26 THE QUEENS COURIER • PRIMARY GUIDE • SEPTEMBER 7, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
primary guide
Vallone, Graziano go at it in Bayside
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
In Bayside, candidates for City Council,
mayor, public advocate and borough
president took to the pulpit to state their
case for election ahead of the Sept. 12 primary
election.
Organized by the Bay Terrace
Community Alliance, the Aug. 29 candidates
forum at the Bay Terrace Garden
Jewish Center allowed each hopeful time
for an opening statement, question and
answer segment, and closing remarks in
front of dozens of local residents.
In the local race for City Council
District 19, Democratic challenger Paul
Graziano began the night. Th e Flushing
native and urban planning consultant
expressed concerns about overdevelopment
in the neighborhood, educational
standards in the public school system and
environmental issues.
“We have a lot of areas that are at sea
level today in our district that if we don’t
take care of them now, we’re gonna have
trouble in the future,” Graziano said.
When asked for his thoughts on bringing
ferry service to northeast Queens, the
candidate said he is “not a huge fan.” Fort
Totten, he continued, is not ideal because
of its lack of parking, but if the community
expressed a desire to bring the service
to other waterfront neighborhoods, like
College Point, he would explore the idea.
He also proposed working to expand
express bus service in the area.
Graziano was also critical of de Blasio’s
policy on homelessness and common core
education, which he said is “limiting.”
“If I see principals, or I see administrators,
trying to stop teachers from actually
teaching the kids, those are people that
need to go,” he said. “It is critical as the
representative for the district to intervene
and get rid of those folks.”
Incumbent candidate and attorney Paul
Vallone later took the microphone and
spoke of the progress his offi ce has made
over the course of the last four years.
“We put District 19 back on the map,”
Vallone said. “How? By working with
everyone that’s in this audience. By working
with our leaders, our civic groups, our
ethnic groups … Everyone had a seat at
the table.”
Vallone touted the success of local
School Districts 25 and 26, considered to
be the best in the city, and his work with
the 109th Precinct, which recently saw a
33 percent increase in permanent offi cers.
Th e councilman was against recent
proposals for congestion pricing, which
would bring tolls to the free East River
bridges. He also proposed the marina
Photos by Suzanne Monteverdi/QNS
beside Citi Field, which lies outside of the
district, as a viable option for a daily ferry
service. Th e marina, he said, is underutilized
and there is enough parking to facilitate
a park and ride. Fort Totten, he continued,
would not be an ideal place for
daily ferry service.
“We should always look to make possible
transportation alternatives for here
in the district,” Vallone said.
Th e Bay Terrace Community Alliance
event was moderated by board members
Warren Schreiber and Phil Konigsberg.
City Council District 21 Assemblyman Francisco Moya
Aft er Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras-
Copeland announced that she would not
seek re-election in 2017, several candidates
threw their hats in the ring for a
chance to serve the 21st Council District.
One candidate, Assemblyman
Francisco Moya, currently represents
Assembly District 39 and has held the
offi ce since 2009. He is running to represent
Corona, East Elmhurst and parts of
Jackson Heights and Elmhurst.
Moya said he was compelled to run
aft er fi nding out that Hiram Monserrate,
a former Councilman and Senator, was
running to occupy his old seat.
“When we saw who the opponent was
I think a lot of people have come together
to say we really have to stop that kind
of candidate from coming back into public
offi ce,” he said. People are tired of that
violent and corrupt criminal past. Th ey
are going to reject that kind of politics
that has been the cesspool that has turned
people off to politics.”
Monserrate was expelled from the State
Senate in February of 2010 aft er being
convicted on a misdemeanor assault
charge for slashing his girlfriend’s face
with a glass bottle in 2009.
In 2012, Monserrate was sentenced
to two years in jail for misusing about
$100,000 in city funds to pay for his failed
2006 Senate campaign.
Moya argued that his experience as an
Assemblyman will help him navigate the
City Council seat.
“When we look at the scandals that
have plagued public offi ce for far too long
what we have seen is that we need to have
real leadership,” he said. “People who
will lead our communities with a vision
that will represent them with dignity and
integrity and I think for the last seven
years in the Assembly I bring that kind
of leadership — passing landmark legislation
that has been leading the fi ght for
immigrant rights, workers rights, women’s
rights, social justice, criminal justice
reform that we have been fi ght for in the
New York State Assembly.”
Th e largest problem that needs to be
addressed in City Council District 21, he
said, is aff ordable housing.
“Aff ordable housing is really at the top
of the list,” Moya said. “When we see
that people are being priced out of their
homes, the aff ordability housing aspect
not just in Queens but the city is growing
exponentially.”
Th e state Assembly passed a two-year
rent freeze on rent-stabilized apartments
and capped rent hikes on other apartments
to two percent. Th e state also
helped fund 65 senior centers that were
in danger of closing last year.
“We’re going to fi ght to make sure that
it’s not just keeping them open but it’s
funding them so that they have the appropriate
monies to have the right tools and
equipment that they need so that our
seniors are well cared for,” he said.
Moya also added that he is looking
to bring in a dedicated senior center to
LeFrak City, whose seniors have been
bussed into a neighboring center for the
last year. He also spoke about Willets
Point and how the space could bring in
much-needed aff ordable housing and a
market.
“Queens has been a destination now for
quite some time for its tourism,” Moya
said. “What better place to do it then in
the Willets Point area where people from
all over the world can really come and
showcase their goods?”
City Council District 21 also has the
most overcrowded schools in the city and
trailers are oft en used to accommodate
additional students.
“One of the major keystone achievements
that I’ve been able to do is remove
trailers from one of the schools in my area
P.S. 19., he said. “Th ey said it was gonna
be temporary. I don’t think 24 years of
having trailer is temporary. Th at’s kind of
the vision and the fi ght that I have not just
in my district but what I will bring to the
rest of the rest of the 21st Council.”