Opinion: Governing by Tweet, by George Fiala

Not much space to write this month, but that’s fine. I was actually going to write about how much of news gathering, as well as politicking, is done not in person anymore, but via Twitter and other non-social media thingies. So this can be like an expanded tweet.

I’m not sure if Red Hook yet knows this, but for the past couple years we have been represented in the State government not by Velmanette Montgomery and Felix Ortiz, who used to hang in the neighborhood occasionally, but even more, employed very visible representatives to do the local things that local politicians used to do, but by two people named Marcella Mitaynes and Jabari Brisport.

Maybe it’s just me, the publisher of a local paper, that never hears from them, and local newspapers are passe in this day and age, and why should they care about us anyway.

I did get all excited last month when I saw the community board advertise a meeting on last mile warehouses led by Jabari. This would be my chance to see what he knows about local issues,  but when I finally got to see it on Zoom, it turned out he only spoke for about a minute of a two hour meeting, mostly to say how nice it was that some people in the neighborhood were against warehouses.

What little I do know about these two legislators is mostly from their Twitter accounts.

They are both members of the what I consider the cultish Democratic Socialists of America, whose goal it seems is to slowly take over local government, rather than to actually govern.  Or else you could say that the governing they do is by tweeting platitudes.

A great majority of the other kind of tweets that I see are supportive of other DSA candidates and legislators, as well as raising funds for their DSA.

It kind of reminds me, an old timer, of AMWAY and their multi-level marketing strategy. If you’ve never heard of them, you can google it.

Author

  • George Fiala

    George Fiala has worked in radio, newspapers and direct marketing his whole life, except for when he was a vendor at Shea Stadium, pizza and cheesesteak maker in Lancaster, PA, and an occasional comic book dealer. He studied English and drinking in college, international relations at the New School, and in his spare time plays drums and fixes pinball machines.

    View all posts

Discover more from Red Hook Star-Revue

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Share:

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

Comments are closed.

READ OUR FULL PRINT EDITION

Our Sister Publication

Most Popular

On Key

Related Posts

MUSIC: Wiggly Air by Kurt Gottschalk

When 14th Street was Cooler. Back in the deep, dark ’90s, before the Meatpacking District was home to the Highline and the Whitney Museum and the Apple Store, West 14th Street housed one of the city’s great venues for music outside the norm, one that history seems to have left behind. The Cooler was a big, old, retrofitted, basement meat

You can find community at the Gowanus Wine Merchants

Entering Gowanus Wine Merchants at 493 3rd Ave. feels almost like entering a home. There are many types of wines and spirits from various regions, and each bottle has a handwritten note on it providing details about the wine. There are also treats and bowls for dogs, and toys for children. Enrique Lopez opened the shop in 2012 with a

Long-awaited report card shows improvement needed on rezoning commitments

The Gowanus Oversight Task Force (GOTF), charged with monitoring the city’s commitments towards the area’s 2021 rezoning, recently published a report on the status of several agreements. The commitments were created by Councilmember Brad Lander and Community Board Six as a way to soften the impact of forcibly transforming the mixed-use neighborhood from being somewhat like Red Hook into much

Court Street redesign was justified by an anecdotal survey

In the battle of Court Street, common arguments around the thoroughfare in its former and current conditions include double parking, traffic safety concerns, deliveries and modes of access to the corridor. We were able to obtain a copy of the survey commissioned by Mayor Adams. The survey was part of a report issued by the Deptartment of Transportation. The 81-page

Red Hook- Star Revue

FREE
VIEW