Ex-sanitation worker launches campaign against Gianaris
BY JACOB KAYE
A 20-year veteran of the
city’s sanitation department
kicked off his bid to unseat
Michael Gianaris in the state
Senate last week in Astoria.
On Thursday, Feb. 6, Ignazio
‘Iggy’ Terranova, a former
citywide community affairs
officer for the New York
City Sanitation Department,
hosted friends, family and supporters
at Sweet Spot Sporting
Lounge and Restaurant in Astoria
to officially launch his
campaign to take on Senator
Gianaris in the Democratic
primary for Senate District
12.
“Our current representation
doesn’t care about us,”
Terranova told QNS. “They’re
doing everything they can
to hurt us. They’ve lost jobs.
They’re letting out criminals.
They don’t care about the common,
working man and I’m
tired of that. I’m a working
man, running for the working
man.”
Terranova’s run stems
from his belief that Gianaris,
a nine-year incumbent, has
neglected the needs of the district
and ignored his constituents’
voices in recent years.
Terranova and his supporters
see evidence of this neglect
in Gianaris’ fight against the
deal to bring Amazon’s second
headquarters to Long Island
City, and in the senator’s support
of bail reform.
“Gianaris was the one that
caused the Amazon deal to
break apart and he’s the one
that authored the bail reform
to allow criminals to get out of
jail,” Terranova, 45, said. “He
doesn’t stand up for us anymore
and nobody is immune
to losing in a campaign.”
Terranova was a registered
Republican until 2016, when he
began to feel that the party’s
ideals no longer aligned with
his own. He is currently a registered
Democrat.
“I successfully fought Republicans
and their agenda
over the last several years and
I look forward to doing it again
this campaign,” Gianaris said.
“I am confident my record protecting
our neighborhoods
from further displacement
and fighting for better subways
and delivering justice for
tens of thousands of New Yorkers
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will be recognized by the
voters.”
Despite having voted for
the longtime representative of
northwest Queens and parts
of Ridgewood, Maspeth and
Woodhaven in the past, many
of Terranova’s supporters feel
Gianaris, the deputy majority
leader in the Senate, has abandoned
them.
“I was heartbroken when
I saw Amazon,” said George
Delis, the former Community
Board 1 manager and current
Terranova supporter. “What a
shot in the arm for that whole
area there.”
Delis said that Gianaris’
politics have changed in response
to the progressive
movement in Queens and
across the country, a sentiment
echoed by others at the
campaign launch.
“Gianaris is extreme
left,” Delis said. “The people
he raised money from, the
Greek community, is basically
conservative. And he’s
turned on them because he’s
catering to that left vote. He’s
lost his base. The Greek community
will not support him
again.”
Ted Kouris, a real estate
broker from Astoria, agreed.
“I’m totally against Senator
Gianaris’ views, especially
the way the Amazon deal was
done,” Kouris said. “And especially
the way his ideology
is to the far left. I never knew
that New York all of a sudden
was far left.”
Beyond Amazon and the
progressive movement, Terranova
is running on a platform
centered around supporting
small businesses, protecting
labor unions, and building
and preserving affordable
housing, he says.
But still, Terranova appears
to be having a hard time
putting his years as a sanitation
worker behind him.
“We’ll take out the trash, I
promise you that,” Terranova
said at the end of a speech he
gave at his campaign launch.
“I’m good at taking out the
trash.”
Iggy Terranova officially launched his campaign for State Senate
on Thursday, Feb. 6, in Astoria. Photo: Jacob Kaye/QNS
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