WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES MARCH 10, 2022 7
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O’Leary launches campaign for western Queens Assembly seat
BY BILL PARRY
BPARRY@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
Western Queens community organizer
Brent O’Leary has joined the race to
replace Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan,
who decided last month to retire at the end of her
term after 38 years in Albany.
Running on a “commonsense platform” of universal
healthcare and education reform, clean and
safe streets, and economic equity, O’Leary wants
to ensure every family in District 37 has the tools
and resources they need to empower themselves
and their families. With overdevelopment prevalent
in the district, O’Leary is advocating for better
infrastructure, more school seats, tenants’ rights
and green space.
“I started in grassroots politics because I believe
that the government can be responsive to the
people, and a tool to help,” O’Leary said. “Political
service should be no different from community
service. As your political representative, I will
always put the community first, and I’ll fight for
you like I have my entire career.”
O’Leary’s family settled in Sunnyside in the
1930s and he has a long history of community
service. He has served as president of the Hunters
Point Civic Association and had major roles in
the LIC and Woodside/Sunnyside COVID-19 relief
groups. He has also been board president of Woodside
on the Move, as well as a member of the Boys
& Girls Club of Sunnyside, Sunnyside Kiwanis and
Long Island City Lions Club. He is also active in
assisting food pantries across western Queens.
“I am an FDR Democrat. I believe in a strong
social safety net and providing people with the
tools of education and quality jobs so that they
can provide for their families and follow their
dreams,” O’Leary said. “I am running because in
these difficult times we need leadership that is
capable, committed and caring. With my skills
as a top international lawyer based in business,
finance and negotiations, I have the skills to bring
the resources we need to empower and protect
our families. My 15 years of community service
have shown my commitment and caring, from
establishing and providing for food pantries, to
after-school programs, to working with formerly
incarcerated women to provide them with new
opportunities.”
The field for Nolan’s seat is up to five Democrats,
with Sunnyside attorney Johanna Carmona, LIC
businessman Vlad Pavyluk, Sunnyside lawyer
Jim Magee and Maspeth community activist Juan
Ardila, who was endorsed by the Working Families
Party. Ardila was already endorsed by state
Senator Jessica Ramos, Assemblywoman Catalina
Cruz and former Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito.
The Democratic primary will be held on
Tuesday, June 28.
BY BILL PARRY
BPARRY@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
Nearly 900 applications from a diverse
group of civic-minded individuals
seeking appointment
to one of the borough’s 14 community
boards have been received this year,
Queens Borough President Donovan
Richards announced last week.
It is the second most applications
received in the offi ce’s history, following
2021’s community board application
process which saw a record-breaking
941 applications submitted.
The enthusiasm in the application
process builds on reforms the offi ce
implemented last April in an eff ort to
make community boards better represent
the diverse neighborhoods they
represent.
“Government must not only work
hand-in-hand with the communities
it serves in order to be impactful, it
must also be justly representative of
those very communities,” Richards
said. “Aft er yet another successful application
process, I believe we’re wellpositioned
to build on the progress we
made last year to diversify Queens’ 14
community boards and create a fairer,
stronger borough for all our families. I
am deeply grateful to all 884 individuals
who stepped up and applied to serve
their communities, and I look forward
to working with all of them to carry
Queens into the future.”
This year’s 884 applicants include
610 people who are not currently members
of a community board — just shy
of last year’s 698 new applicants, but
more than double the number of new
applicants during the 2020 community
board application process — while 274
individuals applied for reappointment
to a community board.
The borough president’s offi ce began
receiving applications in early January
for two-year terms of community board
service, which will begin on Friday,
April 1. As part of Richards’ eff orts to
make the application process more accessible
as well as safer amid the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic, applications
were once again simplifi ed to a digitized
and simplifi ed format, one of the
reforms put in place last year. In prior
years, applications had to be prepared
on paper and be notarized before they
were turned in at Borough Hall.
The simplifi ed process led to a signifi -
cantly more diverse pool of applicants
in 2021 than in years before, which
enabled Richards to select 110 community
board members who were diverse
in terms of gender identity, age, race,
sexual orientation, economic status and
immigration status.
“Queens has never been closer to community
board representation that is truly
refl ective of our borough’s diversity
than it is today,” Richards said aft er the
appointment last April. “Democracy is
at its strongest when the voices of all the
people it serves are elevated, a principle
we are proud to strive toward with this
new class of appointees.”
Borough Hall received more than 1,800 community board applications
during the Richards administration’s fi rst two years. QNS fi le photo
Brent O’Leary
Queens Borough Hall receives nearly 900 community board applications
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