District 11 City Council candidate, Mino Lora, took her campaign to Norwood for her second rally since announcing her decision to run for office last year, and was supported on the day by some of New York State’s key, progressive elected officials who view the District 11 seat as another important frontier in the race for transformational change across the State.

 

Despite a strong challenge by Lora in the District 11 special election, held March 23, in which the People’s Theater Project founder and executive director finished second with 3,188 votes, Eric Dinowitz’s final 5,579 votes (which included transfers from other candidates) secured him the required 50 percent-plus-one threshold to win the race. Dinowitz is the son of local Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz. This time around, Lora is aiming to go the distance on Tuesday, June 22, and put an end to what her campaign has decried as a political family dynasty.

 

About 50 people showed up for the Williamsbridge Oval Park event, held Saturday, June 12. Among the elected officials were State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi (S.D. 34), U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman (NY-16), State Sen. Gustavo Rivera (S.D. 33) and Brooklyn City Councilman and city comptroller candidate, Brad Lander.  It coincided with the first day of early voting, with organizers encouraging attendees to vote early and to rank Lora number one in the district which includes the neighborhoods of Norwood, Kingsbridge, Van Cortlandt Village, Riverdale, Woodlawn, and parts of Bedford Park and Wakefield.

 

The mood on the day was jovial but there was a clear sense of urgency, purpose, and excitement that recent wins by progressives both in Congress and in Albany could be replicated at City Hall. Rivera said a lot of energy would be required to win the District 11 race, which he described as incredibly important in order to break away from the old way of doing things.

 

“We have too many things that have not been done differently in a while, and in this district in particular, it is incredibly essential to change that, because we cannot have things such as legislative seats being handed down from one person to another as if they own them,” he said, before adding that it was “unfortunate that there have been two guys for far too darn long, folks with the same last names, passing off legislative seats as though it belonged to them.”

 

When it came to strategizing over who would fill the District 11 city council seat, allegations by progressives that so-called machine politics had been at play since 2018 were not new, yet seemingly impossible to prove. Jeffrey Dinowitz covers much of the Northwest Bronx, representing A.D. 81, which overlaps substantially with City Council District 11, the seat now held by his son.

 

The former has been accused time and again of allegedly working the system with his Albany affiliates to elect his son to the council seat which became vacant following the resignation of former Councilman Andrew Cohen on December 31, 2020, after Cohen was elected as a Bronx Supreme Court judge.

 

Cohen had shown an interest in the role as far back as 2018, long before the end of his final term at City Council, at which point both lawyer and District 11 fellow candidate, Dan Padernacht, and Eric Dinowitz announced their respective intentions to run to fill the seat. After much speculation and conjecture, it was no surprise when Cohen was eventually nominated by the Bronx Democratic Party for the judgeship at the party’s judicial convention last August, as reported.

 

The inference by progressives was that Jeffrey Dinowitz had orchestrated efforts with party allies to ensure sufficient votes for Cohen’s nomination to the bench, opening the District 11 seat for his son. Cohen still had to win the November general judicial election, which he did, but it was assumed the District 11 seat would be easily won by Eric Dinowitz with the help of his father’s supporters during an obligatory special election, since Cohen would have to step down before the end of his last term.

 

Special elections are notorious for low voter turn-out, and favor candidates with strong name recognition, a factor which was certain to benefit Eric Dinowitz due to his father’s long-established career as a public representative in the Northwest Bronx. The progressive view was that by Eric Dinowitz filling the District 11 seat, “establishment Democrats” would retain their stronghold both in the Northwest Bronx and within the Bronx Democratic Party.

 

As reported, when asked about this last August, Jeffrey Dinowitz denied any such coordination, saying Cohen was well-known and respected across the borough in his own right. “That is what the delegates based their decision on,” he said, referring to the open vote held at the party’s judicial convention in August, and adding that neither he, Cohen, nor Eric Dinowitz voted at the meeting.

As for any advantage his son would have in the special election, Dinowitz said at the time that voters would ultimately decide the race. “Frankly, I reject the supposition that a special election favors any particular candidate for City Council over another,” he said.

 

As reported, voter turn-out was low at 9.3 percent in the special election, though not as low as the District 15 special, held the same day, and was around 3-4 percent. Meanwhile, Eric Dinowitz sought to justify his mandate as councilman, saying after his win that the special election turnout was higher than in the 2014, 2017, and 2019 Democratic primaries and higher than in the 2019 public advocate special election.

 

Meanwhile, back in Norwood, in talking about the need for all candidates to move away from the old way of doing things, Rivera commended Bowman, saying, “[He] challenged a longstanding incumbent who was certainly an okay dude [former Rep. Eliot Engel in New York’s 16^th Congressional District], but had forgotten that there are people here in the Bronx that needed to be connected to the person that represented them, and somebody who was pushing policy forward.”

 

Rivera said Bowman’s win was about changing things up, not maintaining the status quo. He then lauded praise upon Lander, describing him as being “as smart, and as effective as his dad jokes were corny,” and urged voters to rank him number one in the upcoming city comptroller’s race.

 

The senator later described Eric Dinowitz as “a good kid” and added he had no beef with him. “He’s a good dude,” he said, adding that the District 11 election was more about availing of the opportunity to bring new leadership to the area “and doing things in a completely different way – certainly far more frickin’ colorful.”

 

For his part, Lander paid homage to Rivera, Biaggi and Bowman who he described as having the guts to stand up to entrenched power. “We are already having the extraordinary benefit of their leadership,” he said. Biaggi beat her predecessor Jeff Klein in 2018, the latter the head of the controversial and now defunct Independent Democratic Caucus (IDC), a group which traditionally voted with Republicans in Albany, blocking much progressive legislation.

 

Both Jeffrey Dinowitz and Eric Dinowitz have been accused of being both Klein and IDC supporters. Lora’s campaign frequently cited this as one of the reasons why voters should not vote for the incumbent councilman in the District 11 race. Dinowitz has acknowledged his support for Klein, but denied ever backing the IDC, a point his opponents say is contradictory given Klein was the leader of the group. Meanwhile, other District 11 candidates have hit back at Lora, saying she actually supported the IDC.

 

An old photo that has been circulating online in recent months, and which was somewhat bizarrely shared anonymously with Norwood News and other media outlets, shows Lora, among others, with former State. Sen. Marisol Alcantara, herself an IDC member who represented Inwood in upper Manhattan, where Lora’s nonprofit theater is located. There was a further question of an alleged donation by Lora to Alcantara’s campaign in 2018, and tweets by Lora during that campaign in apparent support of Alcantara.

 

Lora explained that she had made a suggested $50 donation to attend an event hosted by Alcantara for Dominican women around that time but denied ever supporting the IDC, confirming that she voted for Biaggi over Klein in the 2018 34^th senatorial race, which Biaggi won. Lora added that, as a candidate in the District 11 race, she has also since been formally endorsed by the “No-IDC” lobby group.

 

She said the referenced tweets in support of Alcantara were in the context of her role as executive director of her non-profit theater, implying that like all local, community leaders, there was an expectation to work with local elected officials.

 

Back at the rally, Lander went on to commend Biaggi and Rivera for their work in the State Senate. “If you had said to people, do you think they will be willing to tax billionaires, to fund excluded workers, so folks could have enough to pay the rent and to eat?” he asked. “Do you think they’ll have the guts to make sure that cannabis legalization is done in some way, with the best eye on justice and restoring harm done in Black and brown communities? Seriously, let’s give it up for these folks,” he said.

 

He then went on to describe Bowman’s 2020 victory in Washington and what he called the congressman’s incredible work in Congress, saying he had the guts to speak honestly about racial injustice in communities. “There are few people that bring me more hope and energy,” he said, before adding that while the work in Washington and Albany was important, it was equally important not to forget what happens at City Council, and on the ground in communities.

 

“The city council really is in so many ways where the rubber hits the road,” he said, before referring to needed bold action amid the City’s emergence from the pandemic. “We have been saying….  we see the need to do things differently, and as we emerge, the question is on us – will we do things differently?” he asked. He talked about people applauding essential workers in the early days of the pandemic but said delivery workers on minimum wages don’t have paid sick days, are not protected from unfair dismissal, and do not have health care or health benefits.

 

“Some of that’s going to have to be fixed in Albany and Washington, but there are bills in the city council to guarantee a minimum rate of pay, and paid sick days for every one of those delivery workers, and so, when we elect Mino Lora to the City Council, she and her colleagues are going to lift up essential workers, and help make sure a city on the other side of this election is more fair and just and honest and decent to workers than the one that we had before it,” he said.

 

He then promised residents that if they ranked him number one as city comptroller, he would create an “Exploitative Employers’ Wall of Shame,” similar to the existing public advocate’s “Worst Landlords List,” and would call out employers who he said steal workers’ wages, deny them decent working conditions, and do not protect immigrant construction workers on building sites. “We need to build a more inclusive city,” he said. “When we look at who gave their lives in this pandemic, who died, it’s so many more immigrants than not,” he added.

 

Lander then said that that it was great that Albany had funded an excluded workers’ fund, but that immigrants needed a voice in city elections also. “There’s a bill in the city council that will allow non-citizens to vote in our municipal elections so their voices will be heard, but the council has not had the guts to pass it,” he said. “Let’s get it started in the city by electing Mino, building a progressive city council, demanding a more just and inclusive city.”

 

Other candidates in the District 11 race in addition to Lora, Dinowitz and Padernacht include Carlton Berkley, Abigail Martin and Marcos Sierra, the latter two having sat out the special election amid concerns over spreading the coronavirus due to the requirement to collection sufficient in-person signatures to get on the ballot. Both Lora and former candidate, Jessica Haller, had contracted COVID-19 during the course of their respective campaigns.

 

Before introducing Biaggi, Lander concluded by saying it was also necessary to be more prepared for future crises than the city had been for the pandemic. “We didn’t see COVID-19 coming and we’re paying in the lives of over 30,000 of our neighbors, but we can all see the climate crisis coming, and the affordability crisis is already here,” he said.

 

“So, we need a city that’s serious now about implementing a local green new deal, about divesting our pension funds through fossil fuel, about getting solar on 25,000 buildings around the city… through a new public power resource. Budgets are moral documents, and it is our responsibility to build that just, inclusive city together,” Lander said.

 

For her part, Biaggi implored those in attendance to go the extra mile to canvass for Lora in knocking on every door, saying elections were won in inches and to make plenty of noise. “Why are we making noise? Because what’s at stake is very large,” she said, adding that for over six months she had had what she called the incredible privilege of getting to know Lora, and that the more she did, the more she was struck by her energy, optimism, happiness, excitement, love, and compassion.

 

“It’s such a different, bright feeling than what we’ve got already in this council district today,” she said. “We do not have time to allow for nepotism to continue. We do not have time to allow for the machine politics [inaudible] ‘Your turn next – go on in and vote how we tell you.’ We cannot have leaders like that,” she added.

 

The senator said the next city council would take on the incredible challenge of rebuilding the City, which she said was not about putting band aids on things. She said it was about electing candidates who were not afraid to vote independently. In air quotes, she said, “We don’t want to make them [constituents] mad at us because maybe they won’t reelect us – no!” she said. “It’s about making the right people mad. It’s about making the right decisions for the people that you represent, regardless…. regardless of whether you will be reelected.”

 

Biaggi said Lora represented the future, and that it was about building [political] power and carving pathways for other people to enter elected office as well. “So much of this political infrastructure is calcified in a way that doesn’t let all of us in,” she said. “What Mino represents is not only transformational politics, but is somebody who will get into that seat, and then reach back, put her hand down, and pull somebody and others with her forward, and even sharing that with you, I have the chills on my arms because I know how dark it can be,” she added.

 

Ginning up the crowd, she said, “It’s a sprint. It’s no longer a marathon, okay? So, every single person that you see on the street, you’ve got to stop them. I want you to be committed. I want you to go to the grocery store and stop somebody. Carry these flyers with you. When you’re on the doors and you have the list, but you want to go home because you’re so tired, keep going ‘til the end of the list. Make one more phone call. Send ten more text messages,” she added.

 

“We are powerful, we are persuasive,” she said. “I can’t do this alone. It takes every level of government working together to actually create The Bronx that we know is possible. New York State and New York City has not reached its highest potential yet, but it can.”

 

Wrapping up, Biaggi said the way to achieve that was by electing people like Lora in 2021, following on from the progressive wins in 2018 and 2020. “This is one of the final frontiers to making sure that our city is actually getting what it deserves, so let’s give it the leadership that it deserves,” she said. “Let’s elect Mino Lora to the city council because she is a gift to all of us.”

 

For his part, Bowman described the Bronx rally as “incredible” and “amazing,” adding that he had spent the morning in Harlem and in Queens supporting Tiffany Caban in her race for City Council there, along with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose PAC recently gave their nod of approval to Lora, and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. “I have to tell you, our crowd might be as large as their crowd was,” Bowman joked. “Our energy definitely matched theirs and may be stronger, so we may have a little competition going on.”

 

“I was just thinking, once Mino is elected, we will be undoubtedly the most progressive district in the City, and most progressive in the State,” he said, before referring to the era of the IDC movement in Albany. “It was crazy. It was stopping us from getting anything done. I was a school principal then trying to work with State officials to get things done for education. Then, all of a sudden, this ‘No-IDC’ comes out of nowhere, and its incredible and amazing, inspiring, intelligent leader rose from the ashes named Alessandra Biaggi.”

 

Bowman went on to describe the subsequent progressive gains made and the diverse rainbow coalition built in the intervening years. “We have the next domino that is going to fall, and this domino is going to submit us as the most progressive district in the city,” he said. “It’s going to end nepotism, and it’s going to route us in leading the transformative change that needs to happen here, across the state, across the country and around the world.”

 

He added that progressives were influencing foreign and national policy also. “When it comes to State policy and City policy, every time I speak with Biaggi, we say the same thing, and Mino carries this energy with her as well,” he said. “This is about passion. This is about joy. This is about love, and this is about love for those who are most vulnerable, and everyone else, and as long as we continue to lead, and live and learn together in love, there is nothing we cannot do as a district, and Mino Lora represents all of that.”

 

Bowman then referred to Lora’s work as a teacher. “I was in education for 20 years, and the thing about teachers, particularly good teachers, we come with empathy first because it’s with that empathy that we gain a better understanding of what’s happening around us, and how we can be more effective in serving and meeting the needs of our children and our families,” he said. “We need all of our elected officials to have empathy, and unfortunately, it feels like 90 percent of them don’t, but Mino will come in and lead first with that empathy that will make her an effective legislator and effective organizer and an effective galvanizer toward communities that have been historically ignored,” he said.

 

Lora then addressed the crowd saying, “This is power. This is what it’s all about. It’s about us. We are not invisible. We matter. We are strong, and as we come out, as we continue to come out of this recovery, The Bronx is going to lead,” she said. “I love that challenge. I love Queens, nothing wrong with Queens, but The Bronx and this district, being the most progressive district in New York City, we can make that happen.”

 

Describing herself as “a Dominican mommy from The Bronx, a teacher, an executive director and an artist,” she said being the latter was important. “As artists, we can imagine something better, something more just, something more powerful. This is an organizing tool. I work with young artists and activists every single day,” she said.

 

“While I’ve been working with the immigrant community, with seniors, with tenants, with students, using theater as a way to organize around the issues that impact us, using theatre to educate us around our rights, and demand change, I’ve brought people and young students up to Albany,” she said, adding that she did so, so that they could talk directly to senators and let them know they needed to fully fund schools.

 

“The fact that we have to demand that we need to fully fund our schools is one of the reasons why I’m running for office,” she said. “We need more people who share these values, making these decisions that are actually putting people first. It’s not about a status quo. It’s not about maintaining power. That’s what got us here in the first place.”

 

Lora said the pandemic had “exacerbated the inequities, the injustice and the systemic, oppression and racism” that has always existed, and that has impacted communities of color, the immigrant community and young people for far too long. Speaking in Spanish, she then said that it was crazy that if elected, she would be the first councilperson in District 11 to be a native Spanish speaker. “We’ve been struggling for too long, and now we’re saying – no more!” she added, in Spanish.

 

Explaining that she had garnered the bravery to run for office from her belief that the community deserved more, she said she also saw this from looking at her students, her neighbors and her kids. “I believe that housing is a human right. I believe that health care is a human right, and we need to pass the New York Health Act. I survived COVID. I’ve lived paycheck to paycheck, have worked minimum wage jobs, lived without health insurance for over a decade, and that is not unique, and that is unacceptable,” she said.

 

“We need to legislate accordingly. We need to legislate with our morals, and not with special interests. I am so proud to be endorsed by these amazing powerhouses here today, people who lead with their heart. They lead with their conviction because that comes first. That’s what government is there for, and yes, I come up with it with optimism, with joy,” she said.

 

Interspersing her speech with more words in Spanish, as is her tendency, she said she understood why many in the community give up, because it’s painful and frustrating [to try to make change]. She referred to candidates who sought people’s vote ahead of elections and then left and didn’t come back [once elected].

 

“That happens when it’s not about empathy, when it’s not about compassion, and when it’s not about your heart,” she said. “I am an educator, and I always will be educating and making those connections between governments and communities, doing it in a culturally responsive way. Language justice, housing justice, racial justice, multilingual education for all of our communities, is what will lead us forward,” she added.

 

Wrapping up, she said, “Let’s do this, mi gente [my people]. We got this. The machine is fading.” She continued, “Oh, they’re trembling. This is what happens. It means you’re doing something good! We are so close pero [but] we can’t give up now. We will make history on June 22, electing Mino Lino for City Council in District 11 in the Bronx. Gracias!”