‘16ELECTION GUIDE One last candidates’ night forum at Bayside church BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI smonteverdi@qns.com @smont76 With two weeks to go before Election Day, Bayside residents heard candidates discuss the issues and stump for votes at a candidates forum on Tuesday night. The Bayside Hills Civic Association (BHCA) hosted the event on Oct. 25 at the Colonial Church of Bayside, and candidates for the 6th Congressional District, Assembly District 25 and the 11th and 16th Senate Districts participated. First up was the Republican candidate for the 16th Senate District seat, Carlos Giron, a public relations and marketing consultant who is challenging incumbent state Senator Toby Ann Stavisky. He was asked for his thoughts on using public park land to build a Major League Soccer stadium in Queens. “The community certainly has a legitimate interest in obtaining as much public land as available so the community can go on and enjoy the space,” Giron began. “But on the other hand, having professional teams in Queens can have the potential of bringing in and generating employment, and generating business opportunities for local business, and improving the quality of life.” Usman Ali Chohan, lifelong Fresh Meadows resident and student at St. John’s University, is running against incumbent Assemblywoman Nily Rozic for Assembly District 25 seat. Chohan was asked for his position “on allowing the deBlasio administration to continue to put homeless people in residential neighborhoods in Queens.” “I oppose Mr. deBlasio’s plan for homelessness in eastern Queens,” Chohan said. He was asked a follow-up question about what concrete actions he would take in response if elected. “What I can think of is to try to pressure city council and other state assembly members to try to block any attempts of trying to use Mr. deBlasio’s power to continue his policies,” Chohan said. The same question was posed to Assemblywoman Rozic. “I have told the city administration that I oppose any sort of deal to make those newly built Fresh Meadows hotels a homeless shelter,” Rozic said. “Having said that, families do need a place to stay.” “We need to make sure that our city and state and federal government are doing everything that they can to give families opportunities, jobs, so that they don’t actually have to rely on homeless Congresswoman Grace Meng discussing immigration reform at BHCA’s candidate’s night shelters,” she closed. Mark Cipolla, a former prosecutor running against incumbent candidate Tony Avella in the 11th Senate District, chose to address the homeless shelter situation, as well. Cipolla pointed out that his opponent serves as Chair of the Children and Families Committee and Chair of the Task Force on the Delivery of Social Services in New York City. “How did he use that power; how did he use that influence; how did he use that leverage that he should have had in order to properly and effectively protect the citizens of the district?” Cipolla asked attendees. The topic turned to immigration with 6th Congressional District candidates Photo by Suzanne Monteverdi/QNS Danniel Maio, coowner of a map company and former fashion industry data manufacturer, and incumbent Congresswoman Grace Meng. Maio was asked if he favors strengthening America’s borders. “The border is a very physical understanding of limiting the people crossing it illegally — and that’s what we’re focusing on,” Maio said. “We certainly have good technology to try and make our border more secure...and I’m sure we could strengthen it much more cost-effectively.” Meng was asked if she was in favor of admitting refugees from war-torn areas of the world into our country. “I think that the United States has admitted about 10,000 refugees so far,” Meng said. “The refugee admission process is actually one of the more stringent ways that immigrants come into the United States.” “What really need to be cleaned up is the rest of immigration,” she continued. “I think we need to do a better job at making sure that the people that we are deporting are the worst offenders in terms of crimes.” Both Avella and Stavisky were invited to the forum but were not present. The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 8. Special election night coverage on Queens Public TV BY ALEXIS RAMOS editorial@qns.com/@QNS Getting the results of local races on Election Night is as simple as tuning in to Queens Public Television (QPTV). The public access network reaching more than a half-million subscribers across Queens will air a special evening of live coverage on Tuesday, Nov. 8, from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. QPTV hosts include Renee Mehrra, Cliff Jacobs, and Gail Lewis, and guests include Victoria Schneps, publisher of QNS, The Queens Courier, The Courier Sun and Ridgewood Times. Residents are encouraged to participate during the live coverage to talk about their opinions, thoughts and concerns regarding the presidential race. Queens residents can also join in-studio in Flushing for the event that could potentially make history. The QPTV is offered on Charter S p e c t r u m Channels 34 and 1995, RCN channel 82, and Verizon Fios channel 34. QPTV is a not-for-profit private corporation serving the residents of Queens. They cast the most diverse programming to the most diverse community in the world reaching over 500,000 subscribers.
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