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What’s Going On – 2/17

NEW YORK, NY

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg dons the cover of CITY & STATE New York Magazine which includes an interesting trend piece about “The Shift In Black Power from Harlem To Brooklyn.” Check out the CITY & STATE New York issue which includes Real Estate Power 100, which reflects the forces shaping the next phase of development in New York. The RE power elite is short on diversity. Like most power lists, it is dominated by white males.

Hope Knight

Adolfo Carrion, newly appointed NYC Commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development and former President/CEO Of the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation Hope Knight, who Governor Kathy Hochul nominated President/CEO of the Empire State Development Corporation ranked in the top 20. Other Black RE elites include Alicka Amprey-Samuel, Regional HUD Administrator, Congress member Ritchie Torres; Kyle Bragg, President 32BJ SEIU; City Council Subcommittee Chairs, Farah Louis and Kevin Riley; real estate baron Don Peebles, The Peebles Corporation; Meredith Marshall and Geoff Flournoy, BRP Companies, real estate developers in Brooklyn and Queens.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams and NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams agreed to set aside $75 million for Fair Fare funding, which would make discounted Metro Cards available to low-income New Yorkers. Adams named NY Urban League President/CEO Arva Rice as Interim Chair of the NYC Civilian Complaint Review Board. There are lots of key administrative posts to fill. Hizzoner visited Albany for the first time since becoming mayor. He failed to get Democratic Legislative Leaders, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, to consider reforms to NYS criminal justice machinery re: no-bail and the role of judges. The NYS Democrats 2-day Convention begins on February 16 in NYC.
Midterms/NY: Redistricting is taking its toll on Congressional incumbents from coast to coast. Redrawn districts will force many into highly competitive Primary races, where loss is an outcome. NY Rep Kathleen Rice from Long Island will not run for re-election. Former NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio decided against a 2022 Congressional run.

THE NATION
Are there some cracks in Republic Party unity? Loyalist/former VP Mike Pence admitted that Trump was wrong saying that Pence had the right to overturn the 2020 election. A few days later Republican Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell admits that January 6, 2021 was a “violent insurrection,” not a “legitimate political discourse” as described by the Republican National Committee. Is there a wing of the GOP which does not fear the wrath of Trump?
What’s happening behind closed doors at the Democratic National Convention? Rumors abound about an early exit for DNC Chair Jaime Harrison. He has not promoted a victory strategy for Democrats this year. Media prognosticators say Democrats will lose their majority in the House and that Republicans need only one more seat for a Senate majority in November. Then there is the voting law changes in highly populated states and battleground states, designed to dilute the Black vote. Election 2022 is going to be as important as the 2020 elections.
President Biden will announce his Black female Supreme Court nominee by month’s end. From a field of about 14 talented women, there is a short list of three, J. Michelle Childs, US District Court, SC; Leondra Kruger, Supreme Court California, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, US Court Of Appeals, DC.

Harold E. Doley Jr.

BLACK ENTERPRISE
In 1972, Harold E. Doley Jr. was the first African American individual to buy a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. There are no longer NYSE individual memberships. Ambassador Harold Doley is an investment banker and the founder of the oldest African American owned investment banking firm in the United States. Co-founder of the US-Africa Chamber of Commerce, Doley served as the US Representative to the African Development Bank and Fund (AfDB) from 1983 to 1985 when the U.S. became a Bank stockholder. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, he began his career in investment banking in 1968.
HIPHOP icon, Calvin (Snoop Dogg) Broadus, one of Super Bowl 2022 half time performers, bought DEATH ROW Records, the label that propelled him, Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur and a large roster of HIPHOP rappers to international wealth and fame. He bought DEATH ROW from hedge fund owners. No purchase price was disclosed.

NEWSMAKERS
Simone Biles, seven time Olympic medalist and her National Football League beau, Jonathan Owens, a defensive back for the Houston Texans announced their engagement on Valentine’s Day.
New Yorkers Kendall Sidberry and Alyah Horsford, owner of Cove Lounge, Harlem’s popular GenX retreat, celebrate their 21st wedding anniversary at a Sandal’s sanctuary in the Caribbean this week.
RIP: A man for all seasons Cliff Frazier, 87, died on February 3. Born in Detroit, Harlem became his home. An accomplished actor in Detroit, he fell into the NY acting scene when he arrived in 1965. He ran training programs in acting and theater arts for young people of color and was named Chair of Woodie King’s New Federal Theatre for 15 years. Fixated on acting, his life purpose changed when Dr. Martin Luther King died.

Clliff Frazier

Frazier decided to dedicate his life to King’s vision of a “Beloved Community,” one devoid of racism, violence, and poverty. To that end, he founded organizations and forged partnerships with people who shared his values. He worked with Ossie Davis who helped train and prepare more than 2000 young people of color enter New York’s media world. Through his Harlem-based nonprofit, International Communications Association, which he co-founded with partners Voza Rivers and Ademola Olugebefola, they acquired the Dwyer Warehouse on 123 Street on St. Nicholas Avenue which was converted to a 10- story, 51- unit Condominium complex, which houses the Dwyer Cultural Center. His funeral will be held on February 19 at Harlem’s historic Abyssinian Baptist Church on West 138 Street.

A Harlem-based management consultant, Victoria Horsford can be reached at
victoria.horsford@gmail.com

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