Elections
UPDATE: NYC Mayor de Blasio says he’ll reopen elementary schools Monday, reversing an earlier decision
UPDATE: New York City Mayor de Blasio announced he will be reopening the city’s elementary schools in a complete reversal from an earlier decision to close all schools in the country’s largest school district.
Leave it up to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to make a situation go from bad to worse, particularly for parents in the city. Earlier this week, he told millions of parents that he will “keep re-opening schools” even though he shut down the largest district days before to mitigate a resurgence of COVID-19.
A reporter called out asking, “this morning you said that when we get into December, we’re going to start re-opening schools. Can you clarify what that means?”
“I spoke to this yesterday, we’re going to be in an orange zone until December, the orange zone rules for opening schools are very clear, they’re very stringent but we can meet that standard but it’s going to take a lot of work and like I said parents got to be really involved but we can do it,” de Blasio said.
“We’re going to start with the special education district 75 schools, work our way up pre-K, three K and elementary,” he added about reopening schools. “It’s going to take a lot of work that we never had to do on this level before so we’re shifting a lot of testing resources over but we will keep reopening schools and we want to fight back this second wave, and as we fight it back successfully we’ll be able to speed up that process.”
All that talk left out the most important fact that days earlier he had closed down five boroughs, sending millions of children to attend schools at home and putting New York City parents in another predicament: how do you balance work and teach kids at home.
de Blasio took a moment to remember former NYC Mayor David Dinkins, who recently passed, saying he always spoke of “the power of love” for children, especially those of color.
You can follow Sara A. Carter on Parler @SaraCarterOfficial or on Twitter @SaraCarterDC
Elections
New York City Dems Push Law to Allow 800,000 Non-Citizens to Vote in Municipal Elections
The New York City Council will vote on December 9 on a law to allow green-card holders and residents with work permits to vote in municipal elections
New York’s Democratic party is battling over the constitutionality of voter laws. On December 9, the New York City Council will vote on a law to allow green-card holders and residents with work permits to vote in municipal elections.
“Around 808,000 New York City residents who have work permits or are lawful permanent residents would be eligible to vote under the legislation, which has the support of 34 of 51 council members, a veto-proof majority” reports Fox News.
“It’s important for the Democratic Party to look at New York City and see that when voting rights are being attacked, we are expanding voter participation,” Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, a sponsor of the bill and Democrat who represents the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, told the New York Times. Rodriguez immigrated from the Dominican Republic and became a U.S. citizen in 2000.
Laura Wood, Chief Democracy Officer for the mayor’s office, said at a hearing on the bill in September that the law could violate the New York State Constitution, which states that voters must be U.S. citizens age 18 or older.
Mayor Bill de Blasio indicated he could veto the bill following the September hearing.
“We’ve done everything that we could possibly get our hands on to help immigrant New Yorkers—including undocumented folks—but…I don’t believe it is legal,” de Blasio told WNYC radio at the time.
Mayor-elect Eric Adams, however, submitted testimony to the September hearing in favor of the bill. “In a democracy, nothing is more fundamental than the right to vote and to say who represents you and your community in elected office…Currently, almost one million New Yorkers are denied this foundational right.”
The legislation was first introduced two years ago, but had not yet gained traction due to the legal concerns.
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