With so many consequential actions taking place in Albany and Washington, now is the time for engaged citizens to speak out about the issues that matter to them and to their communities.

New York Senate District 17 for Progress (NYSD 17 for Progress) was launched in 2016 by residents of State Senate District 17 (Flatbush, Kensington, Midwood, Borough Park, Sunset Park, Sheepshead Bay, Bensonhurst) to address key issues in our neighborhoods and state, and to directly engage our Senate representative, Simcha Felder. We felt that too many matters, such as affordable health care, criminal justice reform, voting reforms, and street safety, were not getting enough attention from the Senator or his staffers.

...

We hosted a public forum on the New York Health Act — a bill advocates say could provide quality health care to every New Yorker — but our state senator declined our invitation to attend. What’s more, he has never discussed the legislation publicly in any detail, even after we were joined by 25 other community organizationswho called on him to engage in a dialogue on the bill. And during his recent push for armed security guards in schools, we sent the Senator a series of questionsasking him to explain his position and share if he would be open to new gun regulations. Once again, he did not respond.

Read the full op-ed here.