14 JANUARY 2, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
When Donovan Richards launched his campaign for Queens Borough President at the Unisphere, he had the blessing of Claire Shulman. Now he is
endorsed by the Queens County Democrats. Photo: Max Parrott/QNS
BY BILL PARRY
BPARRY@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
While it is still yet to be determined
when the special election for
Queens borough president will be
held, one thing that is becoming clear
is that the race to replace Queens
District Attorney-elect Melinda Katz
is shaping up to be another battle
between “the establishment” and
the “left-wing progressives” of the
Democratic party.
From the moment Councilman
Donovan Richards announced his
candidacy for Katz’s seat last fall,
with former Borough President
Claire Shulman by his side, Richards
appeared to be the establishment’s
choice.
That became clear Monday when
Congressman Gregory Meeks, the
chairman of the Queens County
Democratic Committee, announced
that Richards was receiving their
endorsement. In accepting, Richards
said, “We want to send an olive
branch to people but they have to
want to work with us.”
Assemblywoman Alicia Hyndman
was the only other candidate for
borough president in the room, and
she promptly announced she would
step out of the race and “stand with
the Party” and support the endorsed
county candidate. Hyndman’s decision
means that the vote would not
be split in southeast Queens.
The Richards endorsement came a
week after Councilman Jimmy Van
Bramer received endorsements from
progressive stars Zephyr Teachout
and Cynthia Nixon.
“From defeating Amazon, to defying
the party bosses, to organizing
to get money out of politics, Jimmy
is the true progressive choice for
Queens borough president,” Teachout
said.
Van Bramer had campaigned
for the public defender from Astoria,
Tiffany Cabán, who ran on
a radical decarceral platform and
nearly upset Katz, who was seen as
the “establishment candidate.” In
the previous election cycle, Van
Bramer supported Alexandria
Ocasio-Costez who upset former
Queens County chairman Joseph
Crowley in the Democratic primary
for Congress. AOC’s victory put
progressive organizations such as
the Working Families Party and the
Democrat Socialists of America as
leaders in the far-left movement in
western Queens.
Van Bramer was among the opposition
to Amazon’s plan to build
its HQ2 campus in Long Island City,
grilling their executives at City
Council hearing.
Richards has made it clear that
running Amazon out of Queens, and
taking their promise of 25,000 goodpaying
jobs, was not in the borough’s
best interests.
If Amazon becomes a flashpoint
between Richards and Van Bramer,
Councilman Costa Constantinides,
the author of the city’s Green New
Deal, could ride the progressive wave
to Borough Hall. Constantinides
became chair of the council’s environmental
protection committee and
has a long history of environmental
activism.
He declared his candidacy in
September with the promise of a
stronger, more equitable and more
resilient Queens in the face of climate
change.
“Queens residents deserve leadership
that ensures they aren’t
displaced by rising tides or rising
rents,” Constantinides said. “Sadly,
seven years after Sandy killed 11 of
our neighbors, destroyed our coastal
communities and eroded our shores,
we are still unprepared for the next
storm.”
Also in the race is former Councilwoman
Elizabeth Crowley and
retired President of the Latino Officers
Association Anthony Miranda.
Crowley has been pushing to have
passenger service return on the
Lower Montauk Branch of the Long
Island Rail Road.
“I don’t think the borough president
was bold enough in her vision
in terms of building our transportation
infrastructure,” Crowley said
at a Forest Hills candidate forum in
November.
Miranda agreed that transportation
had not improved and that Katz
“didn’t do the things that were necessary
to alleviate overcrowding of
our schools.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio must announce
a date for the Queens
borough president special election
within 80 days after Katz leaves Borough
Hall. Insiders expect that date
to fall on Tuesday, March 24, but that
is up to City Hall.
2020 PREVIEW
What to know about the upcoming
Queens Borough President’s race
link
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
