By Karen Rubin, editor@news-photos-features.com, news-photos-features.com
An Illinois woman who came to New York City expressly for the TD 5 Boro Bike Tour on Sunday, May 3, 2026, was gleeful, saying “you get to see New York in a way you never would otherwise.”
So true. That first burst through the arch, up 6th Avenue through Greenwich Village, up to Radio City Music Hall, then into Central Park, and through Harlem, with Cheerleaders and bands greeting you at each section, is so thrilling.
You would never get to ride down the FDR Highway, through tunnels (a surreal experience), over the Queensborough (59th Street) Bridge, seeing the famous Manhattan skyline on one side, and the iconic Silvercup Bakery sign on the other, then some of the most spectacular scenes of the ride as you ride the downward spiral from the bridge into Queens, and through neighborhoods in the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island.
It is absolutely thrilling to have all the traffic rerouted for us, so we can ride 40 miles of New York City roads car-free – taking over the FDR, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, the Verrazano Bridge. You feel this awesome sense of power and importance (not to mention Mayor Zohran Mamdani made history as the first sitting mayor to ride the whole tour, but every year evokes such a sense of empowerment).
What you see is the spirit, the diversity, the vitality of New York City – especially the diversity – a brilliant tapestry. The artful, the whimsical, the humor, the compassion.
It is important to know, too, that hundreds and hundreds of these riders are riding to support a charity. NY State Senator John Liu, riding for Live on NY, which promotes organ donation, pointed to the number of charities supported by the ride. The TD 5 Boro Bike tour is the largest charity bike ride in the world.
The experience completes after the finish line just at the end of the Verrazano Bridge, at Fort Wadsworth (where we each get medals – this isn’t a race, it’s a tour and a shared community experience). But we’re not done! Then we ride four miles further along Staten Island’s waterfront to the ferry, with more beautiful scenes (if you have time, visit Alice Austen’s historic house – she was an important photographer), climaxing with a ride on the Staten Island ferry that makes you feel like you are really cruising somewhere (try to get a position at the front of the boat so you can see the views, especially of the Statue of Liberty).
For many of us (the ride draws as many as 32,000 from all over the country and all over the world), we are still not done, but get to bike on the Hudson River Greenway one of the most beautiful recreational trails anywhere. There is so much along this gorgeous trail (which btw is the southernmost portion of New York’s Empire State Trail that extends all the way up to Canada) – you see the Freedom Tower looming over the skyline (if you have time, veer off and visit the World Trade Center 9/11 memorial park), stunning parks, playgrounds (a new one has a massive whale you climb through), even a sand beach, restaurants, and the incomparable City Islands park, a destination of its own). If you ride further north, you get to the Intrepid Air & Sea Museum (there’s a space shuttle you can visit, and a submarine!) and up to the George Washington Bridge. But I cut off at 34th street, enroute to Penn Station for the train ride to Long Island, where I chalk up a total of 50 miles for the day.
We all finish so impressed with how extremely organized the bike tour is – with some 1500 volunteers who so cheerfully direct traffic, stop traffic to allow pedestrians to cross (putting their own selves in danger), hand out snacks, and are on hand to help with emergencies.
“For one day, the streets of this great city belong to cyclists. Whether this is your first ride or your 20th, you are part of a tradition that celebrates the joy, freedom and community that cycling brings to our lives,” Bike New York President & CEO Ken Podziba, stated. “From the excitement at the start to the moment you cross the finish line, the ride offers countless opportunities to create lasting memories-with friends, family, fellow riders and the city itself.
“The TD Five Boro Bike Tour is more than just an unforgettable journey through all five boroughs. It is the only opportunity each year to experience New York City from the seat of a bicycle – traveling through its streets, highways, bridges and neighborhoods without cars, while riding alongside thousands of fellow cyclists from across the country and around the world.”
Mike Flynn, NYC Department of Transportation Commissioner, stated, ”A ride like this will change the way a person thinks about New York City. On this rare occasion, bike bells and the cheers of cyclists replace honking cars, and exhaust fumes that typically choke some of our most beautiful public spaces. Every year, the TD Five Boro Bike Tour gives cyclists a rare chance to ride New York City’s most iconic routes, from Wall Street to the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge, car free… nothing compares to 40 miles of car-free streets.”
This year’s ride was historic since it is the first time the sitting mayor – Mayor Zohran Mamdani – actually joined the ride – a remarkable show of support (some people reported seeing him on the route).
Mayor Mamdani praised those who have “brought back the love of cycling across our city,” and credited NYC Department of Transportation Commissioner Mike Flynn for “partnering to make it easier to be a cyclist in New York City and to find cycling across the five boroughs. I’m so excited to being here with all of you.”
Mayor Mamdani stated, “New Yorkers deserve to be safe no matter how they commute – whether they bike, use mass transit, walk or drive, Our administration is committed to delivering genuine street safety by advancing critical projects, including implementing parking protected bike lanes and upgrading or redesigning existing infrastructure to support cyclists. Bike New York advances our mission by offering free bike education.
“Every year its cycling tour across the five boroughs, the largest charitable ride in the world, gives tens of thousands d of participants the chance to exercise and explore new corners of our global metropolis while raising funds for a variety of nonprofit groups. I applaud everyone associated with this energetic event for their efforts to advocate for our cycling community and encourage active lifestyles. Together, we will keep our streets accessible and secure for all.”
The mayor set off, flanked by Bike New York President & CEO Ken Podziba, NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, NYC DoT Commissioner Mike Flynn, State Senator John Liu, and NYC Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura.
Here are more photo highlights from the 2026 TD Five Boro Bike Tour:
Bike New York’s mission is to empower New Yorkers to transform their lives and their communities through bicycling and advocate for more safe cycling routes. “Our vision is to increase ridership, to empower youth to lead healthy, productive lives, to remove barriers to cycling, and to advocate for and expand services to reach more New Yorkers.”
The proceeds from the Bike Tour fund programs that transform lives through bicycling – from workforce development initiatives that train justice-involved New Yorkers for careers in the bike industry, to the largest free bike education program of its kind in the world that help thousands of people each year learn to ride safely and confidently. The tour also helps advance Bike New York’s advocacy efforts to create safer, more equitable streets with more space for bicyclists and pedestrians.
In addition to the TD Five Boro Bike Tour, other popular programs include the Twin Lights Ride, the Discover Hudson Valley Ride, and local rides (see: https://www.bike.nyc/events/)
Bike New York also offers an innovative Recycle-a-Bicycle program, averaging 1,800 salvaged bicycles a year, diverting 45,000 pounds of waste from NYC’s landfills. The bikes, that begin as donations, are sold fully refurbished, with proceeds from sales and full service repairs directly supporting its education programs.
Bike New York’s Bike Path Program trains previously justice-involved individuals to become certified Bike Mechanics for Motivate, the operator of Citi Bike, the nation’s most extensive bike-share program, with 33,000 bikes and over 1,800 stations across metro NYC. Bike Path is a 3-week training program where mechanics are trained to repair regular bikes and Citi Bike’s electric and traditional bicycle fleets. In 2024 the program trained and saw 45 people be hired as Bike Mechanics at Motivate. The Bike Path Bike Mechanic Training & Employment Program has a 98% job placement rate. One of those “graduates” of the program, now an ambassador, addressed the riders.
Thousands strong came out for a rally in Washington Square Park, Manhattan, and march support unions, workers and the ideals of a pluralistic, diverse society – one of 3,000 May Day actions nationwide, a continuation of the anti-Trump resistance movements. More than an annual demonstration for union, workers’ rights and economic justice, the protests manifested ire against the Iran War and ICE, the attacks on civil and voting rights, protecting immigrants, making the rich pay their fair share of taxes and themes of the No Kings/Hands Off! Movements.
No War. No ICE. No Billionaires, read the banners behind the speakers.
The headliner was undoubtedly Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
“Union strong is more than a slogan it is a practice of solidarity,” he declared, standing under the famous Washington Square arch.
“Workers have won the rights that are taken for granted today – 40 hour week, the weekend, overtime pay, minimum wage, social security workplace safety standards – these have all been won by the people before us.
“Yet we know those rights are not inevitable. We have to work together to not just protect them, but to advance that same agenda,” Mamdani said. “Our city hall is committed to doing all we can to put working people right at the heart of that agenda.”
Among the actions – not words – his administration has taken within the first 100 days:
Delivered millions of dollars to workers in small businesses ripped off by mega corporations
Appointed the first deputy mayor for economic justice, Julie Su
Stood alongside nurses on the picket line
“And it is why we continue to fight for those – deliver universal childcare, faster buses, cheaper groceries, protecting from ICE and yes, working to tax the wealthiest and most profitable corporations in New York City.”
He added, “We know that one of the best ways to uplift worker power is to stand with our unions. A union town is union strong. Union strong is more than just a slogan it is a practice of solidarity.
“Today we will show what solidarity means, a people united, organized cannot be defeated,” Mamdani declared to cheers.
More than 60 unions and organizations, including NYC Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, New York Immigration Coalition, participated in what is International Workers’ Day, which was one of some 3,000 across the country.
Protecting immigrants against the Trump Administration’s cruel policies was a strong theme, with several calling for the state to pass Governor Kathy Hochul’s New York for All legislation, establishing protections from federal authorities.
The May Day Strong protest represented union workers across a spectrum including teamsters, teachers, health workers, construction workers, musicians, stage and film workers, hospitality and gaming workers.
Notably, though despite being at the doorstep of New York University, the preponderance of people attending the rally were seniors. Among them, 98-year old World War II Navy veteran Arthur A. Wasserman and 87-year old Kathleen Hager, who expressed concern that in their lifetime, they have never felt the country at such risk.
Here are photo highlights from the May Day Strong rally and march in New York City:
The “Cost of Blakeman” tour through New York State launched here in Nassau County, Long Island, on the steps of the Executive Building where Bruce Blakeman presides as County Executive, by the people “who know Blakeman best.”
They gathered to expose Blakeman’s record as County Executive – or the lack of it – and how he has prioritized appeasing Trump above working to benefit constituents.
“No one knows better than us how important it is to keep him away as far as possible from Governor’s mansion,” declared Jay Jacobs, state and county Democratic Committee chair. “We are taking this message across New York State because we know his record.”
“He has made the county less safe, more expensive for all, in hopes of making Trump happy.”
Blakeman backed Trump’s tariffs and downplays price hikes as a result of the tariffs and the Iran War, and raising property taxes indirectly because, despite his campaign promise, has done nothing to fix assessment system.
Jacobs accused Blakeman of abusing power by creating an armed private militia.
Blakeman has taken to opposing anything that Governor Hochul has proposed, from reforming the bail system to be more just (disregarding the changes to insure violent and repeat offenders are not released), to addressing the crisis in affordable housing, to her gun violence prevention legislation after the Supreme Court knocked down New York’s 100-year old gun control law, to challenging congestion pricing in New York City to improve air quality, reduce traffic and raise necessary funds for capital improvements to mass transit.
When Trump pulled billions from appropriated funding for the $16 billion Hudson Tunnel Project (hinting the money would be restored if New York renamed Penn Station for him), Blakeman didn’t
When Trump pulled millions of federal spending for local law enforcement and community violence prevention programs, Blakeman refused to a lift finger, but Hochul got the money back.
Under Blakeman – who interestingly has always made crime his Number One campaign issue – violent crime has gone up, spiked to the highest levels in decades, Jacobs said, “and excuses too”, despite violent crime rates dropping across the state and nation.
“Nassau declared ‘America’s safest suburb’ was bestowed on Blakeman’s predecessor, Democrat Laura Curran,” he noted.
But under Blakeman, Nassau County Police Department is lower in numbers, detective ranks lower (though pay has been significantly increased).
Blakeman has diverted County detectives to work with ICE for deportation, rather than focus on keeping us safe, and holds a press photo op every time alleged gang members are arrested (most recently, touting that 9 out of 35 people arrested were gang members). He has claimed the county arrested 2,000 criminal migrants, without noting that they were not adjudicated as guilty of crime. Among them, a long-time Great Neck resident, Tomas Orellana, who for years ran the railroad station café, a father of eight who the community is rallying around to provide support, while he was transferred to a detention center in Louisiana where it is difficult for him to obtain legal counsel.
Trump and the Republicans tax bill caused 500,000 New Yorkers to lose healthcare, and as governor, Blakeman has indicated he wants to further gut Medicaid and New York health care, while Hochul has been working to expand access to health care.
“He won’t disagree with Trump privately or publicly, ever. He finds new ways to praise Trump. He couldn’t even condemn Trump for bashing the Pope.
“His entire record is that he has done absolutely nothing…We need a governor who works for us, not to keep Trump happy. Hochul has been laser focused on her Affordability Agenda” – for example, working to build affordable housing, lower car insurance rates, provide child care, and give residents a Trump tariffs rebate. She has fought to claw back the federal funds – such as halting construction of the Hudson Gateway Tunnel and offshore wind projects that are nearing completion – that Trump unilaterally rescinded out of pique or to extort the state to enact his policies. Hochul is laser focused on her Affordability agenda.
“Hochul will make sure that Blakeman adds to his long, long track record of losing elections at every level,” Jacobs declared.
Adrienne Adams, former speaker of the New York City Council who is running with Hochul as Lt. Governor, also accused Blakeman of being 100% MAGA, costing families money while putting safety at risk.
He’s not just supporting Trump, he is promising to enact similar policies at the same level.
Trump stripped 500,000 New Yorkers of healthcare and Blakeman promises further cuts.
Blakeman supports tariffs that hurt New Yorkers while Hochul is demanding refunds to keep money in your pocket.
She is fighting for ICE accountability while Blakeman is fighting for a private MAGA militia [mimicking the unaccountable ICE agents].
He saw Trump go after New York for public safety, infrastructure, child care funds. “But from Blakeman only crickets. He’s not fighting back like Hochul.
He promises Trump-style leadership as governor. “New Yorkers know exactly what that means – and they want no part.
They want a governor to stand up for them. Hochul takes on trump and wins.
“Hochul is getting results, she has the receipts.”
The choice is a governor who fights for you or a MAGA politician who follows trump.
Minority Leader Delia DeRiggi-Whittonnoted, “The past 4 years I’ve had the distinct challenge of trying to work with Blakeman. [His tenure is defined by] headlines, photo ops and political ambition. You don’t see the executive unless there is a camera.”
Democrats, who are relegated to a minority by gerrymandered districting by the Republican Supermajority, have put forward legislation to cap the gas tax, establish a 311 system to reduce pressure on 911, which she said, Blakeman ignored.
Terry Clark of Moms Demand Action, part of Everytown which advocates for gun violence prevention, railed against one of Blakeman’s pet achievements, the creation of a private militia.
“A private militia poses danger to law enforcement, neighborhoods, creates confusion, undermines trust, puts communities at risk. There should be no reason to guess who is charge, who is trained. When lines blurred, violence escalates. It is a matter of accountability and public trust. We deserve to know who the trained professionals are.”
Blakeman has argued for the need for his militia in the event of some emergency. But she noted, “we already have community response teams” who are trained for such emergencies.
“When lives are on line, clarity saves lives, confusion costs lives.”
Blakeman has a knee jerk response to anything that Hochul and the Democrats do. When the Supreme Court overturned New York’s 100-year old gun control law, he came out against Hochul’s newly crafted gun violence prevention law.
“The priorities are never about Nassau County, always about Bruce Blakeman,” DeRiggi-Whitton said. “From the start, he has been more interested in auditioning for a role in the Trump administration” so has cheered tariffs, ICE enforcement, and has hosted Education Secretary Linda McMahon at Massapequa high school in decrying a state mandate to replace disrespectful (and inaccurate) Native American mascots at Nassau County schools, and recently hosted Treasury Secretary Bessent for a business roundtable.
“Blakeman has spent four years chasing attention rather than results,” DeRiggi-Whittonsaid.
Nearly half of the reserves have been spent down, she said, asserting wasteful spending and cronyism, like the millions of dollars handed to outside legal services.
Instead of spending the opioid settlement funds on programs, Blakeman has used the interest revenue to avoid having to raise taxes “while programs are desperately in need of funding,” she said.
The Nassau University Medical Center crisis was so severe – financial mismanagement leading to a massive $1.4 billion deficit, executive corruption allegations, and FBI scrutiny over diverted Medicaid funds – Governor Hochul and the state legislature executed a hostile takeover of the hospital’s board, clashing with Blakeman.
“I don’t see how Blakeman helps people. He is loyal to Trump, even after his ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ gutted health care, by $2 trillion, said John Sabo, a healthcare worker and 1199 SEIU delegate who said “the hospital where I work is the hospital where I was born.”
“As a health care worker, I see workers laid off, hospitals closing, health care premiums shooting up so that people pay more or don’t have. To what end? To line the pockets of billionaires, give money for ICE to terrorize neighborhoods and conduct warrantless searches, detaining on a whim, mothers and children. If you just look like a targeted group, you can be detained.
“Blakeman is loyal to Trump, not to people at health risk or who fear ICE will detain, or workers who have to work two jobs to get by. We can do better. Vote right in November.”
Blakeman’s push for the Sands casino project despite community opposition (which Sands ultimately withdrew), and push away of a proposed NYU Langone complex lost the county $7 billion in economic opportunity, DeRiggi-Whittonasserted.
Another example: Blakeman diverted $15 million in tourism promotion funding, taking $5 million for a television ad campaign in places like Oklahoma which promoted himself, and took $10 million the county had paid for years to the professional tourism marketing organization, Discover Long Island, awarding the tourism promotion contract instead to a home-based brand marketer with no experience or connections in tourism marketing.
While Long Island experienced a boom in tourism in 2024, generating $945 million in local and state tax revenue, and a record $7.9 billion in total spending, it was Suffolk County, not Nassau that accounted for the vast majority of the increase, while Nassau actually had a decline. Since Nassau County withdrew from Discover Long Island and redirected its $1 million annual tourism contract to the private marketing firm, Nassau’s tourism receipts declined by 0.4% in 2024, while neighboring Suffolk County experienced a 7% increase. Additionally, the split cost the region $500,000 in annual matching funds from New York State’s “I LOVE NY” program.
Blakeman has taken no action to boost economic development or invest in infrastructure to boost the county’s climate resilience, or address the epidemic of traffic accidents and deaths. What improvements and projects that have been underway have mostly been funded by the state, through such programs as Downtown Revitalization Initiative, grants through the state’s Environmental and Climate bonds, and Department of Transportation grant programs, and while his Comptroller (and possible successor Elaine Phillips) recently attacked state Democrats for sending $9.6 billion to Albany while receiving $4.8 billion in State funding, it is questionable whether the County ever applied for grants.
Partisanship, cronyism and self-service define Blakeman’s tenure.
“Now Blakeman wants to run the state. His arrogance is only matched by [incompetence]. Hochul’s leadership is dedicated to serving all – not just political allies and cronies – and governing seriously,” DeRiggi-Whitton stated.
Bruce Blakeman took only two questions during his hastily called presser to rebut the rally speakers, but refused to answer a question about his economic development accomplishments and how much he has invested out of the nearly billion dollars held in reserve – the interest revenue used to avoid raising taxes – but indicated that he would bring the policies from the county to the state.
He blamed high utility costs on Hochul – not on Trump attempting to cancel wind power projects nearing completion – while mimicking trump’s claim of “clean energy scam”, and vowed to overturn bans on drilling in the Marcellus shale. (Note: consumer’s problem isn’t a lack of availability of fossil fuel, because the cost is set on world market. The USA already produces more than it consumes and has become the #1 exporter.)
He complained about the county sending billions more to state than the county receives back, but there is a question about whether the county has bothered to seek grants for infrastructure, water projects, climate resilience and mitigation, or road safety.
Meanwhile, Blakeman did not bother to show up for an announcement by Governor Kathy Hochul of $150 million in state funding toward a $430 million New York BioGenesis Park, a world-leading specialized cell and gene therapy innovation hub located in Lake Succes (actually telling the Governor never to set foot in Nassau again) and immediately walked out of a ceremony before Hochul appeared to announce the completion of a $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant in Westbury.
Instead of offering any economic development achievements, he derided Hochul that the budget has been late for the fifth time.
He stressed as his major accomplishment removing 2,000 undocumented migrants, who he claimed were criminal rapists, gang members, gun traffickers (though it is unclear how they were adjudicated, since there are local groups that have monitored how people are being snatched off the street).
“We are the most overtaxed, overregulated state in the United States, 49 out of 50 in economic development, utility costs are 70% higher thanb the national average,” he claimed. “Hochul has made us less affordable, less safe,” despite data that shows the state’s crime rate declining.
“The last 4 years we have had budgets on time, surplus without raising tax. I cancelled the $150 million tax increase put in by my predecessor, and got 7 bond upgrades.
As for the unspent opioid funds that are being used to avoid needing to raise taxes, he claimed he would not do what Hochul does, throw money at programs and also uses the opioid fund interest to balance the budget.
When asked if the voters who put Republicans in power nationally and in Nassau County, are “losing faith” because of pocket book issues, tariffs, the Iran War, Blakeman explained away affordability problems using a phrase that mimics Trump, “The issue is with Hochul and green energy. She has been governor for four years and we have less affordable utility rates. Why aren’t we drilling in the Marcellus Shale formation, one of the largest reserves? That will cut utility costs.
“I would end green energy scam, open Marcellus Shale to drilling,” Blakeman stated.
Asked about the Trump tariffs impacting what New Yorkers spend, Blakeman pivoted to again attack Hochul for increasing energy costs for New Yorkers. (Actually, the increases in New York are being felt nationally, largely due to increased demand from new data centers, advanced manufacturing, and residential electrification, as well as some added fees to fund the transition to clean renewable energy and meet carbon-emission targets, but Trump sought to cancel clean energy projects which will increase supply and lower utility rates, and it is unlikely that Blakeman, if governor, would move forward with the state’s Clean Energy programs.)
As for “international affairs” – the war with Iran which has caused global energy shortage, price hikes and is threatening global recession – Blakeman mouthed the Trump administration line, saying “If in 9/11 they were willing to take out 3000 New Yorkers, if they had a nuke, they would take out 3 million. They hate Americans and have no respect for human life. I am in favor of the Iran War if it ensures Iran will not get a nuke.”
This provided another example of how Blakeman falls into line, recalling when he hosted a rally and blasted President Biden for not expelling Russians from their compound at Glen Cove, Long Island, held a photo op in which he gave Ukrainians a proclamation, but no longer supports providing aid to Ukraine to push out Russia in keeping with Trump favoring Putin.
Local Save Kings Point Park activists worry that New York State legislators will try to slip through alienation legislation to take 2 ½ acres of parkland for a private parking lot, in the dead of night in June, just before the end of the Legislature’s session
An estimated 200 people gathered under cloudy skies on Sunday, April 19, to protest the taking of 7 ½ acres of old-growth forest and wetlands in a 173-acre preserve that for decades has been a public park – an astonishing number considering the population of the Great Neck, New York, peninsula.
The taking of the land in two separate but related moves – 2 ½ acres for a 397-space private parking lot and private pool to serve a massive, four-story United Mashadi Jewish Community of America (UMJCA) center and five acres for a Village of Kings Point public works facility which is said to also include a bunker for Kings Point residents to seek emergency shelter – smacks of secret dealings among elected officials of the Village of Great Neck, the Village of Kings Point, and the Great Neck Park District, along with the state representatives Senator Jack Martins and Assemblyman Daniel J. Norber (both Republicans).
The 173-acre Kings Point Park is in the Manhasset Bay Watershed, 90% is protected wetlands, and the largest remaining pristine forest and wetlands on the Great Neck peninsula. A public parkland for the past 90 years managed by the Great Neck Park District under a lease arrangement with the Village of Kings Point, its wetlands, trees and forest help protect the peninsula from storm surges and flooding. Its creek feeds into Manhasset Bay. The Peninsula, which depends on sole source aquifer for drinking water, has been under threat of saltwater intrusion.
The “alienation” of the 2 ½ acres – requiring the state Legislature and Governor’s approval – was initially passed by the state Senate literally in the dead of night at the end of last year’s state Legislative session but as a result of an outcry by activists, the legislation never made it out of committee in the Assembly.
Subsequently, the community, aided with pro-bono legal representation, filed an Article 78 arguing the required SEQRA (State Environment Quality Review Act) process was inadequate. After the lawsuit was filed, the Village of Kings Point eventually withdrew the request for alienation.
However, quietly, still without public hearings or transparency, the village of Kings Point hired an environmental consultant, and the community is worried they will try again to slip legislation through in the dead of night before the end of this year’s legislative session in June.
Save Kings Point Park activists gathered on the grassy section adjacent to the basketball courts and playground, maintenance building and bathrooms, park parking lot and the opening to wooded trails through old-growth forest, beside a creek – all of which will be paved over for the parking lot. It is likely that the ballfields will also have to be paved over to replace the lost parking area.
The Great Neck Park District – which leases Kings Point Park from the Village at a cost of $350,000 a year, an increase from $35,000 a year in the prior lease – will then have to spend millions of dollars (actually $15 million in capital expense in the village of Kings Point including $10 million in Kings Point Park is required under the terms of the latest lease agreement) in order to build new playground, maintenance building, bathrooms and parking lot. This will likely require the loss of a major picnic area and the ballfields, at minimum, though the park district has yet to offer an actual plan.
“This is our public park, It is not for sale or for trade with private entities,” declared Nancy Sherman, one of the leaders of Save Kings Point Park group. “Kings Point Park is 90% protected wetland – they can’t build on wetlands. This has been enabled by elected officials of Village of Kings Point and Great Neck Park District, working together to make this happen. This is not about religion. If permitted, they will take public parkland, cut down hundreds of trees, destroy wildlife habitat, flora, disturb bird migration.”
Building a structure of this size – it is one of the biggest on the entire Great Neck Peninsula – required many variances from the Village of Great Neck, including for insufficient on-site parking. It would have required 200 parking spots but the variance allowed the building to have only 77 on-site because the UMJCA claimed they had two other facilities along Steamboat Road and would provide shuttle services.
While the UMJCA never publicly stated they would eventually seek 2 ½ acres from the Village of Kings Point and Kings Point Park, 2018 maps show that was the plan all along.
“So use the shuttle [as promised] and do not take any parkland,” Sherman told the gathering. “You would think Park District commissioners who are supposed to be stewards, would stand up and fight, but they are in cahoots, not standing up to protect our parks.”
Jody Kass Finkel, a leader of Concerned Citizens of NY03, the group that successfully forced the ouster of fraudster George Santos from Congress, pointed to the failure to comply with New York State’s SEQRA. SEQRA requires public hearings and transparency before going forward with legislation to take the parkland if there is significant impact. But because both Great Neck and Kings Point villages each made itself the lead agency for the building and the alienation and declared the projects would have no significant impact, they were able to skirt the public hearings required under SEQRA.
But no one believes these projects will not have significant impact. The concern is that the village of Kings Point will again deny transparency and public hearings, Kass Finkel said.
In January 2025 the village of Kings Point and UJCMA filed for permission from the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to use 2 ½ acres of the protected land for a parking lot, as a possible end run.
Robert Lincoln, who had served as Great Neck Park District commissioner for decades, said “the 2 ½ acres is more than just what we see, because what they are displacing has to go somewhere – the playground, the trail where people run, walk, cross-country ski will be cut off. Other areas will be affected because of alienation – the ballfield will probably become the park’s parking lot and maintenance building, so youth and adult programs will be affected. The picnic area, the biggest in Kings Point with running water, bathrooms, used by major organizations, will probably be displaced so more acres of woods will be lost. So there is a lot more to lose than just parking lot.
“This board of commissioners is different [from when Lincoln served]. We worked hard for transparency and open communication. There are lots of fingerprints on the daggers. It’s making me sick. We worked hard to make things better.”
Tina Bickerstaff, a certified professional geologist and Great Neck resident, pointed to the importance of Kings Point Park to the environmental health of the Peninsula and Manhasset Bay.
“It’s not just about having grass and greenspace. We need a healthy ecosystem to filter contaminants, slow erosion, and combat increased frequency of storms…We can’t continue making snap decisions without thinking about the future consequences.”
Dan Capruso, a Great Neck resident who successfully prevented the Village of Kings Point from alienating parts of Kings Point Park before, asserted, “The Village of Kings Point owns it but it is a public trust and the village is responsible to hold it for the people.”
During a walk on some of the Kings Point Park trails that will be destroyed if the parking lot is built and the village of Kings Point takes five acres for a public works building and emergency shelter (some are calling a bunker), ornithologist Stefan Perrault pointed to critically imperiled plant communities, native plant and old growth forest that would be destroyed or disrupted, and the ecosystem they support.
“There are not many of these forests left. There is not a lot of diversity but it is special because 90% is covered by imperiled plant community.” He points to 160 year old Beech tree, a 200-year-old Oak that can grow to 100 feet and Tulip trees that grow to 120 feet (a race to reach the top for sunlight), Carolina Silverbell tree that is native, but rare.
He notes that there has not much done to protect what is there – to address the invasives, and the Beech leaf disease that is threatening all the Beech trees on Long Island (it causes defoliation, eventually killing the tree after 10-15 years), the algae bloom on the stagnant creek (some is benign but some is toxic), but instead has been fixated on building new structures and facilities, like new fields and a bike trail through the park.
“Once you replace soil, the plant community is done.”
Jody Kass Finkel again challenged the village for lack of transparency in its effort to take parkland for other purposes.
“State Law requires an official investigation into the impacts of decision making – SEQRA – if a project might have significant impact. It triggers intensive investigation, wider responsibility to engage the local community, and requires transparency.”
She accused the villages of illegally segmenting the two projects – first approving the building, then alienating the 2 ½ acres – in order to avoid public engagement.
“The Villages of Kings Point and Great Neck, the Great Neck Park District and Senator Jack Martins and Assemblyman Daniel Norber tried to hide it, sneak it through last June. They are starting again and still hiding. They don’t tell us the scope, cumulative impact, or about flooding that might be caused. CCNY03 FOILed, but they ignored us. We are fighting back,” Kass Finkel said.
“It’s illegal to segment the environmental review of the impacts from this over-sized UMJCA building from the environmental review of the impacts of the parkland alienation proposed to accommodate their on-site parking needs. By chopping it up, they’re trying to claim that there’s no significant impact so they can avoid public hearings. The 2018 maps show they were always planning to build a parking lot on parkland.
“They will likely try to ram this through again in the middle of the night in June, with the hope that by hiding the impacts as long as possible, it will be fast-tracked just before the Legislature adjourns so the community won’t be able to fight it. It’s outrageous behavior by public officials who are supposed to be serving our community, not hiding their actions from us. We must continue to show up to prevent them from doing this,” Kass Finkel declared.
Governor Kathy Hochul today proposed a comprehensive plan that would expand protections for New Yorkers regardless of immigration status, safeguard basic rights and hold federal immigration officials accountable. Earlier this year, Governor Hochul introduced several proposals to protect New Yorkers amid an unprecedented escalation in aggressive federal immigration enforcement. Building on her previous proposals, this comprehensive package would enhance protections and safeguard the rights of New Yorkers from the overreach of rogue federal immigration authorities.
“New York prides itself on being the place that immigrants come to build a better life and we will not stand for senseless actions that stand in the way of that promise,” Governor Hochul said. “My top priority is keeping New Yorkers safe, which is why I’m proposing new measures to stop ICE’s flagrant abuse of power under the guise of public safety. By safeguarding basic rights and expanding protections that keep our communities safe, we are fighting to reassure every New Yorker that we will protect them from ICE overreach. The time to act is now.”
Bans Law Enforcement from Wearing Masks
The Governor’s proposal would prohibit state, local and federal officers from wearing face covering while interacting with the public. This excludes tactical equipment, sunglasses, or medical masks from the definition of face covering. Willfully violating the statute would be a misdemeanor.
Refocuses Local Law Enforcement on Local Crimes
This proposal would prohibit state and local law enforcement from coordinating with federal immigration enforcement for non-criminal violations like jaywalking or minor vehicle and traffic violations. The proposal would also limit law enforcement officers from asking, collecting or sharing information about immigration status unless it is legally required or relevant to a crime.
The Governor’s proposal would also prohibit local governments, state and local police, and state and local corrections from entering 287(g) Agreements or similar agreements with the federal government that allow for state and local resources to be used for civil immigration enforcement purposes. Local governments would also be barred from paying or otherwise contributing to the costs related to constructing, owning, or operating an immigration detention facility. They would also be prohibited from changing zoning to allow for construction or use of buildings as immigration detention centers without public input.
Holds Federal Law Enforcement Accountable for Constitutional Violations
Currently, New Yorkers can sue state and local government officials for a violation of their constitutional rights under federal civil rights law but actions against federal officials are much more limited. The Governor’s proposal would establish a state law under which New Yorkers can bring a lawsuit against federal, state, and local government officials for a violation of their constitutional rights.
The Governor’s proposal would prohibit state, local and federal officers from wearing face covering to conceal their identities while interacting with the public. This would exclude tactical equipment, sunglasses, or medical face coverings.
Safeguards Interactions with Public Employees
The Governor’s proposal would strictly prohibit the use of state, local or school resources—including employee time—for immigration enforcement activities. This includes a ban on questioning or investigating individuals solely for civil immigration purposes, as well as inquiring about a person’s citizenship or country of origin unless required by a federal judicial warrant. Proposed legislation would also prohibit officials from disclosing personally identifying information to immigration authorities, granting them access to non-public areas of public facilities or using immigration officers as interpreters, and would prohibit the release or transfer of a student into immigration custody even if a parent has been detained, unless specifically mandated by a judicial warrant or court order.
Additionally, SED would develop a model policy for schools regarding interacting with immigration authorities.
Keeps Immigration Authorities Out Of Sensitive Locations
The Governor’s proposal would prohibit all state, local and school employees (including higher ed and k-12) from permitting access to any non-public area of a state-owned or operated facility to immigration authorities without a judicial warrant. That means any state or municipally owned, or operated facility including housing accommodations, parks, childcare facilities, preschools, hospitals, schools, dorms, healthcare facilities, community centers, libraries and shelters, cannot grant or facility access to any non-public areas of their facilities to immigration authorities without a warrant.
The Governor’s proposal would also empower privately owned or operated sensitive locations, including hospitals, daycares, schools, housing accommodations and houses of worship to do the same.
Protecting Every Student’s Right To A Free Public Education
In addition to protecting schools as sensitive locations, the Governor’s proposal would ensure immigrant students can access education, codifying the right to a free public education regardless of immigration status.
The proposal prohibits various practices, particularly around data collection and disclosure regarding immigration status, that could chill the exercise of that right by undocumented students.
“We will always help federal law enforcement when it comes to tracking down, apprehending and assisting in the prosecution of individuals who are accused of violent crimes, serious crimes — always have, always will,” Governor Hochul stated. “There is no deviation in our policy on that. But we will not let them go in and terrorize our cities, go after our neighbors because of the color of their skin, as we saw unfold in many cities across the country. We don’t want families to have parents afraid to send their children to school — as has been happening — or go to worship, and not go after neighbors just because of where they come from.”
Making another stab at commonsense, reasonable governance, Congressmen Tom Suozzi (D-NY) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) have offered bipartisan legislation to break the impasse that has led to the longest government shutdown, caused extraordinary difficulty for Homeland Security federal workers, for travelers, left the country vulnerable after climate disaster and emergencies and exposed the nation to terror attacks at a time of war. House Speaker Mike Johnson, doing Trump’s bidding, refused to take up the compromise bill that was passed by the Senate by unanimous consent, prolonging the national misery, while Trump tried to make himself the White Knight by paying TSA (but not the others). The Coast Guard, FEMA, and counter-terrorism agents remain unpaid after more than 40 days – Karen Rubin, editor@news-photos-features.com
Washington, D.C.—Today, Congressmen Tom Suozzi (D-NY) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) unveiled their Reforming ICE and Protecting America Act, bipartisan legislation to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for Fiscal Year 2026 while enacting targeted, enforceable reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The legislation comes after weeks of deadlock in Washington over immigration enforcement, during which no serious proposal emerged that both kept DHS fully funded and delivered real ICE reform.
The Reforming ICE and Protecting America Act meets both imperatives: fully funding DHS while bringing ICE in line with the standards of every other law enforcement agency in the United States.
“Government should never be brought to a standstill—certainly not when homeland security is on the line and the consequences are borne by TSA agents, Coast Guard servicemembers, FEMA personnel, frontline DHS employees, and the American people. This debate began with a legitimate call for real ICE reform, yet after weeks of political deadlock, no serious solution emerged. The right course was clear from the start: keep the Department of Homeland Security fully funded and confront the problem before us with real reform. That is precisely what this bill does. It is time to do what should have been done from the beginning: govern, reform, and protect,” said Fitzpatrick.
“The American people are fed up. The chaos at our airports was awful, the Department of Homeland Security has not been fully funded during these very dangerous times, and the people are demanding that ICE live up to the standards of all other federal law enforcement. They are sick and tired of the endless blame game and they are demanding that we work together to solve the very real problems we face,” said Suozzi. “This legislation cuts through the dysfunction. It’s rooted in common sense; let’s fund DHS, keep our country safe, and hammer out real reforms of ICE.”
Drawing on Fitzpatrick’s more than 15 years as an FBI Special Agent and Suozzi’s experience overseeing the nation’s 11th largest police department as Nassau County Executive, the legislation was developed with direct input from federal law enforcement officials and in consultation with Members of the Problem Solvers Caucus and Senate partners, including the Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The Reforming ICE and Protecting America Act would:
Fully fund DHS for FY26 and keep the Department operational across its core security, disaster response, and public safety missions.
Bring ICE in line with standardized law enforcement policies through body cameras, a limitation on masks, visible identification, standardized uniforms and training, and independent investigations of officer-involved shootings.
Focus enforcement where it belongs—on violent offenders and the most serious threats to public safety.
Protect due process and prevent abuse through probable-cause and warrant requirements in key enforcement contexts, including protections against the knowing detention of U.S. citizens without probable cause.
Establish clear guardrails for sensitive locations by limiting civil immigration enforcement at schools, health care facilities, places of worship, polling places on election day, childcare facilities, and private home residences absent a warrant, except in exigent circumstances.
Protect law enforcement personnel and their families by strengthening penalties for doxxing and expanding protections for sensitive personal information.
Ensures CBP remains focused on its intended mission: securing the border.
Last week, Fitzpatrick and Suozzi announced they were developing a bipartisan path to fully fund DHS while advancing real ICE reform. The bill introduced today is the product of that effort.
Watch the Congressmen talk about their efforts here and here.
Reproductive Freedom For All, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, and other partners hosted a press call on Thursday morning to highlight immigration detention as an urgent and immediate reproductive justice issue. (Access a recording from today’s call here.)
Reproductive freedom and justice advocates called for oversight and accountability for the human rights violations and the medical neglect and mistreatment of pregnant, postpartum, and/or nursing people in detention across the country. Overwhelmingly, speakers agreed that the Trump administration is choosing to enforce its extreme agenda rather than the safety of pregnant people.
Experts convened to speak on the crisis at hand, share the consequences for pregnant individuals and their children in detention, bring to light real-life examples, and discuss future actions from organizations, including legal actions to hold this administration accountable.
“For months now, we’ve seen reports of pregnant people in ICE custody experiencing medical neglect and abuse,” stated Yvonne Gutierrez, Reproductive Freedom for All Executive Director. “This is state-sanctioned violence. Trump’s anti-abortion and anti-immigrant attacks are part of the same agenda, aimed at controlling people’s bodies, denying care, and targeting communities they deem less deserving of freedom and dignity. This is dangerous, and it’s escalating. We will keep fighting for a world where everyone has the freedom to make decisions about their bodies and their futures, and where families are protected by their government, not targeted.”
“We’ve had enough of these attacks on immigrant communities, designed to instill fear and confusion and deter people from accessing healthcare and essential services,” declared Lupe M. Rodríguez, Executive Director, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice. “We know that actions to separate families and make it harder for people to make their own decisions about their bodies and lives violate our reproductive rights and bodily autonomy. Immigrant justice IS reproductive justice. Everyone, no matter who they are or where they come from, should be able to get the health care they need; live safe, healthy lives; and raise their families with dignity.”
“Unaccompanied immigrant youth must be able to access the full range of reproductive health care, including abortion, under the current law,” Brigitte Amiri, Deputy Director, American Civil Liberties Union, Reproductive Freedom Project, stated. “Any attempts to restrict abortion access for youth in immigration shelters will be devastating. If any youth in ORR custody is denied access to reproductive health care, they should contact us at 212-549-2633.”
“Our pregnant clients tell us they don’t know when or if they will be able to go to the OBGYN, and when they do go, they aren’t told when their next appointment will be,” said Jesus Gonzalez, Managing Social Worker, Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project, Arizona. “We currently have a client who is in her third trimester and has no information on what the plan would be if she were to give birth while detained. Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to secure release from detention for anyone right now, including people who are pregnant or suffering from serious illnesses. While our clients have reported poor conditions in detention for many years, what we’re seeing now is a choice on behalf of ICE and the federal government to detain everyone that they can, regardless of their medical history and regardless of whether they can obtain the medical care they need in ICE custody. We are sounding the alarm on the real harms of detaining pregnant people and the danger that this poses to their health and the health of their babies. We call on ICE to immediately release all pregnant people from detention and stop this harmful practice of detaining pregnant people.”
“Healthcare access is not a nice-to-have, it’s lifesaving. And reproductive health care should never be seen as optional — it’s a dignity that all women deserve,” said Rochelle Garza, President of the Texas Civil Rights Project. “Texans know this fight deeply. Those of us living on the border have experienced this cruelty for years. And it’s no coincidence that many of these immigration detention centers, whether they are run by ICE or ORR, are located in Texas. Or that the enforcement methods here have spread across the country. It’s past time to shut down these facilities and end detention of families and any medically vulnerable individuals.”
“The story of my mom– a woman who crossed the border pregnant with me– reminds me that migration and reproductive healthcare are inextricably tied. Despite people traveling miles in the hope of a better life, immigration status, financial conditions, and dehumanizing treatment create significant barriers to care,” said Congresswoman Delia C Ramirez (D-IL), lead sponsor of the Melt ICE Act. “Reproductive justice is a human right and immigrant justice demands the dismantling of systems that criminalize migration, tear apart families, and deny immigrants access to health care and full personhood.”
Trump’s HHS Targets 13 States Where Abortion Coverage is Protected With New Investigation
In other developments, The Guardian recently reported that Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services has launched investigations into 13 states that currently require health insurance plans to cover abortion care, claiming that these protections violate the Weldon Amendment.
Reproductive Freedom for All-endorsed New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill criticized the investigationsin a statement last Thursday as “nothing but a fishing expedition wasting taxpayers’ money.”
“I will fight tooth and nail to defend and protect New Jerseyans’ abortion rights against attacks from Donald Trump, or anyone else,’ she said. ‘New Jersey requires health insurance plans to follow all applicable laws, including protecting women’s reproductive freedom.”
The Weldon Amendment has long been used to let politicians and health care entities impose their personal beliefs on patients—allowing hospitals, insurance companies, and individual health care professionals to deny care, coverage, or referrals for abortion care.
This isn’t the first time the Trump administration has sought to weaponize the Weldon Amendment to attack states that have passed laws to safeguard abortion access. In 2020, the Trump Administration announced it would withhold $200 million in federal Medicaid funds quarterly from California by claiming that the state’s requirement for abortion coverage in health care plans violates the Weldon Amendment.
“Trump and his allies have lied time and again by saying that they’re leaving abortion access up to the states—and this latest move from Trump’s HHS reaffirms that this was never going to be the case. This is part of a broader strategy to chip away at abortion access nationwide, including in states where it is legally protected, and the Trump administration won’t stop pressuring providers, restricting medication abortion, and challenging health care coverage until they reach that goal,” Reproductive Freedom for All stated.
For over 50 years, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America) has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leave—for everybody. Reproductive Freedom for All is powered by its more than 4 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.
More than 100,000 gathered in New York City – they were among at least eight million nationwide at a record 3,300+ protest events in big cities and small hamlets in all 50 states, participating in the nationwide No Kings 3, the largest single day peaceful protest in America’s 250 years since achieving independence from monarchy.
What was remarkable as people crowded together for the slow, mile-long march down Seventh Avenue was how polite, kind, good humored everyone was.
There was joyfulness, a sense of release that comes after waking each day depressed and awaiting the inevitable three-punches-to-the-gut that occur with the latest outrage and offense inflicted by this deranged, demented dictator wannabe sociopath and his enablers.
There was the comfort of joining together in community and mutual commiseration, reinforcing the sanity of opposing this corrupt administration, that in just 15 months, has managed to overturn and upend every value that America was founded upon. Living with the feeling of having your world turned upside down, like being tossed into the Red Queen’s domain of Alice in Wonderland. More than one carried a sign saying, “Make Orwell Fiction Again.”.
Each of the three No Kings protests and the “Hands Off” protest before, has been larger than the one before as the grievances pile up and are layered on.
This, No Kings 3, brought out at least an additional one million – more than 8 million people in 3,200+ No Kings events – by adding the anti-war layer. No money for healthcare, but $200 billion ($1 billion a day) for an illegal, unprovoked war that seems only to serve his Big Oil donors and his buddies Putin and Netanyahu. (Meanwhile, he continues to undermine Ukraine, actually giving Putin a new lease on life to wage his war despite aiding Iran against the US, while insulting Zelensky who has tried to help the US combat Iranian drones). In the process, Trump has undermined our alliances – NATO, the European Union – already fraying with his unhinged tariff policy, threats to take over Greenland, Panama, now Cuba (“I can do anything I want”), and unleashing the war against Iran without so much as a heads-up for the allies he now chides as “cowards”.
Meanwhile, he is letting the nuclear testing treaty lapse and announcing new testing, only reinforcing recognition by North Korea and Iran and anyone else of the necessity of having a nuclear weapon as the only real deterrent against this new imperialism by a leader of a former superpower with ambitions of being not just a dictator, but Emperor. Rather than America as the Superpower and the beacon of democracy for the world, Trump has turned USA into America Alone, a pariah.
His tariff policy had already undermined the US economy which (no surprise) was the strongest on the planet (thanks to Biden’s policies getting us out of a deadly pandemic, restoring supply chains and domestic manufacturing), re-triggering inflation. But now, the Iran War is triggering a global oil and food crisis of historic proportions. Trump’s reaction? “Hormuz doesn’t affect us. Doesn’t concern us. I don’t care.” But he has taken to calling it the “Strait of Trump.”
The climate action people were out in force, recognizing that everything this corrupt administration has done has been to force the US off the track to clean, renewable energy and back into dependency on dirty fossil fuel (and back into wars for oil) – not just rescinding the tax credits, but actually trying to shut down wind power projects already well under construction. Most recently, he has turned the Environmental Protection Administration into a misnomer, unilaterally repealing the “Endangerment Finding,” basically saying they don’t care how many people will sicken or die because of air or water pollution, contract cancer from chemical toxins, or the health, economic and geopolitical impacts of global warming that will produce some 200 million climate refugees due to sea level rise, drought and famine.
The Epstein files and Trump’s unaccountability seem also to have inspired many first-time protesters, pushed to the breaking point of “enough is enough.”
But probably what pushed many more over the edge in the growing list of unconstitutional, illegal actions was embroiling the United States (and the world) in an illegal, endless war without any discussion, let along authorization of Congress or collaboration with allies or even an explanation (that makes sense) to Americans. In fact, the administration deceived the Congress and betrayed the Iranians who mediators said were making progress in good faith negotiations. Trump blithely said that Cuba was next on his hit list (after Venezuela and Iran, a war he has already become “bored” with (“I can do anything I want”).
If the first No Kings had much to do about yielding over to the oligarchs, the Trump Crime Syndicate’s Putin-style kleptocracy has become obvious, as Trump has managed to personally profit by over $1 billion in just this first year, his family enterprise billions of dollars more. They don’t even hide it, with their cybercurrency scams, the boys’ “new” drone factories getting federal contracts, their donors getting 2 and 3x the market rate to purchase warehouses to detain migrants, terrified children (without due process) in inhumane conditions that mass murderers on death row don’t experience.
Add on the obvious efforts at voter suppression, purging voter rolls, likely election subversion, and extorting Congress to pass his SAVE Act which will disenfranchise millions of women, minorities, disabled, homeless and the most vulnerable most in need of salvation from this tyrannical kleptocracy, because, as he admits, he and his enablers are desperate to keep power to prevent Democrats from taking control of Congress and impeaching him for an unprecedented third time and holding his cabinet of criminals accountable)
As several posters wrote: “All my outrage can’t fit on this sign.”
In all, those waving the placards that say “No Kings since 1776,” are right to be concerned. This is an inflection point. In just this brief time, Trump and his thugs have pushed America back before the 1960s (the Golden Age toward civil and human rights and the first glimmer of a true democracy), before the 1860s (they are re-writing history to make slavery a noble endeavor).
“This regime has used threats, intimidation, and a constant deluge of atrocities to heighten fear and cynicism so that the American people would not fight back as it shreds our Constitution, disappears our neighbors, steals from us, and turns our country into a pariah rogue state,” write Indivisible co-directors leaders Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin.
“But the people are fighting back — and in larger numbers than ever before. We can now estimate that at least 8 million people protested today, making this the largest protest in US history. That means that over a million new people joined us this time around — and we’re hearing stories from all over of people who didn’t just attend their first No Kings protest — they attended their first-ever protest.”
Organizers point to the building of a movement that goes beyond showing up on a day and waving a sign.
Now they point to continuing to build the grassroots infrastructure to overcome the voter suppression and election subversion aimed at preventing an overthrow of MAGA rule, and retake at least the one “co-equal” branch of government and make it do its job of checks-and-balances and oversight of a corrupt administration.
Despite bringing the protests to their doorsteps (rather than concentrating protest in Washington DC when the lawmakers are not even there), clearly, the Republicans in Congress are more fearful of Trump (who has taken control of the war chest) than they are of their voters, smug in their confidence in their voter suppression, gerrymandering, election subversion will keep them in their jobs.
In this 250th anniversary year of the beginning of the march toward a “more perfect union,” we are either looking at a revived “We the People” revolution or the restoration of rule by a deranged, demented tyrant.
Some 400 organizations coalesced to support the No Kings protests including Indivisible, Moveon, ACLU, May Day Strong, 50501,
“Because here is the truth: No single day—not even the largest day of protest in U.S. history—stops authoritarianism. What stops authoritarianism is what comes after the march. The sustained organizing. The community building. The first-time marcher who felt something shift in them yesterday but doesn’t know where to go,” says Moveon.org.
Indivisible, which has spearheaded the No Kings events, announced nationwide organizing meetings to welcome protesters into ongoing political organizing. “We’ll be launching nationwide community meetings — hosted by protest organizers and attendees — to help people politically awakened by No Kings get involved with sustained local actions around ICE monitoring, election protection, and noncooperation. They’ll be a great way to connect folks with Indivisible groups and existing networks and foster new groups and leadership building.
Gearing up for a national day of economic disruption on May Day. “We always say mass mobilizations are just one tactic. Economic disruption is another tactic. And it’s most successful when you’ve done the work to build a large, broad-based coalition of folks ready for higher-level actions. So now, the ground is laid for May Day Strong’s national day of ‘No school, no work, no shopping’ to put the oligarchs enabling Trump’s power grabs on notice.”
What may be the largest protest in Nassau County history, an estimated 5,000 turned out for the No Kings protest in front of the steps to the Supreme Court building in Mineola, one of 16 No Kings protests on Long Island.
“It feels so good to be doing something,” said Roseanna, a Bellmore resident but originally from Italy, who was attending her first protest.
“We refuse to remain silent as our neighbors are arrested without cause or due process by masked men and then held in detention centers under inhumane conditions and as communities are terrorized and families torn apart,” the organizers, Engage Long Island, Show Up Long Island and Long Island Network for Change, declared, laying out the mounting grievances against Trump and his administration.
“We raise our voices against an administration that has ripped healthcare coverage away from millions of Americans, gutted disease research funding and environmental protections and has given unqualified individuals the power to make critical recommendations and place the health of our children in peril. We protest the administration’s rolling back of women’s rights and voting rights. We speak out against a war declared unconstitutionally, placing the lives of our military personnel at risk without first making the case to the American people; A war that is costing one billion dollars every day to wage while oil prices surge for families already struggling with soaring prices. Civil liberties are weakening, constitutional checks and balances are faltering and we are experiencing a significant and rapid decline in democratic norms. We the People will continue to stand up and speak out to save our democracy.
“As the president continues to push the limits of his power towards authoritarianism, We the People say loudly and clearly that this country belongs to us; the Power of the People is greater than the people in power,” declared organizer Halle Brenner-Perles.
The rally served to protest the escalating signs of authoritarianism being displayed by this President and his administration, the organizers explained. “More and more people are coming to understand the nature of this threat to our democracy and they are showing up in greater numbers than ever, here on Long Island and across the country,” and looking for ways to express their outrage and frustration, to show support for one another, and cultivate the movement to end the march to authoritarianism.
“The No Kings movement can’t be stopped,” said Civil rights attorney Fred Brewington. “Make America what it should be, not what they have turned it into. We need to take back America. When we take over Congress, make him the impotent person he is.”
After October’s No Kings protests drew 7 million in the biggest single day of peaceful protest in US history, Trump claimed the No Kings protests were small, ineffective, the protesters “wacked out.”
Since October, things have only gotten worse – cruel, masked ICE thugs killing civilians Renee Good and Alex Pretti in the street, children separated and kept in horrific conditions, a war costing $1 billion a day; 2 million who can’t afford health care. “We are here for hope, for the nation and the world we want for our families,” said Engage Long Island organizer Halle Brenner-Perles, lauding the Nassau County high school students who conducted ICE Out walkouts. “The power of people is always stronger than the people in power. Take back America, make it better than ever before. Because that’s what peaceful protesters do.”
Dr. Eve Meltzer Krief, Vice President Long Island, Queens Brooklyn Chapter American Academy of Pediatrics and candidate for Suffolk County Legislature, knows what it means to push back. She joined the lawsuit against “Health” Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. to overturn his revised vaccination standards for children and won.
“I worry for the future. This government can’t pass common sense gun laws when guns are the #1 killer of children. Trump dabbled with authoritarianism last year, this year, embracing at a new level.”
He is arresting and detaining people without due process. Family separation 2.0 – children are afraid their parent will not be home when they come home from school. Americans shot point blank. In the most Orwellian fashion, Noem called Good a domestic terrorist and Alex Pretti a would-be assassin.
The administration deports parents without letting them take their children as young as 2 months old with them, yet US citizen children are being deported against the wishes of their parents, – including a child with brain cancer, she said. Some 4,000 children have been imprisoned since January 2025, hundreds detained without their parents. Parents have been taken from 11,000 children and placed in detention facilities far away. Parents afraid to take their child to health visits.
“Does any of that make us greater, safer? “Enough of disregarding basic human rights. The power of people is stronger than people in power.”
The gathering also served to collect food for local pantries (2,400 pounds were collected at the last No Kings rally, this one collected 4600 pounds – more than two tons! – and $1300 in cash), and for voter registration.
The Mineola Rally was organized together by Engage Long Island, Show Up Long Island and Long Island Network for Change. The League of Women Voters of Huntington is a co-sponsor.
Proposal Would Fix Chaos at American Airports, Mandate ICE Standards Consistent with Other Federal Agencies, Target Enforcement on “Worst of the Worst”
Senate Democrats have tried 10 times to pass legislation to fully fund TSA so the officers could get paid and relieve the abominable lines at airport security, to fully fund FEMA, the Coast Guard, and cybersecurity, more important than ever in light of heightened terror threats since Trump’s unprovoked, illegal Iran War. But each time, Republicans have blocked it.
Think of it. When Americans are most vulnerable, Trump and the Republicans are willing to let national security collapse in order to continue to allow ICE illegally detain, arrest, incarcerate in inhumane concentration camps, without any accountability.
And now, when Republicans are ready to say “uncle,” Trump has told them he does not want them to work with Democrats. Think of it – that’s more than half the country that he doesn’t care about, especially since his approval rating is now around 36%.
What is more, since he came up with the brilliant idea (like a paper clip!), which actually came from a woman calling in to a talk show, to install the ICE thugs at airports, under the pretense of relieving the burdens of the TSA agents who remain on the job despite not being paid in a month, he has actually fallen in love with the fact that the ICE agents aren’t helping relieve travelers’ misery at all (in fact, they are like SCABs in a union action), but are in place to continue extra-judicial, unconstitutional arrests, detentions, deportations.
Trump has also tied passing any new legislation to the Congress passing his SAVE Act, whose singular purpose is to suppress voting by disenfranchising potentially millions of women, Blacks, seniors, college students, and anyone else who tends to vote for Democrats. So Trump has little incentive to adopt this legislation proposed by Congressmen Tom Suozzi (D-NY) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA). But good try, guys.
Meanwhile, I’m sick of people blaming Democrats or “Congress,” instead of putting the blame for the chaos, confusion, misery, suffering, and impending collapse of our economy, democracy, national security by Trump and his Republican enablers. –Karen Rubin, editor@news-photos-features.com
Washington, D.C.— Congressman Tom Suozzi (D-NY) and Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) announced that they are working on bipartisan legislation to immediately re-open the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) while advancing commonsense reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
At a moment when Washington remains deadlocked, the Suozzi-Fitzpatrick effort offers a serious bipartisan path to restore full DHS operations while pairing that action with targeted reforms to improve public trust and strengthen accountability within ICE.
“People are standing in long lines at our airports, TSA agents are not getting paid, FEMA is going unfunded, and Americans are becoming increasingly frustrated that instead of solving problems, politicians in Washington are pointing fingers. Congressman Fitzpatrick and I are trying to cut through the dysfunction, isolate the problem areas where negotiations have stalled, and work together to get things done,” said Congressman Suozzi.“Ultimately, ICE is a law enforcement agency that needs to be held to the same professional standards as every other law enforcement agency in the United States. Unfortunately, ICE has been operating in a fashion I believe is illegal and immoral. It’s not a radical idea to ask them to answer to the same safety and transparency requirements as every other police officer and federal agent in the country.
“Protecting the American people is among the first obligations of government, and that means ensuring the Department of Homeland Security is fully funded and fully operational. It also means ensuring that those entrusted with enforcing the law operate under clear, consistent standards that preserve public trust. I have long believed that, at its core, law enforcement is a social contract built on trust on both ends. This effort would restore DHS operations, reinforce clear and uniform standards across federal law enforcement, and keep enforcement focused on the most serious threats to public safety. That is how we restore the mission, strengthen enforcement, and renew public confidence in the institutions charged with protecting the American people,” said Congressman Fitzpatrick.
The proposed reforms are being developed to fully restore DHS operations while establishing ICE standards consistent with those of other law enforcement agencies. In shaping this effort, the Congressmen have engaged directly with federal law enforcement officials, while drawing on Congressman Fitzpatrick’s more than 15 years as an FBI Agent and Congressman Suozzi’s experience overseeing the nation’s 11th largest police department as Nassau County Executive.
The legislation would require that all federal law enforcement agencies, including ICE, are held to the same high standards and policies as it pertains to training requirements, the use of body cameras, independent investigation of use-of-force at scenes, clear outer identification of the agency engaged in the enforcement action, cooperation with local law enforcement, and a prohibition of masks during enforcement actions coupled with tougher penalties for doxxing. It would also lay out stronger warrant requirements and rules governing activity in sensitive locations to ensure enforcement resources are focused on the “worst of the worst.”
Last week, the Senate failed to advance DHS funding for the fifth time, extending a stalemate that has left the Department unfunded since February 13 and is taking a serious toll on TSA staffing, airport operations, and DHS’s ability to fully carry out its mission. At the same time, the deadlock has made clear that any durable solution must not only reopen DHS, but also address the need for credible, commonsense reforms that strengthen accountability within ICE.
