16 times • MARCH 3, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com The race for the Congressional District 7 BY ANTHONY GIUDICE agiudice@ridgewoodtimes.com @A_GiudiceReport As Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez prepares to run for her 13th consecutive term in Congressional District 7, she now faces a newcomer from her own party, Yungman Lee. Lee, a 63-year-old immigrant who came to the United States from Hong Kong, China, at the age of 16, will campaign to become the new leader of District 7, which includes parts of Ridgewood, Glendale, Maspeth, Ozone Park and Woodhaven in Queens, as well as Cypress Hills, Bushwick and several other areas of Brooklyn and parts of Manhattan. Both candidates have extensive financial backgrounds; Velázquez has served her district as the ranking member of the House Small Business Committee and a senior member of the Financial Services Committee, while Lee is the current president and CEO of Global Bank and was appointed first deputy superintendent of the New York State Banking Department by former Governor Mario Cuomo in 1991, a position he held until December 1994. “You acquire expertise based on the committees that you serve,” Velázquez said. “So my two committees are Financial Services — that has to deal with everything pertaining to the financial sector, banking and insurance — and the Small Business Committee.” Velázquez feels her experience in these committees, and the work she did to help restore the economy and auto industry after the recent recession, will propel her to victory. In addition to her work on a national level, Velázquez has been working to get rid of unscrupulous landlords trying to illegally oust long-term residents out of their rent-regulated apartments in Bushwick and Ridgewood. “We’re working with the DA because they are in clear violation,” Velázquez said. “We have a task force between my office and Councilman Antonio Reynoso and it’s really sad that we have to turn our offices into policing all these bad landlords, especially if they are dealing with Section 8 vouchers … but we were able to secure, to fully fund all the Section 8 vouchers during this last budget.” This is Lee’s first time running for public office. “As an immigrant, I have the ability to represent all of the communities in the district,” Lee said. “I have a strong sense of the spirit of service … even as a banker I’m serving the community in a really concrete sense.” Lee wanted all members of District 7 to know, “we will be engaged, we will be present,” he said. “We will be everywhere in every community in the district.” The Congressional primaries will take place on June 28. seat is heating up QUEENS LIBRARY HAS A NEW CEO: Former Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott By Robert Pozarycki rpozarycki@qns.com/@robbpoz Opening a new chapter in its history, the Queens Borough Public Library is tapping former Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott as its new leader. The library’s board of trustees announced late on Feb. 29 that Walcott would become the library’s new president and CEO, taking the helm from Bridget Quinn-Carey, who operated Queens Library on an interim basis since September 2014. Walcott served as the city’s schools chancellor under Mayor Michael Bloomberg from the spring of 2011 through the end of Bloomberg’s tenure at City Hall in 2013. He was previously the deputy mayor for education and community development during the Bloomberg administration. Prior to being named the new Queens Library president, Walcott served as monitor of the East Ramapo School District in Rockland County, overseeing the district’s operations. According to Carl Seldin Koerner, chairman of the Queens Library board of trustees, Walcott is expected to begin his service to Queens Library in the middle of this month, pending the approval of the State Education Department. “We are confident that Dennis Walcott has exactly the right skills and depth of experience to lead the library through the challenging Then-Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott is pictured at a June 2013 meeting in Glendale. years ahead,” said Koerner and Vice Chair Judith Bergtraum, who served as chair of the board’s Search Committee, in a joint statement. “I look forward to working with all the fantastic, creative, dynamic staff and friends and visiting every community library, meeting and listening to their ideas and participating in initiatives that make life better and richer for their neighborhoods,” Walcott said. Walcott, a St. Albans resident, is being looked upon to provide stable leadership at Queens Library, which was the subject of much scandal and upheaval over the last several years. Its former president and CEO, Thomas Galante, was the center of controversy in 2014 over allegations of malfeasance and corruption. When the library’s board of trustees failed to dismiss him, Queens Borough President Melinda Katz and Mayor Bill de Blasio intervened, removing and replacing eight trustees who rebuffed calls for Galante’s ouster. The reconstituted board of trustees suspended Galante in September 2014, then fired him three months later. Galante is suing Queens Library for wrongful termination; the library subsequently filed a countersuit. Katz praised the new Queens Library boss in a statement on Tuesday. “At its core, the Queens Library exists to serve its educational purpose as a community hub of learning, literacy and culture for millions of families,” she said. “I have full RIDGEWOOD TIMES/File photo faith in the direction and future of the library, and look forward to the great things to come under Dennis’ leadership.” Walcott is a product of the public schools system, having attended P.S. 36, I.S. 192 and Francis Lewis High School. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut in 1973. RIDGEWOOD TIMES/Photo by Anthony Giudice Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez Photo courtesy of Yungman Lee Yungman Lee is preparing to challenge Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez for her Congressional District 7 seat.
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