MASPETH NATIVE JUAN ARDILA VIES
FOR DISTRICT 30 CITY COUNCIL SEAT
Photo courtesy of Juan Ardila Campaign
TIMESLEDGER | 10 QNS.COM | OCT. 2-OCT. 8, 2020
Ardila believes the city should invest
more in teachers and students. He wants
to see the way the city funds schools
drastically change, not only by investing
more in public schools, but also by making
the system more equitable for lowincome
communities.
“We have a lot of overcrowding
throughout the district,” he said. “Students
learn so much more when they’re
provided more individualized attention.
Also, we’re in Queens, the most diverse
place in the world, and I want our classrooms
to genuinely reflect that.”
He also wants to see more investment
in after school and summer programming,
as well as more support staff for
teachers and students, such as nurses
and counselors, rather than more inschool
police officers.
When it comes to District 30 — which
encompasses the neighborhoods of
Ridgewood, Glendale, Maspeth, Middle
Village, Woodhaven and Woodside —
Ardila sees housing, particularly affordable
housing, as a main issue.
“If there’s one thing that all the cities
that have implemented affordable housing
and reduced their homeless population
have in common, is that they view
homeownership not as a speculative
investment, but as a human right,” Ardila
said. “And I think that’s where New
York City fails, we view it as an investment.”
Ardila believes the city should prioritize
new housing for seniors and lowincome
families, and push an austerity
budget by taxing billionaires.
With Ridgewood being eyed as prime
location for development, which some
residents say is leading to gentrification
and displacement of low-income communities,
and Glendale sought out by the
city for an embattled homeless shelter,
Ardila has a nuanced perspective on
some of the main worries of the district’s
residents.
Ardila attended the march and sleepout
in Ridgewood, accompanied by his
mother, which was organized to send a
message to Gov. Andrew Cuomo about
what could happen if policy isn’t enacted
to directly prevent families from eviction
after losing their jobs and income
due to COVID-19.
“There shouldn’t be any evictions,
people are still not really working, we
shouldn’t have to be paying our rent,”
Ardila said at the sleep-out. “It’s all
tied into the homeless crisis and racial
justice issues.”
Juan Ardila at the evictions march
and sleep-out in Ridgewood. (Angélica
Acevedo/QNS)
However, he doesn’t see the benefit of
the city installing the homeless shelter
on Cooper Avenue.
“You want to support homeless people,
you want to set them up for success,
so they have access to affordable housing
and social services that they need
so they can get back on their feet,” he
said. “I’m not sure how placing people in
a transit desert mitigates poverty and
addresses root causes of poverty. It’s just
not setting up anyone for success here.”
Ardila is encouraged by the support
he’s received in the community so far. In
his first campaign finance filing period
in July, he was able to raise more than
$20,000 with a little over 300 individual
contributors and an average donation of
$70.
“We actually had one of the most
grassroots campaigns in terms of finances,”
he said. “This was all from just doing
volunteer work and supporting people. I
am actually a bit shocked at how much
traction it’s gotten.”
Ardila is the first Latino to run for
City Council in the district, according to
his campaign.
“Spanish was my first language at
home, and to be able to represent the
community, bring new ideas, a new dynamic,
un poquito de sabor también a
bit of flavor too is very special,” he said.
His goal is to represent the district
as a whole — which is 57 percent white,
30 percent Latin, 8 percent Asian and
nearly 2 percent Black — as well as the
growing LGBTQ+ community.
“I believe in collective leadership,
where it’s interdependent and you empower
others,” Ardila said. “One where
you bridge ideas together, and you establish
relationships to ensure that public
service and public programming can actually
come to fruition and actually set
people up for success.”
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
Maspeth native and public servant
Juan Ardila is vying to represent District
30 in the City Council as a Democratic
candidate, with affordable housing
for all, public transportation access
and investment on more education as
some of his main policy points.
The office is currently held by Robert
Holden, who’s amassed a loyal following
within the district’s conservative
families — but Ardila says he’s equipped
to appeal to the diverse needs of the
district’s constituents.
“Each neighborhood has its own
unique issues that really have not been
addressed,” Ardila said.
The 26-year-old is a first-generation
American, with a Colombian father and
a Honduran-Cuban mother. Born in
Elmhurst and raised in Maspeth, Ardila
describes himself as a “local boy.”
Ardila attended St. Adalbert Catholic
Academy in Elmhurst for elementary
and middle school, then Archbishop Molloy
High School in Briarwood, and later
earned his B.A. in political science from
Fordham University. He then got his
master’s degree in public administration
with a concentration in public policy
analysis from New York University.
Ardila grew up in a working-class,
immigrant household. When he was 17,
he nearly lost his mother to deportation
after she was denied her residency. Just a
few years later, some of his family members
in Honduras faced persecution from
gang violence.
“I’ve never felt more afraid in my
life,” Ardila said, adding that he knew he
needed to go into public work to ensure
other people don’t have to live through
those hardships.
He currently works as a program coordinator
at the Legal Aid Society. Previously,
he worked at the International
Rescue Committee, providing at-risk
communities the services his own family
were denied.
Ardila has also picked up government
experience. He’s worked as the office
manager for Councilman Brad Lander,
who represents Brooklyn’s District 39,
where he learned the policy making process
and how to serve constituents for
two years.
He then worked as a consultant at the
Department of Education (DOE), supporting
the expansion of the widely popular
universal pre-K and 3-K programs,
to ensure the youngest New Yorkers receive
free, high-quality education.
Ardila particularly focused his efforts
on expanding the pre-K Dual Language
programs to promote bilingualism
across the city, and serve the children
and their families who speak languages
other than English at home.
/QNS.COM
