Community News
CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATE
Brent O’Leary LANDS FIRST ENDORSEMENT FOR 2021 CAMPAIGN
BY BILL PARRY
Election Day 2021 may
be nearly three years
away but that did not
stop a progressive
grassroots organiza-tion
from endorsing a
candidate for City Council.
LIC Coalition voted unanimously
on Nov. 25 to support civic leader
Brent O’Leary’s candidacy in Council
District 26, currently represented by
Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, who
is term-limited.
“Brent has taken the time to get to
know us, to know the issues, and to
hear our ideas,” LIC Coalition Found-ing
Member Melissa Bieri said. “He
shares our concerns about schools,
infrastructure, and the need for cam-paign
finance reform. His positions
are strong and his politics inclusive.
There is no truer advocate, no better
friend, no better candidate to rep-resent
Long Island City than Brent
O’Leary.”
District 26 also covers Sunnyside,
Woodside, Blissville and parts of As-toria.
O’Leary, the president of the Hunt-ers
Point Civic Association, said he
was proud to have the support of the
LIC Coalition calling it one of the most
progressive advocacy organizations in
New York City.
“Since their inception two years
ago, the LIC Coalition and I have
been on the front lines together,
from fighting against reckless de-velopment
26 DECEMBER 2018 I LIC COURIER I www.qns.com
in the district, to fighting
for progressive policies that tackle
quality of life issues, housing justice,
income inequality, and campaigning to
elect true blue Democrats to the New
York State Senate, effectively ending
the IDC,” O’Leary said. “I promise to
continue working with them and the
community on issues of affordability,
resiliency, and improving infrastruc-ture
in our neighborhood so that our
city can adequately provide more
schools, green spaces, and mass
transportation that is essential to
this community.”
The LIC Coalition formed when
Long Island City residents organized
to take part in the Women’s March on
Washington, D.C., following the elec-tion
of Donald Trump. The group rose
in the public spotlight last March when
it organized a protest against the city’s
plan to sell two city-owned parcels of
land to developer TF Cornerstone.
“Brent has been with us testifying
before our community board, speaking
out at public hearings, and present-ing
our case in our meetings with the
Mayor’s office,” LIC Coalition’s state-ment
said. “He has stood with us in the
cold at rallies opposing the transfer
of public land to private developers,
and on the steps of City Hall to protest
irresponsible development policies. He
is in the forefront of our oppositions
of the sell out to Amazon.”
In November, the LIC Coalition and
O’Leary condemned the Amazon deal
that will put its HQ2 campus on the
same land surrounding Anable Basin.
/www.qns.com
