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QUEENS WEEKLY, FEBRUARY 9, 2020
Third candidate fi les to run for Van Bramer’s seat
BY BILL PARRY
A third candidate has emerged
to replace Councilman Jimmy
Van Bramer when he is term-limited
in 2021.
Hailie Kim, 27, an adjunct professor
of English at Hunter College,
filed her paperwork with the
Board of Election last Friday, and
she hopes to represent District 26
which includes Sunnyside, Woodside,
Long Island City and parts
of Astoria.
“My family moved from Seoul,
South Korea, when I was six and
I really loved growing up in this
neighborhood of Sunnyside Gardens,”
Kim said. “As a student at
P.S. 150, I felt I couldn’t get a better
start and I went to high school
in Astoria at the Baccalaureate
School for Global Education. I
have a real passion for education
and as soon as I received my U.S.
citizenship I decided I would run
for office to make the schools in
this district even stronger.”
Kim joins civic leader Brent
O’Leary and Giselle Burgess, the
co-founder of the first Girl Scout
Troop for homeless girls when
she and her children lived in a
Long Island City shelter.
“I think both are incredibly
good candidates and it would be
an honor to run against them,”
Kim said. “Brent and I share
a passion for more funding for
education and doing something
about the escalating rents in
Queens and Giselle Burgess did
an amazing thing and her story
is wonderful.”
Kim believes there is a place
for her in the race because of her
immigrant experience. In fact,
her name would appear on the
ballot as Heajin Kim, her legal
name.
“When I was 12, I got fed up
with my teachers at P.S. 150
mispronouncing my name so
I changed it, which a lot of immigrant
students do,” Kim said.
“But when I was filing to become
a citizen I didn’t want to give up
my name, officially.”
Kim does not own a car and
has suffered with other straphangers
over the years before
service on the 7 subway line
improved.
“There is much that needs to be
fixed at the MTA and in the meantime
I want to stand up for the
Triboro rail line that would connect
the Bronx with Queens and
Brooklyn,” Kim said. “Like Councilman
Costa Constantinides says
all the jobs are no longer just in
Manhattan. Public transportation
that connects the outer borough is
more important than ever.”
Kim said she is interested in
learning more about the BQX
streetcar line that would run
along the Queens and Brooklyn
waterfront connecting Astoria
and Red Hook, Brooklyn.
“It is crucial that there are
connections to employment centers
in Brooklyn and elsewhere
are very important,” Kim said.
“But we must be vigilant about
displacement and gentrification
going forward.”
Also crucial is the lack of affordable
housing in Queens.
“Someone has to go up against
the real estate developers for the
lack of affordable housing,” Kim
said. “I look at rent prices now
and they are simply not accessible.
I remember when Queens
was all about the middle class.
That is no longer the case.”
She agreed with Van Bramer’s
opposition to Amazon building
an HQ2 campus in Long Island
City.
“I understand people who talk
about the 25,000 jobs, but there
were no guarantees that they
would go to local residents and I
didn’t agree with the tax breaks
the state and city were offering,”
Kim said. “In general, I would
say Jimmy Van Bramer accomplished
a lot in improving our
neighborhoods, especially the
number of schools that have been
built in the district as well as the
extensions to existing schools.
But there are things we can do
better.”
Kim believes it’s great to fund
new school construction but it’s
equally important to properly
fund them in the future.
“When I went to Baccalaureate
we had a great teacher that
the school wanted to layoff. We
started a petition to keep him but
in the end the school couldn’t afford
to keep him,” Kim recalled.
“And while we were laying off a
great teacher, the Frank Sinatra
School was getting a huge beautiful
building. It’s nice to build
schools but in the end it’s about
two people. The one being educated
and the one doing the educating.
We have to keep that in mind
when we consider educational
funding.”
Reach reporter Bill Parry by
e-mail at bparry@schnepsmedia.
com or by phone at (718) 260–4538.
Sunnyside’s Hailie Kim filed to run
for Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer’s
seat. Courtesy of Hailie Kim
link