strategies and goals to improve racial equity and to reduce or eliminate racial disparities;
Establish an Office of Racial Equity and appoint a Chief Equity Officer to advance racial equity and coordinate the City’s racial equity planning process. The Office would support City agencies in improving access to City services and programs for those people and communities who have been negatively affected by previous policies or actions, and collect and report data related to equity; and
Establish a Commission on Racial Equity, appointed by City elected officials. In making appointments to this Commission, elected officials would be required to consider appointees who are representative of or have experience advocating for a diverse range of communities. The Commission would identify and propose priorities to inform the racial equity planning process and review agency and citywide Racial Equity Plans.
Proposal 4 Measure the True Cost of Living: This proposal would amend the City Charter to:
Require the City to create a “true cost of living” measure to track the actual cost in New York City of meeting essential needs, including housing, food, childcare, transportation, and other necessary costs, and without considering public, private, or informal assistance, in order to inform programmatic and policy decisions; and
Require the City government to report annually on the “true cost of living” measure.
