Inside City Government: What's

Happening Now

Join Us for a Tribute to

Cynthia L. Doty

Sunday, Oct. 1 at 4:00 PM

St. Michael's Episcopal Church

Amsterdam Ave. and W. 99th Street

Reception to follow

President's Report

By Lorraine Zamora

This summer began in a very sorrowful way. On July 17, Cynthia Doty, our beloved district leader, board member and friend, died suddenly. Her passing cast a long shadow on our summer days. A celebration-of-life will be held in her honor at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church on October 1 at 4:00 pm. Three Parks is doing its best to make the event a memorial to remember, including remarks from federal, congressional, state and local dignitaries, community organizations and club representatives.

Between now and then, we have a club meeting at the American Youth Hostel on Sept. 13 in person. We’ll be welcoming our good friends NYC Comptroller Brad Lander and NYS Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, and are eager to hear what’s going on in City government and in Albany. We also will hear from District Leader Dan Cohen regarding the activities that the club will be doing to get voters to the polls in November, i.e., distributing campaign literature on our endorsed candidates, providing registration forms, sample ballots, absentee ballots, and updated information regarding when and where to vote.

For those of us who had a chance to get away, it’s time to get back to an active life in the city. I hope you feel as I do—that as good as it always is to leave the city, I always enjoy coming back.

It's going to be another busy fall for Three Parks, and I look forward to working with all of you again this fall.

District Leader Report

By Daniel Marks Cohen

Like all of you, I am stunned by the unexpected loss of our District Leader Cynthia Doty. I was to be her co-leader as I was elected this past June and was looking forward to serving with her and continuing to learn from her experience. Sadly, that is not to be. I had the good fortune of knowing Cynthia and politically collaborating with her for more than 30 years. Fellow West Siders, we encountered each other at a variety of civic and political meetings every week, but our primary interaction was through Three Parks. While we are all still reeling from the loss, the club must also move forward to appoint someone to succeed her in the vacant role.

Based on the Rules and Regulations of the NY County Democratic Committee adopted on September 29, 2022 (link here) as District Leader I will be calling a Divisional Assembly District Committee meeting for the 69^th AD Part A, on Wednesday, October 11, overlapping the monthly club meeting that evening. A formal notice will be mailed shortly to all members of the County Committee in our Part of the Assembly District. Based on the rules, the Committee will elect a temporary Chairperson, Secretary, and then take nominations to appoint a new District Leader. Quorum is 20% of the County Committee for Part A. There are roughly 90 people in our Part, so about 20 would be quorum. We will also fill vacancies in the County Committee at the meeting as well. I intend to nominate Theresa Canter for District Leader, who has received unanimous support from the executive board of the Club. ...

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Club Members Enjoy a Summer Evening in the Park at the Annual Potluck Picnic

By Theresa Canter

On the warm summer evening of July 19, after a three-year pandemic hiatus, Three Parks members and friends once again gathered on the Pool Lawn in Central Park for the Club's 17th Annual Potluck Picnic. It was the perfect opportunity to socialize with friends and neighbors in the beautiful park setting, and to share the bounty of tables piled high with friend chicken, tasty salads, fruits, and desserts.

We were joined at the picnic by our electeds, NY State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, City Council Member Shaun Abreu, and Broadway Dems District Leader Curtis Arluck. Also in attendance were candidates for NYS Supreme Court Suzanne Adams, Shahabuddeen Ally, Jim Clynes, Lyle Frank, Paul Goetz, Judy Kim, Phaedra Perry, Leslie Stroth and Civil Court candidate, Allison Greenfield.

As always, it takes a whole lot of Three Parkers to plan and pull off a successful picnic! Many thanks to all the members and guests who brought lots of good food and drink to share; and those who volunteered to transport, set-up, serve and clean-up after the event—including Dan Cohen, Daniele Gerard, David Lazarus, Alex Medvedev, Josh Pepper, Alfred Placeres, Lois Safian, Irene Shrier, Michael Stearns, Deborah Thomas, Lynn Thomas, Daniel Tsadok, Chuck Wall, Landon Wickham and all the others who pitched in to help as needed.

The Democrats’ Plans to Take Back Long Island: An Update

By Wendy Diller

Despite this year’s lack of high-profile races, New York Democratic grassroots groups and local politicians are eyeing 2023 as an opportunity get ahead of the all-important 2024 election cycle – but so far, much of the action has been under the radar. Nevertheless, in recent interviews, a handful of activist and political leaders on Long Island described the status of such efforts, which should be of interest to anxious Manhattanites who are eager to help. 

Here are some takeaways:

In April, state Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs announced formation of the first large-scale statewide Democratic ‘coordinated campaign’ in New York State. Its goal is to build out a year-round organizing infrastructure that will ‘maximize utilization of shared resources’ and focus on competitive races up and down the ballot, with an eye on winning House races in 2024.

Lizzy Weiss, former campaign director for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and an advisor to Pat Ryan’s successful congressional race in the Hudson Valley in 2022, is the new director of this statewide effort, which has an early timeline and commitment to collaborate that is a departure from past campaigns, and which is hiring organizers in competitive areas across the state, initially prioritizing field managers to reach out to college students and communities of color....  

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Good News About the New York Health Act (NYHA)

By Erlend Kimmich

NWBCCC Health Justice committee member

NYPAN People 2 People coordinator single payer committee

DSA Health Working Group Field Lead

NY State Senator Gustavo Rivera, chair of the Senate Health Committee, and Amy Paulin, his counterpart in the NY State Assembly, have reintroduced the New York Health Act (NYHA) in the state legislature. Included in this latest version is language to ensure that public sector union members will not pay a nickel more than they are paying now. Another change is semantic, removing the term "medicare advantage," which was never a reference to privatized insurance but had raised red flags with retirees for reasons we all know.

The Campaign for New York Health, the statewide coalition dedicated to passing and implementing legislation for guaranteed, universal, single-payer healthcare in New York State, has a new Executive Director, Melanie D'Arrigo, and she has hit the ground running. She will be coordinating with coalition members, strategizing, maintaining the website, following up with new sign-ups, organizing statewide volunteer efforts, developing a lobbying calendar, and the list goes on. Luckily, she has experience, a background in public health, and lots of energy.

What are the prospects for passing this life-saving legislation?

The bill passed the Assembly five times, but since Democrats gained a majority in the Senate and during the pandemic it has not been brought to a vote. ...

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Volunteers for single-payer will be canvassing rank-and-file union members as they gather before stepping off in this year’s Labor Day parade on Sept. 9. For more information or to RSVP, click here.

Two Big Republican Lies -- What You Need to Know

By Steve Max 09/01/23

Did you watch the Republican debate? While it was hard to take, it was useful in at least one respect: we got to hear some of the main talking points that we will confront in the coming congressional elections as well as the presidential. Three Parks expects to be canvassing in suburban congressional districts near the city where many swing voters live, and, while long conversations are rare, it will be useful for us to know a few of the lies voters have been subjected to, and how to counter them.

Lie # 1. Biden’s Budget (Federal Spending) Is the Cause of Inflation. It is hard to understand why people so readily accept this misconception; perhaps it is because they have heard it so often. The Republican idea is that if the government buys 1,000 ballpoint pens for its employees’ use, that causes inflation, but if TD Bank buys the same pens for its customers’ use, that is good business and strengthens the economy. Of course, it is true that if the government buys the last pens on the market, then you will be able to sell your old one on the street for five dollars, and that does cause inflation. But the same would be true of TD Bank’s pen purchase.

If federal spending really caused inflation, one would expect to see a correlation between changes in the federal budget and changes in the inflation rate. But ...

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