By Juan B., Brooklyn, NY 
 

ON ANY GIVEN DAY, during the hazy, hot and humid days for the summer, it’s not unusual to see a tall man setting up speakers and turn-tables in parks, playgrounds, and pretty much anywhere he can find a crowd of youth and families. He doesn’t get paid for this and in fact it actually costs him money in the time lost that he could have spent doing something else, perhaps sitting behind a desk in an air conditioned office, pushing paper, and sipping an iced latte while writing endless policy and theory papers on issues like what it takes to reduce crime and recidivism in Bed Stuy and Crown Heights, promote diversity without displacement or gentrification, provide meaningful employment and educational opportunities for youth and families, or any number of other issues impacting the 36^th Councilmanic District. 

He could do that, but then he wouldn’t be Rob Cornegy.  

Rob Cornegy takes a simpler, more direct grassroots approach: he goes out into the heart of the district, plays music or just hangs out in an easily accessible area, and get’s to work. Lines form sometimes to get his assistance. A typical afternoon includes requests for help finding work, getting emergency food stamps, help in organizing a community event, or contacting specific government agencies about a problem. Rob, a walking rolodex of social services, makes one referral after another. 

In the current campaign season there are many candidates out and about in the community, knocking on doors, interacting with the community, and also providing some social services referrals. The difference between them and Rob is simple: Rob’s been doing this for pretty much his whole adult life, an example passed on from his parents. How do I know? Rob Cornegy and I have been friends for over 15 years, and the Rob Cornegy I met and worked with then is the same as the Rob Cornegy I know now. We partnered on a number of projects, issues, and challenging cases and without Rob’s help or support I question what the outcome would have been like. 

Fast forward to today: If I’m meeting Rob for lunch and we’re sitting outside eating, it’s not usual for us to be interrupted over a dozen times by passerby’s needing a point in the right direction for any number of service referrals. And the walk there and the walk back are no different. It’s fair to say that lunch is over a three hour event, with the vast majority of that time watching Rob handle what seems like an endless stream of requests.  

I’ve watched Rob during this campaign season closely, and his approach to solving problems is very straightforward: 

• Unlike his opponents, Rob Cornegy humbly accepts and even embraces the fact that he is not an expert on most issues, nor does he want to be. This community already has experts. They live here, work here, enjoy triumphs and suffer through failures here. To him, their experience is unquestionably more valuable than anything he can ever obtain on his own or through a computer looking up stuff online.

• Rob Cornegy wants these experts to weigh in on issues, but only after he actively seeks out, door to door, what issues are most important to the constituents of the district. Yes, he could spend countless hours in an office studying figures, stats, charts, and graphics. But he prefers a simpler approach: Asking our residents, “What’s important to you right now?” It’s only after he knows the answer to that question that he’ll work to facilitate the creation of a district work-plan that addresses issues in the priority set by the constituents themselves.

• Rob Cornegy understands that a vibrant local economy is a key component to a thriving community, and that things can be done locally to help minimize, even if just a little, the impact on our local businesses during an economic crisis. He understands why local entrepreneurship plays a major role maintaining a local economy, and the importance of hiring local people to staff the many shops of our area, and has been a constant presence to merchants of the district, helping promote our shops and events so we don’t fall victim to the economic downturn, or our customers flock to shops and events at venues far away from central Brooklyn.

• Rob Cornegy knows that a positive, meaningful relationship with local police is based on mutual respect, and that when individual police abuse their authority it impacts every good police officer, so he maintains excellent relationships with Community Affairs officers at all the precincts of the district, partnering with them to conduct crime prevention workshops and working through them to address cases of police misuse of authority. This is perhaps one of the most difficult and delicate of balances to keep, and in a campaign season it’s all too easy to vilify the police to score votes but Rob understands that addressing these concerns needs to be done in a way that doesn’t undermine the trust needed by residents that, when we call 911 for help, we know the police will come quickly and will protect and serve them in that time of need.

• Rob Cornegy is committed to bringing more social services into the community because often we become entangled in a multitude of issues and could really use some help to get back on top. Sometimes, because of our own upbringings, surroundings, and poor choices brought about by equally poor self-esteems, we ourselves are the root cause of our issues, compounded by poor role models and even worse living conditions. Rob compassionately, yet without pulling punches, helps us come to terms with these personal realities, and won’t wait to be a member of the council to continue to fight to preserve and expand the social services that we have for all these reasons.

Rob’s supporters are a mixed bag of well-to-do’s and economically challenged, the highly-educated and those from the “school of hard knocks”, the model citizens and those that have made a wrong turn here or there in their lifetime. The list goes on, and he welcomes them all on equal ground. They have one thing in common: their commitment to real change is solid and many have hands that were once weak but Rob helped to make strong. And on September 16^th, one day after the Primary Election, regardless of the previous day’s outcome, Rob Cornegy will most likely be outside again, looking for a spot to set up some music, and doing what he’s been doing in the community year after year after year.