By Joe Anuta
Narrowing the wealth gap in New York City and advancing realistic transit goals for Queens are some of the platform points City Comptroller John Liu is pushing as he enters the home stretch of his mayoral campaign.
Liu sat down with TimesLedger Newspapers to discuss his bid for Gracie Mansion last week, although the interview took place days before he was denied matching funds by the city Campaign Finance Board, which hampers his spending power at a time when other campaigns will be dropping cash on television and mailing advertisements.
“In order to get the economy going and to have sustainable growth in the future, you have to have a system where everybody benefits,” he said. “You can’t just have the top, proverbial 1 percent benefit from an economic recovery.”
Liu, an actuarial scientist by trade and a former Flushing city councilman, said the minimum wage in New York City should be $11.50, since many part-time wage earners are raising families. The state passed legislation this spring that will bump up the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 per hour by 2016, but Liu contends it is not enough.
The majority of businesses who pay minimum wage are the large, multinational corporations that run fast-food restaurants or chain clothing stores, according to Liu. But even small businesses that typically pay employees better would benefit from the tax breaks Liu would like to couple with the wage increase. For example, he hopes to ax the general corporation tax.
Liu also wants to end city subsidies and handouts for large corporations that pledge to keep jobs in the city but often come back with tepid results. The Fresh Direct deal in the Bronx, where $127 million in public money was forked over by the city, and taxpayer money given to developers working on the embattled Willets Point redevelopment project, are two examples he cited.
“It is a system that is broken and it is bleeding taxpayers dry,” he said, proposing to use the millions in savings to fund job training programs and other investments in the city’s human capital.
As far as infrastructure capital projects, transportation in Queens needs a rational look.
“I don’t think it’s realistic for the city, on its own, to pay for the extensions of subways,” he said, citing an oft-repeated rumor that the No. 7 train may one day reach to 150th Street in Flushing. “I believe the buses are the way to go.”
Liu, who chaired the Council Transportation Committee, would like to increase express bus service and open new opportunities to travel north and south through the borough, instead of having the avenues of transit run to and from Manhattan.
As far as education is concerned, the onetime councilman proposed tweaks to the mayoral control system. He would like to give more power to local education bodies, called Community Education Councils, such as allowing them a real say into school closings and co-locations.
The comptroller said he also stands out from the pack on one of the most controversial issues currently being debated at the city level: stop-and-frisk.
“I am quite surprised that I am the only candidate, Democrat or Republican, who believes that stop-and-frisk should end,” he said.
The practice is the epitome of racial profiling, he said, adding that other deterrents like community policing could accomplish the same results without alienating entire neighborhoods from the NYPD.
Liu is arguably the most frenetic campaigner in the race, putting in long hours and traveling to each borough several times a week.
Despite the continued glad-handing, the Flushing resident has been coming up near the tail end of polls, but he contends that the Asian vote is being woefully undercounted and that he might get a double-digit bump on Election Day.
Liu suffered a lot of negative media attention when two former campaign aides were on trial for charges, including attempted wire fraud for offering to reimburse donors, which they were eventually convicted of.
But now the focus has narrowed on another embattled hopeful, Anthony Weiner, whose sexting scandal has drawn a loyal press following that accompanies him to events.
“It’s a circus and I feel bad for all the people attending and organizing these candidate forums,” Liu said.
Reach reporter Joe Anuta by e-mail at januta@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
