Richards launches campaign for borough president
BY MAX PARROTT
Donovan Richards marched
up to the most prominent symbol
of Queens on Wednesday to
announce his intention to run
the borough.
Richards threw in his bid for
the office of borough president
on Oct. 2 at the Unisphere along
with arranging an endorsement
from former Borough President
Claire Shulman.
Richards touted his record
as a councilman of encouraging
economic recovery among
low-income communities and
farther eastern reaches of the
borough.
“There’s been incredible
growth in our borough. But as
we watch the skyline transform
in front of our eyes each and
everyday, there are too many
of us who are being left behind.
We can and we must do better
for every part of this borough,”
Richards said.
Richards joins Astoria Councilman
Costa Constantinides
and Long Island City Councilman
Jimmy Van Bramer in
pursuing the office, as well as
Assemblywoman Alicia Hyndman,
whose southeastern district
Former Borough President Claire Shulman joins Councilman Donovan Richards during his
announcement. Photo: Max Parrott/QNS
overlaps with his own in
Laurelton and Rosedale.
Richards’ vision included
property tax reforms that would
address racial bias, investment
in the “nonexistent” transportation
infrastructure of eastern
Queens, a more communitydriven
zoning process, an immigration
unit at borough hall
and reforms to the community
board structure.
His speech made the argument
for his know-how based on
his City Council committee appointments.
As a councilman,
Richards first became chair of
the City Council’s Environmental
Protection Committee during
the 2014-2017 session, and
later became the Zoning Committee
chair and chair of the
Public Safety Committee.
“There’s no one in this race
who can talk about bringing a
community back from destruction
after a storm like the historic
Hurricane Sandy, nor the
historic investments for what I
call the forgotten communities
in Queens,” Richards said.
In addition to securing a $2.2
billion investment in Queens
infrastructure improvements
following Sandy, Richards took
credit for ushering in Mandatory
Inclusionary Housing, the
rules requiring affordable housing
in rezoned areas, under his
watch as Zoning Committee
Chair.
“He has the ability. He has
the experience. He has the energy.
And look at what his record
says. His record is nothing short
of a miracle,” Shulman said.
Shulman, who served from
1986 until 2002 as the first woman
to be elected borough president,
rose in municipal government
through her involvement
on community boards. Richards
said that he thinks the community
board system is an important
structure to ensure that
there’s equity in terms of where
the city invests its resources.
Richards added that he believes
the city can engage a more
diverse cross section of the borough
through live broadcasts of
meetings online. Likewise he
criticized what he perceived to
be a top-down approach to the
Amazon LIC development by
city and state officials as a mistake.
The other progressive sticking
point that Richard dismissed
was real estate donations. He
declined to disavow campaign
from developers, saying that he
doesn’t believe that his integrity
would ever be compromised.
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