The local paper for the Upper East Side
FALL 2017
WEEK OF AUGUST
EDUCATION P.11
24-30 2017
City Council Member Ben Kallos, who is running for reelection to his Upper East Side seat, campaigning this summer in Carl Schurz Park. Photo: Ben Kallos Campaign
UPSTARTS SPAR FOR KALLOS SEAT POLITICS Democrat Socialist Bobilin and community activist Goodwin face steep odds in bid to oust Upper East Side incumbent BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN
Two veterans of the insurgent Bernie Sanders campaign — who watched an anti-establishment long shot come breathtakingly close to toppling a candidate once branded inevitable — are vying to unseat incumbent City Council Member Ben Kallos. Raised by a single mother, trained as an engineer and animated by the mission of community organizing, Patrick Bobilin is a proud member of
the Democratic Socialists of America who unselfconsciously describes himself as a “perennial protester.” Forged in the political firefights and community battles of East Harlem, Gwen Goodwin is a neighborhood activist who carries the battle scars from what she terms her “historic campaigns” — including defeats in previous bids for the City Council in 2009 and 2013 and a failed effort to get on the ballot in 2005. The 34-year-old Bobilin and the 56-year-old Goodwin, who both cite the Sanders race against heavilyfavored Hillary Clinton as a source of inspiration, are challenging the 36-year-old Kallos in the Democratic primary for City Council District 5 on September 12.
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One classroom drinking fountain at P.S. 6, The Lillie Devereaux Blake School, an elementary school on East 81st Street, had lead results of 3,268.2 ppb, more than 200 times greater than the action level. Photo: Jim.henderson
LEAD IN WATER WAS COMMON IN CITY SCHOOLS INFRASTRUCTURE Department of Education says remediation of outlets was immediate BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
Department of Education testing showed that drinking water in a number of Upper East Side schools, including P.S. 6, The Lillie Devereaux Blake School, contained lead at concentrations many times greater than state-
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mandated action levels for the toxic metal during the last school year. The New York City DOE completed lead testing on drinking and cooking water outlets in every public school in the city during the 2016-2017 school year. Results showed that 83 percent of school buildings had at least one water sample with lead levels above the action level of 15 parts per billion. Elevated lead levels were found in roughly 8 percent of all samples. After testing, the DOE sent letters notifying parents and staff of their individual school’s results. Results
for each building were made available on schools’ individual websites, but a single, comprehensive database of results for each outlet tested in every
CONTINUED ON PAGE 9 Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday, August 25 – 7:21 pm. For more information visit www.chabaduppereastside.com.
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