Bird Dogging Trip to Staten Island Tell Representative Donovan: Stop Hurting US! #protectDreamers

“Today demonstrators delivered a miniature Statue of Liberty to @CongressmanDanDonovan to shame him for his vote to gut the ADA and his lack of action to protect the Dreamers. Donovan, stand on the right side of history and endorse the Dream Act. #protectDreamers now!”

Photo and Caption by Reed Vreelnand

HOUSE VISIT WITH NY REP DONOVAN. PASS A CLEAN DREAM ACT. STOP HURTING NEW YORKERS — with Reed Vreeland, AlanTimothy Lunceford-Stevens and Ivy Arce.

Ivy Arce posted these photos, including this one of “Mel, Margarita and Tim. — with AlanTimothy Lunceford-Stevens in Staten Island, New York”and others on the way to Donovan’s home in Staten Island.

On Friday, Reed Vreeland, of Housing Works, sent me an invitation for an action:

“NYC Action Alert: Join DACA activists and people with disabilities on Saturday at 2pm to demonstrate against U.S. Representative Donovan for voting to hurt New Yorkers. 

We will meet at the statue in the middle of St. George Ferry Station in Staten Island at 2pm.

Representative Donovan has cast destructive votes against people with disabilities and refuses to take a stand to protect our health care or the Dreamers. Join New Yorkers in a demonstration in Staten Island on Saturday, February 24th at 2 pm to tell Representative Donovan to “Stop Hurting US!”

I was going to go to my mom’s house anyway, so I stopped by on the way to New Jersey.

Donovan lives at 35 Eddy Street.

I arrived in this suburban district early, walking around, chatting with people going to an estate sale by the representative’s house. 

Donovan is the only republican in New York City’s congressional delegation.

He was the district attorney handling the inquiry over the Eric Garner’s chokehold that left the unarmed man dead in Staten Island.

To his credit, he voted no on the GOP Tax cut and against the healthcare repeal efforts of the GOP. “All policy is local, and my job is to represent the 740,000 people in New York's 11th Congressional District,” he said in a statement.   But he has refused to support the Dreamers in his district.  His yes vote on HR 620 – ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017 – that would gut the Americans with Disabilities Act. The bill weakens the ADA by prohibiting “civil actions based on the failure to remove an architectural barrier to access into an existing public accommodation.” This bill, that would set back the civil liberties for people with disabilities by decades, passed the house.

Members of Housing Works and Rise and Resist Immigrant Working Group took a ferry and a bus from Manhattan to pay the representative a visit, reminding him he will be held accountable for his votes that hurt New Yorkers. 

We brought a copy of the Statue of Liberty and a few messages to the representative’s door. No one answered.  So we took a few pictures. And tweeted out our message to him from his home that his votes impact all New Yorkers.  Protect New Yorkers.  And pass a clean Dream Act.

As we left, I saw a group of police and three police vans by Donovan’s house speaking to one of the neighbors.

Apparently, word was getting out that Donovan had some visitors.

He’ll have a lot more if he keeps voting against those in his district.  

People with disabilities will not go quietly back into the asylums.

Elizabeth Melas writes 

February 22 at 7:30pm · 

Here is the pathetically generic email, that I received from congress member Dan M. Donovan Jr.. Shame on this revolting subhuman, for voting to take away disabled people’s legal rights, without trying to replace them. The title of HB620 is purposefully misleading.