Democratic Primary Results: Marshall, Koslowitz and Reyna Victorious

Democrat Mike Miller Wins Special Election for Assembly Seat

By Conor Greene

When the dust settled following Tuesday’s Democratic Party primary elections around the city, three veteran City Council members who supported allowing a third term had been defeated, and another two were in serious jeopardy of losing races that remained too close to call as of Wednesday.

Among the incumbent City Council members who lost on Tuesday were Alan Gerson of Manhattan, Kendall Stewart of Brooklyn and Helen Sears of Jackson Heights, Queens. Maria Baez of the Bronx was trailing her contest as of Wednesday, while Thomas White, Jr. was leading by just six votes against political newcomer Lynn Nunes.

Locally, Karen Koslowitz was victorious in a six-person race for the Democratic nomination to succeed Melinda Katz representing Forest Hills and Rego Park in the 29th District. Koslowitz, who previously represented the area until term limits forced her from office in 2001, defeated runner up Lynn Schulman 25% to 22%. Rounding out the field was Heidi Harrison Chain (19%), Albert Cohen (13%), Michael Cohen (12%) and Mel Gagarin (6%). Koslowitz doesn’t face a Republican challenger in November.

In the 34th District, which covers parts of Ridgewood, incumbent Diana Reyna – who supported Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s push to allow for a third term - appears to have survived a stiff challenge from Maritza Davila, who she defeated 45% to 43%, according to unofficial results released by the city Board of Elections. Gerald Esposito received 11%, or 1,041 votes.

Following a heated campaign in the 26th District, which includes Long Island City, Sunnyside, Woodside and parts of Maspeth, James Van Bramer, director of external affairs for Queens Library defeated City Council attorney Deirdre Feerick 45% to 37%. Long Island City attorney Brent O’Leary finished with 16% of the vote. Incumbent Eric Gioia decided to run for public advocate instead of seeking a third term.

However, things are still unclear in the 28th District, which covers parts of Jamaica, South Jamaica and Richmond Hill. Nunes, 24, is trailing by less than a percentage point against White – who supported extending term limits - as of Wednesday morning. Since absentee and military ballots still have to be counted, the race appears too close to call.

In the race for Borough President, incumbent Helen Marshall will serve a third term after easily defeating challenger Mark Leavitt, a Sunnyside attorney who wasn’t able to turn his strong fundraising effort during the campaign into a solid showing at the polls. Marshall finished with 52,258 votes, or 71%, compared with 12,294, or 16% for Leavitt.

Voters in some parts of Queens also took part in a special election to replace disgraced former state Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio, who pleaded guilty to accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. Glendale Democrat Mike Miller handily defeated Republican Donna Marie Caltabiano, who is director of the Forest Park Senior Center by a count of 65% to 35%.

That election was held after Governor David Paterson decided to hold a special election featuring candidates chosen by each party’s county leaders, instead of holding a general election that would have featured a bigger slate of candidates. At least two candidates who had petitioned to be on the ballot have already vowed to challenge Miller next year.

For the two hotly-contested citywide offices – public advocate and comptroller – a runoff election is scheduled for September 29 since none of the candidates reached 40% of the vote. In the public advocate race, Brooklyn Councilman Bill de Blasio, who received 32%, will face off against Mark Green, who formerly held the position and finished with 30%. In the comptroller’s race, Councilman John Liu of Flushing received 38% and will face Brooklyn Councilman David Yassky in the runoff election.

With the Democratic nominee officially secured, Thompson wasted little time kicking off his campaign against Bloomberg, who wasn’t involved in Tuesday’s primary election. Bloomberg agreed to participate in two debates, but Thompson wants him to agree to debate in each of the five boroughs.

“After eight years of the mayor who has looked out for the rich and powerful, isn’t it time we had a mayor who looked out for the rest of us?” Thompson told a crowd of supporters at his victory speech Tuesday night, reminding them that the city’s unemployment rate is at a 16-year high, despite promises by Bloomberg to create jobs. “It’s time for a change, New York! Eight years is enough!”

Even though he wasn’t running in a race on Tuesday, Bloomberg held a campaign kickoff rally on Manhattan’s West Side. Without mentioning Thompson by name, Bloomberg warned voters to avoid derailing progress he says the city has made under his leadership. “All of that could come to a screeching halt if we return to politics as usual,” he said.

And both candidates wasted little time in touting endorsements they have received from major political figures. On Wednesday morning, Bloomberg was campaigning outside a subway stop on Queens Boulevard in Forest Hills with former mayor Ed Koch. Meanwhile, Gov. Paterson issued a press released indicating he plans on publicly endorsing Thompson at a press conference Friday.

Mapeth School Vote Expected Thursday

UPDATE: The City Council has approved the DOE's plans to build an 1,100-seat high school in Maspeth. Voting against the plan were Councilmembers Elizabeth Crowley, Tony Avella, Eric Ulrich, James Vacca, Vincent Ignizio, James Oddo, Lewis Fidler, Peter Vallone, Jr., Michael Nelson and Darlene Mealy, according to Crowley's office, which released the following statement after Thursday's vote:

"Let me be clear, I want a school in Maspeth, but I cannot agree with this plan. In an effort to alleviate the traffic and transit concerns raised by the community I asked the Department of Education to compromise on a plan to allow this school to better address the needs and concerns of my community. They did not and as I result I do not support this plan.

As the plan stands now it does not have the approval of the community education council, it does not have the approval of the community board, it does not have the approval of the local civic association. It does not have the full support of local parents. It does not have the support of the local elected officials."


By Conor Greene

City Council is expected to vote today, Thursday, on the Department of Education’s proposal to build an 1,100-seat high school in Maspeth. The plan has been met with stiff opposition from residents who say the area is already too congested and can’t handle another school.

A City Council subcommittee held a hearing Tuesday on the proposal for 1,000 high school seats and 100 special education seats on the site of the former Restaurant Depot at 74th Street and 57th Avenue. Several dozen area residents testified against the proposal, while one Woodside resident spoke in favor of it.

Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley has said she won’t support the plan unless the city zones the school to ensure neighborhood children can attend it. But, while the councilwoman and the DOE have negotiated for weeks over how the school would be zoned, residents testified that a school shouldn’t be built in the area no matter how it is zoned.

Micah Lasher, a DOE executive director, said that the department has made a “number of substantive changes” to the original plan, including reducing it from 1,650 seats. After much back and forth with Crowley (D-Middle Village), the DOE also agreed to give first priority to students in District 24, followed by districts 27 and 28. That zoning would be “narrower than for any other high school in this administration,” said Lasher.

Crowley wants priority to be first given to students attending five neighborhood schools, to ensure that local children can attend if they wish. Under the DOE’s current plan, a child living across the street from the school has just a one-in-twenty chance of getting a spot in the proposed school, according to Crowley’s office.

In a letter to Crowley, Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott stressed that the DOT no longer creates “such narrowly” zoned high schools. “Most practically, it is simply not possible to find sites in every individual neighborhood whose students need more school seats, nor is it fiscally responsible to target school construction dollars so narrowly,” he wrote. “In this case, using the Maspeth site for a locally zoned school would not broadly address an overcrowding issue that exists throughout the borough and would not be fair or responsive to all the parents who deserve more high school seats.”

Under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the DOE has followed a policy of making high schools available to students throughout the city. Zoned high schools “have, historically, contributed to the persistence of a stratified school system and, in turn, an unequal distribution of resources,” wrote Walcott.

However, while the zoning issue has been atresidents who testified Tuesday made it clear they don’t want any school on that site. Many cited two existing schools that are within just three blocks of the Restaurant Depot site and expressed concern over congestion, transportation, parking and crime.

Robert Holden, president of the Juniper Park Civic Association, said “the SCA was asleep at the wheel when they sited the school.” He said that the two existing schools have already contributed to congestion in the area, including along Grand Avenue and on city buses.

“There are locations where a school won’t work,” and the Restaurant Depot site is one, he argued. “We don’t think this site works as a school. If it’s congested now and has no subway, you can’t site a school there.”

Gary Giordano, district manager of Community Board 5 – which first rejected the plan and then agreed to support it provided a number of stipulations are met – said “there are severe problems in this area with the two existing schools.”

Tony Nunziato, a Maspeth resident and businessman, said this proposal flies in the face of years of work to bring proper planning to the area. “It’s called over-saturation,” he said, adding that the school would be “shoe-horned in the neighborhood, and it doesn’t make any sense.” He feared the impact a third school would have on small businesses along Grand Avenue, where groups of students hangout after dismissal.

Woodside resident Marge Kolb, president of the District 24 PTA Presidents’ Council, was the only person to testify in support of the project. She said it is located centrally within District 24, and to existing high schools. “We need this high school,” she implored. “We need seats in Queens [and] this is a good site… We deserve a shot at a local high school too.”

Roe Dario, president of Communities of Maspeth and Elmhurst Together, stressed that the zoning is not the issue. “The issue is the siting – it’s not who goes to it. It’s where it’s located,” she said, noting that 5,000 trucks go down Grand Avenue daily. “Seniors can’t go shopping on Grand Avenue for half the day because we have this staggered dismissal. I just feel it’s going to be too congested.”

Other residents raised issues including flooding in the area, the 104th Precinct’s response time and lack of on-site parking for teachers. Resident John Kilcommons said that seniors are worried about congestion along Grand Avenue, which is the route to Elmhurst Hospital Center.

Jim O’Kane, president of the Maspeth Chamber of Commerce, said he supports keeping this site for commercial use to prevent losing tax revenue and jobs. “Maspeth has done more than its share of providing sites for schools,” he said.

Manny Caruana of Maspeth wondered why the DOE has “dumped thousands of dollars” into the project before gaining City Council approval. He is worried that the school will actually serve more than 1,100 students once it’s open.

Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing) said that the need for high school seats in Queens is the Restaurant Depot site, which may require the use of eminent domain to acquire. Liu said he has been asking the DOE for years to look into a Flushing site owned by Home Depot that has access to many bus and subway lines.

Liu called the DOE’s site selection process a “half-baked action that will only serve families in a limited capacity.” He said the “credibility of the SCA and DOE is severely undermined.” Liu also attempted to brace against potential backlash if the City Council rejects the proposal, which would mark the first time that happened during Bloomberg’s administration. “It is our job to do so to represent our constituents… If the DOE comes up with a halfbaked plan, don’t lay it on us,” he said.

Councilwoman Helen Sears (D-Jackson Heights) noted the lack of public transportation at the Restaurant Depot site and asked the DOE to look into sites in Jackson Heights “that are far more accessible borough-wide.”

Lasher conceded that “this is certainly not going to be the most accessible school in the city.” Still, “we do believe it is a very good site,” he said. Lasher claimed that rejecting the site and forcing the DOE to start over “will set us back a number of years.”

The DOE dismissed the former St. Saviour’s site near Rust Street in West Maspeth as not being suitable because of its location in an industrial area. On Wednesday, a DOE spokesman said that after two years of dialogue between the city and community about this project, the question is no longer about if the site is appropriate.

Right now, the decision that has to be made is not about the site – that conversation has come and gone,” said William Havemann. “Because the financial outlook is less and less positive, it is unclear if this site is rejected what would happen in the next capital plan. It is very possible another school just wouldn’t be built at all, and kids in Maspeth and District 24 would have to continue to go to high schools in other parts of Queens that already are overcrowded.”

By the end of the hearing, it was clear that the DOE is not willing to budge from its current stance regarding zoning. “We’re not willing to make the concessions it sounds like will be necessary,” said Lasher. “At a certain point you have to say you can spend the $80 million elsewhere. But I guess that decision is in your hands… I implore you not to make history by letting council vote this down.”

However, based on testimony provided on Tuesday, it appears a large portion of Maspeth and other area residents are hoping that Crowley does just that. “It’s going to cost $80 million to build this,” said Angelo Raneri. “Let’s build it where it is accessible.”

City Council was expected to vote on the proposal on Thursday afternoon; check theforumnewsgroup.com for updates.

Councilman: School Opponents Driven by Racism

By Conor Greene

Many in attendance at a City Council hearing on the proposed Maspeth high school were shocked and insulted when Councilman Charles Barron accused the plan’s opponents of trying to “justify segregation” and “keep their high school for their white children.”

The comments came Tuesday during a council sub-committee hearing on the Department of Education request to build an 1,100-seat high school at the former Restaurant Depot site at 74th Street and 57th Avenue. Many residents are against a school on that site due to congestion issues the neighborhood already faces in part due to two existing schools within three blocks.

“I was checking my calendar to see what year we are in,” said Barron, suggesting that the opposition from the residents - none of whom had testified yet - was driven by racism. “Race is an issue whether you like it or not.” He said the residents were trying to “turn back the hands of time” to the 1950s and “justify segregation.”

They “want to keep their high school for their white children,” Barron concluded. He then left the hearing before any residents testified. Neighbors of the proposed site would later tell the committee that they feel that location is inappropriate for a school, regardless of how it is zoned. The residents asked the DOE to look for alternative sites with better public transit access.

Barron expressed his opinion following a discussion between Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley and DOE officials on a range of issues, including her request that students in five local schools be given preference.

During that exchange, Micah Lasher, executive director of DOE’s Office of Public Affairs, said that it is against department policy under Mayor Bloomberg to restrict admissions to certain neighborhoods. Doing so has “historically led to a system of haves and have-nots,” he said. Agreeing to give first priority to students in District 24, followed by districts 27 and 28 was a “difficult compromise” for the DOE to make.

Many residents later said they were insulted by Barron’s comments, which were also disavowed by several of his colleagues, including Helen Sears (D-Jackson Heights), John Liu (D-Flushing) and Robert Jackson (D-Manhattan).

Anthony Nunziato, a neighborhood resident and businessman said he was “offended” by the comments. “It is a disgrace that a man of that [position] would say something like that,” he said.

Nunziato later said the residents are filing a formal complaint with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn demanding that Barron be publicly censured for his comments. “The guy is a racist. If it was a white supremacist who got up there and said that, they would have no problem throwing him out… I was never more offended in my life, and all of us felt that way.”

“Today I had to take offense to someone calling me a racist who knows nothing about my life,” said Bob Doocey of Middle Village.

Several other residents said they were insulted by Barron and invited Barron to visit their community. “ Then maybe, he can get his head out of... the 1950s,” said Manny Caruana. “This man has never been to Maspeth. Shame on you.”

Community Board 5 District Manager Gary Giordano said the problem was one of congestion and zoning, “not a racial issue.”

Sears said that she has “known Maspeth for many years” and “I don’t think I have ever known them to be racist people... We have to be careful we don’t label people because they are fighting for their community… I don’t think there’s any community in Western Queens we can call a segregated community,” Sears said.

John Liu (D-Flushing) said, “I don’t think race should be brought up here... It’s very serious.” He accused the Department of Education for subtly using race as a way to push for the school. “Let’s not inject race into this discussion. It’s the Department of Ed and the SCA that has raised that specter, and I find that despicable.”

Jackson, who is co-chair of the Council’s Black, Latino and Asian Caucus, noted that “obviously many people in the audience were offended by” Barron. “This is not the first time” the Brooklyn councilman made racially-charged accusations, said Jackson. “I respect your community and I respect your opinions,” he told the residents, many of whom boarded a bus on Grand Avenue that morning and waited hours for their three minutes to testify.

This isn’t the first time the project’s supporters have accused its opponents of acting on racist motives. At a prior hearing on the plan, Rosemary Parker said she felt like she was in an “alternate reality” after listening to the plan’s critics. “I’m really sorry I had to be here tonight to take this abuse and be in Archie Bunker’s house,” she said in February.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Woodside resident Marge Kolb, who is president of the District 24 PTA Presidents’ Council and supports the school, also suggested race was a factor and that the residents simply don’t want “outsiders” in their community. “To me, that means something and has resonance,” she said. “The fact is, I have heard people denigrating Corona.”

It also isn’t the first time Barron has made racially-charged comments that some found offensive. A former member of the Black Panther Party, Barron was elected to the City Council in 2001 and represents parts of Brooklyn including Brownsville and East Flatbush. He came under fire in 2002 after telling a crowd of several thousand at a rally calling for slavery reparations, “I want to go up to the closest white person and say, ‘You can’t understand this, it’s a black thing,’ and then slap him, just for my mental health.’”

Crowley said only, “I’m not surprised” when asked her reaction to Barron’s comments following the hearing.

Councilman Charles Barron speaks during Tuesday’s City Council hearing. Several of Barron’s colleagues look on as the councilman claims that opponents of the school plan want to keep minority students out of Maspeth. Many residents said they were offended by the remarks. The Forum Newsgroup/photo by CONOR GREENE