[Anonymous]

This is for the Newport community, but if you live anywhere along the waterfront, may apply. I wanted to see if there was any interest in having an info session with Steve Fulop, our local councilman. I had him into our building a few years ago, and he was very receptive; basically he came and talked about what’s going on in downtown / Ward “E”, and answered questions. Issues run from the mundane to the complex (local park renovations, street parking issues, safety issues, education issues, tax abatements, etc).

FYI about my involvement with Fulop…I have done some volunteer work for him in the past on get-out-the-vote stuff, but other than that I’m just someone who has bugged him for meet-and-greets in the past, and I’ve learned he’s very accessible and professional.

If there is interest, I can reach out to him and ask him if he can schedule something. I would only do this if there is enough interest to warrant an organized event; anyone can reach out to him individually (I’ve provided his contact info below) and he’s extremely busy because he has a full-time job on top of his councilman duties. A strict no-show policy would have to be in effect for any event to ensure we don’t waste his time, but I imagine we could schedule something even on the weekend if needbe, given so many of us work and are busy with kids during the week.

A few notes I’ll just add as you think if this type of meet-and-greet with Fulop interests you:

1. I recently gave Steve some feedback about outreach in Newport, said there could be greater outreach up here, and now is a great time because we have such a large, vibrant community and so many young families. He understands this, and I think he’s open to outreach but in fairness there should be interest among us as a community too.
2. We all pay property taxes (even if you rent, it’s baked in) and we all deserve service from the city and local government. It does NOT matter if you can vote or not, if you pay taxes you deserve service/response from the city.
3. The local security changes from Lefrak demonstrates that Lefrak as a private entity can do pretty much whatever it wants. I am not “anti-Lefrak”, in fact I find it hugely beneficial to live here because Lefrak takes care of this area so well, but recent changes concern me, because it shows leverage that Lefrak has with respect to answering to us as a community (they really don’t have to…only a renters’ strike would tip leverage). Even those of us who live in James Monroe, we pay fees to Lefrak for upkeep of our complex. BUT…we have rights as citizens of this city and it’s good to know what those rights are and feel comfortable reaching out to local reps like Fulop if needbe.

If an info session doesn’t interest you but you want to contact Fulop separtely, his info is below:

Steve Fulop email: fulops@…
Steve Fulop website: http://stevenfulop.com/

Thanks
Brigid

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