Espaillat to Host Impeachment Town Hall
Representative Adriano Espaillat (D-Washington Heights, Sugar Hill) will be hosting a forum on the impeachment process this Thursday.
“As a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, I had the opportunity to participate in several of the impeachment depositions held this week in Congress,” said Espaillat. “We, along with the American public, have learned that the actions of multiple senior national security officials have raised concerns about an ongoing pattern of corruption in the White House and throughout the Trump administration. We know that it is inappropriate for the President to pressure a foreign country to undermine our elections, and we know that we must follow the facts to hold him accountable for doing so.”
The event will take place on Thursday, Oct. 24 from 6-7:30 p.m. at Vladeck Hall at the Amalgamated Housing Corporation, 74 Van Cortlandt Park S.
Maloney to Hold Press Conference on Gun Ownership and Suicide Rates
Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens) will be holding a press conference today on the connection between gun ownership and suicide rates.
At the conference, Maloney will be announcing the release of a new report that links our widespread access to firearms to our suicide epidemic. The report finds that having access to a gun triples one’s risk of death by suicide. It also details striking differences in suicide prevalence between people in different demographic groups.
The conference will take place today at 1 p.m. at the Longworth House Office Building in Washington, D.C.
Rivera, Epstein Announce Update on Joseph Sauer Playground Fence
Assemblyman Harvey Epstein (D-Lower East Side, East Village) and Carlina Rivera (D-East Village, Gramercy Park) released a joint statement yesterday updating the community on the Joseph Sauer Playground’s renovation.
Specifically, they wanted to let the community know that the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation had agreed to keep the playground’s fence at its current height of eight feet. Originally, the Department had planned to lower the height to four feet, a change that several local activists claimed would make the park less secure.
“We are proud to stand with the community and parks advocates who persisted in asking that the Parks Department recognize the safety needs at Joseph Sauer Playground,” reads the statement. “The voices of New Yorkers who use local parks every day must be heard when we decide how our capital dollars are spent, and we want to thank Commissioner Mitchell Silver and the Parks team for listening and addressing those concerns in this instance.”
Velázquez Invites Big Tech Companies to Testify
Recently, Representative Nydia Velázquez (D-LES, Brooklyn, Queens) sent formal lettersto four major tech companies, inviting them to testify at a November hearing on small businesses.
Velázquez, the Chairwoman of the House Small Business Committee, announced her intention of holding the hearing earlier this month. At the hearing, Amazon, Google and Facebook, among other companies, would face questions on whether the companies are making the landscape inhospitable for small businesses.
“It is no secret that big tech platforms have grown exponentially in the digital era, altering the ways American consumers buy products and shifting many traditional business models,” said Velázquez. “Given this, I believe it is appropriate and necessary to bring big tech companies and small businesses to the table to discuss how the rise in online retail and digital platforms is shaping the playing field for America’s small firms. I look forward to the hearing and hope to confirm the presence of Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Apple in the coming weeks.”
