By Stephen Stirling
At a City Council District 20 candidates forum at Flushing Library last Thursday, CUNY Professor Joyce Moy set the ground rules early.
“The issues facing the 20th Council District are what we’re focused on here tonight,” Moy said loudly prior to addressing the candidates. “The issues, and only the issues, are what we’re going to talk about. Do I make myself clear?”
Moy’s introduction to the forum, hosted by the Asian American Legal Defense Fund and a slew of other community organizations, was stern but probably necessary. A similar forum for candidates vying for Councilman John Liu’s (D-Flushing) seat July 27 was all but brought to a halt by angry campaign rhetoric and politically motivated allegations.
The forum moderated by Moy went smoothly and, while it covered several key issues such as affordable housing, rezoning and education, it also gave the five candidates who attended an opportunity to address some other topics not discussed at previous debates.
Green Party candidate Evergreen Chou said he hopes to push for more targeted recruiting and placement in the New York Police Department, so that officers at precincts can easily communicate with the neighborhoods they serve.
“For example, let’s go out and recruit a Fukienese-speaking officer and put him in the 109th [Precinct]. This way, we can have all of the various ethnicities served,” Chou said.
Yen Chou, a Democrat, said she would advocate the formation of a new city watchdog she called a fair business agency to deal with problems affecting minority- and women-owned businesses.
“They’ll be able to help and monitor the city’s small businesses,” she said. “I will fight for that.”
James Wu stressed the importance of remediating Flushing River and Flushing Bay and developing the adjoining waterfront as park space rather than major development.
“It should be cleaned up, it should be a Superfund site,” Wu said. And you could use some of that for apartments and light development, but it has the potential to be a beautiful space that can be enjoyed by the entire community if we develop it as passive parkland.”
S.J. Jung called for income tax reform that would boost taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers in lieu of budget cuts that would hurt city- and community-funded programs.
“You can’t take away the social safety net when people need it most,” Jung said.
John Choe, who leaned heavily on his work with the Council during the last eight years as Liu’s chief of staff, disagreed, instead suggesting cuts be made to city agencies, such as the mayor’s office.
“Let’s get real here. We have to cut the budget,” Choe said. “We have to have real solutions, not these empty promises.”
He added, “Let’s take away the mayor’s SUV.”
Democratic candidates Constantine Kavadas and Isaac Sasson and Republican candidate Peter Koo did not attend the forum.
Reach reporter Stephen Stirling by e-mail at sstirling@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 138.
