Aurelio “Tony” Arcabascio is the Republican candidate running against Democrat Melinda Katz for Queens borough president. Photo Courtesy Tony Arcabascio’s Campaign
If there is anything that will set off Aurelio “Tony” Arcabascio, it is calling the Republican running for Queens borough president part of the 1 percent – a term invoking the Occupy Wall Street movement that his opponent, Democrat Melinda Katz, has thrown at the Astoria native.
“My parents came from Italy with nothing; I didn’t speak a word of English until first grade,” Arcabascio said in an interview with The Forum this week. “My parents have a second-grade education. I’m a guy who comes from a hard-working family. My parents were both union workers. My mom was a seamstress, and my dad was a construction worker until he was 72-years-old. Don’t you dare put me into the 1 percent.”
The 1 percent is a term that was frequently used by Occupy protesters in reference to the country’s richest residents. Katz, who defeated Councilman Peter Vallone, Jr. (D-Astoria) in September’s Democratic primary, sent out a campaign mailer earlier this month that did not name her opponent but stated that, “as long as there’s a Republican running to be the next Queens borough president, fighting to make life easier for the 1 percent while working families struggle, our work is not yet finished.”
Arcabascio, who lives in the neighborhood in which he was born – Astoria, said he hopes it is that message – one of humble roots and understanding the immigrant experience – that lands him support come the Nov. 5 election.
“The Queens borough president job needs someone who understands the people, who’s a man of the people,” he said. “You need someone who’s lived with the people – I have.
“I love Queens; I grew up here,” the candidate continued. “I played baseball here; I lived by LaGuardia Airport. I’ve lived Queens – I’ve seen what goes on here. I’ve ridden my bike to Adventureland in College Point. We played stickball in the streets. I go to the same Chinese restaurant in Jackson Heights that I went to as a kid – when my father would say, ‘What? You can’t eat pasta?’ I know this borough.”
Saying he hopes to spend “85, 90 percent of my time outside of the office,” Arcabascio said he would like to focus his potential tenure on drawing businesses to the borough.
“We need to take some of the more vacant areas and deem them urban enterprise zones – meaning give them tax incentives to move and do business here,” he said. “In the zones, businesses would be exempt from paying taxes on all purchases except for luxury goods. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but all of those taxes you spend on office supplies adds up. That allows you to hire people. We can really help small businesses in Queens.”
The Republican also said he’d like to set up a program that would allow businesses to file various paperwork for their companies at Borough Hall instead of having to trek to Manhattan.
Responsible development has been a major platform of Arcabascio’s campaign, and he said he’d especially like to focus on building up the Rockaways and generating tourism for a waterfront that he said has been almost entirely abandoned by City Hall.
“You can’t seem to give away Rockaway,” he said. “Nobody’s done anything to bring business there; nobody’s done anything to bring entertainment there.”
Stressing that the Rockaways – as well as other waterfront communities in Queens – need more comprehensive disaster preparedness plans, in order to be ready for the next Hurricane Sandy, the candidate said he would, not long after taking office, gather people from such states as Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi to discuss planning for disasters.
Additionally, Arcabascio has said he would like to focus on two of the borough’s most vulnerable populations – the youngest and oldest residents.
“We’ve got schools where kids are learning in trailers,” he said. “This is happening in the United States? It’s horrendous. We need to stop building these mega high-rises and figure out where kids are going to go to school.
There are a slew of problems facing seniors, Arcabascio said – including a litany of issues plaguing the city’s Access-a-Ride program.
“We’ve better fix Access-a-Ride,” he said. “People are spending an hour and a half for a ride that could’ve taken them 20 minutes?”
By Anna Gustafson
