Rep. Dan Donovan has come under fire recently for his refusal to host a town hall to meet with some of the 721,000 constituents in his district, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t open to getting together with his constituents. Instead, he is encouraging those who want a face-to-face sit down to make an appointment to meet at either his Dyker Heights or Staten Island office. We tracked down four of the more than a dozen Bay Ridgites who have taken him up on his offer. Here’s their take, in their own words:
Courtney Scot, with activist group Fight Back Bay Ridge: “I thought it was successful. We hit a lot of topics, the Affordable Care Act, Muslim ban, respect for the judiciary, the presidential tenor. I think we got some of the answers, but not all the answers, we hoped for. For instance, the congressman has co-sponsored a bill to essentially protect the pre-existing conditions provision of [the Affordable Care Act]. I asked how specifically he will do that and he didn’t really have answers. And he keeps saying he’s not going to pull the rug out from people but it’s concerning when he can’t offer specifics. On a positive side, I was happy to hear Donovan’s faith in the judiciary. I thought it was certainly worth the time.”
Constantinos Kokkinos, an organizer with activist group South Brooklyn Progressive Resistance:“A 30-minute meeting isn’t really going to do anything. We approached him with ideas and talked to him and heard him out. And then we were pretty hard on letting him know what’s going on with Muslims and progressives in Bay Ridge. But he won’t be able to truly represent his constituency until he has a town hall. If there was three of us at that meeting then there are thousands who want to hear from him.”
Rebecca Brodsky, with Bay Ridge Democrats and Fight Back Bay Ridge:“We tried to appeal to Donovan as an individual and discussed how we want him to be a sensible voice in Congress. I do feel it was productive. I don’t want to discredit his openness to having a meeting with us. But having said that, we did stress that we want to have a town hall and that he works for us. So rather than meeting five at a time he needs to meet hundreds at a time.”
Brian Varano, with South Brooklyn Progressive Resistance: “I feel that he has a fixed mindset on certain things and there is somewhat of a lack of flexibility there. I do feel he listened, but many of his replies were very rehearsed. I do think we reached him on the concept of Muslims in the community not feeling safe, but he’s so firm on the travel ban being ‘a pause.’ I think it’s important that we were able to sit down and have the conversation, and I feel it was productive on my end that I was able to speak with my representative, but I would have preferred a larger setting where many could engage in a dialogue with him.”
Make an appoint to sit down with Donovan on his website or call his office in Dyker Heights at (718) 630–5277 or on Staten Island at (718) 980–1062.
