By Anna Gustafson
Karen Koslowitz defeated Lynn Schulman and Bartholomew Bruno Tuesday in the race to replace City Councilwoman Melinda Katz (D-Forest Hills), claiming a victory that sends the former councilwoman back to City Hall, according to unofficial results reported by NY1.
Koslowitz, a Democrat, beat Schulman, a Democrat running in the general election on the Working Families line, and Bruno, a Republican, garnering 11,170 votes, or 63.40 percent, according to unofficial results.
“I worked hard in this election, and the people realized it,” Koslowitz said Tuesday night. “I was very happy that all these people came out to support me.”
Bruno, not listed as a candidate by the city Campaign Finance Board but who appeared on the ballot, came in second with 3,752 votes, or 21.3 percent. Schulman, a member of Community Board 6 and community activist, received 2,697 votes, or 15.31 percent.
The win brings Koslowitz back to a place she knows well: City Hall. Koslowitz, currently president of community boards at Queens Borough Hall, represented District 29 for 11 years until 2001, when she was forced out of office by term limits. District 29 covers Forest Hills, Rego Park, Kew Gardens and parts of Richmond Hill, Maspeth and Elmhurst.
Koslowitz said she plans to address education, senior issues and health care in the district.
“If we can help to open Parkway Hospital, that would be wonderful,” Koslowitz said of the hospital that was closed by the state in November 2008.”If not, we want more medical care in the community.”
“I’m going to stay active in the community,” Schulman said. “I’ve always wanted to help the community and that’s something I’m going to continue to do. I met a lot of different people that want to work with me in the future, and I look forward to working with Karen Koslowitz.”
Koslowitz ran a campaign that focused on health care, education and senior issues, all of which she said she plans to emphasize when she takes office. The former councilwoman said additional health care services are needed in a borough that recently lost Parkway in Forest Hills, St. John’s in Elmhurst and Mary Immaculate in Jamaica.
She has also said school overcrowding needs to be addressed and called for additional classrooms to be created. Koslowitz also said she planned to look at quality-of-life issues, such as traffic on Austin Street and Queens Boulevard and empty storefronts throughout the district.
Schulman, a senior associate executive director of business affairs at Woodhull Medical Center in Brooklyn, had focused much of her campaign on similar issues and called for additional health care services and classrooms.
Schulman said she wanted to create a 24-hour constituent service line and to increase affordable housing for seniors.
Reach reporter Anna Gustafson by e-mail at agustafson@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 174.
