Flatbush Tenant Coalition To Host Candidates’ Forum This Saturday

Anna Gustafson -

As the race heats up for the seat that has been represented by Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacobs for 36 years, as well as for the 20th Senate District, which has remained vacant after Eric Adams left to become the Brooklyn borough president in January, the Flatbush Tenant Coalition will host a candidates’ forum to address a slew of issues concerning voters who will take to the polls in the Sept. 9 primary.

The forum will take place this Saturday, July 12 at 9:45am at the Flatbush Tompkins Congregational Church at 424 E. 19th Street (at Dorchester Road).

From the Flatbush Tenant Coalition:

All candidates for Assembly Districts 42 & 58, and Senate District 20 have confirmed for the forum. We’d love for you to join us this Saturday to meet them & hear where they stand on the issues. Topics will include strengthening the rent laws, preserving & creating affordable housing, increasing employment, creating educational & recreational opportunities for youth, and much more.

Challengers making a bid for Jacobs’ 42nd Assembly District, which covers Midwood, Ditmas Park, and Flatbush, include community activist Michele Adolphe, who ran against Jacobs in 2010; Democratic District Leader Rodneyse Bichotte, who challenged Jacobs in 2012 and has already racked up a number of high-profile endorsements; Community Board 17 member Victor A. Jordan; Mark Lieberman, a civic activist and journalist from Midwood Park who announced his candidacy Monday evening;  and Rickie Tulloch, the deputy chief financial officer of Harlem Hospital Center and chairman of Jacobs’ Community Advisory Council.

Those running for the 20th Senate District, which covers such neighborhoods as Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Crown Heights, Sunset Park, Park Slope, Brownsville, Prospect Heights, and Gowanus, include community advocate and educator Rubain Dorancy, Democratic District Leader and lawyer for the city Department of Finance Jesse Hamilton, and Community Board 9 member and former PTA member Demetrius Lawrence.

Assemblyman N. Nick Perry, who is running uncontested for his seat covering the 58th Assembly District, has also confirmed he will be at Saturday’s forum, and state Sen. Kevin Parker, who represents the 21st Senate District, has been invited.