4 JANUARY 4, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Former Councilwoman Crowley refl ects on past and looks toward future
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
Many New Yorkers have time
off from work during the
week between Christmas
and New Year’s Day, but inside the
outgoing Councilwoman Elizabeth
Crowley’s offi ce overlooking the Shops
at Atlas Park in Glendale, the staff was
busy closing down for good.
Aft er Crowley’s nine years of service
for the 30th Council District, she
lost the 2017 election by the narrowest
of margins. Her successor, Councilman
elect Robert Holden, won by
just 137 votes, the end of a bitter and
grueling campaign.
Looking back, however, Crowley
said there’s nothing she would have
done diff erently.
“I’m proud of the race I ran, I’m proud
of the work I did as a Council member,
and I ran with those accomplishments,”
Crowley told QNS. “When you look at
the district, you never know what’s
going to happen in the November
election. It wasn’t surprising, but it
was disappointing.”
Crowley’s term was historic for her
presence, if not her achievements.
When she was elected in 2008, Crowley
was the fi rst woman and the fi rst
Democrat to be elected to represent
District 30. She championed education,
transportation and criminal justice
reform, and as Fire and Criminal Justice
Committee chairperson, worked
to eff ect change not only in the district
but also across the city.
Within District 30, Crowley said
she is most proud of her work for the
local schools. Overcrowding was a big
problem in the school district when
Crowley took offi ce, and when all the
construction projects that she started
are complete she will have added nearly
6,000 seats, she said.
Crowley was also able to allocate
$2.2 million in capital funding to 21
local schools through her “You Decide:
Education Engagement Budgeting”
program. This gave each school
$100,000 and the ability to vote on how
it should be spent at the school. Some
examples of how the funding was
used include gym upgrades, laptop
and smart board purchases and playground
equipment.
Her proudest achievement, however,
was fi ghting former Mayor Michael
Bloomberg’s eff orts to close fi rehouses
amid budget cuts during and aft er the
Great Recession.
“I just thought that was the wrong area
to take from,” Crowley said, and one
of her fi rst actions as a member of the
Council was to help save 20 fi rehouses
that were on the chopping block.
Much of Crowley’s success depended
on her ability to collaborate with
other members of the Council and
other branches of city government.
She said she’s always been “independent
of” the mayor, but current
Mayor Bill de Blasio played a role in
preserving those fi rehouses and supported
Crowley’s eff orts to expand law
enforcement.
When asked about how she thinks
Holden will be able to coexist with de
Blasio, Crowley expressed hope that
the two would make it work.
“Being an elected offi cial, regardless
of whatever party you belong to, you
need to be able to work with others to
build consensus and to be a leader,”
Crowley said. “I do very much hope
that my successor will rise to the occasion
and move the district forward.”
As Crowley moves on, she plans to
remain engaged with causes that she’s
passionate about. The fi rst thing on her
mind is the “21 in 21 Initiative,” a nonprofi
t that she launched in partnership
with outgoing Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito.
The goal of “21 in 21” is to increase
the number of elected women in City
Council to 21 by the year 2021. There are
a total of 51 seats in the Council, and aft er
Crowley and Mark-Viverito leave there
will be just 11 women on the Council.
“It will be a better city, a fairer city,
more just, if we have gender balance
in the Council,” Crowley said.
She also plans to continue working
on her proposed QNS Rail project as a
solution to the transportation desert
in Queens. The plan calls for the addition
of commuter service to the Lower
Montauk branch of the Long Island
Rail Road, which runs from Jamaica
through Maspeth and over to Long
Island City. The results of an AECOM
study to measure the eff ectiveness
of the proposed rail system will be
released soon, Crowley said.
As for another political campaign,
Crowley said she won’t think about
that for a while.
“It has been a privilege to serve as a
Council member,” Crowley said. “I’m
not going to rule it out, to run for
offi ce in the future, but I’m certainly
not planning on running for anything
now. I’m exhaling a little bit.”
Thursday, January 11, 8PM
68-20 Myrtle Avenue, Glendale
Photo via elizabethcrowley.com
Elizabeth Crowley ended her nine years in the City Council on Dec. 31.
