Northwest Bronx Democrats - 11th Council District: Why Dan Padernacht?

Anthony Rivieccio

In simple terms, the district spans , from Riverdale at it's most " west point" coming down to Kingsbridge, Bedford Park , up north, to Norwood & Woodlawn. In Community Board terms, it is CB 7,8 & 12

Our " involvement" has been active since 2009. The Bedford Park / Norwood area ( in our opinion) lost all of its political power since 1997.

In the now " old days" you would normally have 2 candidates, but alas it is 2021. The district has 2 elections and already 6 candidates in the first " special election" and a suspected 4 in the June Primary election.

We met several of the candidates but in full disclosure we knew " a few" even prior.

We believe most of the candidates are credibile challengers. Why Dan P.?

Dan, a life long Bronx Resident, is a local attorney who counsels individuals on the purchase and sale of their homes, business formations, and other personal matters. Dan, has represented numerous tenants pro bono in housing disputes.

Dan , has shown in our opinion, using his professional muscle, to help the CD11 neighborhood for example, acting as pro bono counsel for the Fort Independence Park Neighborhood Association (FIPNA) in a lawsuit against New York City to preserve the character and quality of the neighborhood.

For two decades, Dan has served as a member of Bronx Community Board 8. In 2014, he was elected as Chair of the Board and served for three years. He is currently Chair of the Traffic and Transportation Committee and Vice Chair of the Land Use Committee.

We believe Dan P. has extensive experience working with government agencies and elected officials and is ready to hit the ground running from Day 1.

Dan volunteers in a local school. He teaches students the basics of law and civics at P.S. 95, where he attended grammar school.

But he's even more compassionate regarding neighborhood/NYC issues

Affordable housing, for example, Dan believes is essential for our communities. Protecting and preserving affordable housing, supporting those who are struggling, and creating new affordable housing for working families will make the difference between a thriving city and one that struggles with a growing homeless population.

Dan will:

*Provide seniors with subsidy programs to help them remain in their housing

*Develop affordable housing that fits the income of neighborhoods in the Council district.

*Provide constituent services for housing issues.

*Develop and expand programs like the Mitchell-Lama program that focus on home ownership—limited equity condos or cooperatives that New Yorkers can afford for decades.

*Focus on social services to prevent homelessness and provide assistance for those who do become homeless

Education is another area in which he is indeed passionate about.

*He seeks to reduce class size, improve accessibility, and reconstruct schools within their existent footprint.

*Dan seeks to repurpose, redesign, and increase space on current public-school campuses and will work with teachers and school superintendents to design flexible and efficient spaces that can be utilized by principals according to the individual needs of each school

*Dan wants to move away from teaching to the test and toward the integration of analytical skills. He favors group lessons to challenge students

*Dan will advocate for a change in teacher evaluations

*Dan will fight to increase the number of special needs programs throughout the city

*Dan will fight for the educational funds already allocated for The Bronx by New York State

*Dan is an advocate of trade high schools

If their is anything Dan is sensitive about is what he calls " woman issues".

*Dan believes in equal pay for equal work. Women still make 78 cents for every dollar earned by men. Women of color, in particular, earn 64 cents and Latinas only 54 cents for every dollar earned by Caucasian men

*Dan believes that every woman has the right to choose

*Dan supports the ACLU’s goal of equal access to educational opportunities and resources in an educational environment free from gender-based stereotypes, violence, and harassment—and job protections for pregnant workers

*As an attorney, Dan is keenly aware that homelessness is inextricably linked to violence against women—that 1:4 battered women who fail in the court system may end up in shelters.2 He will supplement programs that address this sociologic problem. He will work with the DA’s office to fight for justice for such women and with social workers to reach out to victims

*Dan will create a job interview preparation program for women regaining their foothold following economic depressions

*At a national level, Dan knows that immigrants’ rights are inextricably linked to women’s rights—that Trump’s inhumane policies are separating women and children and isolating women from their spouses. This breaks apart families and undermines their economic stability

Dan believes their are many many issues that evolve the 11th CD and that he has reasonable hard hit solutions for them all. His whole list can be found at www.votedanp.com

Our original plan in this ranked choice race was to, rank choice, the candidates, ourselves. We chose both Abagil Martin & Dan Padernect at a time when there was up to 9 candidates running.

While Ms Martin has decided to gracefully bow out, via COVID health concerns, Mr Dan P has decided to plow forward , and we have focused our efforts on his hopeful open race victory.

As with New York, CD 11 is also evolving. Mino Lora & Jessica Haller, two residents who have come out of nowhere, and have spoken a more " progressive " tone have received considerable interest in this race. On the bit more radical left side, former candidate Marcos Sierra, went into a Riverdale political meeting and suggested , in his opening remarks, that the audience should vote for him because, in his words, " we live in a majority/ minority district". We gladly acknowledge that while the district has indeed evolved over the last 20 years, I really don't know , today, if you can call it liberal or conservative.

While this race will also have a " rightest overtone in the race, via an upcoming and new Republican candidate, our club has always felt that what was best served for our council district was someone who knew how to " hold the middle ground". Dan P. fits that bill.

Anthony Rivieccio has been founder of The Northwest Bronx Democrats , a community & political organization since 2003. Their target areas are: Fordham, Kingsbridge , Kingsbridge Heights , Bedford Park, Norwood , Allerton. The current President is Sheila Sanchez .

You can find our Facebook Group page by just going to Facebook search and tying in: "Northwest Bronx Democrats". We feature daily: NYC & Bronx community & political news, activities & events. Our close to 2000 members include several distinguished : activists, NYC agency staff directors, elected and party officals-, including Councilpeople, State Assembly, State Senate & Congressional representatives, and numerous people of interest