Costa Constantinides
Co-Founder of Coalition for a Better Astoria
Astoria
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: Costa Constantinides is a co-founder of the Coalition for a Better Astoria - a group formed of 12 civic and community organizations in response to Con Ed trying to sell 22 acres of land in Astoria to developer Steel Equities to create a major FedEx distribution center. From the time that the proposal first came before the local Community Board, Constantinides and a number of other civic leaders felt that the big companies were not hearing their community’s interests. The group held town hall meetings, manned tables at local street fairs and tried to get the entire community behind the opposition to the FedEx distribution center, which would bring more traffic and congestion to an already busy community.
PERSONAL: Constantinides, 33, a lifelong Astoria resident, is married and his wife is expecting their first child. Constantinides is currently finishing law school. He is also a co-organizer for the organization, Democracy for New York City, and is the President of the Queens County Young Democrats.
PROUDEST MOMENT: Constantinides said that his proudest moment in his community involvement occurred when the different community organizations rallied together to form the group the Coalition for a Better Astoria. “I would say that the fact that we put together a coalition of 12 organizations that had memberships of more than 1,000 people and work together for at least a short term goal.” In November, the deal between Con Ed and Steel Equities fell through, and the community declared victory. “It was a great victory for the community; as a community we were ecstatic,” Constantinides said. Although Constantinides said the fight is far from over, seeing the different groups come together was a great feeling.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE: Constantinides believes there is too much fractioning amongst community groups so it sometimes makes it difficult to concentrate on the different issues. He said that sometimes egos get in the way of the bigger picture of trying to advocate for the issues that are important to the community.
FAVORITE MEMORY: Constantinides said that his favorite memory was watching the election night returns this year with his fellow Young Democrats and seeing the 270 electoral votes go into Barack Obama’s column making him the next President of the United States. Constantinides said that his group took bus trips to Pennsylvania to campaign for Obama.
INSPIRATION: Throughout his life, Constantinides said his two biggest inspirations have been his mother and his wife. Constantinides’ mother was very involved in fighting against school cuts and was even part of a group who marched across the Queensboro Bridge protesting the proposed cuts. “My mom always set a high bar for me,” Constantinides said. He also said that his wife, who has had both kidney and pancreas transplants, inspires him everyday, and he wants to become more involved in advocating for causes of transplant patients.
- Pete Davis
