By Nathan Duke
The six Democratic candidates vying to replace City Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside) vowed to fight overdevelopment and explore a variety of options for alleviating overcrowding at district schools during a debate hosted by TimesLedger Newspapers last week. But tempers flared when the contenders were given an opportunity to question their opponents.
Democrats Steve Behar, Tom Cooke, Jerry Iannece, Kevin Kim Debra Markell and Paul Vallone will face off during the Sept. 15 primary election to score the Democratic slot for this fall’s election. The winner of the primary will compete against Republican Dan Halloran, an attorney, in November.
Each candidate answered a bevy of questions on issues pertinent to District 19, which covers Bayside, Little Neck, Douglaston, College Point, East Flushing, Malba and Whitestone, during the debate hosted Friday by TimesLedger, part of the Community Newspaper Group, at Flushing Library.
All six Democrats said overdevelopment was the key issue in the district.
“The way to fight overdevelopment is through zoning laws,” said Kim, the deputy director of community affairs for U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Bayside). “At construction site, we should use live feed cameras, so people can see online what is going on at that site.”
Markell said the process of self-certification for developers should be eliminated and the city Department of Buildings should be overhauled.
The candidates agreed schools in District 25 and District 26, repeatedly ranked in the top two slots as best performing in the city, were overcrowded and that alternative methods for combatting the problem may be needed amid the current economic climate.
Cooke, a disabled veteran who has acted as board chairman for the nonprofit United Spinal Association since July 2008, said the only solution to ease overcrowding in the district would eventually be constructing new high schools. But he said district schools needed additional resources in the meantime and suggested converting parochial schools into charter schools.
“We need more modules and trailers until more capital construction is possible,” he said.
Paul Vallone, an attorney who is the son of former Council Speaker Peter Vallone Sr. and brother of Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria), said the next Council member for the district would have to prioritize education.
“You never balance the budget on the backs of children,” he said. “Why should a school have to choose between having a new gym or a computer lab?”
The candidates said they believed parking problems plagued the district and that traffic agents were often overzealous in handing out tickets.
“It’s economic discrimination,” said Iannece, who vowed to expand the municipal lot off Bell Boulevard in Bayside as a means of tackling a lack of parking in the community. “These areas are affluent, so agents know that homeowners will pay their tickets. It’s another form of taxing.”
Behar, a Bayside attorney, said he believed borough residents often avoid Bell Boulevard’s commercial strip because they fear they will be ticketed.
“We are not, as a district, supposed to balance the city’s budget with parking tickets,” he said. “I can drive two miles between my home and my parents’ home on Bell Boulevard and see cars pulled over for minor infractions.”
But the candidates also agreed more police officers were needed in the district.
“We need another precinct in northeast Queens,” said Markell, the district manager of Long Island City’s Community Board 2. “This has been an issue for many years. We’ve put a police academy into College Point, so we should have some giveback from that.”
Each candidate was given the opportunity to ask a fellow candidate a question, resulting in some sniping between the Democratic opponents.
Cooke and Vallone questioned whether Iannece, chairman of Community Board 11, should have led a meeting this summer during which a proposal by developer The Briarwood Organization was being discussed because that group had contributed to Iannece’s campaign.
“I did what I was supposed to do,” Iannece said. “I disclosed this at the beginning of the meeting.”
Iannece quizzed Vallone on why he had not voted in the district until 2005 and Markell asked Kim why he had never voted there at all. Vallone explained that serious medical issues in his family resulted in his living in Astoria between 1999 and 2003 and that he moved to Flushing four years ago. Kim said he had lived in Flushing’s District 20 and that he recently moved to Bayside with his wife as they prepared to welcome their first child.
Avella opted not to run for a third term in the Council because he has entered the mayoral race.
A full video of the debate is available online at our new political site, BoroPolitics.com.
Reach reporter Nathan Duke by e-mail at nduke@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.
