District 39

Yesterday, the City Council held a packed hearing on the “Small Business Jobs Survival Act” (SBJSA), and I attended and listened carefully.

The goal of the bill is one I deeply share: preserving the “Mom & Pops” that are a huge part of what we love about our neighborhoods. This has been a passion of mine for many years, long before I was in the City Council (in my jobs at the Fifth Avenue Committee and the Pratt Center, where we published several policy reports on the matter, on Community Board 6, and just as a resident/shopper/eater/parent). READ MORE

New playground replaces asphalt lot and comes after continued advocacy from the community  

BROOKLYN, NY — Today, New York City Council Member Brad Lander joined the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, P.S. 282 Principal Rashan Hoke, as well as parents and students to celebrate the ribbon cutting of the new green playground at P.S. READ MORE

Designation comes after 1,596 Carroll Gardens residents signed a petition urging LPC to make the designation

Lander also calls on the LPC to expand the Carroll Gardens Historic District

Brooklyn, NY — New York City Council Member Brad Lander today applauded the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designation of the Hans S. READ MORE

NYC’s life-saving School Zone Speed Camera program expired July 25 after the New York State Senate failed to re-authorize it. The City Council will explore the life-threatening impacts, call for the program to be renewed before school starts in September, and explore additional ways to combat reckless driving.

New York, NY — Today, the New York City Council will hold an emergency hearing in response to the crisis caused by the New York State Senate’s failure to reauthorize NYC’s life-saving School Zone Speed Cameras before they expired on July 25. READ MORE

New York, NY – NYC Council Member Brad Lander issued the following statement in response to the New York State Legislature’s failure to renew New York City’s school-zone speed camera program, which expired this morning:

“As my grandmother would say, the failure of the New York State Senate GOP — especially Leader Flanagan, Senator Felder, and Senator Golden — READ MORE

Council Member Lander is the sponsor of Intro 890-2018, which would guarantee a living-wage for FHV drivers. This statement is in response to the release of the new report “An Earnings Standard for New York City’s App-based Drivers: Economic Analysis and Policy Assessment” by James Parrott (Center for NYC Affairs, New School) and Michael Reich (University of California, Berkeley). READ MORE

Course was taught entirely in Bangla and housed in the Kensington Family Shelter’s computer lab

Brooklyn, NY – Yesterday, Kensington’s first-ever cohort of Bangladeshi seniors graduated from the Older Adults Technology Services (OATS) computer basics course. The course was taught entirely in Bangla by dedicated teachers Sabit Bhuiyan and Umme Mahmud, and was housed in the Kensington Family Shelter’s computer lab. READ MORE

New York, NY — New York City Council Members joined bike-share workers and their union (Transport Workers Union Local 100) to call on the NYC Department of Transportation to get NYC’s bike-share expansion done right.

In response to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s announcement of four bike-share “expansion pilots” last month, the elected officials, workers, and union officials called for the expansion to:

• Require strong labor standards to support good-paying, union jobs.

READ MORE

Lander, City Council colleagues, and safe streets advocates announce “Reckless Driver Accountability Act” to make NYC a national leader in combating dangerous driving

New York, NY — NYC Council Member Brad Lander was joined today by City Council colleagues, traffic safety advocates, and families who have lost loved ones to traffic violence to announce new legislation to hold reckless drivers accountable, reduce dangerous driving, and save lives in NYC. READ MORE

Every day, New Yorkers wait in near-agony for subway trains running far behind schedule, late for work, for school, for doctor’s appointments. Every single subway line has worsened dramatically (except one, more on that below). On-time performance has fallen far below every other major city (only Mexico City is even close).

What’s the number one cause of subway delays? READ MORE