Caribbean

The race to fill the 40th City Council seat in Brooklyn is starting to look a little bit like the Congressional race that just concluded in that area, in which much of the dialogue centered on whether "a white individual" could or should represent a majority-minority district.

In the Council race, there are eight African-American and Caribbean-American candidates, and one white Jewish candidate.

Here's an audio clip of the exchange at a candidate forum last night between moderator Tony Best, the editor of CaribNews, and candidate Harry Schiffman.

Tony Best:

"In recent elections, in the 11th congressional district, in the state Senate district now held by Senator Kevin Parker, and now in the 40th, in these districts which were carved out specifically to ensure black representation, we have seen Jewish candidates running. Could you, as a member of the Jewish faith, could you explain what is happening here, particularly in your case. Why are you running?"

Gary Schiffman:

"I've got a master's degree in social work; I'm a community organizer and planner. And in 30 years of working in neighborhoods throughout New York City, from Coney Island to Williamsburg, from Far Rockaway to Jackson Heights, I've worked with immigrant groups from every background, every nationality, whether they're African American, Caribbean-American or Asian. Those are the skills that I've done over the last 30 years. And I've brought people together to solve their issues."

I tried following up on that theme in a follow-up with a different candidate, Zenobia McNally.

Azi:

"Sort of to follow up on Mr. Best's question to Harry Schiffman, do you believe only a black resident of the 40th district can represent the entire district? And do you believe a particular candidate has to be of a particular ethnicity to the district?"

Here's part of her answer:

"No, I don't believe that it's only a person, black person or Caribbean person to represent the district. However, too many times and often times in the United States we've been under-represented within. So when a seat is carved out to help bring representation within City Hall, there should be people who fill that seat. And it's because of that reason, and I will say that I am a candidate who is not running against any ethnic or any religious lines at all.

My candidacy and my campaign is open to everyone and I welcome everyone into the race. And that's why my party is called Neighbors Unite, okay? But I will say also, because of under-representation, and this is seen by the endorsements that I've gotten from groups who find they themselves too, are under-represented, I do think that it should reside with someone who is going to look at the best interest of everyone in the community.

And if the Caribbean base is stronger, if the African-American base is stronger, it should more or else represent the people who are there. So, I thank you for your question and so therefore I will say to you that even though it's -- it would be undemocratic to say that not everyone should run. But in this case, since we do have under-representation, it should be someone who can represent the majority of the people in the district.

Thank you."

Brian Lehrer is scheduled to have all the candidates on his radio show on Monday. I'm sort of resigned to the fact that this may come up again.

-- Azi Paybarah

DEMETRIA: Josh and I have looked at every resort in the Caribbean and in Morocco at least 3 times each. In the age of 50 billion on-line travel sites, I don't think we really need a travel agent. We're having the wedding in the Dominican Republic, so really we could just stay in the DR for the honeymoon too, but I want to go somewhere else gosh darn it! It'll probably be in the Caribbean. I'm in love with a couple places I saw in Morocco though, but if we do an African honeymoon, I'd want to take a lot more time off to really hang out and absorb the culture.  read more »

Yesterday our inbox was graced with an invitation to a '50s-themed party (this Saturday night!) for New Jersey's future Wildwood hotel / resort / condo.

But why is this invitation different from all other invitations? A kindly PR rep offered us ways to cover this fascinating Condotel.

Possible Stories: 9/11 Survivor Bets on Wildwood as a Four Seasons Destination; No Passport Needed to Visit New Caribbean-Style Condotel in Wildwood; Princeton Entrepreneur Forms Alliance with Meyer Jabara Hotels; Changing Real Estate Market Can Support High End Units, Says Wildwood Developer; Making of a Real Estate Launch, produced by John Bruce, Star "While You Were Out"

The last four are funny in their own funny-sad ways (i.e. While You Were Out), but that first "story" is simply extraordinary. Weirdly, the email says nothing else about any WTC survivors. That's probably a good thing.  read more »

The whole shebang, after the jump.

Update: A press release sent out later in the week says: "Princeton entrepreneur and 9/11 survivor Christian Nickerson today announced the development of the $225 million Wildwood Beach Hotel and Resort." - Max Abelson

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For anyone upset that there was no IMterview on Friday, here is a longer-than-usual excerpt from Hillary's speech yesterday at the Jewish Community Relations Council's annual legislative breakfast at the 92nd Street Y.

Hillary connects the port security issue with the national economy. Then, while not exactly promising to an IMterview in the future, she does sound eager to chat about all this real soon.

"Let me say a word about port security because I think it is emblematic of a larger problem...I don't think any member of congress will tell you we've done all we know we need to do. We've made some hard trade offs. I would argue some of the reasons we've had to make those trade offs is because we've gone from a balanced budget and a surplus to a deficit and an increasing debt. So that every day today we borrow two billion dollars and we borrow it from foreign lenders to pay the interest on our debt. So when we go hat in hand, to Beijing, and Seoul, Tokyo,and Riyadh, and the Caribbean banking centers and other gulf states to borrow money to feed our inability to control our fiscal future, we cede some of our fiscal sovereignty. And we force ourselves into what I consider false choices. The choice is do we do everything we know we need to do on port security, or not."

She went on to say:

"There are those who say we can't do it [prevent foreign governments from operating U.S. ports] because look what happened in the last 20 year. Foreign governments already control our ports, the Signaporean government. You know, we have the Chinese running the Panama Canal. We have other government-controlled entities controlling our ports. Well, just because it's been happening doesn't mean we should let it continue. And this is an area where I believe we should have a good, vigorous public debate."

--Azi Paybarah

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