By Tom Momberg
Satnam Singh Parhar, one of the Democratic candidates vying for Mark Weprin’s former City Council seat in eastern Queens, and his life story embodies at least for some immigrants the American dream.
Having spent the last 40 years in New York, Parhar said the way in which he wishes to lead if elected is the same way he has been leading in his own community — by working with people to solve issues on individual bases.
“I think people are often disappointed in government, because they hardly see their representatives in their streets,” Parhar said. “When you do bring concerns to them, they just say hi, thank you and we’ll take care of it and you never hear from them again. But, I don’t want to be that man.”
The Punjabi native spent the last several years working with the India Association of Long Island, which serves South Asians in the city as well as Long Island. After being appointed as president of the organization in 2014, he helped it to secure a permanent office in Hicksville, L.I.
The roughly 2,000-member non-profit represents the interests of people of Indian heritage in Queens, Kings, Nassau and Suffolk counties.
Parhar, who has connected the organization’s members to constituent and social services, said he always tried to resolve conflicts from the ground level.
“I have a good way of listening. I like to listen and understand problems,” Parhar said.
Parhar said he believes public safety and school overcrowding are some of the biggest problems facing Council District 23, which serves Bayside Hills, Bellerose, New Hyde Park, Glen Oaks and parts of Queens Village, but raising taxes is not the way to solve them.
He said for these issues, the solutions are simple: to allocate some of the disproportionate resources in the city to eastern Queens. But for most issues, such as transportation, Parhar said the solutions are not so simple. He said the city should better spend the money it has than to increase its tax revenue and should hire experts to propose solutions.
“I don’t believe in the big campaign promises people give. I like to know what is practical — what we can do in our capacity. But one thing’s for sure — people out here are paying way too much in property taxes and water and sewer bills are too high for families to afford.”
As for education, Parhar said rules should be implemented in city schools that would parcel out the same number of students each teacher has to work with, while more staff should be allocated to promote equality among students.
“I think everybody should be given the same base-level education so this way they can all have equal education and opportunities for careers,” he said.
After completing his bachelor’s degree in India and emigrating in the 1970s to follow the footsteps of his brother, Parhar worked in fashion and retail industries in the city. He later worked in the import/export industry before getting involved in high density commercial construction, where Parhar continues to operate as a licensed general contractor.
In more recent years Parhar has volunteered on political campaigns for state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) and state Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Fresh Meadows), as well as on Swaranjit Singh’s 2009 City Council campaign against Mark Weprin for the seat Parhar is running for now.
He is also the founder of the Sant Baba Nidham Singh Cultural Society and is the chairman of the Rajput Cultural Society.
