John Koblin hit the streets of Bed Stuy and Forte Greene, two neighborhoods in Brooklyn’s 10th Congressional District. That’s where incumbent Ed Towns is being challenged by City Councilman Charles Barron and Assemblyman Roger Green.
The people who spoke with Koblin in these two parts of the district had a wide range of issues for their next congressman.
Well, I’m anti-war and I’m anti-Atlantic Yards. In terms of national politics, though, I’d like to get out of Iraq sooner rather than later. And then for economic stuff, we should raise the minimum wage.
—Eliza Factor, 38, writer
First of all, Sanitation needs to be here more often and bring more baskets with them. We need to encourage people to throw out their garbage. We also need to clean up all the debris, all the broke bottles, in the parks.
— Elisa Williams, 50, interviewed at the corner of Lexington and Nostrand
— Azi Paybarah
A lot of the streets are broken, all the concrete and stuff. A couple months ago, you couldn’t even walk down these streets, there was broken concrete everywhere.
— Tom Groover, 83, retired, lived in Bed-Sty for 40 years
We need less ticketing. They ticket heavily and they ticket too much. Even if you’re one minute past, they’ll ticket you.
— Brian Healy, 42, interviewed in Fort Greene Park
We need better low-income housing. If the babies are living in the shelters, then we need some more housing. The mothers are trying to get their babies off the street, but it’s going to take a Congressman to do it.
—Faye Marlo, 46, unemployed
We need more shelters and more rent-control. They go hand-in-hand. If you can’t pay your rent, you’re going homeless, and then you’re going to be sheltered.
— <strong?Rob Moore, 24, interviewed in a laundromat on Nostrand Avenue in Bed-Stuy
I definitely don’t want the stadium, for sure. Fort Greene is a growing little vicinity and that gentrifies the neighborhood. The other thing is we have rats near the building. They always run to the garbage and they’re totally big.
— Zeem Arango, 29, graphic designer, interviewed on South Portland Avenue
