Local Group Challenges State Senator Golden At Bay Ridge Summer Stroll

BAY RIDGE – “Would you like a balloon? It’s from State Senator Marty Golden,” a man carrying a bundle of yellow balloons asked everyone who passed by the table that read “Re-Elect Marty Golden.”

In a span of a few hours, Summer Stroll (which closed Third Avenue to traffic from 68th Street to 80th Street between 5:00 and 10:30 p.m) was filled with the color yellow. Kids and adults alike were carrying balloons and in some cases, watching them fly away.

But in the same few hours, pedestrians were carrying yellow tote bags given by Fight Back Bay Ridge along with their balloons, though the items contradicted each other: “Replace the Waste. #NotSoGolden. Stop Marty Golden” read the tote bags.

Fight Back Bay Ridge was fighting back against the state senator.

From 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m, the local group gave out more than 200 yellow tote bags and 350 red fans to people at the Summer Stroll event. Inside the bag were three pamphlets: one detailed Golden’s poor driving record, another one had a list of “all the times people have been outraged by state Sen. Marty Golden,” and a third yellow paper stated everything Golden voted against or refused to support.

“We decided to use reusable tote bags to hold our literature to highlight Sen. Golden’s poor record on the environment. In fact, his use of environmentally unfriendly balloons as a campaign promotion demonstrates his disregard,” Sally McMahon, a volunteer for Fight Back Bay Ridge said. “We included a wide range of materials that highlight Marty’s votes against families, public education, the environment, women’s health, seniors, healthcare and more. We researched Marty’s voting record and it doesn’t benefit working people, children, seniors or families.”

At around 7:25 p.m., Golden entered Summer Stroll and was standing by his campaign table speaking to his constituents and taking photos. He was all smiles and so were volunteers of Fight Back Bay Ridge.

“My children always ask for a balloon, but I don’t want them to be walking advertisements for Sen. Golden, especially since he doesn’t work for school safety and funding,” Jay Brown, a member at Fight Back Bay Ridge said. “Also, balloons are harmful to the environment and we’d rather not have them. The fans are a fun alternative my children can carry.”