By Brendan Browne and Courtney Dentch
The six Democratic candidates who filed petitions to vie for the seat in the 31st Assembly District in southeast Queens in the September primary appear to have survived challenges to their candidacies, according to the state Board of Elections.
A total of seven candidates has filed petitions with the city Board of Elections for the district, which covers South Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Springfield Gardens, Far Rockaway and Laurelton.
The Board of Elections was still hearing appeals to petition challenges Tuesday, but the race for the assembly seat, held by Michele Titus (D-Far Rockaway), was as crowded as ever.
Titus, who won her seat in a special election in April, could face former Community Board 13 member Bryan Block, Rockaways real estate agent Michael Duvalle, the Rev. Henrietta Fullard, Bronx assistant district attorney Charles Pringle Jr., and Richmond Hill activist Taj Rajkumar for the Democratic nomination. A seventh candidate, Marina Rejas, is running on the Republican ticket.
Titus, a South Ozone Park resident and former lawyer for the city Board of Elections, is feeling deja vu, having to defend her position after just being elected in April, she said. In her months in office, Titus has brought back $700,000 in funds for community organizations and $100,000 for transportation enhancements in the district, she said.
Titus also co-sponsored legislation allowing non-citizen residents of the city to pay the in-state tuition at City University schools, she said. She is also working to ensure adequate resources are in place for special education students in general classes, she said.
Titus has been an outspoken opponent of the city’s decision to put a family homeless shelter in the bankrupt Carlton House hotel near Kennedy Airport, saying the influx of 1,000 people, including 400 children, will affect the community resources, especially at area schools, and economic development.
“We’re trying to build the area up, but the mayor is trying to tear it down,” she said. “I don’t think the mayor understands the affect it has on the community.”
Block, a longtime community activist from Far Rockaway, is making his first run for political office. A paralegal in Manhattan, he said if elected he will focus on addressing education and health care issues.
“I’m going to bring the E-H factor to Albany,” said Block, referring to education and health care, promising to find more state funding for both. Though he said he understands the city is facing a large budget gap, Block said the elected officials in the area must find money to buy new school textbooks and to put up more schools to alleviate classroom overcrowding.
Block, 45, also expressed concern that many people, especially seniors, in the district either have no health care coverage or cannot afford the rising cost of prescription drugs. Others cannot find a decent place to live because the district lacks enough housing for middle income residents, he said.
Having lived in Cambria Heights, which lies just outside the district, Block also said he is the candidate with the best understanding of the needs of both the district’s northern section on the Queens mainland and its southern section in the Rockaways. He is planning to work to start a ferry service from the Rockaways to lower Manhattan and to solve noise pollution issues with JFK Airport.
The TimesLedger profiled Duvalle, Fullard and Rajkumar in an article on Aug. 15.
Pringle, 29, a lifelong Springfield Gardens resident, is also pursuing the Democratic nomination. Pringle was an assistant district attorney in Bronx until he resigned to try to challenge Titus in April. But Pringle was knocked off the ballot before the elections.
Pringle was not available to comment on this election, but he got his start in politics as an intern in Rev. Floyd Flake’s congressional office, he said in an interview with the TimesLedger in March.
“That was great because I not only got to see this man who was a pastor but also a leader, an innovator, and a good man who cares about people in his community,” he said. “The things he did for his congressional district are things I want to do for Assembly District 31.”
Pringle would like to see greater economic development in the Rockaways, and along the AirTrain route, he said. He also wants more four-year institutions in the district as well as an aeronautics school and more after-school programs for youth, he said.
Rejas, a 25-year resident of South Ozone Park and a school aide and education assistant in public schools, is challenging Titus again after an unsuccessful campaign in April. Rejas, the Republican candidate, received just 78 of the 1,308 votes in the special election.
Rejas, who did not return phone calls seeking comment, believes more money needs to be set aside for the schools from after school programs to teacher salaries, she told the TimesLedger in April. She also cited school employment programs for high school students as a priority, she said, although she did not have details on how to include the program.
Rejas would also like to see increased police presence and community involvement as tactics to keep crime down in the district, she said.
wReach reporter Courtney Dentch by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com, or by phone at 229-0300, Ext. 138.
