18 THE QUEENS COURIER • JUNE 10, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Four mayoral candidates talk crime,
education and zoning at virtual forum
BY JULIA MORO
jmoro@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Four New York City mayoral candidates
answered questions Th ursday,
June 3, at a forum focused on crime,
education and zoning in Ridgewood as
they near the June 22 primaries.
Th ree Democratic candidates participated
in the forum: Andrew Yang, a former
2020 presidential candidate; Eric
Adams, the Brooklyn borough president;
and Kathryn Garcia, former New
York City sanitation commissioner. Th e
only Republican candidate in attendance
was Curtis Sliwa, founder of the
Guardian Angels, a group of volunteers
who patrol subways.
Charles Ober of the Ridgewood
Property Owners & Civic Association
Inc. and Kevin Forrestal of the Queens
Civic Congress moderated the forum
over Zoom.
Here are some of the questions the candidates
were asked and their answers.
Some answers have been condensed for
space and length:
What is your plan on day one to
address both street and subway crime,
which has skyrocketed in just fi ve
months by 70 percent? What will you
do with police staff levels that will possibly
aff ect enforcement in a positive
direction, how long will it take you to
turn around this crime wave so we can
feel safe again?
Sliwa: “To get a dedicated property
tax to hire 3,000 additional cops and
train them is going to take a bit of time.
But in the interim, you have to put the
street crime unit back into eff ect. You
have to put the homeless outreach unit
back into the mix because they’re going
to be a danger to themselves and everyone
else.”
Adams: “Th e prerequisite to prosperity
is public safety. We have to zero-in
on gun violence. I’m going to put more
resources in the gun suppression unit,
partner with district attorneys so we can
get a special prosecutor for guns and
gangs. I’m going to move my offi cers
out of clerical duty, put them on patrol
where they should be and make sure
they’re focusing on some of the street
crime and the quality-of-life issues we’re
facing. With the subway system, if we
don’t get our trains safe, we are not
going to have the economic turnaround
that we deserve. We’re going to reinstall
the homeless outreach unit with
the police and partner them with mental
health professionals.”
Yang: “I believe we can see progress
in three to six months. Th e staffi ng level
is one issue. Defunding the police is the
wrong approach for NYC. We need to
get more offi cers, not fewer. You need to
have full-time cops in the subways not
just during rush hour. Offi cers need to
get on the subway and do visual inspections.
We need to increase detectives
both at the precinct level and at the gun
violence suppression division to get the
clearance rate up.”
Garcia: “We have seen an enormous
spike in gun violence. We need to make
sure the gun suppression unit is fully
funded because we have a very low
clearance rate right now. We need to do
gun buybacks. When you think about
street and subway crime, we have seen a
lot of hate crime. We need to see patrol
offi cers, they need to be in our neighborhoods,
meeting with our businesses,
getting to know people, so that they
have a real connection to their communities.
We need not only patrol offi cers
but mental health professionals.”
What changes will you bring to public
schools to make sure all students
are prepared to succeed in the real
world?
Adams: “We have to stop schooling
and start education. We need to do dyslexia
screening in every school so that
we won’t put our children on a pathway
of feeling that they can’t learn and take
on criminal behavior. Number two, we
have to put the right technology in all
our schools. Number three, every child
that needs a tutor, we will make sure
they have a tutor. We’re going to look
at extending school hours and summer
months. We’re going to have one of the
best remote learning opportunities during
the summer months, give our students
structured assignments, so we
don’t have the summer slide that we see
every year. We’re also going to partner
with our companies and corporations
to help craft a curriculum and build out
vocational training.”
Sliwa: “Th ey’re teaching this racist
theory. Critical waste theory — in
which white people have to acknowledge
that they are benefi ciaries of white
privilege, they have to prove to everyone
else that they’re worthy to be in
their company. Th is theory is going
to end because there’s mayoral control.
And I’m going to fl ush out the bureaucrats
at the Department of Education,
the acronym stands for dumbest organization
ever.”
Yang: “We have to get our schools
open, and get our kids back and then we
have to assess just how bad the learning
loss and damage are for many of them.
We have to give our principals a higher
degree of autonomy to do what’s best for
our kids. We also have to stop pretending
that everyone’s going to go to college.
We have to invest very heavily in
year-round employment opportunities,
co-ops and vocational training.”
Garcia: “We have to equally fund our
public schools. We also need to make
sure we screen for dyslexia, so we can
make the approach to their education
what they need so we don’t just pass
them hoping that it works itself out.
Using a reading literacy program that is
designed to help kids read by the time
they are in third grade — if we screw up
that beginning piece, we’re playing catch
up the whole time. Th e model of early
college is very important, where we’re
pushing high school kids to be taking
college-level courses. Bard Early College
needs to expand.”
The overwhelming number of
Queens community boards have voted
against Council Speaker Johnson’s
Planning Together proposal. Th is proposed
legislation calls for up-zoning,
what is your view?
Sliwa: “What does Corey Johnson
know? He lives in Chelsea. Th ey’re all
high risers. Th ere’s no residential housing.
But you go through areas throughout
Queens … there is one-family,
two-family homes, and all the sudden
they want to put a fi ve-story monstrosity
there. No, you keep the residential
fl avor of the neighborhood.”
Adams: “I am a big community board
person. I believe in the local government
and the local input. I do not support
Corey’s proposal.”
Yang: “I’m very sensitive to both sides
of this, where obviously activists and
leaders know your neighborhoods best
and we should be listening to your guidance
on how we should proceed. On the
fl ip side, we all know there’s a massive
aff ordable housing crisis. Th is is going
to be a constant tug-of-war. We need to
try and achieve citywide goals in a way
that’s sensitive to community concerns.
I want to fi nd middle-ground solutions.”
Garcia: “I’ve been resistant to the
speaker’s approach. When we think
about zoning, there are ways to do it
like in my neighborhood. What they did
during the Bloomberg administration
was they down-zoned midblock and upzoned
an avenue. So the neighborhood
retained its character.”
Photos courtesy of candidates’ campaign
(Clockwise from top left) Eric Adams, Kathryn Garcia, Curtis Sliwa and Andrew Yang participated in a
mayoral forum hosted by the Queens Civic Congress on June 3.
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