Spearheaded by Eric Dinowitz, who worked with Jones in advocating for the renovation, elected officials present at the news conference included Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz, Assemblywoman Nathalia Fernandez, and State Sen. Jamaal Bailey. North Central Bronx Hospital executive director Cristina Contreras also shared her excitement for the planned project.

This city continues to fail us as we attempt to begin the school year safely. Not utilizing any of the months since March to make a safe, equitable reopening plan is unacceptable, and the constant changes to the plan are throwing the lives of many families and educators into complete disarray. It’s time to chart a better path.

Many teachers see the reopening delay as the latest example of a poorly planned and executed return to in-person classes. Eric Dinowitz — an educator-turned politician — says teachers are used to planning out nearly every aspect of their jobs, from lesson plans, to individualized education programs, and everything in between.

Yet, these teachers say they haven’t seen that same level of planning from the city.

“I think the city botched this from the beginning,” Dinowitz said. “We know that this is a highly contagious virus. We know how it spreads. And there was almost no plan to address those specific needs.”

It’s not just their mood that can be affected by not eating — students who don’t eat in the morning often have trouble listening once they get to class, said Eric Dinowitz, a city council candidate who also works as a special education teacher.

“It not only interferes with a child’s ability to succeed academically, and to engage even emotionally in a class,” he said. “And that’s just the short term, of course. We know kids who are malnourished get sick more often, they miss more school. There are a lot of negative effects of our children missing a meal.”

"Even though our city is beginning to emerge after months of quarantine, our seniors continue to be our most vulnerable and susceptible to COVID... We cannot allow the “return to normalcy” to leave seniors behind"

As the pandemic continues to upend our lives, grocery workers, like so many other essential workers, have continued to be the quiet heroes of this crisis.

These essential workers enabled us to get groceries and cleaning supplies at the height of the pandemic, and deserve much better than the treatment they have received from Key Food thus far. It is unconscionable that Key Food has refused to rehire these workers simply because they are unionized, especially amidst a pandemic-induced recession.

Local resident and candidate for District 11 City Council seat, Eric Dinowitz, also participated in the clean-up efforts, saying it was vital that people took ownership of their own communities. “Parks are where families get together, friends meet, parents get to watch their kids grow up,” he said. “So, it’s very important for all of us to take ownership of our own parks and make sure they’re healthy and beautiful.

“The right time is not even now. The right time is a long time ago to address this. And the truth is, we’re not. And I think one of the things we’re all learning — especially those of us who consider themselves very liberal, progressive — is that we have a lot of reflecting to do.”

While it may be difficult for board members to acknowledge the the body doesn’t often address racism, reflecting on the issue, Dinowitz added, was crucial.

“As a white man, I am trying to amplify the voices of people of color,” Dinowitz said. “And I hope and I think that a lot of other people feel the same way.”

“I’d spoken to literally hundreds of seniors, and after mental health and food concerns, their No. 1 concern really was their ability to vote,' Dinowitz said. 'Some seniors had applied for an absentee ballot, and waited weeks and weeks and weeks, and were asking me when it’s going to come. I didn’t know. I ended up checking on it for a number of people... I said, let’s start this process in July so that the board has time to process it, people can get their ballots in right away, and then the board also has the staff to support this.”

Dinowitz also wanted to see the city put together an online tracker to allow voters to follow their application and absentee ballot all the way up to the minute it’s counted. He didn’t provide any details on how such a project would come together, or where funding would come from.

In order to improve the absentee process for the General Election when the desire to vote will be unprecedented, I'm proposing some common-sense solutions to protect the right to vote, including for the vote-by-mail system.