From the Desk of ASSEMBLYWOMAN RHODA S. JACOBS

Dear Friends and Neighbors:

In these special days as the New Year approaches, I want to thank you all for Chizuk and support over the years.   It has been my privilege to work for our community and be a voice for your concerns in Brooklyn and Albany.

Now I must ask you for your help. On Thursday, September 13th, 2012 there will be a Democratic Primary.

As you may know, this is a very diverse Assembly District, and once again, I am facing an Election challenge, this time by a well- financed and organized opponent who is appealing to the politics of demographic divisiveness, and is neither cognizant nor concerned about your issues or needs.

I believe that you all deserve fair representation.  Together with my colleagues in government, Speaker Silver, Assemblyman Hikind and Councilmember Greenfield, I have worked to restore millions of dollars in transportation costs and mandated tax relief for our non public schools, TAP for yeshiva and rabbinical college students and transportation for students traveling after 5PM, and to address the needs of our special needs children.  I work to ensure that resources are provided to the vital institutions that serve our community, such as: Ohel, Masbia, COJO of Flatbush and Dor Yeshorim.  

I know that everyone is very busy getting children back to school and preparing for the Yom Tovim.  We are told that it is a Communal obligation to vote.  I am appealing to you take this time during theses busy days, to come out and vote Primary Day Thursday, September 13th.  

I ask for your vote, and for you to encourage your family and neighbors to vote so that I can continue to advocate for you and represent you.  Believe me, in this district, each and every one of our votes counts!!

L'Shana Tova and I hope to see you at Tashlich - I have once again arranged for the pond at Brooklyn College to be available.

Sincerely,

Rhoda S. Jacobs

Assistant Speaker

New York State Assembly

HAVERIM FOR ASSEMBLYWOMAN RHODA S. JACOBS

Dear friends and neighbors,

We are urging you to vote on Thursday, September 13^th, 2012 to re-elect our friend and longtime advocate Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacobs, Assistant Speaker of the New York State Assembly.

Rhoda Jacobs serves our community with distinction.  She responds to the needs of our families and the neighborhood quality of life issues.  Her staff has helped many of us attain essential benefits and services and resolve problems with government agencies and health insurance.

Assemblywoman Jacobs continued activism in the Assembly in Albany, assures us of a strong voice.  With her knowledge and experience, she has worked to protect our rights and to expand funding for our programs and schools and communal institutions.  With Assemblyman Hikind and Speaker Silver, she worked to get increased funding and tax relief for non public schools; Rabbinical tuition assistance program (TAP); Empire State child tax credit; homeland security funding for local Jewish institutions and security cameras in our neighborhoods.

We are part of a “multi cultural” diverse Assembly District. This year our Assemblywoman is facing the most difficult primary challenge in her career.  Her well financed opponent is not sympathetic to our interests or needs, and whose supporters have publicly demonstrated their unacceptable disrespect for our community in general, and the must vulnerable members of our community, in particular.

We can’t afford to lose Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacobs.  We need to re-elect her so she can continue to actively advocate for all of us.  During these challenging times, we require an experienced and strong voice in Albany – the voice of Rhoda Jacobs.

Although this is a busy time with preparations for the Yomtovim, we ask that you go to the polls on Thursday, September 13^th and re-elect our friend and champion Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacobs.

Meyer Apfeldorf*Morton Avigdor, Esq., * Dov Blumenthal*Shimmy Blumenthal*Chaim Deutsch*Pinny Fischer*Heshy Glatter*Leon Goldenberg*Moshe Gottesman*Dr. Stanley and Rhoda Reese Goldstein*Rebecca and Joseph Harary*Ezra Ogorek*Chaim Scharf*Joel and Zeesy Schnur*Rabbi Mayer and Nechama Steinhardt*Rabbi Joseph and Ann Stamm*Moshe Wieder*Emanuel Yarmish*Moshe Zakheim*Joel Zuller*Shlomo Zuller

Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacobs Arranges Tashlich Services at Brooklyn College

Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacobs has again arranged for the Pond at Brooklyn College to be available to local residents for Tashlich services. Special thanks to Brooklyn College for making the pond available.

Monday, September 17, 2012

2:00pm to 6:00pm

Brooklyn College

 

Assemblywoman Jacobs, her family in Brooklyn and Israel send their best wishes for a K'tiva V'Chatima Tova, one of health, peace and prosperity for all of Klal Yisrael.

NYS Budget Provides Fairness for Our Community

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Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacobs Fights for Brooklyn Resident’s Human Rights

The refrain of “we want justice” echoed outside the Bolivian Mission on Sunday, July 1, as Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacobs (D – Brooklyn) spoke out for Jacob Ostreicher, a Brooklyn resident and U.S. citizen who has been detained in a Bolivian prison for over a year.

Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacobs speaks out for Jacob Ostreicher

At present, there have been no formal charges brought against Ostreicher by the Bolivian government, despite his ongoing imprisonment. Ostreicher has been scheduled for over a dozen hearings, all of which have been postponed.   “We are here to make [Jacob Ostreicher] known to the world,” Jacobs told the crowd.

“It is in our moral imperative to redeem people who are unjustly imprisoned and essentially kidnapped,” Jacobs continued. “Jacob Ostreicher deserves due process,” Jacobs noted in an interview following the event. “His basic human and civil rights are being violated.”  

Assemblywoman Jacobs was joined by a diverse group of elected officials, including Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who organized the gathering, Councilman Mathieu Eugene, Senator Eric Adams, Councilwoman Letitia James, Senator Charles Schumer and former NY State Governor David Paterson, as well as Ostreicher’s wife, children and extended family. 

 “I applaud Senator Schumer, Assemblyman Hikind and my colleagues in government for their efforts. We are all asking the U.S. Department of State to move assertively for Ostreicher’s release and to demand every American citizen’s rights,” Jacobs emphasized.  

“This issue directly affects the communities I represent,” she added, “but I am pleased that elected officials throughout New York City turned out to show their support. This is not just an issue for a particular ethnic or religious group,” Jacobs underscored. “Human rights are everyone’s concern.” 

 In December 2010, Ostreicher, 53, purchased Bolivian land and launched a rice business there, which he oversaw until his arrest by Bolivian officials in June 2011.  This past April, his fate began to capture national attention, as Ostreicher launched a hunger strike from prison to assert his human rights.

“[Ostreicher] is in a prison governed by chaos,” Jacobs emphasized. “We want justice. We want justice. We want justice.”

Security Cameras Funded in Brooklyn

Funding approved to install security cameras to protect the Brooklyn neighborhoods

Almost a year after the tragic murder of an eight-year-old boy that stunned our community, Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacobs and Assemblymember Dov Hikind have helped secure funding for a project to install security cameras to protect our streets, ensuring that something like this never happens again.  

The new $1 million project, named for Leiby Kletzky, was announced this past Sunday. The project will result in the installation of 150 security cameras in several of Brooklyn's largest Jewish neighborhoods – Borough Park, Flatbush and Midwood – with the equipment being owned and operated by local private community groups. 

 According to Jacobs, the cameras will also help protect the neighborhoods against possible terror threats that might target the Jewish population. The security cameras will be installed outside synagogues, schools and banks throughout the community.  

Leiby Kletzky got lost on his way home from day camp last summer and was then kidnapped, drugged and killed before his body was dismembered in a grisly murder that rocked the normally safe streets in these parts of Brooklyn.