Photo courtesy of Dan Padernacht
Lawyer and City Council candidate in the District 11 race, Dan Padernacht, has received the endorsement of Bill Samuels, a business leader, lawyer, and founder of the Council on Economic Priorities, EffectiveNY, the New Roosevelt Initiative, and New Yorkers for a More Effective Constitution.
Samuels wrote in a press release on Monday, March 1, that Padernacht’s history of leadership in the Northwest Bronx has amply prepared him to represent his district in the city council. “He has a facile understanding of the economic and social issues within the district and innovative approaches to post-pandemic recovery,” Samuels said. “Dan will partner with neighborhood leaders to assess ongoing needs—and he has the legal acumen to achieve them.”
Reacting to the announcement, Padernacht referred to Samuels as an activist giant, and said he was honored to receive his endorsement. “I am inspired by his commitment to education, the environment, economic stability, retirement security, and fair elections,” he said.
“Through his many organizations, Bill Samuels has undertaken policy research, yielded insights on the political stances of corporations, and fought for state budget and campaign finance reform, as well as government transparency. I admire how he has worked tirelessly for the health and well-being of New York State and its residents.”
Padernacht has previously garnered the endorsement of the Northwest Bronx Democrats, former Assemblyman Michael Blake, and Dionel Then, who dropped out of the District 11 race last August.
Padernacht, a third generation Bronxite, who has been an active member of Bronx Community Board 8 for 12 years, said he is acutely aware of patterns of ethical transgressions within Bronx politics. “As a Council Member, I will be similarly dedicated to principles of good government. The people of the Northwest Bronx deserve no less than that.” He served as Bronx CB8 Board chair from 2014 to 2017, chair of the Traffic & Transportation committee from 2011 to 2014, and again since 2017 to the present date, and as vice chair of the Land Use committee from 2017 to the present date.
Candidates were required to gather a minimum number of signatures from local residents in order to qualify for the ballot in the special election. As reported previously by the Norwood News, that minimum had been 450 signatures until Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Jan. 7 that he was reducing it to 315.
Some candidates had raised concerns during prior weeks about the impact of the signature collection process on people’s health, and had called for for the minimum signature requirement to be waived amid fears of exacerbating the spread of the coronavirus through mass person-to-person contact. Jessica Haller and Mino Lora, both announced at separate stages that they had each previously contracted the virus.
Social worker and adjunct Columbia professor, Abigail Martin, and male district leader in the 80th Assembly District, Marcos Sierra, announced in January that they had dropped out of the March special election, citing health related risks linked to the coronavirus, but said they still plan to participate in the June primary.
A Board of Elections public hearing was held on Feb. 4 to assess which candidates had collated the minimum number of signatures needed to proceed. Besides Padernacht, according to the New York City Board of Elections and Ballotpedia, there are five other candidates in the District 11 special election race.
These are retired NYPD detective, Carlton Berkley, Eric Dinowitz, a teacher and Democratic district leader for the 81st Assembly District, Haller, environmentalist and tech entrepreneur, Lora, founder and executive director of the People’s Theatre Project and freelance filmmaker, Kevin Pazmino, who is the most recent candidate to join the race.
In terms of campaign contributions, according to the New York City Campaign Finance Board, Haller leads in contributions with $79,117, followed by Dinowitz with $72,062, Padernacht with $42,446, Lora with $35,810, and Berkley with $10,301. For the District 11 special election, the most recent disclosure period ran from “Beginning of Fundraising” to Jan. 11, 2021. There was no information available for Kevin Pazmino on campaign contribution filings with the CFB.
The nonpartisan special election in District 11 was called by the mayor on Jan. 4 to find a replacement for former District 11 City Councilman, Andrew Cohen, who was elected as a judge to the Bronx Supreme Court in November and resigned from his City Council seat on Dec. 31. It is the one of the first two elections in the Bronx which will incorporate the new method of Ranked Choice Voting (RCV), the other being District 15.
RCV is a voting method whereby voters can rank up to five candidates in order of preference, instead of choosing just one. If a candidate receives more than 50 percent of first-choice votes, that candidate is the winner. If no candidate earns more than 50 percent of first-choice votes, then counting will continue in rounds. At the end of each round, the candidate with the fewest votes will be eliminated.
If a voter ranked the eliminated candidate first, then the next highest ranked candidate on the voter’s ballot will be taken into account in the next round of counting. The process continues as such until there are two candidates left. The candidate with the most votes wins. For official information on ranked choice voting, go to the NYC Campaign Finance Board FAQ page or the New York City Board of Elections website.
The Bronx Democratic Party also recently hosted an informational session on Ranked Choice Voting which can be viewed here in conjunction with the group, Rank the Vote NYC. Norwood News checked with the City’s Campaign Finance Board about the expertise of Rank the Vote NYC and were advised that the group is a reputable source on the topic and is a voter education campaign that is run by Common Cause NY.
BronxNet aired the first of a series of debates between the District 11 City Council candidates on Feb. 2, and that debate can be viewed online here. The Norwood News later provided a brief recap of the debate.
Northwest Bronx Indivisible and Riverdale Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture hosted a further virtual debate among the candidates on Sunday, Feb. 7, at 3 p.m. This debate can be viewed here.
Another debate was hosted by the Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition in conjunction with LAAL, a nonprofit supporting Bengali women in the Norwood section of the Bronx on Wednesday, Feb. 10. That debate can be viewed here. A further debate hosted by City Limits was held on Sunday, Feb. 14. That debate can be viewed here.
A Woodlawn Candidate’s Forum will be held on Monday, Feb. 15, at 6 p.m. More details can be found here.
A City Council Town Hall, presented by the SAR High School EPG Club, based in Riverdale in the Northwest Bronx, will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 17 and can be viewed here.
A further District 11 City Council candidates’ forum was held on Monday, Feb. 22, at 6.15 p.m., hosted by the Fort Independence Park Neighborhood Association. We have reached out to the organization for a link to the forum and will update this story, upon receipt of same.
Riverdale Nature Preservancy will also be hosting a virtual conversation with the District 11 special election candidates on Thursday, March 4 at 8 p.m. The Zoom link to join the conversation is as follows: https://tinyurl.com/RNPForum, and the Meeting ID is 852 4927 7543.
Important dates relating to the March 23 special elections for District 11 and District 15 are outlined below.
Image courtesy of the New York City Board of Elections
The Bronx Board of Elections confirmed that it is accepting applications for absentee ballots from voters in District 11 (and in District 15) who wish to vote by mail. Further information can be found here or by calling the Bronx Board of Elections at (718) 299-9017 and selecting Ext. 1875. Polls are open on election day from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. The Early Voting Period is from March 13, 2021 to March 21, 2021. Voters must vote at their assigned early voting site.
Early Voting Hours
| Saturday | March 13, 2021 | 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM |
| Sunday | March 14, 2021 | 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM |
| Monday | March 15, 2021 | 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM |
| Tuesday | March 16, 2021 | 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM |
| Wednesday | March 17, 2021 | 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM |
| Thursday | March 18, 2021 | 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM |
| Friday | March 19, 2021 | 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM |
| Saturday | March 20, 2021 | 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM |
| Sunday | March 21, 2021 | 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM |
The district includes Kingsbridge, Norwood, Van Cortlandt Village, Wakefield, Riverdale, Woodlawn Heights and part of Bedford Park. Whoever wins the March 23 special, nonpartisan election will serve until Dec. 31, 2021. Future representation in the District beyond that point will likely be determined via a June 2021 primary and a November 2021 general election.
admin
Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.
English
Arabic
Bengali
Chinese (Simplified)
French
Spanish