Sponsored Content – Paid by Committee to Elect Nikki Lucas
Thank You for participating in the democratic process last Tuesday, June 23, 2020. Our team members did extremely well this election, winning 11 of the 13 Judicial Delegate seats and 9 of the 11 Alternate Judicial Delegate seats that we supported. Judicial Delegates have an important role which allows them the ability to both nominate and vote for candidates wishing to become Supreme Court Judges. Congratulations to an amazing team of elected community residents!
This election is one of the most crucial in our lifetime. We face an uphill battle for affordable housing and we need systemic change to fight against gentrification, which could make our district completely unaffordable. I am running for City Council in the 42nd District. My reasons for running include the lack of transparency surrounding the sale of NYCHA, the scarcity of opportunities that lead to home ownership, lack of access to technology, lack of quality affordable healthcare and lack of accountability for NYPD misconduct. I am also running because our seniors need to be protected, and our children including those with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) deserve the same high quality education as their peers across the city.
By now you are probably aware that parts of NYCHA have been sold and other sections have been leased to private developers, which may lead to the gentrification of our community. For the past 10 years, NYCHA and city officials have been working with developers to craft a plan to privatize NYCHA, while our residents were left in the dark.
My platform is wholly based on proactive solutions. When I am in the City Council I will work with all levels of government, including federal, state and local, to prevent non-transparent acts such as what occurred with the sale of NYCHA. I will work to ensure that every resident in NYCHA, as well as residents of other Multi-Family dwellings are well informed about any changes that might impact their housing before there is a crisis.
I will also work to open the door to increased home ownership, whether it’s a co-op, condo or house. Our community can no longer continue to be reactive, after the ink has dried.
By working with community members like you, we can move our neighborhood forward with proper technology for seniors, students and parents. Everyone deserves to have the same access to information.
During the COVID-19 pandemic our community has been exposed as being ill prepared. Our seniors were left with less than adequate ways to connect with their loved ones and too many of our students were without the proper digital devices and in-home internet connections.
With regard to holding the NYPD and individual officers accountable for misconduct and police brutality, as a start, we would like to invite you to be a part of the movement to replace the appointed Civilian Complaint Review Board with the Elected Civilian Review Board (ECRB). The ECRB will include residents from the community and the board will have the ability to enact appropriate levels of accountability when an officer’s misconduct is proven.
To volunteer please send an email to nikkilucas4citycouncil@gmail.com. Stay tuned for the launch of our new campaign website. You will be invited to be a part of our launch event.
Please join me in our proactive movement, ‘Real Solutions for Change’. You can participate in the movement for change and transparency by sharing this information with others, becoming a volunteer or making a contribution to our campaign by clicking the link below. Every contribution is important to the movement, whether it’s $5, $10 or even $100.
https://www.nycvotes.org/campaigns/nikkilucas/contributions/new
Thank you again for participating in the election process
Yours Committed in Service,
Nikki Lucas
Thank you Ms. Lucas for Fighting for affordable housing quality healthcare New York police misconduct protection for seniors high-quality education for all children. You are truly a blessing to society may the Lord continue to strengthen keeping and bless you. I wished I lived in the Brooklyn district 21 you would definitely without a shadow of a doubt have my vote, however I am in North Carolina but I’m wishing you the best and praying for you.
I appreciate the work you are doing in East New York. It finally seems like someone cares about what’s happening on this side of town.
Dear Nikki Lucas/City Council Candidate,
I hope all is well with you and your family during this Pandemic crisis. I am avid follower of you and I am happy that you are running for City Council for East New York. Nikki on your tract record and platform you are running on concerns many East New York as myself and all residents of NYCHA are well inform about changes that might impact our lives before there is a crisis. Please read my story on Injustice, Racism, Accusations, Abuse, Inequality, Abuse, Neglect and Harassment Management at Linden Houses is doing to my son and me.
East New York needs someone such as you to work with our community members to make our neighborhood forward with proper Technology for seniors, students and parents like high quality education and myself for the children. You will hold the NYPD accountable to misconducts, police brutality and keeping our streets of East New York safe.
Nikki Lucas of all these issues that are facing East New York and myself such as housing and people with disability are issues facing with me everyday in my life.
My Name is Martine Eugene a single mother who lives in NYCHA apartment for 22 years trying to get justice for my son and me. The main focus why I am writing to you today for the injustice Section-8 is creating to the tenants in NYCHA.
After visiting Linden Housing Management on January 6 2021, to show them a picture just prove to them it was me in front of my house coming from work finding pieces of glass bottles in front of my apartment, next day on the 7th I received the screenshot on my photo library and when I try to open it was asking unusual questions. Messages coming from a strange email: Food-Stamps.com thanking me for signing up for Food Stamps how ironic when I opened it’s saying that it is a nongovernment link. To make his or her cases, there is someone from HRA as a third party which I was assigned to do an internship but when the Covid-19 started everything had stop but still sending any information on HRA. I don’t know if there are any connections with housing since their hacked both of my emails. The person has been sending mixed messages as well which I caught the difference on the right email that was sent earlier. They are monitoring everything I say; when I start to explain to a friend by email the next day she makes the correction. For the month of February I did not received my Food Stamp, and the rent payment but receive the cash. My Public assistance is one case, which include the cash assistance, Food Stamp, and the rent. I cannot understand I receive the cash but everything else I ‘am not receiving; when I check the HRA website it says everything is active. I live in Linden Houses for 22 years and all of these things are happening to me, especially of finding a job because someone at Linden Housing Management office hacked my email. This needs to come to a stop.
I placed a medical and emergency order to transfer to another Housing facility that is much suitable and accessible for my son’s to come home. I had wrote a letter also to Governor Cuomo by letting him know what’s is going on with my son in that facility, then he responded to me by sending a letter to OPWDD upstate NY for my son to come home. Now the issues is with Housing that’s harassing me in signing to section 8 which I refuse and now they refusing to accommodate the medical and emergency transfer request for my son to come home. Due to all the stuff that NYCHA has been doing for years now is causing all kind of issues for tenants. I will send you my complaint and incident letter on what’s been going on. Please I would like for you to pay attention to my cry before my son and me become the next victim like George Floyd. As you know that there is a lot going on with Racism and Discrimination. I don’t want this facility to use Covid-19 like many other places are doing to our black population by killing them. Now it’s a New Year, usually it’s time to renew my lease, but when I went on the portal it’s stating for me to sign a consent form that I had never seen before. The form is stating that I will be sued for money that I do not owe. When I saw the form I called the Housing assistant to explain to me about this new form that is on the portal, she said it’s been there all the time. This is an emergency and medical transfer that was approved since January 2020 and now NYCHA wants to delay the process and start all over by adding their own issues because I reported all they’ve done to me.
On January 6, 2021 I went to Linden Houses Management to report to them the incident, complaint, list of items and receipts of belongings that was lost in the floods, molds, and leaks. I was sent by Congressman Hakeem Jeffries office to bring the receipts, incidents, and complaints so NYCHA can replace my belongings that were lost. On January 7, 2021 after seeing them the same thing that were happening such as deleting of my emails and also sending emails so I can get help all were suspended. Not only now they are sending me messages pretending they are from HRA also deleting the response HRA had sent me for my recertification. Pretending they are HRA in sending mixed messages from different emails. The second reason for doing so it’s because on the complaint and incidence letter I brought to Linden Housing Management mentioning that they are charging me for rent because Housing never wait for the second portion of the payment to come from HRA instead they keep on adding the money and saying that I owe them. On top of this Management is charging me for two air conditions, which I only have one, the second air condition one of their workers had knocked down and damage it. The message I had from HRA response was someone will call me but instead it was someone from housing pretending to be HRA asking me questions as an inspector, which HRA doesn’t.
On January 7th 2021 I attended a Town Hall meeting by phone, which Councilman Charles Barron was in attendant to clarify why Obama sign the NYCHA into RAD/PAC because NYCHA missed used the funds from HUD. My Name is Martine Eugene a single Mother who lives in a NYCHA Linden Housing apartment for the last 22 years trying to get justice for my son and me. The main focus why I am writing to you today is the injustice Section-8 is creating to the tenants of Linden Housing and other issues with my son.
The Section-8 program is not supported by many tenants of Linden Housing it have its critics such as myself. The people against the programs include Black Lives Matter President Anthony Beckford for District 45, Rodrigo Camarena for District 38, Victoria Cambranes for District 33, Rick Echevarría for District 37, and Marni Halasa for District 3 in Manhattan. All have issued statements that RAD is “a bad deal” for public housing tenants. “Housing has always been an issue, especially those that live in neighborhoods with a good amount of NYCHA developments. The issues of NYCHA are blatantly being ignored, and the agenda by the local administration to privatize NYCHA keeps pushing forward. All it’s doing is displacing more and more people. Especially during COVID,” said Beckford. Mr. Echevarría said that the RAD conversions could lead to privatization because it opens up Section 8 subsidies that developers then use for financing which they can’t do in the current model. Developers, said Echevarría, in the private market option could end up prioritizing high-earning Section 8 tenants. Echevarría said he understands that RAD is a quicker fix to the immediate problem of repairs and renovations but their needs to be a better source of housing for all lower-income households. “RAD conversions are a shortsighted privatization scheme that would have NYCHA tenants living within construction sites, breathing in all that dust, paint, and whatever else kicks up,” said Cambranes, adding that, “It’s a proven eviction-machine, and while tenants may enjoy new kitchen upgrades, their rights and protections will deteriorate just as their buildings have for so long.” The RAD/PAC representatives who were intendance are black mailing the tenants of NYCHA to enrolled into Section-8 despite Covid-19 epidemic is at a high. They want the tenants to signup in 30 days instead of waiting tell the Covid-19 is over.
From a young age, I have faced many challenges that most wouldn’t be able to overcome. I can certainly Attest that a higher power has been guiding and watching over me throughout my life. At age of 14, I immigrated to the United States, and became homeless at the age of seventeen. My only comfort was to pray for my education, as that is the key to success. With education, I would someday overcome all deception, disrespect and humiliation I have to endure.
Throughout my life, what kept me going was my promise to be there for my children, no matter the cost. At the age of twenty-six, I give birth to my only child, Kha, with the expectation of having more children. However, his father walked out on us when my son was only two months old, making that impossible. I was worried about how I was going to support my son, as I did not have a college degree. However, I decided to keep being there for my son no matter what obstacles came our way.
At the age of three months, Kha was not showing signs of normal child development. I was very concerned, and I decided to have him seen by medical professionals. After various hospitals visit, I discovered that he had cerebral palsy a developmental disorder of movement, muscle tone, and motor skills. I was devastated and feared for my son’s future. Knowing how it felt to grow up alone and without my parents, I committed myself to making sure son always felt loved and protected.
During this experience, I have come to realize that God never gives you more than you can bear. Despite being a single mother, I earned a master’s degree in health sciences at Long Island University. With my son in therapy, I managed to balance the responsibilities of being a student as well as a mother. After earning my degree, I began working as a teacher at Helen Keller for the blind. I provided support to other parents coping with the challenges of raising children with disabilities. One day, after sending my son off to school, I received a call at work that my son was unable to walk or stand on his own. I asked what had happened. No one knew I left work to go see my son at the school. When I arrived, he was sitting in a corner with his leg swollen. After examining him thoroughly, I called for an ambulance. At the hospital, the doctor determined that my son had a fracture ankle. I decided to stay home to take care of him. During this time, I fought the Board of Education to get a certified home-school teacher for him, while we waited for them to approve my request to put him in boarding school. Boarding school would be great for both of us, as I would be able to work towards my retirement, and he could get better care.
In 2006, I finally found an agency that accepted my son. I developed a great relationship with this agency while my son was in their boarding school. I even thought of moving closer to the school. Everything was running smoothly until my son graduated from that school and was place into one of the agency’s residential facilities in September 2016. During the first week my son was there, I received a call from a staff member that was very disturbing. He asked me what I did for a living, and if I was a drug dealer since I was able to provided for my son. Unbelievably, another staff member also told me that since my son was an adult, he would be taking him to a club and giving him liquor. I was speechless and did not know how to respond. Since then, things have only gotten worse. Kha has been mistreated in so many ways at this facility. I do not trust these people to properly care for him. While in their care, my son’s condition has regressed to the point where he no longer makes much effort to interact with me, or others. I have reported the staff’s behavior to agency, but instead of helping me, they twisted my words and did not respond to my request. This situation has caused me great deal of stress.
In additional to facing the challenges concerning my son, I am also going through difficult circumstances personally. I feel as though my entire life has turned upside down. Even in the apartment that I live, a lot has turned upside down. Even in the apartment that I live, a lot has happened that caused me to fear for my safety. Since June 2017, I have not had gas in my home. This left me without the ability to cook with a toaster. One day, I decided to go to see Rev. Al Sharpton to tell him about what was happening. As I arrived back home, I smelled a strong odor, which smelled like gas. I called 311, and they sent the fire department. When the man arrived, all he did was unplug the oven, informing me that the gas company would be coming soon. Surprisingly, the man from the gas company did not find anything wrong with the oven at first. I left the kitchen and went to the living room to answer a call. When I returned, he told me that something was wrong with the oven.
About a month later as I was lying in bed in the afternoon, I heard a loud noise. When I went to look, I saw a housing worker standing outside, and my air conditioner was outside on the floor. When I asked why he did that, he started smiling and laughing, and being very sarcastic towards me. Later that day, one of my neighbors instructed me to get help, because he believes someone is trying to break into my apartment. He gave me two numbers to call: the police department, and the housing hotline of my building. I called the housing hotline for both the air conditioner and the oven. I placed a ticket, but no one came for the air conditioner. Instead, the lady instructed me to pick up the AC and put it inside. After I explained to her that my air conditioner was too heavy for me to carry, she assured me they would send someone to help, but they didn’t. After a couple of days, a neighbor came and asked me if I need help and offered to bring my AC inside. I agreed and thank him. He advised me to take pictures of what happened before he picked it up, so I did. He also told me that it was a housing worker who knocked down my AC, which was why I heard that loud noise because he believed someone might have been plotting against me. Later, I called the police about the incident. They told me that nothing that could be done.
Since then people have been coming into my apartment, I am sure of this because one day, I came from work so tired that I went to sleep. At 2:00 AM in the morning, I was awakened by a beeping noise. It was the carbon monoxide monitor that went off. I knew the oven was not plugged in, so I didn’t understand why the monitor going off. I went to the kitchen to find that oven was in fact plugged in. Additionally, I also notice that things in the house were missing. Although no one has my number, people are contacting me left and right. Some of the messages say that I am being sued and leave messages to contact them.
Please listen to my cry as a family man you know that family comes first. I have try so had to get a respond with this matter and I can not get any resolve, because of this it’s causing me to have sleepless nights, overwhelmed and I am also really worried about my son’s health due to all the facility is doing towards him.
I love my only son dearly. He is what God gave me, and I will be there for him as long as I live. No one will stop me. However, my circumstances have left me feeling helpless. I’m asking for help to save my son, the only Ruby that I have. I want him to be in a safe and loving home, where I can provide for him and all of his needs.
I am asking for your help in this process as soon as possible so I can make a better life experience for my son and me. Thank you kindly for all and May God bless you and your family. I can be reach at (516) 530-0139 or Email:holyname123@gmail.com
Sincerely
Martine Eugene
Martine Eugene