Arthur Schwartz, now the Village District Leader in addition to` the State Democratic Committee representative for the 66th Assembly District, has made no secret of his desire to find a candidate to run against Assembly Member Deborah Glick in 2014. Here’s how he frames the issue:
Deborah Glick, elected 22 years ago, has grown to be ineffective and out of touch with her constituents. St. Vincent’s Hospital ignored her, the Rudins ignored her, NYU laughed at her as she marched around Washington Square Park. Chelsea Market’s renovation moved forward despite her opposition. This year she endorsed – vociferously – Chris Quinn and called those who opposed Quinn “homophobes.” She ran a candidate against me for District Leader – a nice but unqualified Glick and Quinn loyalist – and lost. She reluctantly supported Corey Johnson, only after her quest to find another candidate fell short. On parks and playgrounds and waterfront issues, park users, and activists have always had to beg her for support and worry about pissing her off.
Deborah and I have disagreed about parks since we were both CB2 members back in 1991 and she voted against a plan to expand and renovate Bleecker Playground. She is never a wholehearted ally of parents and families. I finally had enough this year when she swept aside the efforts of hundreds of parents to collectively design a solution to Hudson River Park’s funding problems, and the sponsored passage of a secret bill which allowed minimally regulated sale of the Park’s air rights. This is not about being an ungracious winner; I just think that after 22 years Deborah has become ineffective, and is out of touch with her constituents. It is time for her to let someone new try the job. In City government we have voted to limit office holders to 8 years; 22 years in Albany is long enough.
