Catching Up With The Running Man
Trying to catch up with a man running for office proves to be a difficult task. David Greenfield, founder of TeachNYS and executive vice president of the Sephardic Community Federation has been thrown into the local spotlight once again with the sudden resignation of popular NYC councilman Simcha Felder creating an open seat in New Yorks 44th district in a race that many agree Mr. Greenfield is the front-runner. Getting David Greenfield to sit down to a face to face interview is a very tough request for a man who spends his days securing $600 million dollars in tuition tax credits for the parents of yeshiva, bais yakov and other private school students. He's worked tirelessly getting the federal government to provide FREE tutoring to yeshiva students in over 50 schools. As well as representing the 100,000-strong Sephardic community of Brooklyn, Manhattan and New Jersey he still finds the time to campaign for his upcoming election. David can be found outside of the famous R' Landaus shul shaking hands and answering questions as he leaves the shul after davening shachris there. David is not your typical old-school candidate and promises to be accessible to the community if elected. He even set up a Twitter page at Twitter.com/TeamGreenfield to keep everyone up to date with his current activities and schedule. As editor of Emunah Magazine, i thought what better way to communicate with a man so busy but so technologically aware than with a series of emails and text messages back and forth. I wanted to show a glimpse of what the the typical day entails for a candidate whose running for elected office, community leader, full time father and family man.
8:30am: Emunah Magazine (EM) via txt message to David Greenfield: I hope its not too early in the morning for me to be writing you. Please tell our readers what your currently doing this morning and what you may have prepared for the rest of the day. Do you ever get a chance to eat breakfast with the family?
Meeting with other civic leaders
9:28am: David Greenfield (DG) via txt to Emunah Magazine: Definitely not too early for me. I've been meeting with community leaders in Bensonhurst since 8am and just finishing up now. I started my day with a 6am shachris and I did get to eat breakfast with my family at about 7am. I'm heading to Boro Park to campaign. The weather is tough but wearing 2 pairs of socks help!
12:45pm: EM via blackberry to DG: I figured i would write during lunch time so i wouldn't disturb you too much. Did you get stay warm and indoors while campaigning earlier? Anything interesting planned for this afternoon?
12:58pm: DG via blackberry to EM: Didn't get to stay too warm. Earlier i was in Boro Park outside of a shul campaigning. Then i headed back to Bensonhurst and stood on a busy corner and met a lot of voters. I got to listen to a lot of voter concerns and was able to share my vision and platform with them. Luckily I am indoors now and out of the cold for now , having a staff meeting.
12:59pm EM to DG: You have been running around since 6am mostly outside, is this a common occurrence?
1:25pm DG to EM: I do this often , sometimes I do complain about the cold from my twitter page, this past Friday I posted that it was way too cold to be out campaigning, and then pronounced that because this is a special election it called for special measures :). Follow me on Twitter.com/TeamGreenfield for my constant updates.
3:15pm DG to EM: Just finished calling some community leaders and thanking them for their support. I just ordered a lunch sandwich from Carlos and Gabby's. I was going to post that to my Twitter, but wanted to give Emunah Magazine the exclusive.
3:17pm EM to DG: Thanks for the update. What else do you have planned for today, or are you cutting it short because its a Sunday?
5:25pm DG to EM: Until now I was greeting voters on a street corner in Flatbush and now on my way to speak with a large group of our volunteers. The volunteers are really great and I owe a lot of gratitude to them. If you would like to volunteer please visit www.TeamGreenfield.com for details. Later on I will be walking around the neighborhood knocking on doors and getting voters excited for the upcoming special election. Meeting and talking to voters in their homes really gives me a chance to hear what issue is concerning them directly and what can be done to help them.
9:15pm DG to EM: Back at the office to review some of the new campaign literature. We had a great response and a lot of support from our last mailer that went out. I'll probably be here till about 11pm working with some of the staff and volunteers. I really have a great team working with me and am very confident going into the election. I'm urging all the wonderful people that I've met the last few weeks to come out and vote on March 23rd. I want to fight for affordable housing, affordable education and creating an environment where new jobs can be created. I need your help and can only get to City Hall with your help
9:22pm EM to DG: David, I want to thank you for taking time out to do this interview with me. I will make sure to follow your daily whereabouts on your Twitter page or TeamGreenfield.com
11:04pm DG to EM: Just got home. Today was a slow day, because it was a Sunday , :) Now its time for me to feed my 3 month old son. have a good night.
David Greenfield is a candidate for NYC Councilman. A special election will be held March 23rd 2010.
greeting voters
