Save the Date: Primary Day, September 15

The two local City Council races have gotten, respectively, no press and almost no press, but the result is that your vote could actually count -- these things are often decided by a few thousand voters. The math has never been better.

That said, we'll be writing about both races regularly over the next couple of weeks, trying to ask candidates questions about local issues -- any suggestions? -- and wanted to give a quick round-up.

In District 40, which covers most Ditmas Park/Flatbush from the park South, incumbent Mattieu Eugene has two challengers. Eugene came in amid a mess over whether he actually lived in the district (he didn't, but now says he does) and hasn't distinguished himself at City Hall as a policy-maker or pork-bringer. But on the issue that mattered most to many in the community -- rezoning -- he backed community leaders.

I don't know much about one of his challengers, Rickie Tulloch. The other, Rock Hackshaw, is a legendary and entertaining Brooklyn political blogger and activist. He's long been a critic of the general corruption and apathy that characterizes central Brooklyn politics, and electing him would sure be a change.

You can read Rock's blog here.

District 45 includes just a slice of the neighborhood: Everything south of Foster and east of East 17th. There, one of the city's most troubled incumbents, Kendall Stewart, has five challengers. Stewart had his senior staff arrested for stealing city money, has falsely claimed his colleagues' endorsements, is allegedly a slumlord, and seems to blame his woes on racism.

Among his five challengers, one has quite close ties to this part of the district: Jumaane Williams was housing director at the Flatbush Development Corporation as well as the executive director of Tenants and Neighbors, a housing advocacy group.

Anyway, we'll gladly post neighbors thoughts or endorsements on the two races, if you've got any.