36 THE QUEENS COURIER • JUNE 29, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
‘Betrayed’ Jackson Heights residents
want answers from Peralta on IDC alliance
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com / @AngelaMatua
Th e Jewish Center of Jackson Heights
was overfl owing with approximately 200
Queens residents on Monday night for
a town hall organized by Citizens of
District 13, who wanted answers from
Senator Jose Peralta, a Democrat who
announced in February that he would
be joining the Independent Democratic
Caucus (IDC).
Th e senator, who represents Jackson
Heights, Elmhurst, East Elmhurst,
Corona and parts of Astoria, told constituents
in February that he would meet
with them again to explain his move to
the IDC. When the senator did not schedule
another town hall, Citizens of District
13 and other grassroots organizations
decided to hold their own and invited
Peralta. Th e senator did not respond to
their invitation, organizers said.
Th e town hall, titled “Where is Peralta?”
featured panelists from a number of organizations
that covered topics such as education
funding, criminal justice reform,
immigrants’ rights and healthcare reform
at the state level.
Attendees also got an overview of the
IDC. Lisa DellAquila from True Blue
NY, a citizen activist group pushing for
progressive legislation in New York,
explained the origins of the eight-member
coalition of “pragmatic progressive
posers” that “empower GOP control of
the State Senate.”
Th ough Democrats make up the majority
of the State Senate — they have 32
members, while Republicans have 31 —
the eight-member coalition and Brooklyn
Democrat Simcha Felder, who is not part
of the IDC but caucuses with Republicans,
puts the number of mainline Democrats
in the State Senate at 23.
Other speakers, including Blanca
Villanueva of Alliance for Quality
Education, Mazeda Uddin of the South
Asian Fund for Education, Erin George of
JustLeadershipUSA, Kenneth Shelton of
Black Lives Matter of Greater New York
District 13 constituents attended a town hall meeting to discuss state policy issues and Senator Jose Peralta’s IDC membership.
and Martha Livingston of Physicians for
a National Health Plan NY, spoke about
how progressive legislation was stalled
due to the IDC.
Bills like the DREAM Act, Child
Victim’s Act, New York Health Act,
Gender Expression Non-Discrimination
Act and the Climate and Community
Protection Act passed in the left -leaning
Assembly but were stalled in the State
Senate.
In addition to speaking about policies
on a statewide level, panelists spoke about
policy issues in District 13.
According to Villanueva, District 13 is
owed $39,231,138 million in Foundation
Aid for public schools. In 2006, the
Campaign for Fiscal Equity, Inc. v State
of New York court ruling found that city
public schools were underfunded and
ruled that Albany pay $5.6 billion in operating
aid or what is called Foundation
Aid. But as of this year, $4.3 billion has
still not been allocated to city schools.
Peralta’s constituents held a rally in
front of his offi ce in March to protest the
IDC’s proposed budget, which included
$906.3 million in Foundation Aid during
the 2017-18 school year. Th e Senate
Democrats’ budget, which did not make
it to the fl oor, supported a “fully phasedin
Foundation Aid Formula over the next
three years” with a $2.1 billion increase
for the 2017-18 school year.
Ultimately, the state budget included
$1 billion in school funding with $700
million of that funding dedicated to
Foundation Aid.
Paula Avila-Guillen, an Astoria resident
in Peralta’s district, said she felt
“betrayed” by the senator when he
announced his move to the IDC.
“I believe that everything the IDC is
doing is sending a very clear message,
also to the federal government about
where they stand,” she said. “As a Latina
and him being a Latino, I just feel very
betrayed about not only the policies that
the IDC represent, but it’s also a symbolic
message. Th ey’re saying they agree
with federal policies, that they agree
with the federal administration and
they’re not willing to take a stand for
what is right.”
She added that constituents now need
to raise money to make sure Peralta is
primaried.
Peralta attended the Ericsson Block
Association Meeting in East Elmhurst
instead of the town hall to talk about
recently passed legislation and “successes
in the state budget.”
“Unfortunately, ‘Citizens for District
13 — a group that my offi ce has never
Photos by Angela Matua/QNS
heard of in the many years of dealing with
community organizations — appears
more focused on furthering a counterproductive
anti-Independent Democratic
Conference agenda than taking any
action that has to do with a healthy and
constructive debate about the future of
this district,” he said in a statement.”
While some seek to politically grandstand
by promoting rallies and town halls, I am
busy protecting immigrant tenants from
heartless landlords, and making sure New
Yorkers are protected from lead paint
chips falling onto the streets and sidewalks
from elevated subway tracks.”
Peralta also listed funding he has
brought to District 13 with the recent
budget like funding for public schools,
legal representation for immigrants and
the recent Excelsior Scholarship that provides
tuition-free state and city college.
“However, and as always, I look forward
to having an ongoing healthy and
constructive debate on all the matters that
we all hold dear to our hearts,” Peralta
added.
Aisha Gomez, a LeFrak City resident
and community organizer who helped
organize the town hall, said she would
have liked to see the senator attend the
meeting and listen to constituents’ concerns.
“We want him to listen to us and take
our concerns seriously and also to get the
majority back in the Senate, but if he
doesn’t want to come back, we are very
ready to primary against him,” she said.
“We voted for a Democrat and he kind
of bamboozled us because if you see he
didn’t run on the IDC platform … and
in a time when we need more unity than
ever in our State Senate we cannot turn a
blind eye to that.”