These are the State Senate districts that will have primaries on Tuesday, Sept. 12. (Incumbents’ names are in boldface)
District 10 (Jamaica): Democratic primary
• Shirley Huntley
• Ada Smith
Smith, a nine-term incumbent, has long been criticized for erratic behavior, with the latest incident coming earlier this year when an aide accused Smith of throwing hot coffee at her. A court fined Smith $250 and ordered her to take anger management classes.
But it looks like she will not have to leave office. One possible rival– Alan Jennings, a former City Council member with his own history of unusual conduct – was knocked off the ballot. Although the Board of Elections lists Shirley Huntley as a candidate in the Democratic primary, there is little evidence of her campaign.
District 13 (Corona, Jackson Heights, East Elmhurst): Democratic primary
• Hiram Monserrate
• John Sabini
This is a rare case where an incumbent – Sabini – is facing a strong well-financed challenge, in this case from City Councilmember Moneserrate. For more on this race, go to Bringing the Money Back from Albany or to a transcript of a debatebetween the candidates.
District 18 (Bedford-Stuyvesant, Clinton Hill, Boerum Hill, Fort Greene, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights, Red Hook, parts of Park Slope, Carroll Gardens) Democratic primary:
• Tracy Boyland
• Velmanette Montgomery
Montgomery, a onetime teacher, was elected to the State Senate in 1984. But her incumbency has not stopped a challenge from Boyland, a member of the famed Brooklyn political family and a member of City Council until January. Most observersbelieve Bruce Ratner, the developer of Atlantic Yards, has put up Boyland to challenge Montgomery, an opponent of the proposed Brooklyn Nets arena and housing complex. That makes this an unusual head-to-head contest between two candidates with differing views on the mega project.
District 20 (Flatbush, Crown Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace and Prospect Heights) Democratic primary:
• Eric Adams
•Anthony Alexis
•Guillermo Philpotts
Three Democrats are hoping to replace Carl Andrews, who is leaving the post to run for Congress. Adams, a former police captain, founded the group 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, while Alexis has been a political aide and Democratic Party activist. Guillermo Philpotts is a frequent candidate for various offices.
For more information, read Debating Health, Education, Reform and, Yes, Atlantic Yards, in Central Brooklyn
District 21 (Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, Borough Park, part of Flatbush): Democratc primary
• Noach Dear
• Kevin Parker
Parker was first elected to the State Senate in 2002, and this is the third time he has faced Dear, a former City Council member. In 2002, Dear ran as a Republican and lost. In 2004, Dear tried his luck as a Democrat and lost, although by less than 10 percent. Now he is trying again, hoping that Parker’s alleged punching of a traffic cop and the large Orthodox Jewish community can put him over the top. Parker has picked up an array of endorsements from such groups as Citizens Union and Lambda Independent Democrats.
District 24 (Staten Island): Republican primary
• Robert Helbock
• Anthony Lanza
There’s been little election action in this Senate district for decades, since Republican John Marchi has held the seat for 49 years. Now Marchi, 85, is retiring, opening the way for a contested race. The Republican primary in this district, traditionally friendly territory for Republicans, pits Helbock, Marchi’s counsel, against the City Council member for the area, Andrew Lanza.
For more on the contest – the only Republican State Senate primary this year-- see Democrats Move in on Staten Island's Republican South Shore.
District 25 (Lower Manhattan, part of Brooklyn Heights): Democratic primary
• Martin Connor
• Ken Diamondstone
The candidates here seem to be spending more time in hearing rooms and courts than on the campaign trail. Incumbent Connor, himself an election law specialist and reportedly somewhat of an expert on ballot challenges, has tried to keep Diamondstone off the ballot, charging that his opponent does not really live in the district. Diamondstone has beaten back his efforts.
Connor has served in the Senate since 1978, was Senate minority leader and has been described by the New York Times as “something of an Albany institution.” But Diamondstone has picked up some endorsements, including the Times, the Working Families Party and Democracy for New York City. Diamondstone also reportedly is better funded, pouring his own funds into the race. (For more, see the Downtown Express.)
District 36 (north central Bronx): Democratic primary
• Ruth Thompson
• Crystal Wade
Thompson, a former member of the Mount Vernon City Council who was first elected to the State Senate in 2000, is facing a challenge from Wade, who lives in the New York City part of the district. Â
These are the State Assembly districts that will have primaries on Tuesday, Sept. 12. (Incumbents' names are in boldface)
District 22 (Flushing): Democratic primary
• Julia Harrison
• Terrence Park
• Ellen Young
Two years ago, Jimmy Meng surprised many political observers when he beat an incumbent in the Democratic primary and became the first Asian American in the state legislature. Now, Meng has decided not to run again because of health problems. His daughter, Grace Meng, wanted the seat but her bid faltered when she was thrown off the ballot because she did not live in the district.
Remaining in the race are Young, a former aide to City Councilmember John Liu; Park, a district leader who successfully challenged efforts to disqualify him; and Harrison, a former City Council member. With Harrison having been charged with making anti-Asian comments in the past -- and with two Asian candidates running - race and the changing character of Flushing promise to be key issues.
For more, see Gotham Gazette's "Ethnic Politics in Changing Flushing." To read the transcript of a debate between the three candidates, click here.
District 25 (Flushing, Whitestone) Democratic primary:
• Morshed Alam
• Rory Lancman
This seat is open, as Brian McLaughlin has decided not to seek re-election. McLaughlin said he wants to devote ore time to his post as leader of New York's Central Labor Council, but he has been investigated - though not charged - for possible involvement in a bid-rigging scheme.
Lancman is an attorney, community board member and Democratic district leader. An environmental scientist for the city, Alam, who is from Bangledsh, bills himself as "a prime example of a new breed of immigrant politicians who are enthusiastic about democracy and are beginning to claim their rightful places in the mainstream of American politics."
For more, see the Queens Chronicle.
District 28 (Forest Hills, Rego Park, Middle Village, Glendale): Republican primary
• Dolores Maddis
• Walter E. Schmidt
In one of only three GOP primaries for state legislature in the city, Maddis, a community activist who has the party's endorsement, and Schmidt, a machinist long involved in politics, are competing for the right to take on incumbent Andrew Hevesi in November. For more, see the Queens Chronicle.
District 39 (Jackson Heights, Corona): Democratic primary
• Carmen Enriquez
• Jose Peralta
Peralta was elected to the Assembly I 2002, when he was only 30 - and before that he worked as an aide to another member of the Assembly. Enriquez is challenging him but little information about her was available.
District 40 (East New York, Brownsville): Democratic primary
• Kenneth Evans
• Diane Gordon
• Winchester Key
Gordon, who was first elected in 2000, has been indicted for taking a bribe (a half a million dollar home) in exchange for helping a developer get a $2 million vacant lot. But according to the Room Eight blog, few in her district seem to know of the criminal charges, which probably bodes well for Gordon. Key served as an aide to Gordon's legislative predeccessor, Ed Griffith. And Evans has held various community service posts, including serving as Brooklyn director of the Urban League.
District 43 (Crown Heights, Flatbush): Democratic primary
• Karim Camara
• Jesse Hamilton
For years, Brooklyn Democratic leader Clarence Norman held this post. But in 2005, following a conviction for soliciting and receiving illegal campaign contributions, Norman had to resign. Since it was too late for a primary, the party organization chose Camara, a reverend and colleague of Clarence Norman's father, to take the fallen leader's place. In the overwhelmingly Democratic district, that virtually guaranteed his election. But this time Camara has an opponent. Hamilton is a longtime employee of the city finance department, comumnity board member and former community school board president.
District 46 (Bay Ridge, Brighton Beach, Coney Island, Dyker Heights, Marlboro, Sea Gate): Democratic primary
• Alec Brook-Krasny
• Ari Kagan
This race is to fill the seat left vacant by the retirement of Adele Cohen. Brook-Krasny, the founder of Fun-o-Rama, a now closed entertainment center, is executive director of the Council of Jewish ?migr? Community Organization. He reportedly has widespread backing and, if he wins, would become the first of the late 20th century wave of Soviet immigrants to hold elected office in New York City. So, presumably, would Kagan, an immigrant from Minsk and journalist.
District 56: (Tompkins Park North, Weeksville, Bedford-Stuyvesant): Democratic primary
• Annette Robinson
• Richard Taylor
A former member of the City Council, Robinson was elected to the Assembly in 2002. With term limits about to end her time on the council, Robinson for all intents and purposes arranged to swap posts with Al Vann, then a member of the Assembly and now a council member. Taylor, a former district leader, ran unsuccessfully against her in 2002.
District 57 (Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, ProspectHeights, Flatbush, parts of Park Slope, Bedford-Stuyvesant): Democratic primary
• William Batson
• Freddie Hamilton
• Hakeem Jeffries
Three candidates are competing in a spirited contest to fill the seat held by Roger Green, who is running for Congress. A major issue in the race is the Atlantic Yards project, with Hamilton believing the arena and apartments will help the district, Batson opposing the development, and Jeffries wanting some changes in the current plan.
For more on the race, see Gotham Gazette's Succeeding Green in Fort Greene - and Beyond.
District 59 (Flatlands, Canarsie, Mill Island, Bergen Beach): Democratic primary
• Abraham Levy
• Alan Maisel
Maisel is a very recent incumbent. He gained his post earlier this year after the previous member of the Assembly, Frank Seddio, left to take a seat on Surrogate's Court -- a seat many charged was the result of political skulduggery. Maisel, an aide to Seddio, then got his boss's job.
District 60 (eastern shore Staten Island): Republican primary
• Joseph Cammarata
• Anthony C. Xanathis
Two Republicans are vying for the seat being vacated by Republican Assemblymember Matthew Mirones. Xanathis, a lawyer and unpaid former aide to Mirones, has the outgoing assembly member's endorsement and the lead in fundraising. Cammarata has been a teacher, police officer and detetctive. For more on this little-noticed contest, read Gotham Gazette's A Low-Key Race for An Open Seat in Staten Island.
District 68 (Harlem): Democratic primary
• Edward Gibbs
• Adam Clayton Powell IV
• John Ruiz
Powell, the son of legendary congressmember Adam Clayton Powell, has served in the State Assembly since 2000 and, before that, was a member of the City Council. Two years ago, following two rape allegations (Powell was cleared in both cases), Powell fought back aggressive challenges. This year, one of the men who tried last time, fire fighter and district leader John Ruiz, is running again, along with Gibbs.
District 69 (Manhattan Valley, Morningside Heights): Democratic primary
• Daniel J. O'Donnell
• Francisco Spies
First elected in 2002, O'Donnell, Rosie O'Donnell's brother, says he is the first openly gay man elected to the State Assembly. Spies ran unsuccessfully for the post in 2002.
District 72 (Washington Heights, Inwood, Marble Hill): Democratic primary
• Francesca Castellanos
• Adriano Espaillat
• Miguel Estrella
Espaillat, the first Dominican elected to a state legislature in the U.S., has served in Albany since 1997. He is facing challenges from Castellanos, a certified rape crisis counselor, immigration counselor, interpreter and tenants activist, and from Estrella.
District 74 (Downtown and Eastside of Manhattan): Democratic primary
• Sylvia Freidman
• Brian Kavanagh
• Juan Pagan
• Esther Yang
How quickly does an incumbent reap the advantages of being an incumbent? Friedman hopes it is merely a matter of months. Last winter, the Democratic Party anointed the schoolteacher, community activist, and former aide to Mark Green as the successor to veteran Assemblymember Steve Sanders. Kavanagh, a longtime city employee and former aide to Councilmember Gale Brewer, wants to oust Friedman before she gets entrenched. He has garnered support from the Times and Citizens Union, the parent organization of Citizens Union Foundation, which publishes Gotham Gazette, while Friedman has won the endorsements of many leading Democrats. Longtime activist Ester Yang and Juan Pagan, who is involved in a number of commuity organizations, are also candidates.
To read a debate among Kavanagh, Friedman and Yang click here.
District 77 (Highbridge, Morrisania): Conservative primary
• Anthony Curry
• Kathleen Larkins
This is the one Conservative Party contest on the ballot Tuesday.
District 79 (Morrisania, Claremont, Crotona-Mapes, Longwood, Charlotte Gardens, Belmont): Democratic primary
• Michael Benjamin
• Sigfredo Gonzalez
• Wilbert Tee Lawton
In 2003, Benjamin, a Bronx Board of Elections official, became one of those instant incumbents when the Democratic Party chose him to replace Gloria Davis, who quit the Assembly and plead guilty to bribery charges. He won re-election in 2004 and considered a run against Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum last year. This year, still in the Assembly, Benjamin faces a challenge from Gonzalez, who also used to work at the Board of Elections and, no doubt based on what he learned there, submitted 6,000 signatures -- more than 10 times the required 500 for the post. District leader Lawton is also on the ballot.
District 80 (Pelham Parkway, Morris Park, Pelham Bay, Van Cortlandt Village, Norwood, Bedford Park): Democratic primary
Naomi Rivera, the daughter of Bronx Democratic leader and State Assemblymember Jose Rivera and the sister of City Councilmember Joel Rivera, is finishing her first term in the State Assembly. Thompson, a retired police detective and Community Board member, ran against her two years ago. Â
Incumbent John Sabini and challenger Hiram Monserrate recently met for a debate in their race to represent the 13th Senate District in the state legislature.
QUESTION: If elected, what would be your top three priorities?
JOHN SABINI: The first thing that has to happen is to change the structure in Albany. My opponent says I am in insider but I am one of the most vocal critics of gridlock in Albany - along with Senator Liz Krueger, Senator Eric Schneiderman, Senator David Patterson - much to the chagrin of my colleagues in the Democratic Assembly.
I'm not prepared to sit back and allow the process to bottle up issues. Two legislative houses can come to agreement through conference committee. We have rules in the legislature that don't allow us to debate and pass bills on the important issues of the day. Everyone who's involved in civic life knows that. I'm going to continue to talk about that, and continue to press for it within the Senate. I have offered amendment after amendment trying to achieve that, along with other, very active, people in the Democratic conference.
Secondly, and no less important, I'm very concerned about health care. We have, within our community, very high indices of a number of diseases that are measurable: tuberculosis, HIV, and diabetes, for example.
HIRAM MONSERRATE: I was born in Chelsea, Manhattan. At the age of five, I moved to Queens, and I've lived here all my life. People who grew up in Jackson Heights, East Elmhurst, and Corona are being priced out of their neighborhoods. Their children can't afford to buy a home here. Home ownership is truly a public need for our communities. Affordable housing is paramount. We see development going on in our community, where developers are investing large amounts of money and extracting a lot of corporate wealth, but they are not creating housing that is affordable to the people who have lived here for many, many years. That's why I have proposed reform of the 421-a laws.
I also think health care and public safety - which I happen to know a little bit about - are my other top issues.
QUESTION: What is the number one issue facing our community?
HIRAM MONSERRATE: It's a tough toss up between affordability in housing and health care. But, I would have to say, that if people are not healthy, they can't work, go to school, or be productive in our society. We need to do more. The Medicaid fraud is hitting taxpayers in their pocket and inhibiting the government from providing health care to all of the people. Infectious diseases, obesity, diabetes, different forms of cancer that are found very late are all very compelling reasons for our state legislature to work harder to eliminate Medicaid fraud, and bring back those billions of dollars so we can build more hospitals and have better health care.
JOHN SABINI: The delivery of health care in our community is the most critical issue. Once in a while the gridlock does break, and the comprehensive bill to combat fraud is now law. I don't think it's a perfect bill, but is a very strong start and was a bipartisan effort. The Medicaid fraud is not coming from individuals or patients, but from the providers. We need to have an inspector general, who is independent of state government. That's what this bill did, it examined who exactly is ripping off the system. They are not only ripping off the taxpayers, but should be brought to justice and sent to jail. Albany finally started to fight the fraud this June, and Eliot Spitzer has made it a hallmark of his campaign that he will do even more once he gets into office. Hopefully he will. I look forward to working with the incoming Spitzer Administration to beef up that bill even more.
HIRAM MONSERRATE: With all due respect, four years and two terms in office is an awful long time to say we are now going to start doing something about billions of dollars in fraud.
JOHN SABINI: We have been working on this in the Democratic Conference, long before I even got there. But only because its an election year will Republican members of the senate allow a bill to go through, so they are not embarrassed about not doing anything. Our conference is one of ideas, and under David Paterson, we have moved innumerable ideas down the track.
QUESTION: What plans do you have to help existing affordable housing and improve it in the Corona Jackson area?
HIRAM MONSERRATE: 421-a is a law that allows developers to apply for tax abatements for 15 to 20 years as long as they create multiple family units, which is what we see in Corona. TheY tear down one family homes and sometimes they build nine and fifteen. That's our money, but we're not getting our property tax. That's wrong. What should have in place is: if they get an abatement, the have to make a certain percentage of the new housing affordable to the people that live in that local community. That's just common sense.
We talked about Willets Point before, and how I have taken a very active role in protecting the property owners and the business owners there. I have said to the administration that, if they are able to negotiate a purchase with those owners, then I would be supportive of development. But we have to have affordability in the construction that is built there, and I will be continually raising that issue, and insuring that that happens.
JOHN SABINI: I agree that the 421-a law has to be reformed so that it's not abused. I think there are abuses now, particularly in Manhattan. Any government agency project that uses public money and tax abatements for large projects that will include housing and or retail - whether it's the city Economic Development Corporation or the state Empire Development Corporation - must include a component of affordable housing.
Willets Point should have that if they go ahead. But Willets Point is not in this district. I worked with Senator Stavisky, who represents that area, and talked to some of the folks ho want to see development there, as well as some of the businesses that feel threatened by development. We are experiencing this infill building, where they knock down a one family home, and put up six, and twelve end up moving in. Our neighborhoods can't handle it; we don't have the school seats for it, the health care access for it, or the capacity on the streets for it. Something has to give with the housing policy. And reigning in the 421-a is an important aspect of it.
HIRAM MONSERRATE: He just pointed out that Willets Point is not in his district. He said something similar in an interview regarding the new Shea Stadium Mets project. What he fails to say is they are in fact across the street from his district. Both of them will have a direct impact on his constituents. As a representative of the 13th, the fact that it's right across the street will not stop me from fighting for your interests.
JOHN SABINI: Just because they are not in my district does not mean I do not fight for or with people over it. But, I play well with others, that's why most people are working with me, and I work with the people who represent the area those projects are in to ensure that their voice is in concert with mine. I don't want legislators from outside my district telling folks here what should or shouldn't be built.
QUESTION: What is your position on the illegal occupancy of single family homes?
JOHN SABINI: It is an issue that I would need about an hour to talk about, because not only has it ruined some of our neighborhoods that were well kept, but it is a crime that the tax structure helps engender. Under city tax code, single-family homes are under Class 1 and taxed at the lowest level. Now if you rent out in a single family home, than you pay less taxes than the homeowner next to you. If the owner of the home isn't around to supervise the place, it inevitably deteriorates. The work that was done under Borough President Shulman, and continues to be done under Marshall, tries to get city agencies to focus on these. There has been better task forces and enforcement, but it's still not enough.
HIRAM MONSERRATE: People are being priced out of their houses, and sometimes they end up taking sub-standard housing. I don't think anyone wants to live in a basement. I think sometimes it's out of desperation, and we should understand that. The solution to that is the construction of affordable housing and at the same time enforcing the law. It has to be a two-pronged solution, you can't just hit it with the stick, there has to be a carrot.
JOHN SABINI: I couldn't agree more. In a newspaper a couple of weeks ago, the councilman said he thought this was a fact of life now. I don't think that we can allow it to be a fact of life. The folks that are making money off this aren't reinvesting it into the community. And if the rent is being paid in cash, I can assure you tax is not being paid on it.
HIRAM MONSERRATE: In the real world, thousands and thousands of people are living in illegally converted homes. I say it's a fact of life, because it is, but it also mandates a response. But to try to dig your head in the sand and try to pretend it doesn't exist? It does, and it's a reality. In the city council, I was a big supporter of ensuring that those who are not living in single-family homes pay a higher tax percentage. I voted for that, because I don't think people should exploit those who are less fortunate.
QUESTION: Would you support a law to protect small property owners, especially homeowners, from seizure of their property by the state for private development through eminent domain?
HIRAM MONSERRATE: I am completely opposed to the recent Supreme Court ruling based on a case in Connecticut where the municipal government employed eminent domain to take people's property to build a shopping mall. It's similar to what the city wants to do with Willets Point - an issue that I have been very involved with. I would support legislation to protect such property owners.
Eminent domain should be, and has historically been, a process that has been employed when there has been a great public good needed: public hospitals, highways, or schools. Perhaps there's a legal argument to be made, but when you talk about eminent domain being abused to favor corporate developers and their bottom line, that's just wrong. I would challenge my colleagues in the Assembly and State Senate, who have done very little on this issue, to remove that impediment. People have the right to their property that they worked hard for, and the government should not take it unless there is a very real, compelling reason. I look forward to introducing those bills in Albany, and insuring that people's property rights are protected, because we are in America.
JOHN SABINI: I agree. I think that the Kelo case in New Haven, Connecticut is step back in the American system of justice. We do not have the right to take people's property for private development, even if that development would encourage some jobs, because I still believe in the fundamental property rights of people. One of the issues at hand though, is what exactly the state can do, in terms of restricting that. It is a federal decision. If the state passes a bill restricting the state Economic Development Corporation from doing something like that, I would support it. But, there are other kinds of developments, according to the federal government, that could go forward under the current court decision. Once a new case comes down the pipe, that decision could overturn or modify it. It was a close vote. And if you read the opinions on it, I believe that decision was sort of an anomaly, and may very well be overturned.
HIRAM MONSERRATE: I want to respond to a statement as a matter of fact, just so there's clarity about eminent domain. The decision by the United States Supreme Court, in essence, gave authority back to local governments. It's been the state legislature's inaction that has not provided protections and clarity on this issue. We don't need another court decision, what we need is a legislature in Albany that would protect property rights.
QUESTION: What short term and or long-term steps are necessary to create a more open, transparent, and accountable state legislature?
JOHN SABINI: If we had a Democratic majority in the state senate, instead of us fighting over who should be the nominees, we would achieve that through the leadership of David Patterson or who ever our next leader will be. Right now there is a lawsuit, started by the Albany Times-Union, that would force the state legislature to expose who it gives money to in member items, and what the Memorandums of Understanding are. It is still pending. The Senate Democrats have voluntarily given up that information to comply with the Times-Union request. But other conferences have not done that.
Last year, when several Republicans were pushed out of office, there was a push for reform. They made us sit in our seats to vote, which I think is a good thing. You got to be at work to work; that's not a bad concept. But, the senate majority Republicans ended the ability of the body of the senate to amend its rules and put it in the confines of the Rules Committee, which is held in Joe Bruno's back office. Stuff like that is why we'll never get change in Albany. Fundamentally we need increased pressure from the press and both houses. People in those houses really have to own up to wanting to do the people's business in an open, fair manner, so we get bills passed.
HIRAM MONSERRATE: Obviously I'm a big supporter of a more open process. We talk about Joe Bruno currently leading the state senate, and how he is now able to block any rules changes. But our local senator here was on the Elections Committee and the Rules Committee. He was the previous ranking member of the Rules Committee. I don't think we can continue to point fingers at the Republicans for what they did and didn't do. We need to know what the Democrats are doing when they sit in key positions in committee, and the reform still doesn't happen. In the city, we have a Republican mayor. Sometimes we override his vetoes, sometimes we work with him, but at the end of the day, we are responsible to bring resources and results back to our constituents, not just finger pointing at the Republicans.
JOHN SABINI: I've never been ranking in the Rules Committee. I was very excited when David Patterson named me to the Rules Committee, and I was the first freshman Democrat to make the committee since 1937. The head Democrat on the Rules Committee was Senator Patterson. That's the way the committee works, but I don't want to go through a tutorial on Albany.
QUESTION: What have you done to change the way voting district lines are drawn or redrawn, so that they are done in a fair and non-partisan way?
JOHN SABINI: I support the proposal of Assemblyman Mike Gianaris, who represents a small part of this senate district. This proposal would create a non-partisan redistricting commission, ending the partisan way that Albany draws its lines. As a student of history in government it's no wonder that we have gridlock in Albany. We've had the longest party split in a bicameral legislature in the history of the United States. We have the longest time in New York's history that the leaders have been in charge, Senator Bruno and Assemblyman Silver. That's because of the institutional gridlock that starts at the drawing of the lines.
HIRAM MONSERRATE: Obviously I support nonpartisan redistricting commissions. I think they're important, I think we need to take the politics out of redistricting. We cannot continue to point the finger at the big bad guys in Albany that are not able to get results. Legislators and the leaders are about find ways to get results even if the majority leader or the governor is a Republican. One of the things that has happened in New York State is inaction on the Help America Vote Act. We are probably going to be fined millions of dollars for not being in compliance. The senator was the ranking member of the Elections Committee, and one of these important bills was to increase the salaries of elections commissioners. I don't think that those are the things that we need. We need voting machines; in city ours are over 40 years old. We need to make sure that there is outreach to voters. This is the responsibility of the state legislature, who votes for this budget, and passes its laws. That is unacceptable.
JOHN SABINI: I am no longer the ranking member of the Election Committee, Senator Martin Golden is. When I was the ranker, we would go into conference on the Help America Vote Act. It may be a good thing we're not in compliance, because the voting machines that were purchased in places like California and Florida and Nevada are now broken. Now millions of dollars of federal money was wasted because they rushed to judgment. I'm for a Paper Optical Scan voting system that is verifiable, that every person in this room can understand. If you can take an SAT test or play the lotto, you can do this.
HIRAM MONSERRATE: I don't think that I would ever say that not being in compliance with federal law is a good thing. The state is now responsible for paying millions of dollars in federal fines - that the taxpayers all have to pay for. We have to find a way to be in compliance, and ensure that the people of New York can vote and participate in our democracy.
JOHN SABINI: We are not being fined right now, and let me tell you: I wouldn't mind being fined, if it's for the sanctity of our ballot. I will not allow an election system in this state that will question the results. It's the essence of democracy. What we saw in Florida and Ohio will never happen again!
QUESTION: The responsibility for gridlock in Albany. Is this a Democratic problem, a Republican problem, or is it both parties at fault?
HIRAM MONSERRATE: It is a lack of leadership. The governor and both houses have displayed a lack of leadership, in part because the institutions are so entrenched. The leaders act as dictators. What you need is leaders in both houses who will challenge that, and make the necessary changes. Both parties are at fault. The fact that we are rated as the most dysfunctional state legislature in the country, really speaks to that leadership. I will bring my activism, energy and vision to Albany because it's got to be shaken up.
JOHN SABINI: The fault is bipartisan, bicameral, institutional, and even lays with some of the folks who do business with Albany: the lobbyists and interest groups. They like the system in Albany, because it works for them. People get to master a game, and don't like the rules changed. That's why some of in the Democratic majority have such a hard time: because we are not only battling Republicans, we are battling the institutions of Albany, because they don't want a new game. But the game ain't working for you. I lay the blame on both parties, both houses, and it's ticked off some of my colleagues in the assembly, but it's the truth.
We have been drawn in this fight by Eliot Spitzer, and I believe it when he says everything changes. The rules changes that were made two years ago were a nice first step, but it was a baby step. We are nowhere need the level of oversight and accountability we need. We need authority reform. Everything must change with a new governor.
HIRAM MONSERRATE: Mr. Sabini talks about the game, but he has been playing the game for 15 years as a Democratic insider. We can't talk about reform when Mr. Sabini sends out 10 flyers in one month at your expense. Is this your idea of reform?
SABINI: I wonder who the insider or outsider is. My opponent is a committee chair in the city council. That's a rank I never achieved. He became the committee chair the first day he walked in, so I think he knows the insider game pretty well, too. There are lots of different ways people in public office communicate. I'm pretty proud that every summer, election year or not, mail goes out to the community, and has office hours for every senior center and library. Mail goes out every summer when our interns are there. I do it within the limit of the state senate, just as he does it in the city council. Unlike my opponent, I don't have a political consultant on the payroll, which he does, on the city payroll.
HIRAM MONSERRATE: The reality is that my consultant is not on the payroll. And I was not on the committee chair when I walked in. It was two and a half years later. My colleagues in the city council voted for me, [saying that] a former United States marine should be chair of the Veteran's Committee. I think that was most appropriate.
JOHN SABINI: I find that appropriate to, I'm just saying, if you're going play the outsider, be the outsider. And with respect to the veracity of my earlier statement, your OTPS filings, which are for your office expenses show that you pay a political consultant with public money. That's not reform.
HIRAM MONSERRATE: You have your facts wrong, senator.
JOHN SABINI: It's public record.
QUESTION: Would you require legislation that required public review, including legislative oversight similar to the city ULURP [Uniform Land Use Review Process] review, of state agencies and public authorities land use decisions, especially for large projects like the Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn?
JOHN SABINI: Absolutely. The authorities in Albany have gotten so out of control that they may be one of the biggest problems that we have. Authorities were created to get politics out of certain aspects of government, back in the 60s. A noble goal. But they have turned into things that have become unanswerable bullies: the state EDC; the MTA - which admitted carrying two sets of books - the Tri Boro Bridge and Tunnel Authority; the Dormitory Authority. These agencies do nice things, but they also incur lots of debt, $120 billion dollars in debt, and we have no oversight over them. Review of their land use decisions is the beginning. I believe that if Elliot Spitzer is elected governor, we will have a complete overhaul in the accountabilities of the agencies.
You used a key word in that question, and that's oversight. The difference between the state legislature and the city council and their efficacy, on every level, is oversight. In the city charter, it's required that commissioners appear before specific committees that pertain to those agencies a minimum of four times a year: the January Budget Proposal (which is the five year plan), the Executive Budget Proposal, the Mayor's Management Report, and the General Oversight of that agency. We don't get that in Albany. That's when you really get change in your district, and answers on questions as to how agencies operate. So, oversight over the whole state government is really necessary, and the Democratic Conference is calling for that.
HIRAM MONSERRATE: Regarding the authorities: most of them are a sham. They are a way for governors and legislators to point a finger as the individuals who are culpable. They're almost like pseudo governments, but they're not really responsive to anyone. In the city council, we try to get the MTA to come in and testify; sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. A perfect model is what Mayor Bloomberg and the city legislators did, and that is ensure that the Board of Education became the Department of Education, and the city has more control locally over the education of our children. I would like to see that happen with the MTA. Why does the MTA have an outside board with millionaires and chauffeur and limos? They don't ride the 7 train; we do. If we have a legislature willing to make those changes, it can happen.
To my opponent: where's the change and what have we done to make the MTA or any authority better? We're paying $4.50 to use the Midtown Tunnel. It's really out of control. The time for authorities is past, and we need more local control.
QUESTION: In a recent court decision that is now under appeal, Justice Gleeson ruled that the current Judicial Convention for selecting party nominees for the Supreme Court was unconstitutional. It is quite likely that the decision on how to reform the process will fall to the legislature. In such a case, what type of system would you support for the selection of Supreme Court Justices?
HIRAM MONSERRATE: All the scandals about which judges get appointed and not should really elevate this issue. I want to commend Mayor Bloomberg, our Republican mayor, because he has been at the forefront of questioning this issue, unlike my opponent, who was at one time chair of the Queens Democratic Organization that for many years has given favors to lawyers and made them judges, much like Brooklyn. I would be willing to introduce legislation saying that no party organization should be dictating who is going to be judge. What kind of system of government do we have, when the very people who are deciding whether a case is winnable or not, and whether a law is constitutional or not, are placed there by the same party bosses that they have been working with for the last twenty years. There should be citizens committees made up of bar associations that are making these decisions, and then after there should be input from the voters.
JOHN SABINI: I whole heartedly agree with the court's decision. When I was the chair of the Democratic Party, I instituted the first merit selection panel in the history of this county - praised by the New York Times and Newsday. So, I agree that the system we have now doesn't work. I did something to change it when I was in charge of the Democratic Party. I didn't hear an answer about what he would like to see; I'm not even sure what I would like to see: a merit selection system like the mayor has for the criminal and family court, or an open primary system instead of Judicial Convention. The only problem with an open primary system is that I would like to see public financing and public education of candidates. Party loyalty shouldn't buy a judgeship; neither should money. It's just as wrong to buy it at a political consultant's office as it is to buy it at a party boss' office.
QUESTION: New York's governor and legislature have improved pension enhancements for city employees that are more generous than for most people working in the private sector. The city's chief actuary says that there may be a gap of as much as $49 billion in the funds committed to these pensions and what the city owes them. Should the mayor and the city have control over city pensions and financial obligations?
HIRAM MONSERRATE: Absolutely. There is a lot of discussion about pensions and funds and ensuring that the city has the funds. (Our pension plan is flush; it's very safe and secure.) I want to quote the New Republic: "There's always a lot of discussion and debate about pensions. But when we talk about pensions, what are we talking about? We're talking about people's life work, and them being able to retire with dignity." And I think that at the end of the day, that's extremely important. I do not accept the arguments from the right wing, whether they're Democrats or Republicans, that we should take away any benefit to our working class people in this city. That's who builds the city. That's who makes the city run. I don't support any tinkering or taking away any benefit for any worker in our city.
JOHN SABINI: On pensions reform, I think the city could do just as good a job. And I think my opponent is right, people's pensions are their lives. If you dedicate yourself to better service, and try to build a better life for your family, your pension is an important aspect of that contract with the city, for how long you work for the city. That's why you might go into city service, because you know it's going to be steady work, and you know it's going to have a pension. We have wonderful homes in this neighborhood that people can afford because of city pensions. I don't know if it would be any different if the city controlled it, because every time there's a state change in city pensions, there has to be a home rule message. Council members on Committee on State and Federal Legislation pass every one of them and send it up to us. I served on the committee when I was in the council, so I know how this system works.
QUESTION: Do you support school vouchers to pay tuition at private and parochial schools?
JOHN SABINI: No, I don't. I don't feel that it is the appropriate - or even the legal - thing to do. It's important to keep, for example, the Catholic school system, alive, but under the law. I commend Elliot Spitzer. A number of years ago as Attorney General he published a study as to the different ways that we can aide private and parochial schools - not for profit schools. And things that we can do that are not direct aid. We do books, hardware, software, and teacher training now to give those schools a break. I think parents should have the ability to have choice in schools. I attended both public and parochial schools, and I thought it was a good mix. So, I saw both systems.
HIRAM MONSERRATE: I'm a product of public schools in Queens from 1st grade through up into Queens College, where I'm working on my master's degree. When we talk about vouchers, I have mixed feelings. Conceptually, I do not support them; I don't think we should take one penny away from a public school system that needs so much. But, at the same time, we give credence to the argument when our state fails to act on a court ordered mandate that billions of dollars are owed to our city. If we extrapolate how much is actually owed to the district from the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit, and how much we haven't gotten, it's about $140 million per year for this district. We're not getting that money, not because the court didn't order it, but because the senate and the assembly have failed to get us the money. The governor also deserves a lot of the blame. It's the gridlock that currently exists and the lack of leadership in Albany that has hampered our public education school system and ensured an even more vigorous debate for vouchers.
QUESTION: Following the recent State Supreme Court decision, the issue of gay marriage is now ready for the legislature. What is your position?
HIRAM MONSERRATE: I think that anyone has the right to be in any relationship they want to be, and if they choose to be in a marriage, they should be allowed to. Civil rights are for everyone in our society.
JOHN SABINI: I agree.
JOHN SABINI: The clock is ticking on a very ominous note: the Berger commission on hospital closing will be taking effect at the end of this year if nothing is done. We have very few hospital beds in this area. Rumors of the commission's targets include a hospital in this area. The one hospital with in this district - Elmhurst Hospital - is indeed one of the busiest in city, if not the country. What do you see as a way to combat this impending threat against a health care system that doesn't work for us now?
HIRAM MONSERRATE: I've been one of Elmhurst Hospital's greatest supporters. I put a million dollars into their HIV Infectious Disease Unit. I allocated $600,000 to mobile mammogram unit to go out and test our women, who so many times have diagnosed very late with cancer, which turns out to be terminal. In the City Council as part of the delegation working with my colleague Helen Sears I have had meetings and hearings on this issue. We ensured millions of millions of dollars for an emergency room at Elmhurst.
We also need to talk about the fact that $15 to 20 billion is being lost every year because of Medicaid fraud. The legislature shares a responsibility for not acting. You can't claim to be a reformer and not take action about losing $15 20 billion from fraud annually. Imagine how many hospital beds and doctors and nurses we could hire if we were to eliminate that fraud. I would work hard towards eliminating that fraud to bring that money back to the constituents of this district who are underserved medically.
HIRAM MONSERRATE: You've been in the senate for two terms, four years. Now you're asking for your job back. In those four years, you've introduced 70 bills, but only passed two. You have written and passed no bills with regards to fighting crime, fixing the health care system, or improving our schools. Outside of the statehouse, you haven't been proactive on major issues like Willets Point, Shea Stadium, or the creation of the Jets Stadium in Flushing Meadow Park. Can you please tell me and the viewing public what you expect to do differently in the next two years that you didn't get done in fifteen years prior?
JOHN SABINI: Being in the Senate minority means that you have to fight battles against a very tough enemy, and that's the Republican majority. I passed two bills - that's true - and I'm not ashamed of them. One dealt with free tuition for the surviving families of the victims of Flight 587. 265 people were killed in that flight. I'm delighted that I was able to pass the bill, along with Assemblymember Adriano Espaillat. If you want to minimize that, and the memory of those people, then we disagree. I also passed a bill that would force the state education department to not give high-stakes testing to kids as young as in the third grade on religious holidays - and you said I didn't do anything on schools. We had Muslim students who make up ten percent of the New York City school population testing on one of their high holy days. Now, they had the opportunity to be tested on another day. But I believe in justice. I don't want to see those kids further ostracized by their classmates for having to take those tests outside of school on another day. So I'm proud of those two bills.
Now, why aren't there more? Because we don't have the ability to set the agenda as a minority in the Democratic Conference in the senate. My two bills are actually more than the majority of members in my conference ever gets passed. With regards to education, I have a number of bills. I sit on the Education Committee. With regards to the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, I voted against the education budget this year, every piece of it, because I don't want to be in court. I believe those who voted for that could be held in contempt of court. I will not vote for an education budget that does not come up to the CFB standards.
QUESTION: What will you do to help our community with the Con Edison problem?
HIRAM MONSERRATE: When we talk about Con Edison's ineffectiveness and negligence, we've had two hearing in the city already, in the Public Safety Committee, which I am a member of, that have dealt with the issue and the lack of information we received from them. The city has taken the position that we will personally canvass and send out NYC police officers and other emergency personnel when there is a blackout to investigate how many people are impacted.
Again, this is the city taking action because of the state's inaction. The Public Service Commission is the oversight entity for Con Edison, not the City Council, and it has not done enough to protect us. We need to make sure that Con Ed is doing the upgrades. Why do they continually raise the rates without upgrading the infrastructure of the services they are supposed to be providing? The recent blackout is not the first time something like this has occurred. It happened in 1999 and in 2003, and we are still waiting for our state to take action to ensure that the Public Service Commission has teeth. One thing that I think should happen is that for everyday that there is a blackout Con Ed should be fined one million dollars to make sure that this never happens again.
JOHN SABINI: The Public Service Commission as constituted under Governor Pataki, should change its name, because it doesn't serve the public. It is a commission that serves the utilities and puts its head in the sand, even with regards to this latest blackout. The reaction by every level of government, especially by the city, was unconscionable. The Office of Emergency Management was telling us that parts of Woodside had lights, and that no one was calling and complaining. Of course they weren't calling - they were without power. Many of our people are living without getting an electric bill, because they're doubling and tripling up.
During the last blackout, nothing made me prouder as a public servant, than to see my staff out there in the small eight or nine block area in the district that didn't have power, virtually around the clock, for about twelve hours a day, taking intake forms from Con Ed, getting people their food stamps in the streets. You got to provide service for people, and I'm very proud of my office, and I'm very proud of the reaction of Red Cross, which both the state and the city fund, in bringing meals to people who didn't have hot food.
HIRAM MONSERRATE: Sometimes the appearance of something that is not appropriate should be dealt with. Recently I returned a contribution from an entity that is under investigation because I thought it was appropriate to not take that donation until the investigation was cleared. At the same time, my opponent received many contributions from Con Ed. He should also return those contributions.
JOHN SABINI: I don't know what documents my opponent is looking at, but I received a small contribution from an employees' pact. If those men and women - who are not Con Ed stockholders, but rather underground in each and every manhole in a nine square mile area - want to support my campaign, I'm not going to turn my back on them.
QUESTION: What are your plans to strengthen community based organizations, especially those that deal with education, child abuse, and families?
JOHN SABINI: We have lots of groups here that work in those fields, and I work with them: Queens Child Guidance and Forest Hills Community House, for example. We have some great programs here, and we need to continue to fund them. Unfortunately, the funding stream in the state senate has been one that funds to Republican partisan officials. That's why it's so important, after the Times-Union suit, to see where this money is being spent. We shouldn't have to live in Senator Nick Spano's district (who is a marginal Republican) to get service. They funnel money where they think they might lose elections. And CBO's, by and large, live off of discretionary money.
I hope, that when we do take the majority, as the councilman predicts, we'll be able to expand those services. This is a high needs district. We have people coming from all over the world with problems, and when they're here, it's up to government to solve those problems. We can't put our heads in the sand and ignore them. When I was in the city council, I was very proud to fund a program called Safe Tenants and Safe Horizons that dealt with refugee torture victims. Sounds like a very mixed thing, but people come here from dictatorships with a host of psychological problems. The bill matches those victims with providers.
HIRAM MONSERRATE: Community organizations are at the heart of building community. That's why I have been supportive of dozens of dozens of groups like the Jackson Heights Beautification Group, NICE, and BCLU Daycare Centers. Again, we're at a point where we are pointing fingers at the Republican leadership. Leadership is about delivering results, not excuses.
JOHN SABINI: I keep hearing that we're pointing fingers. It's a fact of life. My colleagues and I stand up and speak loudly, and try and take legal action to try and turn things around. None of us are just sitting around and waiting for something else to happen. I'm there fighting these battles, along with some of the loudest voices in the Senate Democratic Conference. These loud voices need to continue, so we can see these results.
QUESTION: What is your stance on increasing penalties for domestic violence perpetrators?
HIRAM MONSERRATE: I want to tell you a story about a woman named Butrado who in 2000 came into the 100th Precinct to report that her boyfriend, who had lived with her, was stalking her. She went into the precinct and didn't speak English. She was an immigrant from Columbia. They turned her away because there was no one who could translate for her. Three days later she was killed by her boyfriend. I knew the family, and she left a six-year old daughter behind, who went to Columbia to be raised by her aunt. Domestic violence is probably one of our more important issues. As a police officer, I put plenty of batterers behind bars, and that's where they belong. A preventive step is to provide services, and that's why the city council put together a $400 million package, $100 million directed here, to this district, to two groups that will provide outreach on domestic violence, ensuring that our women know there is opportunities and protections.
JOHN SABINI: I support increased penalties. We live in a neighborhood that has unique aspects of that problem. We have people coming from all over the globe, maybe from cultures where women aren't so quick to report. I was delighted, many years ago, to have Councilman Ronnie Eldridge come to Elmhurst, to talk to families in the South Asian community, where perhaps women are less likely to come forward. Many women won't come forward because they are here illegally, and are afraid to use the system. Just the other day, I announced a bill on an issue of similar heinous nature called human trafficking, the practice of bringing people into this country for forced labor or as sex slaves. And if they are here illegally, they have their papers and identity taken away from them, and they have no alternative but to be compliant. People who would do something like that need to be punished. People who perpetrate domestic violence, and use customs from another land, that has to be eradicated in a very special way.
QUESTION: What will be done about our school programs funding?
JOHN SABINI: I refused to support any state budget that does not comply with the Campaign for Fiscal Equity decision. The funny part about that is that we have three branches of government. We're told that if you have a gripe with the government, take them to court. And that's what they did with the Campaign for Fiscal Equity and the lower court judges found in favor of them, and so did the Appellate Division, and the Court of Appeals. It was re-litigated and the same three courts found in their favor. Yet the governor and the legislators continue to not fund it at those levels. I'm not going participate in that game. Our kids only have one shot. It doesn't get renewed. If that's screwed up because of lack of funding or because bureaucrats in Albany or Department of Education in the city get in the way, that's not the way we should be treating our children's educational system.
HIRAM MONSERRATE: I find Mr. Sabini's response interesting. I don't know how you can say that things need to change, but then every year you vote for the final budget that doesn't send those billions of dollars back. You can't have it both ways. Perhaps members of both houses, if they were really serious about taking on the legislature and ensuring that the dollars came back to the community, should not have voted for the final budget that did not include the money for education. None of the city legislators should have. I wouldn't have.
JOHN: And I didn't. The education budget is voted separately. There are about 25 votes that make up the budget vote, and many of them involve education. I voted no on each and every one of them, along with people like Senators Kevin Parker, Eric Schneiderman, and a whole bunch of people from New York City. It's as the city budget is voted on in many votes. So I voted against it.
HIRAM MONSERRATE: On the final vote to pass a $114 billion budget, our city and district did not get the billions of dollars due.
JOHN SABINI: I agree it's inexcusable, but I'm not going vote to close the other state services including transportation, health care, hospitals, and everything else. Thank God we have it separated out, so you can actually look at those parts. The state budget is a big item, $116 billion or so there. If you don't understand how the state budget is voted on, maybe you'll learn if you get up there.
HIRAM MONSERRATE: I have a very good understanding of the state's budget, and I also have a very good understanding of when politicians do their dance. You just now stated that you made a priorities decision that you didn't want to cut out those other programs, and you voted for the final budget.
JOHN SABINI: There is no final budget vote.
QUESTION: What is your stance on gun control?
HIRAM MONSERRATE: I received a questionnaire from the National Rifle Association asking me for my positions, which they would post on their website. They said that not responding can be seen as negative towards our membership. Well, I didn't respond. New York and particularly the city has some of the toughest gun restrictions in the country. I would like to emulate what we have in the city to the state. We should be the society that no one has guns. I'm a firm supporter of gun control, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure that we have the toughest laws against trafficking in illegal guns and supporting litigation against companies who bring cheap handguns into our city.
JOHN SABINI: We had a murder of an a 11 year old girl recently on the streets of Corona, and it is unacceptable that that would happen. New York has strong laws, and we need better leadership on a federal level. People talk about illegal guns. I assure you that Smith & Wesson doesn't flip a switch at 11 in the morning and say, okay we're switching from legal, and now we're making illegal guns. It's the dealers who do this. The mayor has been fantastic leadership talking about this: The dealers are in states in this country that allow illegal guns to cross state lines. My opponent talks about his great record on crime, yet in 2003, on the Public Safety Committee, he missed an oversight hearing on gun reform. You can't make change if you aren't there. Then in 2005, he missed a vote on the Public Safety Committee on Intro 490, which limits that acquisition of a rifle or shotgun to one per ninety days. If someone needs more than one rifle in New York City, we've got a problem. If you can't be there to cast those votes, you shouldn't be legislator.
HIRAM MONSERRATE: The lack of knowledge is a tremendous thing. What he doesn't say is that I am a co-sponsor of the first bill, and that I voted for the second bill in the city council. I am and have been a fervent supporter of gun control, in this last session alone, I have co-sponsored at least five bills alone with my colleagues David Yassky and Peter Vallone. I have been proactive on this issue, and again he's just misusing the facts.
JOHN SABINI: The first wasn't a bill, it's an oversight hearing. That's how bills get proposed, at oversight hearings, as a result of them. And the vote just missed. That is the fact. If you're not there to cast a vote for the 300,000 people who send you there, you shouldn't take the job.
HIRAM MONSERRATE: I don't represent 300,000; I represent about a thousand. In January, I hope to represent 300,000. I would rather have some one who misses a day or two of work, who gives me a 110 percent when he's there, and gets things done, and not someone who punches the clock, and just sits there for eight hours and gets very little done.
JOHN SABINI: I'm pretty sure that people in the community know that I don't punch the clock. They know very well, that when it comes to energy and hard work, we are there full time without outside income or attention. I was in the private sector for a couple years before I was in the council, and I made a lot of money. But I hated it because I didn't feel I was doing enough for my neighbors. And that means people who arrived here from Hurricane Katrina, my office took care of, or people who experienced the blackout in Woodside. We're here working for people. To say we're just here punching the clock is an insult to me and my staff, and it's an insult to the people in this room who have sent me to do their job. We have a pretty good level of enthusiasm, or I wouldn't be running.
JOHN SABINI: I'd like to thank Citizens Union, the Queens Civic Congress, the NAACP, and the other sponsoring organizations. I work hard for the 300,000 people I represent, both the ones who vote, and the one's who don't, because I live in a district where lots of people don't because they can't. They deserve services no less than anyone else. My office works full time, with a hard working staff that go out to into the community and tries and finds answers for people. Whether it's on hospital closings, or whether or not you got your state benefits or your WIC check, no issue is too big or small for a public official who really cares.
I'm pretty proud of my record in the city council. My opponent talked about 14 years of nothing? We built a lot of schools when I was here. I'm still waiting for the first school to be built since I left the 21st District, because we need more. From the early childhood centers at 222 and 228 and 229, to the new intermediate schools, to the new OTC, we did a pretty good job in the council.
I've been doing a very good job in the senate. You're going to be the judge of that; that's what democracy's all about. But I think given the measure by the people in this district, we will be in a position to be fairly judged, because we both have public records. We are in a time when we send billions of dollars across our shores to fight a war that we probably shouldn't be in. Once we become a society realistic to know we have problems right here at home, I want to be there to solve them. I want to be there when the Democrats take control, so we can have a more honest and open state government to bring even better services for our community, young people, old people, better quality schools, and honest and open government, which is my passion.
HIRAM MONSERRATE: We are in a rare moment in Queens politics when twin incumbents are running against each other, and a lot of folks have found it very interesting. At the very least, everyone in this community should be happy about the opportunity to engage. The debate that we are having this evening enriches our community and informs us and ensures that all of the incumbents in this community understand they can't be asleep at the switch and have to work hard to represent the interests of the community.
I'm proud of the record I have of five years in bringing back millions of dollars as a freshman councilman who sometimes challenges leadership. I'm also proud of the many bills that are now the law. The fact that I worked so hard on the Shea Stadium deal, or because of my intervention, the Port Authority doubled the original capital amount offered to $100 million. That was because there was leadership that was proactive, not reactive. My leadership is not about saying something, but doing something.
I look forward to working with all my constituents and look forward to working for you as your next state senator. And if you give me the chance to represent you, the one promise that I will make to you, is that you will not regret it, because I will work full time and overtime representing you. And with respect to the war: It's not probably we shouldn't be there. We should not be there. We need to bring our boys home. We're spending billions of dollars on death and destruction, when we can't build hospitals. We need to be very sure about that statement, and tell all our federal officials who voted for the war should be working ass hard to bring our boys and girls home, because I am tired of going to the funerals and street remains of an unjust and wicked war.
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Two state lawmakers from Staten Island have decided not to seek reelection this fall, leaving rare open seats in both the assembly and the senate. The issues facing both districts are similar, but compared to the race to replace Republican Senator John Marchi, the campaign to take the seat vacated by fellow Republican Matthew Mirones has been very quiet. Two Republicans are vying for their party's nomination to take on the Democratic candidate, but neither agreed to be interviewed for this story, despite numerous attempts. Even those who follow Republican politics closely seem unaware that there will be a primary.
The eastern shore of Staten Island makes up most of the 60th assembly district, with a small part lying across the water in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Matthew Mirones has represented the district since 2002. None of the three candidates seeking to replace him have held political office.
Janele Hyer-Spencer, the Democratic candidate, ran against Mirones in 2004, and received 40 percent of the vote. She is the former legal director of My Sister's Place, a shelter for battered women and their families.
Republican Joe Cammarata is making his third attempt at public office; he unsuccessfully ran for city council in 1997 and 2001. Cammarata has worked as a teacher in public and private school, as a police officer and detective, and is a Vietnam veteran. Repeated attempts to schedule an interview with Cammarata for this article failed.
Cammarata's Republican rival, Anthony Xanthakis, is the only candidate making his first run for public office. He has served as Mirones' unsalaried counsel since 2002, and is also a partner in a private law firm.
Xanthakis has received Mirones' endorsement, and has raised $117,000, significantly more than either Myer-Spencer ($47,000) or Cammarata ($1,000). His campaign office said he would not grant interviews before the primary.
Bringing state money to the district is an issue of importance to all the candidates. Janele Hyer-Spencer said she would like to see budget negotiations bring more school funding; her Republican opponents have also pledged to bring more money to the district's schools. Joe Cammarata has said he wants teachers to have more leeway to discipline students.
Janele Hyer-Spencer also complains that Staten Island receives insufficient service from public transportation while suffering from higher fares, and that the city's Health and Hospitals Corporation, which runs its public hospitals, is neglecting Staten Island. The number of hospitals on Staten Island has dropped from five to two in recent years, and one is not fully functional.
The Republican candidates have both promised to bring more anti-terrorism money to the district. Joe Cammarata's campaign Web site calls for the New York State Guard to take a more active role in fighting terrorism.
As in other areas of Staten Island, overdevelopment is a hot issue in the district, and all the candidates have said they will control it. Joe Cammarata has said he plans to introduce a bill that will halt all building on the island until zoning regulations are abided by.
Janele Hyer-Spencer says that a traffic task force recently set up by the city was a good idea, but that it has taken too long to come up with even simple solutions. She had proposed lowering the fares on public transportation to encourage people to use their private cars less often. During rush hour, she also wants to increase the toll that commercial trucks pay when they cross Staten Island from Manhattan en route to New Jersey.
Janele Hyer-Spencer says that the Bay Ridge portion of the district sets a good example of how to handle the land use issues related to overdevelopment. If elected, she says she will "use what was done in Brooklyn as a template."
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"They say you can’t make a living in the theater, but you can make a killing," a man in a fedora and trench coat was saying on the stage, accompanied by a jazzy saxophonist. "What do actors say before the curtain goes up? â€Break a leg.’ But if they’re going to tell it straight, what they ought to say is â€break your neck,’ â€break the bank,’ â€break your heart.’"
It was the opening scene of a new musical called “It’s A Hit,” a combination murder mystery, back-stage musical and insider spoof that was one of the shows in the tenth annual New York International Fringe Festival this month.
The actor playing the character might as well have been speaking from personal experience. “There are a lot of problems being an artist in New York City,” says Donald Corren, a veteran of Broadway who says he still struggles from month to month.
The idea of a fringe festival is not unique to New York. There are more than 50 explicitly-named “fringe festivals” around the world, all inspired by the largest and oldest one in Edinburgh, Scotland, which has been around since 1947. The fringe festivals are based on the idea of giving any performer and any production, no matter how untested or unconnected (or how bad?) an opportunity for an audience. This month’s festival in Edinburgh promised 1,867 shows in 261 venues. By contrast, New York’s fringe festival only promised 216 shows performing in 22 venues.
But New York’s is different in several ways. For one, not just anything is allowed on stage – the 216 productions this year were selected out of some 1,000 applicants. And then, thanks to the success of some shows that began at New York’s fringe then moved to the big-time – most notably Urinetown: The Musical, which became a hit on Broadway five years ago and won three Tony Awards, but also such Off-Broadway favorites as “Matt & Ben,” “Dog Sees God” and “Debbie Does Dallas” – the fringe has gained a reputation in some quarters as a relatively inexpensive way for polished pros to get noticed by commercial producers.
Checking the cast biographies of some of the fringe shows show the performers to be anything but on the fringe. In the six-member cast of “It’s A Hit,” for example – put together by the same team that had put on “Joy of Sex” at the fringe, which moved Off-Broadway – four performers have appeared in Broadway shows, (including Joanna Glushak, whose more than a dozen Broadway credits range from “Hairspray” to “Fiddler on the Roof” to “Sweet Smell of Success”). Two list appearances in one of the “Law and Order” TV shows, which seems to serve as a kind of WPA employment project for New York theater actors.
And yet, “all of us are struggling to make ends meet,” says Donald Corren, who was on Broadway just last year in the two-character show Souvenir. “We closed that show in the beginning of January. I’ve been the Callback King for the last seven months. This fringe show is the first show I’ve done since Souvenir.
“Only a minority of the thousands who come here to be performing artists make a living at it,” Corren says. “Making a living is dictated by what things cost around you, and New York is very expensive.”
If, for many people, talk of “performing artists” conjures up images of, say, Jodie Foster at the Oscars (or, more locally, Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick at the Tony’s), there are of course only a handful of stars. Most artists are “independent workers,” according to Sara Horowitz, the executive director of the Freelancers Union. And whether they call themselves freelance, self-employed, part-time, temps or simply artists, they are at a disadvantage compared with those New Yorkers whose career aspirations provide them with more traditional employment.
According to Freelancers Union reports this year and last year, artists – though highly educated -- suffer from erratic employment, low income, and a lack of benefits.
Horowitz pinpoints three problems facing artists and other independent workers in New York:
1. Lack of Health Care
“Without access to health insurance through an employer, creative workers face steep premiums on the individual market,” Horowitz says. “The average price for an HMO plan in New York City is over $600 a month – far more than someone with limited and erratic income can afford.”
Francisco Solorzano, an actor in his mid-twenties who is in the cast of another fringe festival show, “Here.This.Now!”, used to have health insurance. That is when he worked on the staff of an employment agency. (“Most everybody who worked there were artists, mostly actors,” he recalls. “That kind of employment offers flexibility.”) But he lost his insurance when he was laid off after September 11th. Now, he finds work when he can as a waiter, and pays the full amount of whatever health care he needs. “I try to go to a dental school because you get a discount if you let the students work on you.” According to a Freelancer Union survey, almost three-quarters of freelancers who were uninsured simply avoided seeking medical care at all.
2. Inadequate Retirement Plans
Working artists are a disadvantage in two wages, Horowitz says: “They’re left out of simple, subsidized employer plans, and their erratic income means they often can’t consistently add to their own savings accounts.” There are plans for self-employed workers, but they are “complex and confusing. A professional financial advisor would be helpful, but is rarely affordable.”
That is why Horowitz found that more than half of creative workers in last year’s survey did not save for retirement each month, and 28 percent had no retirement savings whatsoever.
3. Tax Penalties
Traditional employees pay only half the taxes due on their social security, with the other half contributed by their employer. But artists, who do not have regular employers, must pay the full amount, which comes to more than 15 percent of their net income.
Horowitz believes the city government could make a big difference for artists with a few changes – “revising the tax code, making it easier for artist to get health insurance, and supporting professional associations to help workers plan for retirement.” The city government could partner with corporate donors, for example, to start a fund to match artists’ contributions to their retirement accounts.
Unless such steps are taken, Horowitz fears, artists, already on the fringe, will move out completely, to more welcoming centers.
Whether or not “It’s A Hit” becomes a hit, Donald Corren is likely to stay in New York. “I could make a living wage elsewhere,” he says. “But it would mean a very long walk to Times Square.”
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JULIA HARRISON: The Assembly seat is open because Jimmy Meng has retired due to ill health. Flushing is my home and it has been so since 1954. My children were raised in Flushing, they went to PS 24, they went to Junior High School 189, to John Bowne High School and to Flushing High School. I joined the Parent Teacher Association, I became president of PS 24 PTA and the others as well. We moved into a coop building, and I was elected to serve on its board of directors, fairly early on. I was president of the board for 18 months. At this moment, I am now serving as its secretary.
Ever since my family moved into Flushing from the Bronx, I have been a volunteer civic worker, and a political activist as well. I was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1983, and to the New York City Council in 1986. I worked there as a representative for this district until the term limits law forced me to resign. In each of the elections following 1986, my constituents approved me over all challengers because they approved of the work that I did. And they trusted my honesty and my integrity. I am ready to go back to work now to serve my community, and all of its residents.
TERRENCE PARK: I just want to let my supporters know that I am back on the ballot! Back in 1973, when I was a child, my father came to America and worked at a gas station and my mom at a factory. I went to Francis Lewis High School, and briefly went to Queens College and got transferred to NYAC University. I got my Masters at Binghamton. Upon graduation, I worked under three mayoral administrations -- under Koch and Dinkins as well as Giuliani in the NYC Housing Authority. I have dedicated myself to serving my community for more than 20 years. I'm a Community Board 7 member almost 10 years; Flushing Hospital Advisory Council member almost 8 years; NY Hospital of Queens Community Advisory Council member almost 10 years. I'm a founder of the Democratic Organization of Flushing. I am ready to serve you. I want to thank my supports for their help during the arduous time that I was challenged by my opponent.
ELLEN YOUNG: In the future two years, we'll see a lot of changes in the state and city - especially in Flushing. I will fight for a better education system, for safer streets and neighborhoods, for better access to health care (especially for our senior citizens), and for affordable housing, so that working families can stay in our community. For the past four and a half years, before I resigned to join this race, I worked in Councilman John Liu's office, in charge of running office with legislative items and constituent services. I'm a proud mother and single parent. My kid went to public school education system, starting in kindergarten all the way to SUNY Binghamton. She is my campaign manager. We need State Assembly to be more responsive to our constituents.
Question: What distinguishes you from the other candidates?
TERRENCE PARK: Of course I can't compare with Miss Harris, who was the first woman to become State Assemblywoman and a City Council member for a long time. I have a unique experience in city government. I worked under Mayor Koch and Dinkins and Giuliani. My job was to work closely with civic associations in conjunction with city agencies. I had to work very closely with Community Board 7, and all the city's community boards, in conjunction with the Business Development Association and grassroots civic associations. I learned a great deal about solving problems. Certain community-based organizations working together with the city agencies -- that is one of the most valuable assets I have. I have dedicated more than 20 years in community based activities. And, I am the only Community Board 7 member among the candidates here.
ELLEN YOUNG: As a grassroots community activist, and also as office staff of Councilman Liu, my 27 year dedication to my community: I was first first female asian auxiliary police officer of NYPD. I also helped to establish a women's association to help battered women and single parent families. I also helped establish the Parent's Association to help parents to participate in our education system. I am the best candidate based on my proven record of the past 27 years. The endorsements by elected officials helps a great deal, also: queens borough president, state senator, council member; and other future colleagues in the state assembly. I believe that everybody should work together, and I have the skills and experience working with everyone.
JULIA HARRISON: I think I am the best candidate because I have served in office and as a volunteer. I have accomplished a great number of things during the course of my involvement. Mr. Park showed me a letter tonight that was sent to him by a constituent. He wrote that in 1950, or sometime early on, that he had complained about a traffic corner at 150th St and Willets Point Blvd., where there were continual automobile crashes. This is interesting because I had planned to mention tonight that I had a traffic light installed at that intersection. A curious coincidence. One of the things I have been able to do is to have traffic light installed at dangerous intersections: at 154th and Willets Point, as well. I have tried very diligently to extend the crossing time for seniors at Casino and Elder Avesnues. So, I've done that kind of down-to-earth office work. I've supported cultural societies. I've sponsored traffic studies of the downtown Flushing area. I've sponsored a study of the entire structure of the area, as well, with a recommendation that construction take place on the West side of Main St. - which is not as developed as the East side.That has gone by the sidelines now because the City Planning Commission has changed its perspectives, and instead of trying to improve the quality of life here, they are building for the future. Every square inch is being developed. Older houses are being knocked down, even if they're beautiful, and great big apartment buildings are going up without an inch of space between them. We are going to live in a much more congested community than many of you live in now. I have been a member of the Howey Civic Association, which I chaired for two years. Dory Wu has taken it over, and is doing an admirable job. I've advocated for acupuncture. I've done things like organize a Korean War Memorial Association, to put up a memorial honoring who took part in the war effort. The statue is being worked on right now. I've given money to all kinds of organizations during my time at City Council.
Question: State law and the State Constitution require a legislative vote on any transfer of park property from city control. Do you support extending this protection to state-owned parks?
ELLEN YOUNG: I support more open, transparent, and inclusive law that gives a well informed public the right to decide - either city or state.
JULIA HARRISON: Our parkland is the most precious commodity we have in our community. It should never be subject to chance or individual whim. I think it need protection. It cannot be replaced, and it should not be commercialized. It should be retained for the relief and relaxation of our people and citizens. We need open space in this heavily congested and over developed community. So, I would extend them, I would.
TERRENCE PARK:It's a very appropriate question, in relation to my name: Park. Park should be protected and shared. I support it.
Question: The 22nd has been target for growth in multiple droves. The development so far has been high rent; changing the rental climate of these communities drastically. What will you do to develop more affordable housing?
JULIA HARRISON: First, the Urstadt law gives developers the opportunity to develop more high cost housing than there is low cost housing. I would like to repeal or amend this state law, to the city's benefit. Second, the developers are not about to build affordable housing unless they get some recompense. The builders are getting 421-a tax relief for 15-20 years because they are developing - according to what the city is pushing for - high rises and market rate rent. It's going to be a drawn out fight to get any low rent building. The only thing that might be worked out, is an accommodation where the developer puts in x amount of low-income and x-amount of mark rate. I will be willing to work on this with the tenant organizations, as well as with the commercial developers.
TERRENCE PARK:I worked at the Housing Authority for six years. I am particularly interested in building affordable housing in areas where it is needed. Building affordable housing takes a trichotomy of working relationships. First grassroots, economical, statistical proof that the area needs affordable housing. We need to work closely with the City Council and mayor and the federal government to get funding. This kind of working relationship can get developer to bring affordable housing to needed area. The 22nd has 120,000 - according to census - but we have a lot more than that. I bet more than 50 percent is low or middle income individuals. We do have a solid economic status to convince the City Council that we need affordable housing. With that basis we need to get funding from the federal government. That is the key.
ELLEN YOUNG: This is an immediate need in our community. The problem is funding. Who is able to get funding for these projects? I'm in support of the Urstadt law. I'm in support of rent stabilization. It is more important to think about who is going to get funding from the federal government, and the city council - which I am glad Mr. Park mentioned. How are we going to get the City Council and committee chairs to fund this? I am more than capable to get this funding. It is all about funding, and working with your colleagues, with the federal government, and city government, and I am the best candidate to secure that. I will request an immediate count of empty apartments in government housing, and see how we can match these empty apartments with constituents how have the need for them.
Question:If elected to Albany, what would be your top three priorities? Briefly specify the nature of the issues you identify, and what concrete steps you can take to address them.
TERRENCE PARK: The paramount issues in our community are: contextual zoning, parking in downtown Flushing, and better public education. We have an overdevelopment situation in downtown Flushing, and people don't want to go there because it's dirty and filthy and there is a lot of garbage. Also, there are no parking spaces in Municipal Parking Lot 1. I want to make sure development goes where there are enough parking spaces. We are going to make Main St. go one way, south, and Union St. one way, North. That's going to take away about 300 metered parking spaces. Currently we have 1,100, and developer is only offering 708 extra that will make up 1,800. Subtracting 300 something spaces away from it, we only gonna have about 1,500. That's not enough when we have movie theatre, multiple unit dwellings, condominiums, and community centers going in there. We need at least 4,00 parking spaces. There were two big houses in my neighborhood, and developer knocked them down and built 4 unit, 3 family houses at each corner. 32 people moved onto that block and took up all the parking spaces and brought all kinds of locomotion. That is happening in every residential area. I have been working with 2 civic associations in conjunction with the City Planning Department to fight this. Hopefully the contextual zoning plan get approved, by this summer and hopefully sooner. I will fight as much as possible, in conjunction with the city and civic association to preserve the amenity of our neighborhood. I graduated from Francis Lewis High School, and when I went and visited it, there were trailer all over the place. I asked the principal what they were for, and he tell me, "That's classroom." The school is 76 percent (inaudible). When I was in school, there were less than a thousand. Now, we have more than 4,500 student in morning, day, and evening sessions. We must have funding for education, better computer systems, and nurses in the schools.
ELLEN YOUNG: Within the first three months, I will visit all schools, senior citizen centers, hospitals, and medical facilities to get first hand information and find out what needs to be fixed. Thank you.
JULIA HARRISON: I agree with my colleagues that health, zoning, and education are very high priorities, but I am inclined to support legislation that restricts severely the use of eminent domain for the purpose of private development. We have to be very careful about what's going on in different parts of the city, like Brooklyn, for example, where the whole area is being taken away from the community, without its input. Private interests will be the primary beneficiaries. Development going on on my block has caused my entire six story coop to shudder and shake and knock things off the walls because of reverberations from a developer. Mr. Lentol, in the Assembly, has a bill that I would support, causing a contractor who causes any damage to anybody's home during the course of his construction to be responsible for making payment and restoring that building to its good stance. The enactment of a state tax-credit bill (A8252/S3794) to give homeowners a state and city income tax credit when they rehabilitate property. There are issues in the wash is Albany that I would support.
Question: A major responsibility of elected officials is to balance the budget. What do you propose to do to close multi-billion dollar deficits?
ELLEN YOUNG: If I get elected, I'll be the new kid on the block. Luckily, I'll have all these endorsements by my future colleagues, so I'll be able to sit down and discuss it with them. If there is one thing that bothers me, it's member items. The budget has been given to community groups has not been opened. I hope I can have these member items be more open and transparent. I want to go back to when Ms. Harrision mentioned these six story buildings. I don't know what she's complaining about, because all these sixteen story buildings we are talking about is the result of her upzoning from when she was in City Council.
JULIA HARRISON: The major responsibility of elected officials is to stop the war in Iraq and to stop spending money overseas killing people. As a result of the war effort, we have dug our self a trillion dollar deficit nationally and locally, and we have not got any money left unless we keep on printing paper money, which will result in inflation. And I think my best effort will be to a very local effort for advocating ending the wars and building our own country for our own use. Thank You.
TERRENCE PARK:I can not agree more with what Ms. Harrison said, but as an Assemblymember, I will work very closely with my colleagues to review and examine all of the budget allocations statewide. And I will work very closely with the majority leader and the newly - about to be - elected governor, Elliot Spitzer, to see what are the needs in our community and New York State and allocate money wisely, and not to raise any money to save money, and also to help the nation decrease the deficit.
Question:Do you feel the operations of the Legislature are in need of reform? And there are short term and or long term steps that are necessary to make a more open, transparent, and accountable State Legislature.
JULIA HARRISON: It does deserve reform, because it ranks about the third lowest in the country, in terms of productivity. I would work with my colleagues, who are up there, because they must have got something in the wash by now to get that reform. I don't know exactly what it is because I'm not up there. It's difficult for me - on the outside - to say what is going on on the inside, and what the conversations are within the ranks of the elected officials. So, I don't know what reforms there are that I could promise, or discuss intelligently, excepting to say that I would certainly support reform. Everybody knows it's badly in need. In fact, it's not the best place to go if you want to make a good name for yourself, when it's a the bottom of the heap of the country. That's not very smart to say, but that's what I'm saying.
TERRENCE PARK: We all believe that our nation is for the people, by the people, of the people. I will look at all the legislature to see if there is a need to reform for the people and of the people. One thin I will definitely look into is election law. Board of Elections is the agency to help candidates to have smooth sailing in terms of having one's name on the ballot. It's not an agency to harass, to put difficulties on candidates. It should be totally civil agency to help candidates get on ballot. Election law needs to be carefully re-examined. I will make sure that the Board of Elections is solely independent, bipartisan, impartial tribunal agency.
ELLEN YOUNG: My job is to represent the interests and priorities of 22nd Assembly District. I strongly support the reform of legislature. I'm honored being endorsed by Assemblymember Mike Gianaris. And I support his bill. I also would like to propose dropping the maximum contribution limits for state races. The state should really learn from the city about giving matching funds to the candidates. It would be more inclusive, more open, and give everybody an opportunity to run for office.
Question: How do you feel about posting campaign literature on public property? If you do not honor this simple law that prohibits this act, how can you be expected to propose honest legislation?
TERRENCE PARK: I have many enthusiastic volunteers. I have young old, young middle aged - of all ethnic background. I have die hard supports and volunteers out there. I told them not to put posters on bus sides, or any other places, but their enthusiasm is sooo strong, they just don't listen. But as an Assemblymember, I would use that enthusiasm to serve you and make this community better. But I don't take my opponents signs down, and steal them! Take them down every single day! I told my supporters not to do it.
ELLEN YOUNG: I am against it. It's a violation. My supporters would never do it. And they'd never take down other's literature. Now, you can see how my supporters follow rules in this room, how behaved they are. You do not point fingers when you do not have evidence. For three months, your supporters do not know how to behave law?
JULIA HARRISON: It is against city law to put election posters on street polls, trees and private property. Any of your campaign volunteers who think they are doing you a service, they are costing you money. Because, when the report goes in, that there are posters are illegally up, the candidate has to pay a substantial penalty for every poster taken down. If the inspector goes down the street, and every, every, every poster comes down, my colleague is going to pay through the nose. You have to find some other way of advertising your candidates name.
Question:What are your positions on illegal immigrants, and what actions would you take if elected?
ELLEN YOUNG: We have to look at what our community needs and how can we help our society to be stronger and healthier. Undocumented immigrants have been in our community providing manpower and raising their families. I do not encourage undocumented immigrants to come to the US, but I don't have any power to stop them. Whomever has landed on this land of opportunity, we have to see how we can make our community stronger and healthier. If their kids were born here, they are citizens, and we have to educate them, and make them somebody - like us - instead of hiding in the shadows. I strongly support more restrictive prevention to keep undocumented out. However, this is our social issue, and we just have to work together, instead of pushing someone off the boat. That doesn't help the others to decide.
JULIA HARRISON: If I am running for a job making legislative laws, how can I possibly support illegal immigrants - undocumented or illegal - coming into this country? Where does the illegal immigration flow stop coming in? If we do not exercise or enforce the laws on the books, what's the point of having laws at all? Where does a citizen have any rights to employment, if there are always undocumented people coming in, working for the lowest, lowest, lowest kind of income, workers who will be fleeced by their employers - who will work them to death and hold back money and not even pay them - what kind of an economy will we be developing, encouraging, and standing for, if we don't enforce our countries laws? Why should we be looking to make laws to improve our communities?
TERRENCE PARK: Late president John F. Kennedy wrote a book in 1972: Nation of Immigrants. That book explains how this nation was built, where it's going, and why so many people are coming to the United States of America. Our founding fathers had an indisputable idea of this nation. Freedom, equality, and justice. This is not a perfect society, but it is the closest we can get. This is we people from all over are coming here. I am poor immigrant. In this sense, we must be able to provide illegal documented immigrants already in this nation some legal status. I would like to propose: those individuals that are willing to abide by our laws, rules, and regulations to pay tax. If that individual is able to pay tax for three years, give them opportunity to apply for green card. When they apply for green card, after five years, apply for citizenship. It cost more money, and more complication arrest all the illegal immigrant, and send them back to where they belong. But, I am very strong and adamant about illegal immigrants coming into our nation, because the burden lays upon our shoulders. We have serious home security problems. Do you know that 50 percent chance to bring atomic bomb in the nation by the terrorist? It is very serious matter. It's life or death situation in the time of terrorism. Illegal individuals coming into this nation is very, very serious matter. And also, when they go to hospital, and welfare system, all of this is payed for out of the tax payer's money. So, in order to secure and build our nation stronger, we must be strong against illegal individuals coming into this nation, but we must provide steps toward those illegal documented individuals, to become a permanent resident and eventually become a citizen.
JULIA HARRISON: In the past six years we've seen a dramatic erosion of transparency in the political process. Under the Bush Administration, we've seen oil executives meeting in secret with the vice president to set energy policy, wire taps on American citizens without benefit of review by the court, and so-called enemy combatants held in secret prisons abroad for brutal interrogation. These are just three examples of ways the arrogance has power has lead the public officials to believe they are justified operating behind closed doors, and accountable to no one, least of all the American people. If you go to Albany, what steps would you take to increase transparency in the legislative process, and ensure that elected officials remain accountable to their constituents.
ELLEN YOUNG: In Albany we have to reform the government to be more opened up, more transparent, and more inclusive. To form a good government, we have to work with Citizens Union and bring up the issues we talked about. Last week I went for an interview, and I answered all the questions. And those questionnaires, I suggest Harrison to study carefully, closely, and in all details, then she will know what to do when we go up there.
TERRENCE PARK: Government should be absolutely open to public, and you as voters and citizens should come together to build strong civic association, block association, grassroots associations, to convey your ideas and wishes. We are only public servant, listening to your ideas and care. My responsibility is to make sure that government services lay down to you. In order to do that, arrogance of power in government, dealing behind closed door cannot be tolerated. When I become State Assemblymember, I will do in my best ability to make sure that all availability of governmental issues are laid down to you. I'll make sure that your issues are absolutely conveyed to the Assembly.
I've visited more than 2,500 houses and most of all constituents ask will either Ellen Young of Julia Harrison independently work on behalf of the community. I ask what they mean, and they ask me is Ellen Young too dependent on Councilman John Liu and only interested in her Chinese-American community? And Harrison, are you able to be independent?
ELLEN YOUNG: I enjoy answering this question as much as Terrence racist question. As Liu said, I did not depend on him, he depend on me. As the first asian female auxiliary officer, I was living in hispanic community, to help everybody in crime prevention, and preventing crime in the neighborhood. I'm still a block watcher and a drug buster. To organize blood drive and Katrina fund, you think is only serving to one ethnic? Of course not.
JULIA HARRISON: It's a funny question to ask, because of anyone - female - on this platform, I'm the only one whose been an independent, outspoken, uncontrollable women. I have seldom been a part of the county Democratic organization, because they do not trust me, because I don't trust them to make decisions for me and my community. I have worked with honorable people who are intelligent and not guided by what one person will say, no matter who that one person representing a county organization is. I started my political career by bring hoisted off the platform at my first county committee meeting. I asked a question from the floor, at the time, because I thought we were being robbed of our county committee people. The whole damn auditorium blew up practically, and in order to explain why I was asking the question, I felt I should go up to the microphone. Well, my effort was thwarted. Someone came up from behind, and grabbed me by my elbows, walked me off the stage, and dumped me on the floor. My constituents have always respected my independence, and welcomed it. They always tell me, after I have been dumped on by some newspaper or some other organization, that "you did the right thing. You said the right thing." I have this record of being independent, whether it's my greatest fault, or best thing about me.
ELLEN YOUNG: According to her record, Ms. Harrison did not help people in Flushing. When everybody, including borough president, state senator, state assembly, wants to build a library, she opposed it. When everybody wants to renovate a subway station in order to have an escalator and wheelchair accessories, she opposed. And most (laughs) important thing is she constantly kept proposing legislation to legalize prostitution.
JULIA HARRISON: I did not reject the idea of building a library. I the time the idea of tearing down the old library and building the institution we are in came up, we were proposing a master plan for the orderly development of FIushing, and the municipal parking lot number 1, which is now again under development by a very fine organization. At that time, we had wanted the library to be a part of a community center that would have been built around a green open space, which would have been a cultural meeting ground for the entire community. And it would have been accessible to the kids coming from Flushing High School, who always cut across the municipal parking lot, and they wouldn't have to cross all the streets to get to this. I was not opposed to the library, I was opposed to the placement of the library.
As far as the subway is concerned, nothing could be farther than the truth. The MTA said they wanted to get rid of the congestion that occurs at Roosevelt and Main st. In order to do that, they wanted to build another entrance and exit. My thought was, the intelligent thing to do, would be to go to Prince St., where the Foster brothers had a great big empty lot right on top of the station. They couldn't have gone down there, because we knew at that time, that Joshua Muss on the Con Edison lot, and he was going to put up 12,000 units of housing, in addition to having all kinds of recreational facilities, a movie house and other things that would attract people to that entrance. So I suggested, and I think it's still a good suggestion because the MTA said they now have to build a second entrance, instead of going where I suggested, they went up the hill, and disrupted all of the merchants who had business on Roosevelt Ave. They killed a lot of those stores, disrupted the free flow of traffic, and put the escalator where there are the fewest people. That was a very stupid thing, because the only way to justify having built where they built, was to reroute the busses. Now the Main St. bus - the number 44 - instead of going straight down Main St., now has to turn down Roosevelt Ave. to discharge passengers.
As regards to prostitution, at Prince St. and 35th Ave., I was getting all kinds of complaints from stores about prostitution being trucked in every night, and discharged, then being hauled away to wherever they came from in the morning. The women who would go down the street to their local market to buy a quart of milk would get propositioned by the johns, and the kids who were playing out front were seeing evidence of what prostitution is. The families who lived in that neighborhood were absolutely outraged, so they came to Macedonia church, went down into the meeting room, and said, "We have got to do something about this!" So, we went to the police station and said we were going to chase the prostitutes away, and you can do whatever the hell you want you officers who are not around to help us in this problem. We had prostitution posses who would walk every night for a year made up of people who lived in the area, every age, nationality, and size. We walked, and walked the streets, and the prostitutes didn't show up. My suggestion at that point was, I'm not going to be a moral judge as to what people want to do with their private life, just get it the hell out of the neighborhood, where people are living, children are growing up, and families are established. Also, from a health point of view, instead of having a man who has a family in the 22nd use the services of a prostitute and then go home and infect his wife - which had been happening, because women were having more and more HIV and AIDS infections - there should be control over the established act of prostituting. What I suggested was making a red light district in the area where the cement factories were, along the river. And give health care to every prostitute on a regular basis. I brought in a woman who works with prostitutes and offers them alternatives.
Question: In recent years we have seen quality store leave our area. There seems to be no plan for the future of our commercial strips, as more junk stores replace those quality stores. What will you do to reverse those trends, and will you create a business diversity program to enhance ethnic business growth?
ELLEN YOUNG: I don't understand what you mean when you say quality stores are leaving. Macy's is doing good business, and they joined the Flushing Business Improvement District, paid their share to clean up downtown Flushing. Barnes and Noble is possibly coming to our community, that was my project. Modell's is doing great business. There are a lot more quality businesses coming to Flushing, I know so because it was my project.
JULIA HARRISON: People who have spoken to me, all coming from the 22nd, say they don't want to go down to Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue because there is nothing there for them. There are not stores that appeal or cater to them. I don't know whether any other big firms are going to come, because there are good stores within driving distance with good parking spaces, and the buying market here is not that strong - that's what I've been told by other firms who were approached to come here. They just didn't see they could make a profit on their investment in the downtown Flushing area. It's not clean, not inviting, no parking - it's not appetizing.
TERRENCE PARK: I wouldn't say quality, by diversity. I used to work at a shoe store right next to McDonald's. Blue Star was right next to it, and Gloria's, and all this nice diverse stores. Rent is rampant on Main St. In order to pay that kind of rent, you have to generate lots of revenue. We have to look at the parking situation. It's the number one reason they don't want to come to downtown Flushing. When you go to Municipal Parking Lot on a Saturday, it takes fifteen minutes to find a spot. It takes fifteen to get out. Without parking spaces, development is not going to be successful because the development is only for people in the surrounding area are able to come there. People fromDouglaston, Little Neck and other places would not come to downtown Flushing, because there is no spaces. Parking space is crucial to have diverse store, in order to have quality store.
JULIA HARRISON: I have worked in Flushing for a long time - 30 years. I represented it as a paid worker, and I enjoyed the job very much for 20 years. I've been unemployed on forced retirement for five years. But I've been busy with the Howes Civic Association on zoning problems. I've been working with my coop's board of directors. I've been working in the schools, I tutor students in PS 129, and I worked in the Hopkins Hewes Institute. So, I've kept busy, but I really miss the structure I would have if I were going to Albany as a regular job. I enjoyed it. It's my very own specialty, that I have always done service. I've never taken a job because it paid well. That's why I worked so many years in trade union offices. I think I have developed a great skill working with my constituents. When I went to the Democratic Convention in Buffalo this year, people came up to me who worked with me 20 years ago to greet me. The job is made for me because I really, really like it. I like meeting people like you and answering your questions, and being available to be useful. And if I don't know the answer; referring you to where you can get it.
TERRENCE PARK: I see a beacon of hope in our community. Look around you. This auditorium is filled with concerned citizens and supporters. I must pay a great respect to my opponent, Ellen Young, for her courage and dedication to her community. And as well as my admiration for Julia Harrison, and for her long years of dedication to her community. Lets give them a round of applause. If I may distinguish myself from my opponents, it's the energy I have, and dedication, and enthusiasm I have for you. As of yesterday, I visited 2,544 houses. When I visited individuals, I feel their living condition in their heart, and what are the issues in each neighborhood. That really imbued the spirit of more dedication and more enthusiasm. And because of that support, even though I was off the ballot, I couldn't give up. I STOOD UP, and fought for those supporters. I didn't want to let them down. I vowed to my supporters: I shall return.
ELLEN YOUNG: I have roots. I have experience. It's very important to be able to bring people together in the community. That's what we call unity. Flushing has a very diverse community, I can represent everybody's interests and priorities. I urge everyone to look at each other. Hold their hands and shake them to say hello. Leaving from here with their love in your heart, and say, "We are going to have the best we know on Sept. 12." I urge everybody to vote within the Democratic party, and we also need a good new governor, and that's all in our hands. All of the issues we discussed today, we all have shown our concern. The most important thing is, who can make that concern come true, and that's Ellen Young. Â
Connecticut voters had a nearly unique experience when Ned Lamont defeated incumbent United States Senator Joseph Lieberman in a Democratic primary earlier this month. The last time a long-time U.S. Senator was defeated in a Democratic primary, anywhere in the country, was back in 1974. This was also the last year that there was a switch in party majority for either the New York State Senate or the New York State Assembly. Unlike Connecticut, however, the State of New York almost surely will once again have a doubt-free fall.
Two big races are considered competitive in the primary on September 12th -- for Attorney General, and for the Congressional seat in Brooklyn vacated by Major Owens. Few New Yorkers are breathless in suspense over the races for U.S. Senator and New York’s governor, and victory in most of the state legislative “races” is already assured.
Over the past 16 years, New York has had few competitive primary election races, and fewer still that resulted in the unseating of an incumbent, with just three such instances in the past three elections. Even legislators with criminal charges don’t always lose their seats. “New York’s Next Legislator” would make a terribly boring reality show, though occasionally an interesting soap opera.
In September, though there are 26 seats in the State Senate representing New York City, there will be only nine primary races (seven Democrats, two Republican). Of 65 seats in the State Assembly representing New York City, only 20 primaries are planned (all but two of which are for the Democratic Party). These numbers keep declining as candidates are removed from the ballot at the last minute. This scant number of primaries is typical throughout the whole state. Less than one in five New York City voters registered with a major party will have a reason to go to the polls September 12th and even fewer will be confident that their vote could make any difference.
However, with low turnouts in Primary Elections, each of those votes could count even more.
Assembly 22 (Queens)—Julia Harrison vs. Terrence Park vs. Ellen Young (Democratic Party). Incumbent Jimmy Meng is leaving the seat due to health problems. His daughter Grace Meng was removed from the ballot after a residency requirement challenge.
Assembly 25 (Queens)—Morshed Alam vs. Rory Lancman (Democratic Party). Brian McLaughlin is vacating the seat to work fulltime at the New York City Central Labor Council.
Assembly District 46 (South Brooklyn) -- Alec Brooks-Krasny vs. Ari Kagan vs. Martin Levine (Democratic Primary). Longtime Assemblymember Adele Cohen is not seeking reelection.
Assembly 57 (Brooklyn) — Bill Batson vs. Freddie Hamilton vs. Hakeem Jeffries (Democratic Party). Incumbent Roger Green is leaving the seat to run for Congress. Hakeem Jeffries challenged Green in 2000.
Assembly District 60 (Brooklyn/Staten Island) -- Joseph Cammarata vs. Anthony Xanthakis (Republican Primary). Incumbent Assemblymember Matthew Mirones is not seeking reelection.
Senate 20 (Prospect Park area of Brooklyn)—Eric Adams vs. Anthony Alexis vs. Guillermo Philpotts (Democratic Party). Incumbent Carl Andrews is vacating the seat to run for Congress.
Senate 24 (Staten Island)—Robert Helbock vs. Andrew Lanza (Republican Primary). Incumbent John Marchi is retiring from the seat. The winner of this contest will have to beat the Democratic challenger Matthew Titone in the fall to keep this seat Republican.
Assembly 74 (Manhattan Eastside and downtown)—Sylvia Friedman vs. Brian Kavanagh vs. Juan Pagan vs. Esther Yang (Democratic Primary). Friedman won the seat in the February special election.
Senate 13 (Queens—Jackson Heights)—John Sabini vs. Hiram Monserrate (Democratic Primary). Incumbent Sabini faces City Councilmember Monserrate.
Senate 18 (Mid Brooklyn)—Tracy Boyland vs. Velmanette Montgomery (Democratic Party). Former City Council Member Boyland, of the well-known Brooklyn political family, is challenging longtime incumbent Montgomery.
Queens has especially few contested primaries, a legacy of the careful planning of Tom Manton, the recently deceased head of the Queens County Democratic Association.
Queens Senate 2006
Democratic Primary -- 2 out of 7 races will hold a primary
Republican Primary -- 0 out of 7 races will hold a primary
General Election -- 4 out of 7 races are contested
Queens Assembly 2006
Democratic Primary -- 3 out of 18 races will hold a primary
Republican Primary -- 1 our of 18 races will hold a primary
General Election -- 7 out of 18 races are contested
This is nothing new. In 2004, New York City could have had as many as 130 Assembly primaries, but had 17, and 60 Senate primaries, but had 12.
Even when primary elections occur, the results are usually blowouts. Only one of the 12 Senate primaries in 2004 had a margin of victory less than ten percent (Democratic Primary District 21 Kevin Parker v. Noach Dear). Just two of the 17 Assembly primaries had a margin of victory less than 10 percent (Democratic Primary District 61 Lavelle v. McLean and Republican Primary District 62 Vincent Ignizio v. Robert Straniere).
Of course, incumbents may be doing their jobs well and earning the support of their constituents, but public opinion polls indicate otherwise. In a poll conducted by Siena College, just less than half of New York City respondents felt that their own legislators represented constituent interests as a priority, as opposed to special interests or their legislator’s self interest. Only 19 percent of those respondents believed that the leaders of the legislature primarily represent their constituents’ interests. And about half of New York City residents said they were dissatisfied with state government. Yet, an astonishing 98 percent of state legislators are re-elected.
Editorial boards and advocates believe that it is not constituent satisfaction that explains the lack of turnover, but that incumbents are too good at preserving their own jobs and thus artificially staying in power.
With a little planning and enough name recognition, an incumbent can overcome a criminal record, an obligatory resignation, and a strong potential challenger. In the 2000 Primary Election, Hakeem Jeffries challenged incumbent Roger Green (D-Brooklyn) and won a remarkable 40 percent of the vote. After the 2002 redistricting cycle, Jeffries’s house and a chunk of Prospect Heights were no longer part of the district. In 2004, Green pled guilty to petty larceny charges and later resigned. With Hakeem Jeffries unable to become a resident of the district and campaign in time, Roger Green won an unopposed 2004 Primary Election. Under the current system, criminals can boomerang back into office and promising challengers are stifled.
Incumbents also have the advantage of name recognition, networks, and the ability to send out newsletters and updates to their constituents.
Another problem is when various candidates are bumped off the ballot at the last minute, essentially clearing out swaths of the field after the planting but before the harvest. This summer, with mixed results and piles of legal fees, many senate and assembly candidates have had their petitions or residencies challenged. Whether frontrunners or on the fringe, members of this vanishing crop must devote time and money to defending their candidacies.
Residency Requirements:
Both Grace Meng, Assembly candidate for district 22 in Queens, and Ken Diamondstone, Senate candidate for district 25 in Brooklyn, have been challenged this month for allegedly failing to meet the residency requirements. Meng has since withdrawn from the race, along with fellow district 22 candidate Terrence Park whose petitions were challenged, but just got back on the ballot Thursday, August 17.
Incumbent Martin Connor (D-Senate 25), an election law specialist who served on the DSCC and worked for Tom Golisano’s 2002 gubernatorial campaign, filed a ballot access charge of his own against his challenger Diamondstone. The Board of Elections ruled against Diamondstone’s claim of residency, but he subsequently succeeded in an appeal to the Supreme Court of New York and is back on the ballot as of mid-August. Connors is appealing that decision though, so the Diamondstone campaign continues to languish as legal proceedings continue. A challenger has a difficult enough time campaigning against an incumbent, and its all the more difficult when you are getting knocked off the ballot.
Petition Challenges:
Depending on the district and party (higher for Democratic candidates because of the higher enrollments), state senate candidates need between several hundred and a thousand valid signatures to run for office. Assembly candidates need between a couple hundred and five hundred signatures. To secure their positions on the ballot, candidates typically gather twice the number of signatures required to protect against challenges, but even that extra effort is not always enough.
Juan Pagan, a Democratic candidate for Assembly District 74 had to defend his petitions against a challenge. He submitted the routine 1,000 signatures (twice the minimum to assure compliance), but after the challenge, the board of elections threw out half the signatures, thus putting his candidacy in jeopardy. He successfully defended the signatures in the Supreme Court of New York. A press release issued by his campaign states that the court found the objections, such as the use of the middle initial “J.” on one page and the full name “John” on another, were inconsequential, and the petition forms were “inherently oblique and confusing.” Pagan is back on the ballot, but has lost resources and time devoted to fighting for the validity of his signatures.
Remaining Candidates:
For Assembly District 22, this leaves behind Ellen Young, Shirley Huntley and Julia Harrison. Harrison may be best known for her comments as a city council member characterizing the increase in Asian constituents in her district as an “invasion, not assimilation.” With two of the best funded and best known candidates out of the race, Ellen Young’s well financed campaign is more secure. Candidates who would have run but were intimidated by Meng’s name recognition and legacy did not get into the race. Likewise, contributions to Meng’s campaign could have gone elsewhere, and Terrence Park had to invest time and other resources into fighting for his candidacy.
Other wackiness:
Beyond disappearing elections, candidates are also dealing with disappearing computers. Incumbent Senator John D. Sabini (D-13), who is facing a tough challenge from City Councilmember Hiram Monserrate had two computers stolen from his headquarters on August 14th.
Assembly District 74 has an incumbent, Sylvia Friedman elected in the Special Election. Friedman has the security of incumbency, but Brian Kavanagh, who ran for City Council last year, has raised twice as much money as she has.
Primary Elections often dictate the winner of the General Election in New York City, and fundraising abilities, party support and ballot access further
Are nonpartisan elections a viable option? These are not often discussed at the state level.
In 2003, Mayor Michael Bloomberg pushed for nonpartisan primary elections. This failed campaign was somewhat controversial. The proposal was seen as a
-pet project forced onto ballot
-backed by Bloomberg’s own resources
-and potentially a partisan ploy
Perhaps the most compelling pitch would be an Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) system. This method of preferential voting is currently employed by the Academy Awards.
With candidate rankings, the relationship between voters and their representatives changes. The voter would be able to rank candidates in order of preference, so that even if his or her top choice may lose, the second and third choices still count.
This system could:
-guarantee that in elections with more than two candidates, the victor will win 50% or more of the vote
-eliminate the cost and confusion of runoff elections for voters, candidates and the board of elections
-decrease the deleterious effects of “spoiler” candidates on frontrunners, and allows voters who vote for the fringe candidates to have their preferences still matter in the race
-reduce negative campaigning (and gratuitous ballot challenges) because candidates will likely need positive rankings from an array of voters to win.
If the system is good enough for the Oscars, then it could be good enough for New York State, though critics claim it may be too complicated. Recently, North Carolina implemented IRV and the Minneapolis City Council voted to put the issue on the November ballot.
A few elected officials in New York are advocating for implementing IRV. A bipartisan bill (Assembly Bill A3510/Senate Bill S1671) to test IRV in selected local elections and ultimately around the state is alive, but continues to sit in the Election Law Committee with few cosponsors.
Redistricting reform: Currently, redistricting is a partisan process where the Legislature is very much involved in the drawing of district lines. In the confines of a single bill, the Republican-led Senate and Democrat-led Assembly pass each others plans to preserve their own majorities, which have been intact for decades. The resulting district plans tend to favor incumbents and pass without complaint from the Governor. This system maintains the status quo, artificially protects incumbents and decreases the ability for outsiders to break into the inner circle.
Proposals for an independent commission would add a degree of separation between the legislature and the apportionment of their constituents. With proper implementation, this reform could help crack the concentration of power that the Senate leader, Assembly leader and the Governor have in state government. All the gubernatorial candidates have made this a priority in their campaigns and bills are active in both the Senate and Assembly.
New York State primary elections have the potential to be more compelling for voters and candidates alike, whether this is achieved through redistricting, better campaign finance rules and practices, reform of ballot access, or a complete overhaul of the voting system.
The seat for the 74th Assembly district on Manhattan's Lower East Side has been held for 27 years by Steve Sanders, who won it in a special election after Andy Stein resigned. Sanders resigned January 1st of this year to become a lobbyist in Albany, and Sylvia Friedman was chosen to replace him in a special election in February. Now Friedman is up for re-election.
Friedman, has been a schoolteacher, community activist, and ombudswoman for former public advocate Mark Green. She has two challengers for the Democratic primary.
One is Brian Kavanagh, who worked in the administrations of four different mayors, served as the chief of staff to City Councilmember Gale Brewer from the Upper West Side, and ran in last year's City Council election against Rosie Mendez, and placed second in the Democratic primary.
Esther Yang, on my far left, is a single mother and activist, who has worked in mind and body health care, yoga and feng shui, as well as being a brown belt in karate.
These three candidates will square off in the primary on September 12th, and the winner will face Frank Scala, the Republican candidate who lost to Friedman in the special election in February.
On August 14, the three Democratic candidates met for a debate moderated by Edward Isaac Dovere, the editor of the newspaper City Hall, and the city and political editor of publications Our Town and Our Downtown.
SYLVIA FRIEDMAN: I have lived in the 74th Assembly District for over 40 years, and have spent much of that time as a community activist and political activist. I served on Community Board 6 for 10 years on the Housing Committee, Homeless Committee, and Parks, Recreation and Landmarks Committee. I have worked as a member of the Union Square Park Committee. I've been chair of the overnight shelter at the 16th St. meeting of the Society of Friends for 20 years. We shelter 12 homeless people, every night of the year. When we first started, it was only 4 nights, for 10 months of the year, but I've built it up, and it's now every night of the year. Politically, I was Vice President for Political Affairs, then President, of the Burman Society for Independent Democrats. Then I was won a special election for District Leader. After serving as District Leader for 7 years, I was elected again, in a contested seat for State Committee. As soon as I was elected, I joined the Reform Caucus, of which I became chair.
BRIAN KAVANAGH: I grew up in Staten Island. My father was a police officer, and raised a family of six children on a police officer's salary. I went to high school here in Manhattan. During high school, I got involved working with kids at the Mission on Forsyth, just of off Houston, and still do. I went straight to government out of college, when Ed Koch was still mayor. I worked in the mayor's office of operations; I did oversight of the city's housing programs for both Koch and Dinkins. Under Dinkins, we launched the Department of Homeless Services, in order to provide better services for homeless families and single adults in our communities, and to make sure the facilities themselves were good neighbors in their communities. I was also very involved in the city's response to the Happy Land Social Club fire. In 1990, 87 people were killed in a single evening in the Bronx social club. We went out and shut down 600 illegal firetraps around the city, in a program I had a lot to do with designing.
I left government to go to law school, then practiced law for a few years. After working a while for a couple of big NYC law firms, I did pro-bono work. I was involved in one of the nation's few successful death penalty clemency positions, in the State of Virginia. I represented a lot of community organizations that needed representations. I went back to government as Councilmember Gale Brewer's chief of staff, where I worked on lots of legislation. Most notable, a bill to protect domestic workers, among the most vulnerable workers in our workforce.
I want to go to Albany, because I believe that my experience, and my independence, make me the best person in this race to deal with the affordable housing crisis that we are all facing; to make sure that the schools have the resources they need to educate our kids; and, most importantly, to shake up Albany, so we can be responsive to the full range of needs that we have, which are often neglected by our state government.
ESTHER YANG: I was born in India, went to school in Singapore, and then I came here. I was adopted by an American family; my father was a police officer. He died from cancer, and my two best friends died from AIDS. I was in fashion at the time, and I said to myself, there's got to be more to life than wedding gifts. So, I changed everything, and went back to my Chinese grandparents. They were in oriental medicine, practiced Feng Shui, and were in herbals. And then something else took turn: I realized that we suffer because of Albany.
I realized, after reading the Brennan Center report, that 98 percent of all elected officials get re-elected. I don't think that's kosher. I also I have a problem that there are close to 15,000 bills with no opposition. And you might think that those things don't affect us, but I think you're wrong. I'm standing here because I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. And when I get elected, my office will be open 24/7. I'm going to expect all my friends who are training for medical degrees to give me free medical advice, and free legal advice. They don't know that yet, but they will. I want my office to be where my core constituents need me most. I expect my friends, if they want to be my friends, to come here. When I go to Albany, I will not have a ball - this is not a $79,000 job. When I get elected, I expect all of you to help me, because I can't do this by myself. Because we're in this together, for better or for worse. And unless we take the power back from this elected official, it's not acceptable.
EDWARD ISAAC DOVERE: The first question comes from Citizens Union. If elected to office, what would be your top three priorities during your tenure?
BRIAN KAVANAGH: My biggest priority is the continuing affordable housing crisis that we all face in this city. In order to address that, we first need to protect what we've got. We need to protect the rent stabilization system that has gotten weaker - and not stronger - each time it's come before the state legislature in the past decade. That means repealing vacancy and luxury decontrol. It means preventing the abuse of major capital improvements increase provisions. And ultimately, it means repealing the Ustadt law so we can bring control back to where it belongs, back to the city level. We also need to protect the affordability of units in the Mitchell-Lama program, and protect the families that are living in them, even if the sponsors of those buildings are successfully buying out of the program. We need stronger laws to protect tenants from harassment by their landlords, and we need to enforce the laws we've got.
More importantly, we need to get back to the city's long tradition of building new affordable housing for low, moderate, and middle-income people. Market rate housing is not accessible to anybody who is making a normal income in our city. We all know that, and yet our city and our state are not providing the kinds of subsidies that will expand our housing supply. All of those things are squarely within the authority of our state legislature.
The other major priority is to change the basic rules by which Albany functions. That means changing the campaign finance laws, so money doesn't wash over our elected officials, and prevent them from being people who pursue the public interest. That means changing the lobbying rules, so that lobbyists can't give gifts to legislators. Legislators shouldn't go directly from being legislators to being lobbyists - it's a conflict of interest. And also changing our redistricting rules, so that our legislators can't draw the lines of their own districts, like they do now. I believe voters ought to pick legislators, rather than the other way around. Eliot Spitizer has pledged not to sign onto a partisan redistricting plan, and I pledge the same thing to you tonight.
ESTHER YANG: When I get elected, because I like to think holistically, I think things need to get taken care of. We can't just think that life consists of this part or that part.
Even though the Court of Appeals said we have billions of dollars, I think counting money without accountability or full disclosure is insanity. That's number one for education.
Protecting the seniors [is number two], because these two are the most vulnerable. I think these two things are the most important.
Once that's stabilized, I think the middle part is job opportunity. I would create a database, one place [to look], because let's face it, we get jobs through relationships. What if I said, if you want to open a business in my district, you have to hire people from my district. And that's the way it is, because if we don't, how are we going to do it?
Whether term limits or not, I'm only going to serve for two terms, because that's the way it should be. The power should go back to the people, and never the elected officials.
SYLVIA FRIEDMAN: My assembly office did a survey, and invariably, people said housing was their priority. So, we all know that we have to repeal the Ustadt law; we have to end luxury and vacancy decontrol; we have to end major capital improvement increases, because they only benefit landlords, not tenants; we have to create a new Mitchell-Lama-like program that does not expire. We have the money to do it. There is a surplus in the mortgage agency, and the Housing Plus agency, and that should be spent on affordable housing.
Now, I am in the assembly, so I'm very proud to say that we funded that we funded the capital side of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity. There is now $11 billion for building new schools, for creating computer labs, for renovating libraries, for creating libraries in schools that don't have them.
My third issue is reform, and I thank the opportunity to do that. At my very first committee meeting, I discovered that there isn't any debate in committee, but I didn't discover it until after I started to debate on a bill that needed to be discussed. Suddenly, there was a debate in the committee, and the end result was, the bill passed the committee, but passed by only one vote. I was told afterward, that this had never happened before. The beginning of reform in the Assembly, I did it at my first meeting. 10 seconds flat.
EDWARD ISAAC DOVERE: The next question from Citizens Union is: Do you feel the operations of the state legislature are in need of reform? And to expand on that: Are there short term and or long term steps that are necessary to help create a more open, transparent, and accountable state legislature?
ESTHER YANG: First of all, I don't feel Albany needs reform, I think Albany needs a major clean up with Clorox. I think it's embarrassing what the New York Times, the New York Post, the Daily News, and everybody else in the paper have said about Albany. Our founding fathers said three separate branches with checks and balances. That's not asking a lot. I think that a major step is that we cannot have a state assembly member become a lobbyist. There has got to be some break, maybe 2 years off. Without that, we merely have a revolving door. Everybody says same old stuff, same old garbage, and all of us suffer for it.
I also have a problem with lobbyists giving money, and I have a problem elected officials becoming political puppets to self interest groups. When I get elected, I think the money should be zero. Lobbyists shouldn't be giving to elected officials.
SYLVIA FRIEDMAN: Of course there is need for reforms, for a great deal of reforms. When I was chair of Community Board 6, the work got done in committees. These committee people brought up issues, debated issues, made decisions about issues, and then it came to the floor. I want to see that happen in Albany, and I believe that I have started that.
We need to have a non-partisan redistricting commission, so that lines are not drawn by incumbents who represent those districts, but are drawn in a way that make sense, you know, when they're squared off, instead of looking like a jigsaw puzzle.
It's also extremely important that we have a finance program very similar to NYC. Clean money, clean elections: that is one of the bills that I have managed to get out of the Election Law Committee, with a very, very small group of reformers.
We also managed to get a much tighter period between the last day to register to vote, and Election Day. I think that we should have same day registration, but we did make it 10 days, which is certainly a big step forward for reform.
BRIAN KAVANAGH: Campaign Finance: At this stage, any individual in this state, or really anywhere in the country, can give tens of thousands of dollars to a statewide candidate, and very substantial amounts to local candidates like those you see before you. In addition, we have loopholes in that law allowing individuals who control different entities to give multiple contributions to the same person. The effect of the on our system of government is hard to overstate. Literally, when people have million dollar decisions before the state government - maybe $10 million decisions, maybe $100 million decisions - they can buy the influence of legislators, and the entire legislative body, for very modest amounts of money. We desperately need to change that in order to have a government that really represents the people.
Lobbying and ethics: We need to make sure that lobbyists can't give gift directly to legislators. We really need to make sure that all of the work that lobbyists do is part of the reporting system, so that we know what they are doing. And we need to drastically reform the way lobbyists participate in the campaign finance system. Redistricting: legislators currently draw their own lines, and that's really a recipe for legislators that are entirely to comfortable dealing with their own interests, instead public interest.
The biggest thing it takes to get reform is independence from the Albany system itself. Independence from the Speaker, who largely controls things. We've all heard of the "three men in a room" who control much of what's important in Albany. If we want to reform Albany, we need to take each opportunity to elect somebody new, who is going to be independent of that system, who is going to be genuinely committed to reforming it, rather than playing by the same old rules. And that's what I intend to do.
EDWARD ISAAC DOVERE: The next question comes from the City Hall/Our Town Downtown Editorial Board: Among the more controversial questions in politics on the city level is term limits. Some people see them as an effective means of battling stagnation and power mongering among elected officials, some say that preventing the build up of institutional memory has led to a dangerous shift in power to unelected interests, like lobbyists. The man Ms. Friedman succeeded, Steve Sanders, took 27 years in the Assembly before resigning, certainly longer than anyone could, under a system with term limits. If you are representing the 74th Assembly District come January, will you support or oppose term limits for the legislature and or for statewide offices.
SYLVIA FRIEDMAN: I'm opposed to term limits because I believe it is up to the voters to determine who represents them. Now, when we have districts that are flawed like the current districts, and have a system of campaign finance like the current one, where people can pour money into a candidate, who then turns around and does exactly what a contributor asks for, then it seems that the only solution is term limits. But it's not. If we have fairly drawn districts created by a non-partisan commission, and if we have campaign finance legislation that provides money, so that people do not take money from the special interests - but take money from individuals only - then we have term limits called elections. That's the fair way
BRIAN KAVANAGH: I am opposed to term limits for similar reasons. I believe we have real opportunity in our system to fundamentally change the way our government works, being on the verge of electing a governor who is genuinely committed to reform, in Eliot Spitzer. We are also currently in a moment in our Assembly when we have a very large number of members who are relatively new to the system, and have not been benefiting for so long, by committee chairships and the lulus, and everything. (lulus are the extra funds you get for holding a particular seat in the Assembly.) Voters have an opportunity in each election to select somebody new, and if we can get the rules right, we will have genuinely fair elections. I think that giving up on the notion that voters can pick the right person each time is really giving up on democracy itself. So I do oppose that. I will also say that the process by which people actually get into the Assembly is often skewed against the voters in favor of the party itself. In particular: the provisions that fill seats when an incumbent leaves in the middle of their term. It is a system that is essentially driven by party insiders. The party selects somebody, not the voters, and they are run against each other. The conclusion of that election is already a foregone conclusion. At the city level, when a seat is vacant, many things are better than they are at the state. At the city level, there is a direct election, where the voters get to choose from the full range of candidates who'd like to run. That would also be a way to clean up our system and make sure the voters have a more of a direct say than they do now.
ESTHER YANG: In New York City, the people voted for term limits, not just once, but twice. And we have term limits for president. I think we should have term limits for Assembly, as well. Like I said, that the Brennan Center report said, 98 percent are re-elected. If everybody said that Albany is corrupt, then we can't have the same players playing games. To me, that's insanity - doing the same thing over and over and over again, and expecting different results. I'm totally for term limits; I'm totally for the civilians.
Public servants are meant to serve the public. But I think when we start having selected few people choose selected people, we only have selected answers. And that's not how I remember, in my history class, what democracy is all about. So we need civilian people, regular people, full disclosure, open book. The 14th Amendment said we have equal rights, equal justice, and everyone should pick, not the Speaker should pick the people. We should have the civilian complaints reporting bureau, like the New York Police Department, for the State Assembly. We should have the phone number where we can complain about all our elected officials. Something's GOT TO GIVE, people! And the only way to give is if we all stop playing their games. We will take our power back and say, "Know what? Enough of your foolishness. Enough of you political games. Enough of your sweet nothings."
EDWARD ISAAC DOVERE: A question by citizens Union. In a recent court decision that is now under appeal, Justice Gleeson ruled that the current Judicial Convention for selecting party nominees for the Supreme Court was unconstitutional. It is quite likely that the decision on how to reform the process will fall to the legislature. In such a case, what type of system would you support for the selection of Supreme Court Justices?
BRIAN KAVANAGH: First of all, I would like to say that Judge Gleeson got this right. For a long time we've had selection of judges that suffers from a lot of the same problems that we've talked about tonight with the rest of our political system. It is a system where partisan officials, members of the party - insiders, rather than rank and file voters - have way to much say in who gets these positions. Judges are the kind of positions that we expect to be the most independent of politics, and particularly partisan politics. I would favor a system where we have judges evaluated on merit by non-partisan screening panels, for all judges, whether they be elected judges or judges that are appointed. The first step is to be evaluated objectively, and the second step is to make sure we have mechanisms in place to allow - to the extent that voters choose them - direct election by the majority of voters, rather than pre-screening by the parties.
ESTHER YANG: I read Judge Gleeson's order. Judge Margarita Lopez-Torrez could not go to the Supreme Court. The Democratic club would not choose her because she would not hire staff that they offered. That's co-dependency if you ask me. They need to go to more therapy.
Folks if we have to do for primary, I know I saw Andrea standing outside handing out flyers, if she has to go to the primary. So, what is so special about Supreme Court Justice? I mean, what ever happened to equal justice? What's good for you is good for me? So for me, if you're gonna have a primary for Civil Court judges, you should have a primary for Supreme Court judges. It shouldn't be like, "oh, you hired my people, I make you Supreme Court." The unified court system has a $1.3 billion dollar budget. You know how much they give to minorities? $139,000.
SYLVIA FRIEDMAN: The convention system started out as a reform measure. Because what was happening before that, was the people in the smoke filled back rooms chose Supreme Court Judges, and now and happening in Brooklyn again. Supreme Court Judges are chosen in the backrooms, by the political powers. So, Judge Lopez-Torrez brought a suit, and Judge Gleeson overturned that suit. In Manhattan, there certainly is some political play in how Supreme Court judges are selected. And frequently, people in power have a lot more say than they should. But there is an independent screening panel. And no one is permitted to run for Supreme Court judge unless they've been approved by this independent screening board. The panel is made up of representatives of law schools, good government groups, bar associations, and generally, all of the people who appear before the judicial convention, in Manhattan, are fine people - and fine judges, because they have been approved by this system. Now, once they've been approved by the system, then the politics come into play, and the end result is frequently not the person I would select, and maybe not who you would select. But it is someone who has been approved by a panel. Going to primaries: if there is a way to prevent that from going back to smoke filled rooms that existed before we started the convention system, I would certainly approve of that.
EDWARD ISAAC DOVERE: Our last question is a collaboration between Citizens Union and Our Town Downtown and City Hall. If you could determine the one criteria that voters would decide on who to vote for on September 12th, what would it be?
ESTHER YANG: I think voters should choose on how they can bring power back to the people. How can you make the 74th District the best district ever? When Albany is not doing what it is supposed to do, like full disclosure and checks and balances, then why are we still voting for the same people? Remember what I said, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results." When I was giving flyers out, nobody really liked me. Because, you know why? They have their own idea of politicians: crooked. And I think we have to change that.
I only raised $16,000, and it's not from lobbyists, or United Federation of Teachers, or anything else. And I have the financial disclosure where everybody wants to see it. Because that's what government should be. If we can't expect this, then there's a problem. Once my family was in a hotel, and my father was putting all the money in the safe, and I said, "Why are we putting all the money in the safe?” He said, "Esther, we lock things up to keep the thieves honest." So, we want civilian complaint reporting bureau to keep the elected officials honest. And when I get elected, I expect you to kick me out of office when I don't do right by you. Because I expect you to make me show results to you, and make me accountable.
SYLVIA FRIEDMAN: I chose service to the community as the one criteria. When I stand out on the street, giving out flyers, I'm amazed by how many people say to me, you've done good work, I'm voting for you. I know your work, I'm voting for you. I served on your homeless committee, I'm supporting you. And so on. I really do think that it's service to the community that's important: what you've been able to provide, so that people know who you are, know what kind of work you can do, and then choose to support you.
BRIAN KAVANAGH: My answer is also based on my experience. When I knock on doors and ask what they're concerned about, I hear two themes over and over again that are very related: one is a desperate need to deal with the housing crisis we all face, and the other is a desperate need to change the way Albany works for the people of our state. The thing I think you should look for, four weeks from now, the basis for which I ask for your vote, is that I believe you should choose the person who has the right experience and the independence to change the system. I am not beholden to the powers that be, as many of our legislators are. And I am running because I believe I am the right person to shake up the system, and I believe that that is what the voters want. As a method, as a means to getting answers to our housing crisis, to our education crisis, to our health care crisis. I think all of you know that until we change the way this government works, until we bring about genuine reform in the government, until we end the enormous roll of money and lobbyists and special interests in Albany, we are not going to get our interests addressed. That's the basis on which I am asking for your vote.
EDWARD ISAAC DOVERE: Okay, now the part where the candidates get to ask each other questions.
SYLVIA FRIEDMAN: I think that we all agree that housing is at a crisis in our community, and that something needs to be done about it. What is their plan for repealing the Ustadt law, given the current climate?
BRIAN KAVANAGH: I believe that in this area, as in so many others, we really need to get our Democrats in the Assembly, in particular, to stand up for traditional Democratic values. We'll insist that we are going to represent the people - particularly the people of this city - with an overwhelming Democratic majority. Upstate Republicans, but not only them, are not responding to it because it is not their concern. Here in New York City our number one concern is the affordable housing crisis, and we understand that legislators based here in the city would do a better job regulating the relationships between landlords and tenants. And we need to insist that we are going to address that, and we need to start in the Assembly, and negotiate hard with our colleagues in the Senate, insist that we pass it and that the governor sign it.
ESTHER YANG: I always think that if you don't have a job, even zero increase of rent can feel a lot. It's middle income families, I always said, that helped build New York. Middle-income families should not be forced to get out of New York, because New York is 65 percent minorities. NYC is the greatest city in the world because of all the people in it. And I think that the state should not control us. The state should not be telling us; even the State Liquor Authority - which I call the Sleeping Liquor Authority - shouldn't be holding us for everything. I think that the city should be able to rule the city, and I think there should be a freeze in rent stabilization. If they take one apartment out, they should replace it with another one.
I'm not an attorney, I'm not an elected official, I'm just a regular person like you and I, and that's why I think I should be able to be elected, because I'm just a regular person.
BRIAN KAVANAGH: I've mentioned a few times tonight that my particular concern IS that we have people in Albany who are willing to stand up to the powers that be - in particular the Speaker.
For Assemblywoman Sylvia Friedman, who is already in the seat, I was only able to find three incidences in which you voted differently than the speaker. That was for A07711, which deals with hunting of coyotes with dogs and firearms, A11311, which deals with parkland in Broome County, and A12011, which regards peace officers in Lake George.
And Esther Yang, who has not been in the Assembly, what more generally would be your differences with the speaker?
ESTHER YANG: I think the difference between the speaker and I: I'm a woman, and he's a man. When I get elected, I represent the 74th District, and expect the 74th District to be taken care of. I expect that, in terms of schools, in terms of Medicare, in terms of job opportunities, in terms of gridlock. And I expect the speaker to always have an open door policy, and not just a closed-door policy between Bruno and Pataki or whoever else. And I have a problem when all chiefs of staff become lobbyists. And part of my being elected is that I expect to be held accountable and I expect to have results, because that's the way it should be.
SYLVIA FRIEDMAN: The main difference between the speaker and me is not in Albany, but right here in the Lower East Side. The speaker doesn't seem to think that we should have low and moderate-income housing in the Seward Park Extension. On the issues that Brian brought up: I am opposed to the alienation of parks, which means I am opposed to parks being used for anything other than park space. So I am opposed to building restaurants in parks, or taking parks away for other commercial purposes, which is why I voted against that bill. In the Assembly, the Democratic conference gets together and meets and debates these issues. The speaker was in favor of ending the statute of limitations on rape on the criminal side, but not on the civil side. In the Democratic conference, we talked him - and I spoke myself with great passion - into changing his conviction. So when it came to the floor, I voted with him. He was the one who changed his mind, and voted with us. So you can have a difference with the speaker, and he can change his mind.
ESTHER YANG: My question for both candidates is financial disclosure and financial filing. I know that Brian KAVANAGH makes $120,000, and Sylvia Friedman makes about $90,000 and that I know that Speaker Silver gave Sylvia Friedman $2,000. The labors union gave money to you, Brian. I have $16,000, no lobbyists, no unions, I personally didn't ask for them, and I don't want them to give me money, because I like to keep things simple. But I want to know how either of you could you be independent when Speaker Silver gave you $2,000, and labor unions gave you money.
SYLVIA FRIEDMAN: I don't think I raised that much. But it would be nice if I did. We really don't know what Miss Yang raised, because she has not filed with the Board of Elections. Which by the way is illegal. She did not file for the first filing, she did not file for the second, so I didn't know how much money she raised until tonight when she told us.
Yes, the speaker gave me $2,000. I'm very grateful for it. He knows our differences. He knows that I am not supporting his candidate for judge; I'm supporting a different candidate. He understands that we are different, but he understands that I am a very hard worker and that I get along with my colleagues. We have differences, and yet, we can still work together. It's also true that I've been endorsed by a dozen unions, including the largest one. But I've been endorsed by unions because they know I'm on the side of working people.
ESTHER YANG: Regarding the Board of Elections filing: I do have it notarized, I do have it affidavit, but they somehow disappear. My attorney sent it back.
BRIAN KAVANAGH: Just to get the numbers straight, I've raised about $120,000 since the last filing and Silvia has raised $60,000. I would respond by saying that I need to raise that kind of money - which I would say is not out of the ordinary amount of money to run a campaign to communicate with 140,000 people within this district - in part because I need to compete with Assemblywomen Friedman. She is an incumbent, and has many advantages of incumbency, including the ability to send all of you the very thorough newsletters about her activities in Albany - which I'm sure you've received. So between that, and staff, and an office in the district, there are obviously advantages of incumbency.
The way I have raised money in this race, in spite of one or two contributions from labor unions is by going directly to people who are not in the business of buying influence in Albany. Nearly all of my money has come from ordinary people, many of whom are in the district, more of whom are in this district than anyone else in the race. I've gotten money from people who have not previously contributed to any candidate in this state. They are supporting me because of the vision I have offered you here tonight.
EDWARD ISAAC DOVERE: We are going to move into the questions by the audience. Our community is being decimated by overdevelopment, New York University expansion, and nightlife proliferation. We are losing our commercial diversity, our historic churches, art centers, and long-time residents due to rising rents and real estate values. How can East Village history and community be preserved against these market forces?
SYLVIA FRIEDMAN: We talked a great deal about rent regulation, and of course that's one way to preserve our affordable housing. We have got to regulate rent, we have to repeal the Ustadt law, we have to end vacancy and luxury decontrol and major capital improvement increases. We have to stop permitting landlords to demolish their buildings, or pretend to demolish their buildings, and chasing out their rent regulated tenants, to bring in market rate tenants. I have suggested repeatedly, we also need commercial rent regulation. Certainly we cannot maintain our laundry stores, our shoemakers, our mom and pop bodegas if we can keep raising the rents, when bars and lounges are ready to pay a higher rent and move in.
BRIAN KAVANAGH: We've seen the effect of the housing crisis on many of our long-term residents. As Assemblymember Friedman just said, that is a large part of preserving the character of our community. But we do need to do more. Many of us, and I see many people in this room, have been involved in the site specific fights that we've had: over Charis, over St. Bridgets, over many other sites where somebody wanted to tear something down that people really cared about, or wanted to build something that was out of the character of the neighborhood, because of the type, or the density, or type of use. And those fights are very important, and I commend all of you. I have been involved in those; I have testified in favor of Charas at the Landmarks Commission, I have been in many of the other preservation fights. A big way we regulate land use in the city is the Zoning Resolution. We need height caps in our Zoning Resolution on all of these low-rise blocks in the Lower East Side. We need contextual zoning that keeps people from building out of the local context, and we need zoning that prevents bars from moving into many of these blocks, so that the rest of the neighborhood doesn't get steamrolled by the continued proliferation of bars.
ESTHER YANG: It's really important that we fight for the community. I think it's very important that we demand the developer to build affordable housing. If we don't demand it, how are we going to be able to do that? I think it's really create animosity when the gentrification comes in. If we don't preserve it, then who will?
EDWARD ISAAC DOVERE: I am going to do my best to do a representative sampling of what has been submitted. First question. Noise is often cited as one of the biggest problems by New Yorkers. If elected, how to you propose to address this problem? Please provide specifics.
BRIAN KAVANAGH: The first thing we need to do is diminish the tension between bars and nightlife in our communities and residential uses. The best way to do that would be, like I called for last year when I was running for City Council, to bring about a city liquor authority rather than the State Liquor Authority. Take that out of the hands of unresponsive state legislators, and unresponsive executive branches, and bring it down to the city level, so that bars in our community can help to address these concerns, rather than be part of the problem. There are many good and decent bar owners in the area, but there are also a lot that are happy to put up with unruly patrons in order to make a buck at the expense of people that are living around them. The second thing we need to do is increase enforcement in the community. The third part: when the city passed the smoking law, there was an ability to have an inside smoking room to keep the people off the sidewalk. The state version of the bill eliminated that, pushing smokers out onto the street. I favor the city version of the bill. I think that the state version was excessive and pushed people who were making a lot of noise out onto the streets.
ESTHER YANG: I think that any bar owners that lie on their application, and we know that there are plenty of them should just get their license revoked. I'm not against nightlife, I'm against irresponsible bar owners. My grandmother always taught me, the only thing we've got is our word. We have to have some control over the complaints to 311. I know that some constituents call 311 and the Community Board many times, but there are no results. On the civilian complaint review board, I know that if there are five complaints, the officer does not get a promotion. So maybe there's a way that if we do complain, then there will be a suspension.
SYLVIA FRIEDMAN: About noise: the State Liquor Authority is not concerned about bars in the Lower East Side. The SLA does not have the problems that we have. We don't need a city liquor authority; we have to have very strong and serious representation on the SLA. I am very pleased that I voted for increasing the number of agents, to enforce the Liquor Authority's rules, and to insist that one of the members of the Liquor Authority come from the city. It's extremely important that we do that, because the Lower East Side has become a tourist destination, and it is a residential neighborhood that is being seriously destroyed.
EDWARD ISAAC DOVERE: Today Governor Pataki signed legislation providing benefits to workers and responders to September 11th, at the World Trade Center. These are additional benefits, and the time to apply for them has been extended. Mayor Bloomberg did not support this legislation because of the cost to NYC; also problems of verification of legitimate claims would be very difficult. What is your opinion of this legislation?
ESTHER YANG: I disagree with Mayor Bloomberg, because these people were our heroes, and need to be taken care of. It took all of us, it pained us. It's really wrong of the governor to lie about the safety of the air. The same with Con Edison lying about air safety. So, I think it's really wrong - because my focus is always on mind, body, and health - for Mayor Bloomberg not to compensate people - because they were there, and should be taken care of. At least each one of us has gone to at least one funeral, and it's just awful.
SYLVIA FRIEDMAN: I find it very difficult to comment on a piece of legislation that I haven't read. It seems to me that if Pataki has legislation to help the responders of 9/11, that's a good thing. I would hope that the state would fund it; if the state isn't funding it I would understand the mayor's problem. But again, without reading the legislation, I find it very difficult to comment.
BRIAN KAVANAGH: I think the trajectory of this particular idea and bill are a very good example of just how dysfunctional Albany is. In 2001, many of us experienced that tragedy, in a more or less personal way. We all understood almost immediately that many, many people were going to be effected in a negative way, and particularly people who were responding to the emergency. This is not a new issue. And yet, today, we have a governor signing a bill, that largely has been pushed by several front page stories by the Daily News the last couple weeks, insisting that the governor take action, naming him personally, and putting his face on the cover. That's not how government ought to be. This bill does have some problems in terms off not preventing who were not responders from getting some kind of benefit. But, the fact that we're today signing something that genuinely responds to people’s needs who otherwise have not been addressed over the past five years is a travesty.
ESTHER YANG: President Woodrow Wilson said "I will use all my brains, and I will borrow everybody else brains." So when I get elected, I will use all my brains, and I will borrow all of your brains. When I get elected, my office will be open 24/7. I will open the free medical and free legal advice. I'll end with a Chinese proverb: When there's a light in the soul, there'll be beauty in the person. When there's beauty in the person, there'll be harmony in the house. When there's harmony in the house, there'll be order in the nations. When there's order in the nations, there'll be peace in the world. So I'm going to start by saying to you, that the peace begins with me, and the change begins with me, and this is why I'm running for office. Because I want a change. I want things to be better for my daughter, I want things to be better for my good friend Larry, who is 85 years old. I want things to be better for Terry, who lives with emphysema and couldn't breathe because of the Lower East Side. I want things to be better for all of us.
When I get elected, I don't want to represent just Asian people, I don't want just white people. I want us, what we are: the greatest city in the world. And I want the power to go back to the people, not to the elected officials. When I get elected, I want everybody to take the fundamental right, the right to vote, behind that curtain, where nobody really knows who you're voting for. That's the only thing we've got that no one, not Silver, not Pataki, not Bruno knows. I expect you to kick me out of office when I don't give you results, and I expect you to kick me out of office when I don't want to hold accountable. I expect you to be part of my team, because I can't do it by myself. I tell people free coffee, free tea, but you have to wash your own cups.
BRIAN KAVANAGH: I think that your interest tonight, and the interest of so many people I've seen campaigning for months now, really needs to be met by a commitment on the part of the people who want to represent you. A commitment to really think about how we can change the system, and not just move along with the status quo. And you have a real choice tonight in this race with three candidates who are offering you competing visions, and competing experiences - those criteria we talked of earlier.
What I offer you is my commitment to change things, my experience, and my independence of the Albany system. So many of us work so hard at each election to elect Democratic candidates, but we don't always get that kind of Democratic values represented in our government. We don't always get the kind of independence of our elected officials to actually represent us, rather than representing the special interests. To work with us here in the community and on our needs, rather than working within the Albany system under Albany's rules. I'm committed to changing that, I've been working very hard to get that message out to you and many others. I ask for your support tonight, because I believe that if we work together, we can change the system, and make Albany a better place, more responsive place to our needs. And that will benefit all of us individually, and our community collectively.
SYLVIA FRIEDMAN: There's one issue that we haven't mentioned at all, and it's a very important issue to many of us: health care. I was a supporter and a co-sponsor of a bill called Fair Share for Health Care; requiring companies with over 100 employees provide a certain amount of money for health care for their employees. It's urgent that we start providing health care for all New Yorkers. Medicare Part D has caused tremendous problems for many people. The first bill I introduced put a cap on the amount of co-payments those who are dual eligible for Medicaid and Medicare would have to pay for their prescriptions. Those people originally paid zero or $2 co-pay, were all forced into Medicare Part D. Their co-payments went up to $25 or $30 for each prescription. My bill capped that at $200 a year, with Medicaid picking up the rest. I'm very, very proud that that bill passed Assembly without a single dissenting vote. And members of the Senate are excited enough about that bill that we expect to get it thought the Senate in the coming term.
Timothy's Law was named after a child of twelve who had mental illness, and was unable to get the health insurance to provide the medical care he needed. At the age of twelve, he committed suicide. Timothy's Law requires insurance companies that pay for physical illness, also pay for mental illness. The bill, which I voted for, passed the Assembly, and now must come to an agreement with the Senate. We'll go back into special session to turn it into law.
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Every two weeks the New York City Council meets for its Stated Meeting to introduce and pass legislation. As a regular feature, Gotham Gazette covers these meetings and posts a summary of the bills passed.
The City Council responded to several recent deaths at nightlife establishments at its latest stated meeting by passing a law that would tighten enforcement on unlicensed security guards.
The unanimously-passed "Bouncer Control Act" (Intro 366-A) will make it a violation of the city's public nuisance law to hire a bouncer or security guard who lacks a state license. This is already illegal, but to date, only the State Liquor Authority has had the power to enforce these regulations. The authority has been criticized for not following through, and some also think it lacks the personnel to police the city's thousands of nightlife establishments effectively. The issue was brought into the spotlight when 24-year old Imette St. Guillen was raped and murdered after leaving the Falls, a bar in lower Manhattan. The bar's bouncer has been indicted for the crime.
By making it against the law of the city to violate the state's law, the city has given itself the power of enforcement, as well.
This law "is one piece of what is eventually going to be a larger … package of legislation designed to really make our nightlife establishments safe," said Council Speaker Christine Quinn, its primary sponsor. She has proposed several other bills that would require bars and nightclubs to use ID verification scanners and security cameras at their entrances, and further pursue businesses that hire unlicensed bouncers.
BANKRUPTCY AND CREDIT COUNSELING
The council also sought to address an issue arising from recent changes to federal bankruptcy law. The federal government now requires people declaring bankruptcy first to meet with credit counselors accredited by the federal government. If someone applies for bankruptcy without seeking counseling – or if their counseling comes from someone who isn't approved by the federal government – they are not allowed to reapply for one year.
The council unanimously passed a law (Intro 290-A) that would require unaccredited counselors to tell their clients. Councilmember James Gennaro, the bill's primary sponsor, said that the bill will not only keep people from violating the bankruptcy law, but will also serve as a quality control measure, warning people about "charlatans" looking to capitalize on their financial troubles.
"[People declaring bankruptcy] are desperate," he said. "They want to get out of their dire financial straits, maybe they have a little bit of equity in their home or whatever, and these unscrupulous entities are out there to try to extract whatever little bit of equity you have."
REZONING IN QUEENS
The council rezoned two areas of Western Queens. One is a 130-block area of Maspeth and Woodside, and marks the first time that inclusionary zoning will be used to develop low and moderate income housing in the borough. The zoning will allow developers to construct larger buildings if they agree to make 20 percent of the apartments affordable for a family of four making about $54,000 a year.
The council also cleared the way for the redevelopment of the Silvercup Studios on the Long Island City waterfront. The $1 billion project includes 3 million square feet of movie studios, retail, and residential development. The developer has agreed to include 150 low to moderate-income apartments. The project's backers say that it will create 4,000 permanent jobs. The tax credits created for the film industry last year, they add, are a major reason that the project is able to go forward.
Both zoning changes passed by votes of 49 to 0.
HELP AMERICA VOTE ACT
The council moved through its business with little debate or discussion. The one break in an otherwise quiet day came from a large group of onlookers seated in the balcony. They were there to show support for a resolution the council was voting on (Res 228-A) urging the Board of Elections to take various actions while implementing the Help America Vote Act. The group burst into loud, whooping applause whenever the resolution was mentioned, stopping only after being repeatedly reprimanded by the public advocate, the council speaker, and a frustrated-looking security guard.
The resolution recommends that the Board of Elections hold public hearings in each borough, analyze the costs required to implement electronic voting, hold mock elections to test the accuracy of vote counts, and make sure that protections against hacking are in place. It passed unanimously.
"There will be no hanky panky with regards to the voting machines in New York City," said Robert Jackson, the resolution's primary sponsor. "That's the bottom line."
The next Stated Meeting is scheduled for September 13, 2006. Â
At its most recent meeting on July 19, 2006, the New York City Council introduced 13 new bills, including legislation aimed at identifying potential historic landmarks, monitoring educational programs for the disabled, and gaining a more accurate count of the number of homeless people living on city streets.
PRESERVING LOCAL LANDMARKS
The rich history of New York can be chronicled through the various landmarks that have been preserved throughout the city. But with city's real estate boom and developers looking for places to build and structures to renovate, historic spaces are constantly at risk. In response to the growing development pressures in the city, Councilmembers Tony Avella and Jessica Lappin introduced new bills aimed at improving the preservation process.
Intro 393 would require the City Council to publish a semi-annual list of potential landmarks. The list would be forwarded to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, which would be required to hold a public hearing on a proposed sites within 60 days and on a proposed historic district within 90 days.
According to Councilmember Avella the bill would "mandate that there is a fair public hearing for all proposed landmarks."
However, the council does not have the full authority to dictate such changes in policy at the Landmarks Preservation Commission, and even if the bill passes, it would require a change in the city's charter and would have to be approved by voters in a referendum in the next general election.
With a similar aim in mind, Councilmember Jessica Lappin introduced a bill, Intro 400, which seeks to establish a survey division within the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Researchers would seek out potential historic sites and make recommendations to the commission about future landmark designations.
CARE FOR THE DISABLED
In 2005, New York State passed legislation requiring the Department of Education to monitor the quality of care provided at out-of-state facilities where some of New York City's developmentally disabled residents receive specialized services. It was named "Billy's Law" after Brooklyn resident Billy Albanese, who suffered numerous injuries while attending Bancroft Neurohealth Facility in New Jersey from 1992 to 1997.
While the law ensures that the Department of Education keeps meticulous records of their findings, this information is difficult for parents to obtain.
Intro 396 would require that the Department of Education's findings be easily accessible and reported to the City Council. The City Council would hold public hearings on the issue to enable parents to gain a better understanding of the quality of care that their children are receiving.
STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT
Councilmember David Yassky introduced Intro 405, which would provide grants for student loan repayment for city workers who have earned graduate degrees.
In order to qualify for the loan repayment program, an applicant must have earned a graduate degree from an accredited university, maintained at least a "B" average, worked full-time for the city for at least three years, and continue to work full-time for the city for at least two years after receiving assistance. The amounts of the grants are subject to the discretion of the Commissioner of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services.
This legislation would extend the available grants to government employees who have already received their graduate degree; the program is currently only available to employees actively pursuing degrees.
TRAFFIC SAFETY
With more than 200,000 motor vehicle accidents in New York each year, Republican Councilmembers Andrew Lanza and Dennis Gallagher introduced two bills aimed at making the city streets safer for drivers and pedestrians.
Intro 394 would prohibit any commercial motor vehicle from parking within fifteen feet of a corner. Under current law, commercial vehicles are allowed to park near corners for up to three hours.
"Drivers approaching intersections with obstructed views are forced to play Russian roulette with oncoming traffic," said Councilmember Gallagher.
Exceptions would be made for vehicles carrying a handicap person and for emergency and law enforcement vehicles.
Intro 399 calls for the installation of a stop sign or traffic light at every intersection surrounding city schools.
"School children are our most vulnerable pedestrians and we have an obligation to keep them safe," said Councilmember Lanza.
COUNTING THE HOMELESS
In 2003, Mayor Michael Bloomberg instituted an annual survey of homeless adults living on city streets. However, some council members have criticized the survey because it takes place in the winter months when many homeless people seek shelter.
Speaker Christine Quinn and Councilmember Bill de Blasio have drafted a bill (Intro 392) which would require that the survey be conducted in the spring or fall.
"We don't want to underestimate the extent of the problem," said Councilmember Bill de Blasio.
The bill also calls for a breakdown of the homeless population by borough and City Council district. Currently, the survey does not happen across the entire city, but focuses on Manhattan and certain sections of the other boroughs.
50 NOISIEST BUSINESSES
According to a recent survey, noise is the number one complaint of New Yorkers. Councilmember Vincent Gentile wants to keep a detailed record of the city's noisiest bars and nightclubs.
Intro 397 would create a monthly report of the 50 establishments with the most noise complaints, as recorded by the 311 information line. The report would be submitted to the City Council Speaker each month.
Although there are no enforcement measures attached to the bill, lawmakers argue it would give them a better idea of who is consistently failing to comply with current noise regulations.
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