Holy Phone Call Day June 17th, 2020
Happy #HolyPhoneCallsDay! The day of the week when we make Holy Phone Calls to our representative and plant the seeds of change in our country. Thanks to some amazing volunteers, you won’t be overwhelmed with options.
Each week they compile topics, scripts and contact details, so you don’t have to! How it works:
1) Block time in your calendar every Wednesday (we block 12pm ET!)
2) Visit forefrontnyc.com/blog to access this week's topics, scripts and contact details
3) Start calling, emailing, tweeting!
4) Smile. Together with other Forefronter's you've just planted seeds!
It's time to really "blitz" their offices!
Holy Phone Call Day Week 2
Script: “Hi, I’m ____ and I’m a constituent of yours and registered voter living in zip code ____. I would like you to vote for _____. This is important to me because of _____. You can reach me at this number ______.”
Action 1: Call to get Cuomo to reverse bail reform rollback!
Gov Cuomo's office: 1-518-474-8390
Gov Cuomo on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NYGovCuomo
On Jan. 1, 2020, New York implemented historic bail and pretrial discovery reforms that were the result of years of debate in Albany. The laws eliminated cash bail and the possibility of pretrial detention for most misdemeanor and non-violent felony charges. They required prosecutors to turn over all of the evidence in a case early on, ending the trial-by-ambush practice previously allowed.
Thanks to the reforms, tens of thousands of New Yorkers arrested early this year were spared days or months in jail. Instead, they were released unless and until actually convicted, with pretrial services and support if needed. Jail populations across the state dropped by 30% and continued to decline.
Yet despite the fact that the reforms were working, and a pandemic was taking hold, in April of this year, the governor and Legislature rolled back the reforms, ensuring that thousands more people, including the many New Yorkers who find themselves without jobs or stable housing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, will face the threat of pre-trial jailing once again come July 3.
Why? Because the police unions and their allies demanded it. For months, law enforcement officers and unions across the state decried that there would be blood in the streets if the reforms went into effect. When that didn’t happen, they decried the fact that a very small number of people who were released without bail were re-arrested, which has always been the case. And that was enough to scare a small majority of lawmakers into conceding. Once again, the police unions prevailed over the will of the community.
***We must take action before July 3 to ensure that they do not take hold.***
Action 2: Call State Senator to Repeal ‘Walking While Trans Ban’ (Penal Law Section 240.37)
To Find out Who represents you (NY):
State Senators:
https://www.nysenate.gov/find-my-senator
In 1976, New York criminalized behavior described as “loitering for the purpose of engaging in a prostitution offense.” The statute faced constitutional challenges from the outset. Legal Aid Society lawyers, on behalf of a woman, arrested the first day the law was in effect, argued that it was unconstitutionally vague and overbroad and inhibited free speech. Their efforts were successful in lower courts but the case went to the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, where the law was upheld as constitutional. In 1977, police made 9,565 “loitering prostitution arrests” in Manhattan alone, reported the New York Times the following year.
This history is recounted in a new report from the New York City Bar Association that was published Monday. With the report, the organization, which has a membership of over 24,000 lawyers, announced its support for a bill that would repeal the statute, Penal Law Section 240.37. Although the number of arrests under the law is a very small fraction of what they were in the 1970s, the statute continues to be part of a larger pattern of criminalization and marginalization.
Because of how Section 240.37 is enforced, it has come to be known colloquially as the “walking while trans” ban. The bar association report looks in detail at how arrests “disproportionately target and impact marginalized communities, in particular LGBTQ people (including runaway and homeless youth), women of color and immigrants.” Enforcement of the law has come to be particularly harmful to transgender New Yorkers “because the police are more likely to mistakenly believe transgender people are sex workers.”
These are the consequences of a statute that provides little to no guidance—and confers broad discretion—in enforcement, and inevitably encourages police profiling based on perceived ethnicity, national origin, and immigration status by permitting arrests of individuals who, according to police, ‘look like prostitutes.’
Action 3: Call Governor Cuomo to #CancelRent before June ends (when the ban on evictions is lifted) and provide more mortgage relief for homeowners
Gov Cuomo's office: 1-518-474-8390
“44% of black tenants said they have little or no confidence they would be able to meet their next rent payment, according to the latest snapshot of census.”
Organizing on the ground to get governor to cancel rent: https://cbs6albany.com/news/coronavirus/calls-on-governor-to-cancel-rent-for-struggling-tenants-cuomo-responds-to-concerns
Action 4: Sign the petition for Breonna Taylor.
While the officers who murdered George Floyd have been at least charged, the officers who murdered Taylor, a young EMT shot 8 times in her home have yet to be. Taylor's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit two months after her killing, claiming charges of battery, wrongful death, excessive force, negligence and gross negligence The FBI are opening an investigation. Taylor deserves justice.
Actions: Text ENOUGH to 55156; sign the petition (Color of Change) to demand all officers are fired immediately; dial the mayor at 844-298-2731 to demand justice.
Action 5: No Knock Warrants (call your federal senator to support this legislation)
New York’s Senators:
Chuck Schumer
Direct Office #: (202) 224-6542
More Info: https://www.schumer.senate.gov/
Kirsten Gillibrand
Direct Office #: (202) 224-4451
More Info: https://www.gillibrand.senate.gov/
Bonus: Sign Governor Cuomo’s Legalize Gestational Surrogacy in New York
New York is one of only three states that ban the practice of gestational surrogacy, creating legal uncertainty and forcing many New York families to go through costly hurdles. Primary Goals being to support the Black community and the LGBTQ community, highlighting the need for change in both always, but especially now.
-------EXPLANATION OF OUR FEDERAL & STATE GOVERNMENT-------
FEDERAL:
Consists of two separate legislative chambers that make up Congress.
Senators represent their entire states, but members of the House represent individual districts acting on behalf of constituents in their districts when it comes to bills, resolutions, and other national issues in Congress.
Congress consists of both senators and house reps (both congressmen). Right now, congress consists of 100 senators (two from each state) and 435 voting members of the House of Representatives.
A U.S. Representative represents a state at the federal level, an Assemblymen represents a state at the non-federal level.
To Find out who Federally represents you: https://ballotpedia.org/Who_represents_me?fbclid=IwAR2dVv5iH_Q_WLPNSAT30J2WdBY3SVqc6k4x8tZ7RDJBIhV17hUdSrYk1bI
Office Numbers for House Reps. - Based on State name & district number:
https://www.house.gov/representatives
Senator Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
Simply say the name of your US Senator ("Chuck Schumer, please") and they will direct you to their phones (or voicemail).
New York’s Senators:
Chuck Schumer
Direct Office #: (202) 224-6542
More Info: https://www.schumer.senate.gov/
Kirsten Gillibrand
Direct Office #: (202) 224-4451
More Info: https://www.gillibrand.senate.gov/
STATE:
Every state, except Nebraska, consists of two separate legislative chambers (similar to the Federal level).
Governors hold power to enforce state laws and sign or veto bills passed by the state legislature.
The New York State Senate is the upper of the two legislative bodies that deal with state laws and bills.
New York State Assembly Members is the lower of the legislative bodies and they deal with bills before they go on to the Senate. The Assembly is also divided into districts, but districts that differ from those used by the state Senate.
NY Governor:
Andrew M. Cuomo
Office Number: 518-474-8390
More Info: https://www.governor.ny.gov/
To Find out Who represents you (NY):
State Senators:
https://www.nysenate.gov/find-my-senator
*For Rockaway:
11693: Joseph P. Addabbo Jr, District 15 | Phone: 518- 455-2322
11692: James Sanders Jr., District 10 | Phone: 518-455-3531
State Assembly Members:
https://nyassembly.gov/mem/search/
*For Rockaway:
11693: Stacey Pheffer Amato, District 23 | Phone: 518-455-4292
11692: Currently NO COVERAGE! (We need to change this!), District 31 | 518-455-5668
CITY:
The Mayor dictates city policy, appoints and oversees city departments, etc.
The Public Advocate for the City (NYC specific) acts as a watchdog on the activities of city agencies and the voice of New Yorkers in local government. The public advocate is also a member of the City Council who can introduce and sponsor legislation, but not vote on it.
The City Comptroller is in charge of the city's finances, budget, and auditing city agencies.
The City Council Members runs separately from the mayor’s office, the Council votes on proposed laws at a city level and monitors local agencies.
The Borough President (NYC specific). These five elected officials advocate on behalf of their boroughs to the Mayor’s Office. They have a sizable say in public land use in their boroughs.
City Reps (NYC):
Mayor: Bill de Blasio | Phone: 212- 788-7585 | Info: https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/bio.page
Public Advocate: Jumaane D. Williams | Phone: 212-669-7200 | Info: https://www.pubadvocate.nyc.gov/
City Comptroller: Scott Stringer | Phone: 212- 669-3916 | Info: https://comptroller.nyc.gov/
City Councilmen: https://council.nyc.gov/districts/
*Rockaway:
11693: Eric A. Ulrich, District 32 | Phone: 212-788-7069
11692: Donovan J. Richards, District 31 | Phone: 212-788-7216
Borough Presidents:
Manhattan: Gale Brewer, 212-531-1609
Brooklyn: Eric L. Adams, 718-802-3700
Queens: Sharon Lee, 718-286-3000
The Bronx: Ruben Diaz Jr., 718-590-3557
Staten Island: James Oddo, 718-816-2000