Every time she turned the corner of 9th Street and 5th Avenue she felt her blood boil. Why couldn’t she just reply? Nickie had emailed her City Council member Shahana Hanif multiple times to no avail. The NYC Department of Transportation had changed the traffic light signals to show walk in all four directions. Pedestrians were confused and walking in front of traffic and not knowing how to respond to this new configuration. Several times people had walked in front of her while her vehicle was in motion. This was enough to set the wheels in motion and Nickie decided to run for city council office.
With little money she printed petitions on her home printer, dressed her pup Lucas Noah nice and warm and hit the road. With Lucas in his stroller, she walked back and forth from Cobble Hill to Kensington, stopping people to collect signatures. It seemed impossible but she was determined and angry over that damn traffic light. Before long a week had passed then two weeks and suddenly it was time to hand in her petitions. She rushed to the Board of elections office in downtown Manhattan and submitted her petitions. It was finally over or so she thought.
Then she got the dreaded news. Her petitions were rejected for listing the position she was running for as “NYC City Council” instead of “Member of NYC City Council”. The Board of Elections stated this would cause “confusion” for voters. She thought to herself, “they have to be kidding.” But it was real. She then hap hazardly consulted with some Facebook groups and lawyers who advised her of the court process. They wanted a $10,000 retainer which she didn’t have. She prepared the paperwork and consulted with one more Facebook group. “Voters for Cynthia Nixon” a Facebook group for supporters of former Mayoral candidate and Sex and the City Star Cynthia Nixon. One group member advised to speak to a lawyer she knew. Nickie reached out and then planned to file her case.
He had advised her to file the case at the last day possible. Which she did. This delayed the court response, and she had only the weekend to serve the paperwork. She was confident that the court would see how absurd the reason was for kicking her off the ballot. But little did she know she was set up by the attorney to do the worst thing possible. Wait for the last minute. Because of obscure law she had to file the paperwork and serve the documents the same day. But the attorney told her to wait to the last minute. Despite all her hard work and determination. Nickie never made it onto the ballot. Her opponent went on to win the reelection uncontested.
