Williamsburg community activist Isaac Abraham has
announced he will seek the Democratic nomination for City Council from
Brooklyn's 33rd District which includes, Williamsburg, Greenpoint,
DUMBO, Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, and Boerum Hill.
Abraham, 58, is married with four grown children. The Jewish Press sat
down with him recently for a brief interview.
The
Jewish Press: The New York Post quoted you as saying, "I'm not running
as a religious person. I'm running as a qualified person." What makes
you particularly qualified?
Abraham: The
Post portrayed me as a chassidic candidate, and I stated that while I
may be chassidic, I'm running as a qualified person. I'm not interested
in "firsts" but in action, in accomplishments, in getting the job done,
in making sure the residents in this district are no longer ignored and
that their voices are heard.
I moved here when I was two years old with my
parents, Holocaust survivors, and have lived in the same five-block
radius for the past 56 years. I have always been actively involved in
protecting the general and individual health of this community,
volunteering with Hatzolah, Shomrim Patrol, Tomchei Shabbos, and
serving on tenants associations, Community Board 1, and the Woodhull
Hospital Advisory Board and other organizations.
Given your long record of communal service, why did you wait until now to run for public office?
Ten years ago, members of the community urged me to
run but the other candidates at that time had more resources and funds,
and I was not ready to spend money raised from people who barely can
make ends meet just to put up a good fight and lose.
Now, with the turnover in the City Council because
of term limits, and looking at the qualifications of the other
candidates, my friends, neighbors, and community leaders feel it is the
right time to run and there is a very good chance we can win.
Will
you focus your campaign efforts in neighborhoods beyond chassidic
Williamsburg in order to reach out to Latinos, hipsters, and those in
other communities?
I have fought major issues that are very popular
with Latinos and with hipsters in the district. You just need to Google
my name to see I have fought for better transportation, opposed the
closing of the firehouse and the occupation of commercial buildings as
residential. When the Williamsburg Bridge was closed under Ed Koch, I
supported establishing a ferry service to Manhattan. When the BQE was
closed because a contractor walked off the job, I asked city and state
officials to get involved so that construction would be completed.
I have successfully fought rent increases in Bedford
Gardens and Clemente Plaza, which are Mitchell-Llama housing
developments serving multi-ethnic residents, and battled the Brooklyn
Navy Yard incinerator over toxic emissions that would have created
unknown health risks.
More recently Mayor Bloomberg wanted to put
incineration on the table again. We are all concerned about air quality
and preserving the environment; we all breathe the same air.
In the same way I worked so hard to bring the
Rosenbaum and Cato families together against all odds in the aftermath
of the 1991 Crown Heights riots – I'm still in touch with Norman
Rosenbaum [brother of Crown Heights slay victim Yankel Rosenbaum] in
Australia virtually every other day, and also with Carmel Cato, the
father of 5-year-old Gavin who was killed in the car accident. I'm
working for better relations with the Latinos in my community as well.
What are the primary interests or issues you seek to champion?
Support for school vouchers; affordable housing via
a cross-subsidy fund that was created 12 years ago in Williamsburg;
fighting crime; and of course transportation, sanitation and waste
management issues.
I'm running on my record of achievements as a volunteer who gave his
own time rather than as someone working for a political office and
using that to further a career.
