Bayside resident launches City Council run
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.30 COM | OCT. 23-OCT. 29, 2020
immigrant communities
access federal service
programs.
Shafran went on to
serve as communications
director for NYC
Council Finance Chair
David Weprin, where he
helped oversee millions
of dollars in communitybased
grants for northeast
Queens groups;
expanded services for seniors,
students and small
businesses; and helped
draft legislation to reign
in overdevelopment and
reform the city’s unfair
property tax system.
“We are facing unprecedented
challenges
due to COVID and the
collateral damage which
has affected our economy,
schools, businesses, seniors
and every aspect of
our daily lives,” Shafran
said. “From issues with
schools and parks that
I’ve gone through with
my own son to protecting
our most vulnerable
seniors as the son of two
elderly parents at heightened
risk for COVID, the
recovery of our communities
is a very personal
fight for me.”
He said that new leadership
was crucial for
this moment.
“The approach I would
take to help climb out of
this crisis is grounded in
a neighborhood-driven
ideology with the experiences
that my family
and others like ours have
faced as the true north
guiding my moral compass,”
he said. “This is
a critical moment that I
believe cries out for fresh
leadership, new ideas and
the ability to not only
think outside the box but
to reshape it to better fit
the unique needs of our
neighborhoods.”
Shafran continued his
career in government service
working as a senior
official for the NYS Senate
Democrats and deputy Ccmmissioner
for Governor
Andrew Cuomo, where
he led successful legislative
campaigns that have
helped New York become
a national leader in social,
economic justice and
worker protections.
He moved into the private
sector as president
of Metropolitan Public
Strategies for the past seven
years, during which he
ran grassroots advocacy
campaigns including successful
efforts to make
New York the first state
to enact a $15 minimum
wage, zoning changes to
expand affordable and
senior housing stock, the
passage of the country’s
most comprehensive paid
family leave and universal
pre-K programs, and
important criminal justice
reforms to prevent
the wrongful conviction
and incarceration of innocent
individuals.
“The more involved I
became in city and state
policy, the more I realized
I knew more than I did
when I first ran in 2013,”
Shafran said. “I think
that will make me a better
candidate and a better
councilman to help our
young families recover.”
Among the policies
Shafran supports is a 2
percent property tax cap
for one- and two-family
homes, with a circuit
breaker adjusted for income.
He said he will push
for citywide property tax
assessment reforms and
commercial rent reforms
as well as a sales tax holiday
for small businesses
and a zero-interest loan
bridge payments to all
eligible workers who lost
their jobs or seen reduced
salaries and work hours
due to the pandemic. He
will also push for universal
daycare and early
childhood education expansion.
“I would propose to
pay for this massive expansion
with legislation
to mandate stop-arm cameras
on every school bus
that would record, identify
and fine motorists
that illegally pass stopped
school buses,” Shafran
said. “This would both
protect our children from
grave danger and generate
over $100 million a
year in revenue that could
be used for education programs
and series.”
He would also support
a citywide special permit
requirement for all new
hotel development to take
away “as of right” development
rights they have
now and ensure those in
the community have a
greater role in development
that defines it.
BY BILL PARRY
Lifelong Bayside resident
Austin Shafran, who
finished a close second to
Paul Vallone in the 2013
Democratic primary for
Council District 19, has
launched his campaign
to replace Vallone, who is
term-limited out in 2021.
Shafran, a political
consultant with vast experience
in government who
came within 200 votes in
what was called one of the
closest races during that
political cycle, believes he
is more prepared to represent
the neighborhoods
of northeast Queens as it
recovers from the coronavirus
shutdown.
“Seeing the fear, frustration
and pain that
COVID has brought to the
community that raised
me, where I am now raising
my family, moved me
deeply and I want to do
anything I can to help
everyone I can,” Shafran
said. “The lack of leadership
coming out of City
Hall is appallingly negligent.
I will fight to ensure
our district gets the full
share and fair deal that
we deserve to come out of
this crisis stronger, safer
and better than we went
into it.”
After attending P.S.
169, I.S. 25 and St. Francis
Prep High School,
Shafran went on to graduate
Magna Cum Laude
from Queens College.
Having grown up in a
household of local government
workers, he started
his career as a community
liaison to former
Congressman Gary Ackerman,
where he helped
seniors, the disabled and
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