Kalman Yeger is an American politician who serves in the
New York City Council for the
44th district. He is a member of the
Democratic Party. The district includes all or parts of the
Bensonhurst
Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22n ...
,
Borough Park,
Gravesend,
Kensington, and
Midwood neighborhoods in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
.
Early life and education
Yeger is a graduate of
Touro College with a B.A. degree and
New York Law School with a J.D. degree in 2011.
Career
Yeger began his career as a community liaison and assistant to New York City Councilman
Lloyd Henry
Lloyd Henry is an American politician who served in the New York City Council
The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs.
The council serves as a ...
he then went on to work for
Fernando Ferrer
Fernando James Ferrer (born April 30, 1950) is an American politician who was the borough president of The Bronx from 1987 to 2001. Ferrer was a candidate for mayor of New York City in 1997 and 2001 and was the Democratic Party nominee for ma ...
as a top advisor. In 2010, he began working as senior advisor and counsel to New York City Councilman
David G. Greenfield.
Yeger has been a member of
Brooklyn Community Board 14 since 2000.
City Council
Outgoing council person
David G. Greenfield tapped Yeger, his counsel, to run for his council seat in 2017, as Greenfield decided not to run for re-election, instead taking over the helm of New York's largest Jewish charity, the
Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty.
Opposing Yeger, was Yoni Hikind, the son of
New York State Assemblyman
Dov Hikind
Dov Hikind (born June 30, 1950) is an American politician, activist, and radio talk show host in the state of New York.
Hikind is a former Democratic New York State Assemblyman representing Brooklyn's Assembly district 48, having held this posi ...
, whose district covers much of the same constituency.
Yeger defeated Hikind, 67%–29%.
Yeger currently serves on the following New York City Council committees:
* Contracts
* Environmental Protection
* Governmental Operations
* Oversight and Investigation
* Technology
Controversy
On March 26, 2019, Yeger accused Democratic Minnesota Congresswoman
Ilhan Omar of being an
antisemite because of her comments about
AIPAC and then claimed that "
Palestine does not exist". This resulted in protests outside Yeger's office in
Boro Park
Borough Park (also spelled Boro Park) is a neighborhood in the southwestern part of the borough of Brooklyn, in New York City. The neighborhood is bordered by Bensonhurst to the south, Dyker Heights to the southwest, Sunset Park to the west, ...
. He was later removed from the Council's immigration committee.
On October 30, 2022, Yeger tweeted a video of a swarm of bikers taking over a New York City street, Yeger compared these bikers to cockroaches saying, "Like cockroaches, there's never just one".
Yeger received major backlash as a result with many calling the tweet racist pointing out that a majority of the bikers were black and brown. He subsequently deleted the tweet that same day.
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yeger, Kelmen
Living people
Politicians from Brooklyn
American Orthodox Jews
New York (state) Democrats
New York City Council members
Jewish American people in New York (state) politics
21st-century American politicians
New York Law School alumni
Touro College alumni
New York (state) lawyers
1974 births
21st-century American Jews