By Alexander Dworkowitz
Flushing City Council candidate Isaac Sasson proudly displays 19 medals on his living room wall. Each of the medals represents a completed marathon.
Now Sasson, 63, has set his sights not on finishing the 26.2 miles of a marathon but winning the 20th City Council District.
“I say I'm running my 20th race for the 20th District,” Sasson said.
The City Council race, however, may be the most challenging run of Sasson's life. He is a first-time candidate facing Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing), who took office two years ago and is strongly backed by the Queens County Democratic Organization.
“I am running against the party,” said Sasson, who ran his 19th marathon last fall.
The 20th District covers downtown Flushing, Murray Hill and parts of Queensborough Hill, Auburndale and Linden Hill.
Sasson was born in Syria and grew up in Lebanon. At the age of 15, he moved from the Middle East to Brooklyn with his family. He graduated from City College with a degree in chemistry in 1965, and earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Connecticut in 1974.
In 1976, he took a post-doctoral position at Queens College and moved to Flushing. He taught chemistry at Queens College while working as a research scientist at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan. About 10 years ago, he switched careers to focus on fund-raising, and he is currently director of Corporate & Foundation Relations at the Institute for Cancer Prevention in Manhattan.
In the early 1990s, Sasson became president of the Skyline Tenants Association, the group representing his residential complex, Skyline Towers. About five years ago, he joined Community Board 7.
Sasson described himself as a man with a lot of ideas. Instead of spending millions or even billions of dollars on the Olympics, the city should create an endowment and use the interest to keep its parks in good shape, Sasson suggested.
If elected, Sasson said he would push to get rid of bonuses that chairmen of city council committees receive.
The chairmen currently earn an extra $10,000 a year. The additional money keeps the committee heads towing the line behind the city council speaker, who picks the committee leadership, Sasson said.
“It allows the council speaker to control their decisions because he can take [the position] away from them,” he said.
Sasson also recommended reforming the process of granting variances. Oftentimes, the city Board of Standards and Appeals gives variances to companies against the wishes of the local community board.
“I want to leave the final decision of variances to our elected leader, the borough president,” he said.
Many of Sasson's suggestions focus on Flushing itself.
Instead of the construction of luxury apartments, Sasson said he supported the creation of affordable housing. Parts of western Flushing near Flushing Meadows Corona Park are an ideal place for such housing, he said.
Sasson was not hesitant to criticize Liu. He attacked him for voting in favor of a city council resolution against the war in Iraq.
“That was not the feeling of the community,” he said.
Although Liu has made cleaning up downtown Flushing a priority, Sasson said he had not gone far enough. He wants the city to invest in more trash cans for the area.
Sasson said he was also against a Business Improvement District for Flushing, which was recently passed by the City Council, saying he did not think local property owners should have to pay the extra assessment.
Liu, the main proponent of the Flushing BID, questioned Sasson's stance.
“It's difficult to understand how someone who wants to clean up downtown Flushing could be against a BID for downtown Flushing in which local property owners and merchants are required to pay a fund for the purpose of cleaning up downtown Flushing,” he said.
Sasson admitted he faced an uphill battle in running against Liu. But he was proud that he made it onto the ballot to challenge Liu, surviving the Queens Democratic Organization challenge to his petition.
“I think whatever I can start, I can finish,” he said. “Because if I can finish 19 marathons, I can finish this.”
Reach reporter Alexander Dworkowitz by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300 Ext. 141.
