FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM APRIL 22, 2021 • THE QUEENS COURIER 23
Crowley announces second bid for borough president
BY GABRIELE HOLTERMANN
EDITORIALQNS.COM
QNS
With only 10 weeks to go until the citywide
Democratic primary election on June
22, former Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley
announced that she is again throwing
her hat into the race for Queens borough
president.
Joined by supporters, including her two
sons, Dennis and Owen, and former Congresswoman
Elizabeth Holtzman, Crowley
declared her candidacy on the steps of the
Queens Public Library in Flushing on
Wednesday, April 14.
It’s Crowley’s second run for borough
president. Th e former Queens councilwoman
fi nished a close second to Donovan
Richards in last year’s primary for the special
election for borough president, a seat
vacated by Melinda Katz, who now serves
as Queens district attorney.
Democratic District Leader Martha
Flores-Vazquez said that Crowley’s independent
voice and diverse mind are needed
in a community that has experienced a
steady rise in hate crimes.
“We need someone that’s compassionate.
We need someone who cares and
understands the needs of the community.
So for that reason, Elizabeth, you have my
endorsement. She’s going to be the Queen of
Queens,” Flores-Vazquez declared.
Tenant Association President Doris
Mclaughlin explained why she supports
Crowley for president of the “World’s
Borough.”
During the height of the pandemic,
senior tenants in NYCHA housing in Far
Rockaway reported that brown water came
from the faucets. Mclaughlin praised Crowley,
who came to their aid with a truck full
of water and PPE aft er they said they unsuccessfully
tried to get the attention from
then-city Councilman Donavan Richards.
“Th is is how we met Elizabeth Crowley.
She did not stop because of the pandemic,”
Mclaughlin said.
“And we know that she’s going to stand
with us. We don’t have to worry about
having developers in her pocket because
Elizabeth Crowley is a fi ghter. She does not
have nobody in her pocket but her children,
her family and her community. Queens is
in Elizabeth’s pocket,” Mclaughlin declared.
Holtzman reminded everyone that
Crowley successfully fought gender discrimination
in the FDNY.
“Nobody had ever paid attention to them.
Elizabeth Crowley heard the problem. And
she was like a bulldog. She didn’t give up,”
the fi rst female comptroller in New York
City said.
Holtzman declared that she was proud
to endorse Crowley.
“Th ere are very few people like Elizabeth
Crowley, who stand up for what’s right no
matter what and who actually can make
changes and make a diff erence, and who
have the interests of the people at heart. She’s
a compassionate, strong, wonderful person.”
Crowley, a former restorative painter,
was born and raised in Queens and is the
14th of 15 children, and lives in Glendale
with her family.
She promised that she will fi ght to ensure
that Queens receives the services and funding
that its families and businesses urgently need.
She vowed to address rising crime and
threats to the borough’s schools and shared
an optimistic vision for a path not just to
recover from the pandemic but to emerge
stronger than ever.
“Our borough was facing crises on many
fronts even prior to the pandemic,” she said.
“Th e status quo isn’t enough. I will fi ght for
the families of Queens. I have the experience
to do so.”
Crowley said her top priorities as borough
presidents include a COVID recovery
that prioritizes the needs of working
families and small businesses; fi ghting
for resources to keep streets safe and free
from hate crimes; small class sizes, and the
protection of gift ed and talented school
programs; the largest expansion of public
transit in recent history and free busing
throughout the borough; and assistance
for tenants who have been struggling to
make ends meet.
“I have lived my entire life in Queens, and
I raised a family here as a single parent. I
know all of the neighborhoods in Queens,
and I have always put the needs of Queens’
families fi rst,” Crowley said.
Astoria community organizer launches primary bid for Congress
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
The same group that
backed Congresswoman Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez in her upset of Joe
Crowley in 2018 has found a primary
challenger from Astoria to run against
14-term Congresswoman Carolyn
Maloney.
Th e Justice Democrats are throwing
their support behind Rana Abdelhamid,
a 27-year-old member of the Democratic
Socialists of America, a daughter of
Egyptian immigrants and community
organizer who launched her campaign
last week in the Little Egypt section of
Steinway Street.
“As someone who has personally confronted
inequality and displacement, I
know that 28 years of Carolyn Maloney’s
failed leadership has left too many New
Yorkers behind,” Abdelhamid said. “As
the pandemic has exacerbated inequities
in our communities, this district deserves
a representative who fi ghts for renters
instead of developers, and small shops
instead of big banks. A leader who went
to New York City public schools, isn’t a
millionaire, and answers to all of us —
not just the corporate PACs who fund her
reelection campaigns.”
In her campaign video, Abdelhamid is
shown as a fi ghter who has dedicated her
life to protecting her neighbors and communities
when politicians fail to act. Aft er
she was assaulted for wearing her hijab at
age 16, Abdelhamid launched Malikah, a
nonprofi t that builds power for women
and girls from marginalized backgrounds
through self-defense, healing, organizing
and fi nancial literacy.
Now, aft er watching twin crises — the
pandemic and the recession — devastate
her community, Abdelhamid launched
her primary challenge for Congress on
her vision of housing justice and economic
security for all believing that the people
who power New York should be able
to aff ord to live, work and thrive in New
York.
Growing up, rising rent and poor housing
conditions forced her family to move
six times before she was 9 years old.
Despite owning and operating a local
deli, her father had to take on a second
job working long nights as a cab driver to
make ends meet.
Eventually, rent hikes forced him to
give up the deli her family built from the
ground up. Like too many New Yorkers
during the pandemic, Abdelhamid says
the experience gave her fi rsthand knowledge
of what it’s like to grow up in a working
class community in an “unequal city,
fi ghting against a cruel economic system
that threatens lives and livelihoods
every day.”
She said that it is why she is running
to bring housing, economic security and
racial justice to NY-12.
Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
Elizabeth Crowley formally announced her bid for Queens borough president.
Rana Abdelhamid
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