8 JUNE 10, 2021 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
NYC’s #1 Source for Political & Election News
Mayoral candidates talk crime, education and zoning at virtual forum
BY JULIA MORO
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
Four New York City mayoral
candidates answered questions
Thursday, June 3, at a forum focused
on crime, education and zoning
in Ridgewood as they near the June
22 primaries.
Three Democratic candidates
participated in the forum: Andrew
Yang, a former 2020 presidential
candidate; Eric Adams, the Brooklyn
borough president; and Kathryn Garcia,
former New York City sanitation
commissioner. The only Republican
candidate in attendance was Curtis
Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels,
a group of volunteers who patrol
subways.
Charles Ober of the Ridgewood
Property Owners & Civic Association
Inc. and Kevin Forrestal of the
Queens Civic Congress moderated
the forum over Zoom.
Here are some of the questions
the candidates were asked and their
answers. Some answers have been
condensed for space and length:
What is your plan on day one to address
both street and subway crime,
which has skyrocketed in just fi ve
months by 70 percent? What will
you do with police staff levels that
will possibly aff ect enforcement in
a positive direction, how long will it
take you to turn around this crime
wave so we can feel safe again?
Sliwa: “To get a dedicated property
tax to hire 3,000 additional cops and
train them is going to take a bit of
time. But in the interim, you have to
put the street crime unit back into
eff ect. You have to put the homeless
outreach unit back into the mix because
they’re going to be a danger to
themselves and everyone else.”
Adams: “The prerequisite to prosperity
is public safety. We have to
zero-in on gun violence. I’m going to
put more resources in the gun suppression
unit, partner with district
attorneys so we can get a special prosecutor
for guns and gangs. I’m going
to move my offi cers out of clerical
duty, put them on patrol where they
should be and make sure they’re focusing
on some of the street crime and
the quality-of-life issues we’re facing.
With the subway system, if we don’t
get our trains safe, we are not going
to have the economic turnaround that
we deserve. We’re going to reinstall
the homeless outreach unit with the
police and partner them with mental
health professionals.”
Yang:“I believe we can see progress
in three to six months. The staffi ng
level is one issue. Defunding the
police is the wrong approach for
NYC. We need to get more offi cers,
not fewer. You need to have full-time
cops in the subways not just during
rush hour. Offi cers need to get on the
subway and do visual inspections.
We need to increase detectives both
at the precinct level and at the gun
violence suppression division to get
the clearance rate up.”
Garcia: “We have seen an enormous
spike in gun violence. We need
to make sure the gun suppression
unit is fully funded because we have
a very low clearance rate right now.
We need to do gun buybacks. When
you think about street and subway
crime, we have seen a lot of hate
crime. We need to see patrol offi cers,
they need to be in our neighborhoods,
meeting with our businesses, getting
to know people, so that they have a
real connection to their communities.
We need not only patrol offi cers but
mental health professionals.”
What changes will you bring
to public schools to make sure all
students are prepared to succeed
in the real world?
Adams:“We have to stop schooling
and start education. We need to do
dyslexia screening in every school
so that we won’t put our children on
a pathway of feeling that they can’t
learn and take on criminal behavior.
Number two, we have to put the right
technology in all our schools. Number
three, every child that needs a
tutor, we will make sure they have a
tutor. We’re going to look at extending
school hours and summer months.
We’re going to have one of the best
remote learning opportunities during
the summer months, give our
students structured assignments, so
we don’t have the summer slide that
we see every year. We’re also going to
partner with our companies and corporations
to help craft a curriculum
and build out vocational training.”
Sliwa: “They’re teaching this racist
theory. Critical waste theory — in
which white people have to acknowledge
that they are benefi ciaries of
white privilege, they have to prove to
everyone else that they’re worthy to
be in their company. This theory is
going to end because there’s mayoral
control. And I’m going to fl ush out the
bureaucrats at the Department of
Education, the acronym stands for
dumbest organization ever.”
Yang:“We have to get our schools
open, and get our kids back and then
we have to assess just how bad the
learning loss and damage are for
many of them. We have to give our
principals a higher degree of autonomy
to do what’s best for our kids.
We also have to stop pretending that
everyone’s going to go to college. We
have to invest very heavily in yearround
employment opportunities,
co-ops and vocational training.”
Garcia: “We have to equally fund
our public schools. We also need to
make sure we screen for dyslexia,
so we can make the approach to
their education what they need so
we don’t just pass them hoping that
it works itself out. Using a reading
literacy program that is designed to
help kids read by the time they are
in third grade — if we screw up that
beginning piece, we’re playing catch
up the whole time. The model of early
college is very important, where
we’re pushing high school kids to be
taking college-level courses. Bard
Early College needs to expand.”
The overwhelming number of
Queens community boards have
voted against Council Speaker
Johnson’sPlanning Togetherproposal.
This proposed legislation calls for
up-zoning, what is your view?
Sliwa:“What does Corey Johnson
know? He lives in Chelsea. They’re
all high risers. There’s no residential
housing. But you go through
areas throughout Queens … there
is one-family, two-family homes,
and all the sudden they want to put
a fi ve-story monstrosity there. No,
you keep the residential fl avor of the
neighborhood.”
Adams: “I am a big community
board person. I believe in the local
government and the local input. I do
not support Corey’s proposal.”
Yang: “I’m very sensitive to both
sides of this, where obviously activists
and leaders know your neighborhoods
best and we should be listening
to your guidance on how we should
proceed. On the flip side, we all
know there’s a massive aff ordable
housing crisis. This is going to be a
constant tug-of-war. We need to try
and achieve citywide goals in a way
that’s sensitive to community concerns.
I want to fi nd middle-ground
solutions.”
Garcia: “I’ve been resistant to the
speaker’s approach. When we think
about zoning, there are ways to do
it like in my neighborhood. What
they did during the Bloomberg administration
was they down-zoned
midblock and up-zoned an avenue.
So the neighborhood retained its
character.”
(Top left to right) Eric Adams, Kathryn Garcia, Curtis Sliwa and Andrew
Yang participated in a mayoral forum hosted by the Queens Civic
Congress on June 3. Photos courtesy of candidates’ campaign
PoliticsNY.com PoliticsNYnews PoliticsNYnews PoliticsNYnews
/PoliticsNY.com
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
link
