Erik Bottcher recently released a slick YouTube video for his campaign for City Council in District 3, which includes Greenwich Village, Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen.
“I almost didn’t make it,” he says, poignantly, at the start of the clip.
Bottcher recounts how he grew up in a small town Upstate in the Adirondack Mountains, but suffered “as a closeted gay kid.”
“In New York City, I found community,” he says. “I dedicated myself to public service and activism.”
He goes on to list issues he has worked on and fought for during his political career, from legalizing gay marriage in New York to tenants’ rights.
I must disagree with Mr. Marcus on the question of Erik Bottcher and his candidacy for a seat on the City Council. Erik has been a frequent presence in our Chelsea neighborhood. He turns out to support the people’s causes. He has spoken out and turned out for labor disputes, tennants’ problems, equal rights for all, justice under the law and other things that have come up in the time I’ve known him. He has been working tirelessly during the past year getting food to those who need it, distributing masks, and giving people a sense of community. He organized a group of citizens from the district to pick up litter and plant in unoccupied tree pits, improving the neighborhood physically this way and socially by creating a sense of togetherness and ownership for the people. I’ve always found him to be an interested listener, who takes the thoughts of others seriously. I think he is exactly what we need.
Yes, that’s the Erik I knew too; nice guy, affable, big smile, shows up and ready to agree and tell you what you want to hear. And while he can be commended for lending a hand to the needy and sprucing up the neighborhood, when it comes to big new leadership ideas or standing up against the forces that would overrun the community and supporting the quality of life issues most important to its residents, he puts his finger to the wind and bows to the special interests that can make or break his political aspirations, ignoring the constituents he pledged to serve. In that regard, he learned from his mentor.
There are many things that will never be in Erik’s video or in his bio but that is because he has nothing to show or write about. He talks touchy-feely but cannot point to any specific accomplishments or specific things that he will do to accomplish all those nice things he talks about. Where’s the beef?
Where are his leadership skills and how has he used them to score great achievements? Serving as Corey Johnson’s admin these past several years hardly puts him in a position to be an effective leader. To the contrary, in that position he learned the art of snookering the electorate and betraying their trust.
We need seasoned experience; not someone who believes he is the rightful heir to that seat. It’s the people’s seat and no one constituency can lay claim to it.
One issue that will never be in Erik’s video is his role in stopping a vote on the Small Business Jobs Survival Act. A bill giving rights to business owners for 10-year leases, equal rights to negotiate new lease terms and binding arbitration to stop rent gouging and forcing tenants to pay landlords’ property taxes. Why doesn’t Erik want his businesses to have rights? At least some rights for a fighting chance to survive. What is Erik’s role since the Oct. 2018 hearing in denying economic justice to small business owners? Our merchants could have used democracy to work and give them a 10-year lease and no property taxes. Why isn’t Erik making it a priority to save his small businesses and jobs?
Says nothing, does nothing.