Of the 85 candidates for City Council…
By Daniel Massey
In a testament to the growing power of immigrant voters in New York City, two-fifths of the Queens city council candidates have signed a pledge promising if elected to be accountable to all of their constituents.
Of the 85 candidates for City Council in Queens, 35 have signed on to the proclamation, sponsored by the Government Access and Accountability Campaign, a coalition of 20 organizations. Twenty-five of those council hopefuls attended a Borough Hall news conference Tuesday.
Brian Pu-Folkes, the president of New Immigrant Community Empowerment, the organization coordinating the coalition, said the idea of the pledge came out of a NICE study that produced “startling results showing a disconnect between communities and government” in New York.
The survey questioned a cross-section of 257 Queens residents about their knowledge of city government. Fewer than 3 percent could name their city council representative and 63 percent said they would have no idea how to contact that person if they had to.
Pu Folkes said the goal of the campaign was to “make sure elected officials are proactive about promoting participation.”
Officials who signed the pledge promised that once elected, they would hold town meetings twice a year, conduct an annual survey of district needs and issue a yearly constituent service report. They agreed to complete the requirements in a “linguistically and culturally competent manner.”
Alice Cardona of 100 Puerto Rican Women of Queens applauded the candidates who showed up at Borough Hall and signed on.
“These are the people who have said ‘I am here, I am present for the entire city,’” she said.
One candidate who promised to be accountable to her constituents was Lynn Schulman, a candidate for City Council in the 29th District, which includes Forest Hills and Rego Park.
“This is what government is supposed to be about,” she said. “It’s about reaching out to the community and making sure it has an understanding of what government is about and that we have an understanding of their needs.”
Terence Park of Flushing, running for the 20th District council seat, called the accountability campaign a “fabulous democratic idea.”
Lauding the campaign’s focus on providing immigrants with an entree into government, James Gennaro, who is seeking Morton Povman’s 24th District seat, said “immigrants are the future of Queens. We have to bring government to them.”
About 240,000 immigrants came to Queens between 1990 and 1996, according to the latest figures from the City Planning Department. More than 1.2 million people immigrated to New York City in the 1990s.
As New York’s immigrant population has increased, so has its voting power. The number of registered voters in the city is now more than 3.6 million, up nearly 300,000 from last year, according to the city Board of Elections.
Pu-Folkes believes the campaign will help all New Yorkers, but its effect on immigrants will be strongest. He said that while the divide between all communities and government is large, “this gap is widest when it comes to immigrants, poor people and people of color.”
He cited a reluctance on the part of these groups to take part in the political process. “We need to change the culture,” he said. “The campaign, once implemented, will help build trust between community and government.”
Reach reporter Daniel Massey by e-mail at Timesledger.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 155.
