Two candidates have announced plans to challenge City Councilman Chris Marte in the primary for our District 1 seat — that will be June 24, with early voting running June 14 to 22.

Elizabeth Lewinsohn is a 15-year resident of the Civic Center, where she lives with her husband and two kids. She is the chair of Gotham Park, the non-profit created to secure open space under the Brooklyn Bridge. (The city has opened a couple sections there already, called The Arches.) She’s been on Community Board 1 for 12 years; she was the director of policy and plans for the NYPD’s Counterterrorism Bureau.

“New Yorkers are frustrated with the direction of our city and our neighborhood — and I am, too,” she said in her press release announcing her run. “Our neighbors feel unsafe on the streets, housing costs have ballooned, and no one has a credible plan to address the mental health crisis playing out on our streets and on our trains. We need a Council Member willing to say yes to actual progress–I’m ready to deliver for Lower Manhattan.”

Jess Coleman was raised in Battery Park City and now lives in Tribeca with his wife. He is a litigation associate at Leader Berkon, which specializes in commercial litigation, securities litigation, product liability defense and asbestos litigation. He is also a member of CB1 and co-chairs the Transportation Committee.

He has championed congestion pricing, “a policy that would modernize public transit and improve air quality,” his website says. “He pushed for pedestrian-friendly projects like transforming Thames Street into a public plaza. Meanwhile, as an attorney, he held powerful interests accountable, representing victims of the opioid crisis in the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy, a fight that taught him how to stand firm against entrenched power.”

More TK.