By Gus Saltonstall
The race to replace Assemblymember Daniel J. O’Donnell (widely known as Danny) on the Upper West Side and in Morningside Heights is beginning to take shape.
O’Donnell, who has represented the 69th District for more than 20 years, announced in November he would not be seeking reelection. The district stretches from West 80th to West 125th streets, and includes large sections of Riverside Park and Central Park.
A trio of Democratic candidates have announced thus far, with another candidate expected to enter the race in the near future.
The Democratic Primary will take place at the end of June, and campaigning is expected to ramp up quickly in the next couple of months.
Here are snapshots of the candidates.
Eli Northrup
Eli Northrup, a public defender and policy advocate, was the first person to announce his candidacy for the 69th Assembly District.
He works as a policy director at the Bronx Defenders and also spearheaded campaigns for cannabis legalization and bail reform in Albany.
“I may be new to politics, but representing people is what I’ve done for my entire career,” reads a section on Northrup’s campaign website. “I understand what representation means — it means that you listen, you show up, and you keep your word.”
Northrup lists community safety, affordable housing, and public education along with universal childcare as his top campaign pillars.
You can find out more about the candidate on his website — HERE.
Melissa Rosenberg
Melissa Rosenberg, a real estate lobbyist and longtime member of Community Board 7, was the second person to announce their candidacy for the 69th District.
Rosenberg is a vice president at Kaiser, where she most recently led the lobbying effort to secure approval of the Innovation QNS rezoning, the largest private rezoning in the history of the borough of Queens. Before joining Kaiser, she worked as a policy analyst at the Supportive Housing Network of NY.
“Melissa Rosenberg is an accomplished advocate for ensuring livability and affordability for all residents on the Upper West Side,” reads a section on Rosenberg’s campaign website. “She’s ready to take that fight to Albany.”
“Melissa has served on Manhattan Community Board 7 for the last seven years,” the site continues. “During this time she has proven herself to be a committed leader on issues related to housing, especially affordable housing, NYCHA, and homelessness.”
Rosenberg lists her main issues for the 69th Assembly District as the following:
- Affordability
- Tenant Protections
- Ending Street Homelessness
- Safer Streets
- Fix NYCHA
- Supporting our Seniors
You can find out more about Rosenberg on her website — HERE.
Barry Weinberg
Barry Weinberg, the former chair of Community Board 9 and current secretary of the Manhattan Democratic Party, was the third candidate to confirm his run for the Assembly District 69 seat.
Weinberg has a full-time job as a data analyst, but he has been very active in Manhattan community/political affairs in recent years. In 2013, he joined Community Board 9, which stretches from West 110th to 155th streets, and includes the entirety of Morningside Heights. He was elected to the Manhattan Democratic Country Committee in 2015, hired as the executive director of the Manhattan Democratic Party in 2017, and served as the chair of CB9 from 2019 until 2023. He is still the vice chair of the board.
“Barry is running to make sure that Morningside Heights, Manhattan Valley, and the Upper West Side continue to have a strong progressive voice representing us in Albany, who can also serve as a leader in improving the resources and services in our neighborhood,” reads a profile of the candidates recently shared at a Three Parks Democratic Club forum about the election. “If elected, Barry will make sure those with the most need — from NYCHA residents to vulnerable HDFC co-ops to seniors and schoolkids — have a direct line to elected leadership in our community.”
Weinberg does not yet have a campaign website.
Micah Lasher
Micah Lasher, the former policy director for Gov. Kathy Hochul, has not officially announced his candidacy for Assembly District 69, but multiple sources have told West Side Rag that he will enter the race in the near future.
Lasher stepped down from his job within the governor’s office on Wednesday, a day after Hochul delivered her State of the State address. Also on Wednesday night — despite still not fully committing himself as a candidate — Lasher participated in a Three Parks Democratic Club candidate forum for Assembly District 69, along with Northrup, Rosenberg, and Weinberg.
He explained his inclusion in the meeting as not wanting to miss the opportunity to share information with the club.
“I’m a lifelong Upper West Sider, raised on the progressivism, activism, intellectualism, and diversity of our community,” Lasher wrote in a profile for the Three Parks meeting. “We get so much from living on the West Side, and I have long felt an obligation to give back.”
Lasher has deep ties to the New York City and Upper West Side political world.
He worked as Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s director of state legislative affairs from 2010 to 2012, before becoming NYS Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s chief of staff. In 2016, he ran and lost a close race for a State Senate seat that included the Upper West Side.
More recently, Lasher served as Scott Stringer’s campaign manager for his 2020 mayoral campaign, and then took the job as Hochul’s director of policy. He is also chair of the board of the Riverside Park Conservancy.
The Rag will update this story if Lasher announces his candidacy.
UPDATE: Tuesday, February 6, 2:30 p.m.: Along with Micah Lasher confirming his candidacy, Carmen Quinones, the president of NYCHA’s Douglass Housing Tenants Association, announced her candidacy last week in the race for Assembly District 69.
“Together, we will navigate the complex landscape of legislative change, bringing about reforms that truly benefit us all,” Quinones wrote in her campaign announcement. “As your assemblymember, I will be a tireless advocate for our dreams, our struggles, and our shared vision of a community where every resident thrives.”
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Hey, there’s a typo at the end of Barry’s section. His last name is spelled wrong. Also I used to work with him. He’s a good guy!
Thank you! Fixed.
Thank you for this most helpful info!
Melissa Rosenberg screams candidate made at the candidate factory and dropped off here. The real reason I believe she isn’t on X is because she doesn’t want the same level of scrutiny that Sara Lind got in 2021.
So far a full slate of progressives who support a “sanctuary city,” mentality and Biden’s open boarder policy that’s led to the destruction of our neighborhoods, not to mention, our pocketbooks,
Useful info. I am not crazy about pushing “bail reform” if it means what I think it means.
Hey, let’s keep pushing the same progressive agenda and see if anything changes.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
Hmm, why don’t things improve…
Can someone please run who is reasonable and isn’t steeped in the last 15 years of slogan-based policy failures.
Vague statements about fixing NYCHA………………………. We have heard them before.
The union representing the staff of Bronx Defenders put out an absolutely disgusting antisemitic statement in support of Hamas and lashing out at Israel. It went way further than just criticizing the Israeli government. And internally, anyone inside Bronx Defenders who voices a conflicting view gets shouted down by coworkers and gets their character assassinated. This includes anyone who advocates for a two state solution to bring peace to Israel and Palestine. How could someone associated with that expect to be elected on the Upper West Side with its very high Jewish population?
You can be both Jewish and against the Israeli government.
I totally agree. I am Jewish and I can’t stand Bibi and want to see him go and blame him for a great deal of the issues in Israel. I believe Israel needs new leadership, as do a majority of Israelis at this point. But like I said, the statement went way further than criticizing the government. It was a call for the elimination of the State of Israel. And it was supportive of Hamas. It was not a criticism of the government, it was a criticism of the existence of Israel. It was full of factual misinformation, mischaracterizations, and even outright lies. The majority of Israelis criticize their government one way or another, which they can do because it is a democracy and the citizens of Israel enjoy vast freedoms, including the freedoms of speech and religion.
They’re not against the Israeli government. They are an advocate for the extermination of the country.
Same old same old……. No mention of crime by anyone. Oh that’s right……. we continuously vote for people who are soft on crime and pro criminal.
I know nothing about Mr. Northrup but his association with Bronx Defenders is a non starter for me. Several articles have been published in the NY Times about how this publicly funded organization has become a hotbed of antisemitism.
Eli Northrup…spearheaded campaigns for bail reform in Albany. A big “no” from me.
Man. Can’t we get a decent candidate? Somehow who sees the downward spiral around us in this neighborhood and wants to do something about it? How did we get to the point that wanting to have a neighborhood with thriving business, clean streets and crime that’s under control is a BAD thing? Can someone run on that?
Most people don’t feed into hyperbole, we live in the same city as you do and don’t think the consternation is warranted. Feelings are valid but they’re not always accurate.
It’ssure how one could see if as “feeding into a hyperbole.” Look around you. This conditions aren’t one’s opinion. It’s reality. Wish it wasn’t.
Feelings are ‘rarely’ accurate
I was at the candidate forum on Wednesday night and what I saw was four of our neighbors, none of whom have previously held elected office (and several that I have had the pleasure of meeting before), who decided to upend their lives for the next few months to run for public office. They all did this knowing that they would be giving up countless hours with their family and friends, working nights and weekends (and at least one leaving their day job), and subjecting themselves to attacks on their views and on them personally (such as in these comments), often by people they have never met. They do this all in the name of public service — campaigning unpaid for five months for the ability to have to spend their lives shuttling back and forth between here and Albany and to face constant complaints and attacks from their neighbors. (The job pays $145K, a decent wage, but likely less than many candidates could make in the private sector.)
The race is wide open and anyone can join. Rather than attacking the current candidates, any of us in the peanut gallery could jump in the race and spend every spare minute of the next 5 months meeting neighbors, convincing them of our views, and, in thousands of conversations trying to get their vote, rather than criticizing them, often anonymously.
For all you critics and character assassins making ad hominem attacks, now is your chance!! Jump in the race and try out public service!!
Richard:
Yes – important reminder that elected officials do essential work and give up much for this especially during these polarized times.
But of concern especially over past 10+ years – IMO more NYC representatives focus on their own “agendas” rather than constituent concerns.
Feels like “bait and switch” – people run on broad issues (help elderly, fund public schools, protect abortion) but then when elected do their own agendas and don’t notify constituents or seek constituent weigh-in.
City Council notably does their own on land use and transportation matters (which impact everyone) – and not much interest in opinion of residents
Council members very often have a lot of feedback from residents. Just because a council member chooses differently from what you personally want them to do does not mean they are not getting the opinion of others. If your personal bubble feels strongly about something in particular, that does not mean that the majority of the populous also has that same opinion. You and your friends do not necessarily mirror the population as a whole, nor do my friends and I.
I’m not sure where comment like this holds any water? Should we not criticize feckless leaders and obvious failures (RE: DeBlasio) because they “took time to run” or forgoe’d more money by leaving the private sector? That is preposterous. Maybe we give the leaders of 1940s Germany a pass because they missed spending time with their families to start a war??
I know I would be a terrible politician, therefore I won’t enter a race.
Similarly, I would make a terrible airline pilot, therefore I won’t become an airline pilot.
But as a fully free American citizen, I can criticize the performance of people who do those things.
Yes, we can openly criticize politicians. If their skin is too thin, it’s not the right business.
Incidentally, many of us have spent much of lives delaying gratification, working hard, and spending time away from our families for professional reasons.
Is it really “attacking,” someone by conveying their factual record and the policies to which they support along with the resulting impacts from those policies. Stated another way, open border policies, sanctuary cities, bail reform, the housing of illegal migrants that prevent our kids from attending their own schools, are all a direct result of a progressive mentality that has insidiously decimated our quality of life. Such policies do not constitute “public service,” but rather “public decay.”
Here are my priorities – who is going to address these best:
Strengthen laws so those convicted of crimes face serious consequences – I don’t want a police state but just use a little common sense, particularly for repeat offenders. This is priority one, two and three – critical.
Increase spending on mental health facilities for those who clearly cannot take care of themselves, and make it easier to put people in these facilities. ACLU will scream about violating rights, but they are violating my right to live peacefully. NYT had a great feature recently about this.
Strongly pro-choice (I don’t think this is an issue for any of them)
Advocate for NYC in getting the rest of NY State to help us deal with an overwhelming number of migrants. The state can provide funding or better yet take some off our hands.
Finance critical infrastructure in a cost effective way
Not really their job but do what they can to improve education in a way that raises every one rather than is a race to the bottom. Don’t gut programs that work to create “equity” – let the good programs stay good while raising the weaker ones.
Please focus some attention on Columbia University, the largest employer in the district, the way other cities boost their universities.
They are all ultra liberal, soft on crime, soft on illegal immigration, weed shops, etc. awful.
O’Donnell supported, and celebrated, the removal of luxury decontrol. At the time I complained to his office that it was nothing to celebrate as it would force landlords to put more pressure on deregulated tenants like my family. His office’s response was “don’t worry we’ll do something for you, too”. That turned out to be the proposed law limiting unregulated rent increases to 3%, which of course was dead on arrival. Now, as I feared some deregulated tenants in my building are seeing rent increases of 40% with no interest on the part of the landlord to negotiate. Every year I fear that my family will be the one whose apartment the landlord wants to forcibly vacate. It’s not a way to live. I’m a Democrat, but some legislation at the city and state level is so out of touch with reality,
Assemblymember O’Donnell’s office is a block over from where I live and it’s been convenient to visit (if necessary) and he’s held events there that have been good for the neighborhood. Does anyone know if the new Assemblymember will use that same office and whether there are requirements that they live in the district? It seems that daily exposure to what’s going on here on the street would help inform their positions on issues.
The same office was used by the previous official so hopefully it will continue to be used.