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Brad Lander and the 39th District

Since his election in November 2009, fresh-faced city (how is he fresh faced? Is he young?) councilman Brad Lander has proven himself as progressive force to his constituents in downtown Brooklyn.

Most recently (When?), Lander introduced a “participatory budgeting” initiative, which lets constituents weigh in on the spending of $1 Million in capital funding that is to be reinvested in the community. District 39's Neighborhood Budget Assembly's will serve as a forum for residents to voice where they would like to see the money spent –whether is be on fixing potholes or funding schools – and choose budget delegates. (This is interesting, you could get into this more. When will it begin? Where will the community want the money?)

Lander represents the 39th district in Brooklyn, which consists of Borough Park, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Columbia Waterfront, Gowanus, Kensington, Park Slope, Prospect Park, and Windsor Terrace. (This could be the second graph, give a little more demographics)

Lander has been endorsed by prominent members in the Jewish community in Brooklyn, even while he holds sometimes controversial opinions about the Israel-Palestine conflict. While he maintains his support for the state of Israel, he disagrees with the American Council for Judaism, citing their Zionist leanings.

In 2003 (What was he doing then?), he came under fire from some members in the Jewish community following a set of controversial remarks he and his wife made during his son's brit.

"Your name contains our deep hope that you will explore and celebrate your Jewish identity without confusing it with nationalism," they said. "We pray fervently that by the time you read this, the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza will be history."The remarks were published in Wrestling with Zion, a "compilation of progressive Jewish-American responses to the Israeli - Palestinian conflict." Tony Kushner, the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright and activist, edited the work. (Why is this important to his political career? This is a long graph that doesn’t add too much to the story)

In an October 16 interview with the Jewish Press Lander expressed regret for some of his comments . "Look, I regret a couple of things," he said. "I regret some of the language I used, and I regret it being published in a way which can be taken out of context and exposes Israel to her terrorist enemies"

On June 1, 2010, Lander, along with city council-members Daniel Dromm and Julissa Ferrera and 50 other demonstrators, was arrested in lower Manhattan while protesting Arizona’s controversial immigration law. (This comes out of nowhere! But this might be the most interesting part of the story? How did it affect his career)

For picture give a caption, it’s hard to tell what’s going on in this picture

Give more personal and political history

What are some of his achievements?

I was interested what is now the second graph, that kind of stuff is good.