Next Tuesday – Election Day. We’re not going to waste words and tell you how important it is for you to vote. You know all about that.
What we would like to talk to you about is who we hope you’ll support at the polls.
On Tuesday, there are several candidates that deserve your support – and here are the reasons.
Queens Borough President: Melinda Katz/Tony Arcabascio
Melinda Katz, as we told you before the primary, is a seasoned veteran who has the knowledge of the Borough President’s office that is needed to restore it to that of a viable, functional and productive elected office.
Katz enjoys the support and respect of Democrats and Republicans alike and brings a greatly diversified level of experience in government on both the state and city level. She is energetic and committed to increasing focus on the arts and education. We see her as Queens’ ticket out of the “runner-up” “stepchild” borough status and as an individual with the capability of putting Queens where it belongs in the city landscape—as a destination with a rich and diversified selection of cultural and economic opportunities not to be overshadowed by the hype of other boroughs, especially Manhattan.
Her opponent, Aurelio ‘Tony’ Arcabascio, is a nice, well-intentioned man, seemingly frustrated by the “political machine” and all its trappings but, in our opinion, in no way, shape, or form ready or able to lead this borough on a charge to the top of the heap.
City Council 32nd District: Eric Ulrich/Lew Simon
It’s a race in which the winner will be responsible for a district that has been ravaged by one of the worst natural disasters ever to hit the eastern seaboard.
When you go to pull the lever on this one, you’d better make sure that the candidate you’re voting for has the tenacity, skill and experience to navigate the post-Sandy challenges, more appropriately labeled as threats, that face our community in the immediate future and the years ahead.
In other words, you’d better not consider pulling any other lever except the one that’s next to Eric Ulrich’s name.
Let’s start with his political pedigree. Ulrich is an incumbent that has consistently delivered millions of dollars in capital improvement funding for the district, instituted educational initiatives, including a ground-breaking SAT prep program, eradicated graffiti from the district, and passed several bills making the city government more accountable. He is an affable, undeniably hard worker who votes his conscience and is not a party slave. His position on stop, question and frisk is the one that is necessary to keep this city in check. These accomplishments – and those like them – that demonstrate a job well done, however, pale in comparison the most important case we can make for his reelection.
Plainly and simply, Ulrich has spent the last year making contacts and establishing relationships with people, agencies and groups that are key figures in deciding our exceedingly tentative, shaky post-Sandy future.
His opponent, on the other hand, stood before a thousand people at a recent STOP FEMA NOW rally and said that a city council representative has no influence landing the Sandy help we need.
Our choice of endorsement begins and ends there.
How could we support a man who doesn’t even realize that intervention on the part of our city council representative, along with other levels of government that will make the decisions, are an invaluable and mandatory component of our recovery?
On a final note about Lew Simon: He is no stranger to criticism from the community, and we recently found an interesting 1999 column in The Wave written by now editor Kevin Boyle, who accused the Democrat of forging a teacher certificate in order to get a job.
There’s enough forgery in government. We need someone to forge ahead. That’s Eric Ulrich.
City Council 30th District: Elizabeth Crowley/Craig Caruana
The 30th Council District is facing a laundry list of intimidating issues: A woeful lack of senior housing, overcrowded classrooms, an arts center that aims to serve liquor to thousands of patrons in a residential area inhabited by many older residents and families, and not enough green space.
There is much that needs to happen for the district’s residents, and in order for that to happen there must be an elected official who is not only responsive to constituents’ needs but able to get along with the City Council’s top brass, including the Speaker.
That person is Craig Caruana.
We know that Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley has done some good. She has put money into schools and parks. But she has not done nearly enough. Fairly or not, she couldn’t get along with Council Speaker Christine Quinn – and that has hurt the district financially. She is routinely missing in action when it comes to responding to constituent complaints, and, when asked if she would run for a third term – something she repeatedly slammed Mayor Bloomberg for pushing – she didn’t say no. Additionally, she is supporting the Knockdown Center, despite almost every other elected official and numerous civic groups in the area raising a litany of concerns about the facility’s request to serve alcohol to up to 5,000 people at the site.
We need someone who will listen to, and fight for, the people.
Craig Caruana grew up in Middle Village – he knows this district. An involved civic activist, he is committed to this neighborhood and will fight for his constituents – whether they are Democrats or Republicans.
It’s time to vote in someone who aims to reduce property taxes and bring more resources to area schools. Who will return phone calls and get along with other legislators. Who won’t say, with a wink, sure, I’d love for that to happen – and then never follow through.
Vote Craig Caruana Nov. 5.
Mayor: Bill de Blasio/Joe Lhota
We have very few words to say about this contest. For Joe Lhota it is, unfortunately, lost before it is run. As for Bill de Blasio, we sincerely think he is a nice guy; it’s his intended policy decisions that we see as a formula for disaster. His policing policies – including eliminating stop-and-frisk – we believe will cause crime to skyrocket to levels never before reached. But unless voters have some sort of an instantaneous epiphany on Tuesday at the polls, de Blasio will be our next mayor, not for better, but assuredly for worse.
