Daniel Squadron

Daniel Squadron

Template:TOCnestleft Daniel Squadron is serving his third term representing New York's 26th Senate District, which includes the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Vinegar Hill, DUMBO, Fulton Ferry, Brooklyn Heights, Downtown Brooklyn, Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, and Columbia Waterfront, and the Manhattan neighborhoods of Tribeca, Battery Park City, the Lower East Side, Chinatown, the Financial District, Little Italy, SoHo, and the East Village. First elected in November 2008 at the age of 28, he unseated a 30-year incumbent who had been in office since before Senator Squadron was born.

Background

Squadron's paternal grandfather came through Ellis Island and was raised on the Lower East Side; his father rose from poverty to become the Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. His maternal grandfather was a World War II veteran and Brigadier General in the Air Force; his mother volunteered during the Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964 and was a top staffer at the American Civil Liberties Union. A graduate of Yale University, Senator Squadron lives in Carroll Gardens.

Schumer connection

Prior to joining the State Senate, Senator Squadron served as a top aide to U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, and together with Senator Schumer co-authored "Positively American: Winning Back the Middle Class Majority One Family at a Time." As part of the effort to pass the Rebuild and Renew Transportation Bond Act, he worked to secure nearly $3 billion in infrastructure improvements and expansion to our subways and buses.

NeighborWorks America event

November 25, 2009, at a press conference in Chinatown, Asian Americans for Equality, announced it has become a charter member of NeighborWorks America. A non-profit created by Congress. NeighborWorks provides financial support and training for community-driven revitalization projects. As a start, AAFE was presented with a check for nearly a a quarter of a million dollars. On hand to celebrate the occasion, a wide range of elected officials. Among them: Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Rep. Nydia Velazquez, State Sen. Daniel Squadron, Assembly member Grace Meng and City Councilmember Rosie Mendez. Margaret Chin, District 1's new City councilmember and a former AAFE executive was there, as well.

Supporting DiNapoli

Democratic heavyweights came out for Tom DiNapoli, October 21, 2010, as he took his re-election campaign for state comptroller to Chinatown.

Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver, New York City comptroller John Liu, state senator Daniel Squadron, assembly member Grace Meng, council member Margaret Chin were among supporters at a press conference at the Chinese Consolidated Business Association.

“We’ve all showed up together because that’s how important it is to send a message,” Squadron said.

East River Waterfront park project

Nov. 21, 2010, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer and NYS Senator Daniel Squadron, joined by numerous community leaders, called on the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) , to commit funding from the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Fund to complete the East River Waterfront park project, including the redevelopment of Pier 42. The LMDC will meet on Monday to begin considering what investments to make with remaining federal dollars. Schumer, who secured $20.4 billion in funding to help rebuild lower Manhattan in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, will call on the LMDC to fund the redevelopment of Pier 42 and complete the continuous green ribbon around Lower Manhattan, from Hudson River Park to East River Park and beyond.

“We’re excited that with the support of Senator Schumer and State Senator Squadron, Chinatown and Lower East Side residents’ vision for an accessible, community-oriented waterfront is one step closer to being realized,” said CAAAV Chinatown Tenants Union Director Esther Wang. “Immigrant and working-class neighborhoods - not just the Upper East Side or Chelsea - deserve and need world-class parks and open space, as well as community space.

Christopher Kui, Executive Director of Asians Americans For Equality, “AAFE would like to thank immensely the hard work of Senator Chuck Schumer and State Senator Daniel Squadron in fighting for funds that would enable our waterfront to realize its greatest potential. A waterfront park at Pier 42 would give residents of the Lower East Side, Chinatown and East Village access to quality open space so needed in our community.”

Asian Americans for Equality, 38th Anniversary

Dignitaries such as U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez, State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Comptroller John Liu, State Senator Daniel Squadron and City Council member Margaret Chin came to Chinatown March 2012, to help Asian Americans for Equality celebrate its 38th anniversary. A fundraiser for more than one-thousand supporters was held at the Jing Fong restaurant on Elizabeth Street.

Lunar New Year, school holiday

Grace Meng, and Daniel Squadron, have worked many years, with Asian Americans for Equality affiliates, to promote legislation making Chinese Lunar New Year, a school holiday in New York.

On January 31, 2013, a press conference was held outside P.S. 20 in Flushing. State Senators Daniel Squadron (D-Chinatown) and Toby Ann Stavisky (D-Flushing), Assemblymember Ron Kim (D-Flushing), and Congresswoman Grace Meng (D-Queens) urged the City to make the Asian Lunar New Year a school holiday so that New York City's growing number of Asian American students can celebrate with their families without missing class.

Legislation (S160/A276) sponsored by Senator Squadron and Assemblyman Kim, and co-sponsored by Senator Stavisky, would establish the day of the Asian Lunar New Year as a school holiday in municipalities with significant Asian American populations of at least 7.5 percent.

For years, now-Congresswoman Meng carried the legislation in the Assembly, along with Squadron in the Senate.

"We pride ourselves on being one of the most diverse and welcoming cities in the world,” said State Senator Daniel Squadron. “It's time for our school calendar to reflect the huge number of kids whose families observe Lunar New Year. One of every six New York City public school students is Asian American -- and they're forced to choose between spending their most important holiday with their family or going to school. From Chinatown to Flushing and throughout our city, a school holiday would allow students to celebrate Lunar New Year without missing class."

“When I served in the state legislature, I led the effort to make the Lunar New Year a public school holiday, and worked with Speaker Sheldon Silver to pass the bill in the Assembly,” said Grace Meng. “I am glad that my successor Ron Kim will now be taking up the cause. Making the Lunar New Year a school holiday would recognize the important customs and culture of Asian Americans, and it would highlight the vital role that the Asian American community plays in our city. I am happy to continue my support for this important measure.”

“Designating the Asian Lunar New Year as an official school holiday is long overdue,” said Council Member Margaret Chin. “This year, all across New York City, Asian children and families with celebrate the Year of the Snake. It is important to ensure that students who choose to spent this important holiday with their families are not penalized for doing so. I want thank Senator Squadron for leading the charge on this issue, and Senator Toby Stavisky and Assembly member Ron Kim for their support.”

"Lunar New Year is a time of coming together and renewal for the nearly 1 million Asian New Yorkers of different ethnicities who celebrate the holiday,” said Christopher Kui, Executive Director of Asian Americans for Equality. “It is not the same if someone cannot be home to celebrate with the family and the community. Children whose families celebrate Lunar New Year should not have to miss a day of school, and passing this legislation brings an opportunity to raise cultural awareness about Asian heritage and traditions within the school system."

"Stop the Violence" rally

On January 31, 2013, Daniel Squadron, addressed a "Stop the Violence" rally supported by Asian Americans for Equality, and several other radical, and community groups.

They included;

Co-patrocinadores: All the Way E 4th St Block Association, Art Loisaida Foundation, Asian Americans for Equality, Baruch Houses Resident Association, Chinese Chamber of Commerce of New York, Chinatown Partnership, Coalition for a District Alternative , Community Education Council 1, Compos Plaza Resident Association, East Village Community Coalition, Educational Alliance, Fourth Arts Block, Loisaida United Neighborhood Gardens, Lower East Side Business Improvement District, Lower East Side Girls Club, PSA 4 Community Council, Rutgers Houses Resident Association, Smith Houses Resident Association, Two Bridges Houses Resident Association, Wald Houses Resident Association, 7th Precinct Community Council.

Danny Chen Walkway

Nydia Velázquez has very actively supported a major Asian Americans for Equality campaign - Justice for Danny Chen.

Pvt. Danny Chen, the Chinese American U.S. soldier from New York who suicided in October 2011 after "enduring intolerable racial hazing and harassment from fellow soldiers while serving in Afghanistan", was memorialized at an event in New York's Chinatown.

A section of Elizabeth Street, between Canal and Bayard, was co-named "Pvt. Danny Chen Way." The city council approved the re-naming last December. The street unveiling, preceded by a breakfast reception and march sponsored by several far left organizations, including Veterans for Peace (NY Chapter), Organization of Chinese Americans, Asian Americans for Equality, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, Chinese Progressive Association, Committee of Asian Americans Against Violence, Asian American Justice Center, East Coast Asian American Student Union, MinKwon Center for Community Action, and other community organizations, took place on Saturday, May 17 2014.

Honorary Co-Hosts were: Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (member of Senate Armed Services Committee), and Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, State Senator Daniel Squadron, City Councilwoman Margaret Chin.

Praising Margaret Chin

In January 2014, after winning a tough re-election campaign against a much younger opponent with little political experience, Councilmember Margaret Chin showed off her own strong political ties as she entered a second term at her inauguration.

Chin was also praised — always professionally, but sometimes on a deeply personal level — by Sen. Chuck Schumer, House Representatives Jerry Nadler and Carolyn Maloney, State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Borough President Gale Brewer, and State Sen. Daniel Squadron.

Public advocate race

According to Danny Rubin of the People's World, in the NYC 2013 race race for public advocate, progressive Letitia James has many endorsements from labor, including one of the major unions, 32BJ, from a number of Black ministers, the Working Families Party, and from the Latina city council members, but she cannot match State Senator Daniel Squadron in money. In addition, there are two additional African American women running for the position, neither of whom has a chance to win but can take votes away from James, helping Squadron, whether they wish to or not. Robert Jackson, another Black progressive, has a good shot at Manhattan Borough president. .

Endorsed AAFE 2016 Banquet

References

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References

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