By Mark Hallum
State Sen. Joseph Addabbo (D-Howard Beach) won out over his 2014 opponent once again with 59 percent of the vote in his district, which covers Maspeth, Woodhaven, Howard Beach, Ozone Park and the Rockaways. The major issues facing the district are homeless shelters, Select Bus Service and long overdue Hurricane Sandy relief.
Republican candidate Michael Conigliaro has been present on the front lines of the homeless shelter protest and a vocal supporter of homeless reform. In 2014, he piled up 42 percent of the vote. But Addabbo has the well-known name and legacy of his father, who was a congressman. This time, Conigliaro walked away with 34 percent of the vote, according to the state Board of Elections.
Since Hurricane Sandy and the homeless crisis began, Addabbo has been forced to address the issues experienced by his constituents with an unrelenting mayoral administration who has effectively burned the bridge with state government. Addabbo has been critical of the de Blasio administration for shutting out residents and elected officials when City Hall announced it would be implementing a homeless plan which would utilize hotels converted into shelters, causing a level of anger he had never seen before from his constituents.
“We have a mayor who can’t call the governor for help, to look at state-owned properties or for financial assistance because they can’t get along,” Addabbo said.
Addabbo has proposed that trailers could be used on city-owned properties as temporary shelters, which was effective for the people of Breezy Point after Hurricane Sandy forced them to take shelter elsewhere.
Hemorrhaging Sandy relief through Build it Back has forced Addabbo to seek help from small insurance companies to help his constituents and he hopes to see greater progress than would usually come from Build It Back and major insurance companies.
Reach reporter Mark Hallum by e-mail at mhall
