How An UWS Resident Got The Most Write-In Votes In The City

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — 1,356. That's the number of people who wrote Adam Herbst's name for their vote in November's election race for the Upper West Side's 67th Assembly District.

Herbst is an active critic of the city's decision to house homeless men at The Lucerne hotel on the Upper West Side.

None of the other local races that took place across New York City on Nov. 3 had more write-in votes than the 67th Assembly District race, according to CityLimits.

The race itself was officially uncontested for longtime incumbent Linda Rosenthal, who has held the position since 2006.

But the number of write-in votes invites a closer look at who Adam Herbst is.

He's living on the Upper West Side for 16 years, has practiced health law in Harlem, served as the chief legal officer for a children's hospital in the city, worked on drafting health care legislation for national children's insurance policies, and teaches as an associate adjunct professor at Columbia University.

Herbst has also volunteered as an auxiliary police officer for the 20th Precinct on the Upper West Side since 2013, and it was through this work he became involved with the neighborhood's Community Board 7.

"Recently, I've noticed how some of the local representatives of the neighborhood seem to be burnishing their policy credentials, while failing to take practical action. They seem to be more concerned with positioning their careers and selves for future political consideration, than solving the growing problems of safety, security, civility and quality of life which has become a crisis on the Upper West Side," Herbst told Patch.

"And, as they do so, they not only ignored the voices and concerns of Upper West Siders, they are gaslighting their own constituents, accusing them of racism, classism, NIMBYism."

Since the end of July, residents of the Upper West Side have been involved in intense debate over the transfer of 200-plus men experiencing homelessness to The Lucerne hotel on West 79th Street.

Through that debate, a Facebook group called Upper West Siders For Safer Streets rose to over 15,000 members.

The group strongly opposed its new Upper West Side neighbors, contending that The Lucerne didn't have the necessary resources to adequately help the homeless men. The members also shared countless pictures of the men hanging around the neighborhood and, on occasion, used words such as "thugs" and "scum" to describe them.

It was in this Facebook group that Herbst found a foothold.

"There's this movement right now to draw attention to the legitimate safety concerns of the UWS," Herbst told Patch. "I spoke with the movement's organizers, and made it clear that I was interested in taking an active role in bringing representative government back to the neighborhood."

"It became clear that the Assembly race would be uncontested, and that sent exactly the wrong kind of message to the local political class — that they didn't need to work for our votes, so they could worry about their own careers instead of worrying about their constituents' interests. So we agreed to become the write-in campaign," Herbst added.

Herbst said that the entire campaign took place at first within the Facebook group. But soon, without any coordination or funds, individuals began spreading the word about voting for him in the 67th Assembly Race and 69th Assembly Race, according to Herbst.

Herbst received an additional 136 write-in votes for the 69th Assembly District seat.

"Our goal was never to defeat Linda Rosenthal — Linda has done a lot of great things for the neighborhood as our representative in the Assembly," Herbst said. "But she failed us here, and we wanted her and every member of the UWS political class to understand how widespread the disappointment is with our elected officials, who just don't care about keeping their constituents safe."

Expecting only 500 or 600 write-in votes at his most optimistic guess, the more than double total showed him the power of "the willingness to turn discontent into action."

The person received the second-highest number of write-in votes in the 67th Assembly District was Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels — 76 votes.

Herbst posted a message in the Upper West Siders For Safer Streets group four days after the election.

"I want to express my deep sense of humility and gratitude to everyone who wrote my name in for the NY State assembly race. Without spending a single cent on advertising or promotion, in only a matter of weeks we were able to spread the word and assemble what seems to be more than 1,500 write-ins. We sent a message to the establishment politicians of the Upper West Side that they need to actually care about representing the interests of their constituents. We now know, from communications with local political staff, that our message was heard clearly, and that the era of entitlement is over."