Eight candidates are running to represent City Council District 20, one of the busiest and liveliest districts in the borough.
The district, made up of downtown Flushing, Murray Hill and Queensboro Hill, faces a host of issues the next legislator will have to take on, including keeping the district’s large Asian American population safe from an increase in hate crimes in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Represented in the council by Peter Koo since 2009, the district recently saw the introduction of a busway in downtown Flushing, one of the busiest neighborhoods in the city.
The district is also home to a rezoning dispute concerning the Flushing waterfront that will likely reverberate into the next City Council member’s tenure.
QNS sent five questions to each candidate running for the District 20 City Council seat including Hailing Chen, John Choe, Sandra Ung, Neng Wang, Dao Yin, Anthony Miranda, Sam Wong and Ellen Young. Four of the eight candidates answered.
See their responses, listed alphabetically, below. Some answers have been edited for length or clarity.
Anthony Miranda
QNS: What, in your opinion, are the top three most pressing issues in your district?
Miranda: Criminal Justice Reform and community safety, overdevelopment/lack of affordable housing and preserving NYCHA in our community.
QNS: What aspect of your background speaks best to your abilities as a City Council member?
Miranda: I am a civil rights and community advocate for over 25 year. I have a long record of public service for the city of NY serving as chief of police for ACS, regional director of security for privately run city shelters, and supervisor in the NYC Police Department in various titles and positions. I currently consult and advocate on issues of police reform. I advise and serve on the boards of Hispanic Chambers of Commerce and law enforcement organizations (National Coalition of Justice Practitioners, Grand Council of Guardians, NLOA Executive Chairman). I know how to manage a city agency and I know how to keep our community safe.
QNS: What do you love most about your district?
Miranda: Great diversity, great food, great people. It is truly a melting pot district.
QNS: Which one of your opponents will you be ranking second on your ballot and why?
Miranda: To be determined.
QNS: How do you plan to prioritize and support small businesses in your district to recover from the challenges of the pandemic?
Miranda: We must re-open all aspects of our community coupled with safety precautions. But, we must move our community forward.
Sandra Ung
QNS: What, in your opinion, are the top three most pressing issues in your district?
Ung: Our top issue is recovering from the pandemic. My district needs more vaccines and an economic recovery that centers working families and small businesses. Our community suffers from chronic disinvestment in senior services. With many seniors aging in place, we need to prioritize building more accessible transit options and investing in paid family leave for caretakers. Our schools lack funding. We need more after-school programs, including free homework help and tutoring. We also need to tackle the digital divide and improve access to Wi-Fi and computers, which students will continue to need after the pandemic.
QNS: What aspect of your background speaks best to your abilities as a City Council member?
Ung: I’ve lived in this district since moving here as a child, went to our public schools and continue to care for my two parents here. It’s love for my community that inspired me to enter public service. After graduating from Columbia Law school, I worked as an attorney at a nonprofit advocating for victims of domestic violence. Since then, I have worked in government helping constituents, including in Congresswoman Grace Meng’s office. I understand how the government works, and I have the experience necessary to advocate for our district in City Hall.
QNS: What do you love most about your district?
Ung: The diversity! Our neighborhood’s schools, businesses and streets echo with languages from across the world. We’re lucky to be somewhere that welcomes people from all walks of life and provides opportunities to build new lives for themselves and their families. Our community is also one that cares for each other. Throughout the pandemic, I’ve seen people come together to help sick or elderly neighbors book vaccine appointments or help them get their groceries. Although we’ve had an incredibly difficult year, I am confident that this sense of community between neighbors means that we will be able to move forward toward a better future.
QNS: Which one of your opponents will you be ranking second on your ballot and why?
Ung: I haven’t decided yet.
QNS: How do you plan to prioritize and support small businesses in your district to recover from the challenges of the pandemic?
Ung: One of my top priorities would be ending the onerous fines given out to businesses, replacing them with warnings; I’ve spoken to local restaurants who can lose two days of income for a minor mistake. Many are then forced to close for a day to go to court. I would appoint multilingual special liaisons to the Department of Small Business Services to help entrepreneurs navigate the complex bureaucracy in their own language. I will also organize legal and business seminars for small business owners and expand the Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprises program to help them access government contracts.
Dao Yin
QNS: What, in your opinion, are the top three most pressing issues in your district?
Yin: Racial tension – When you look at all that is happening in our community, because we had a president call the COVID-19 pandemic the “the Asian virus” people look at us as we are below them. I will fight to make sure that the people of the 20th District are properly educated on the coronavirus.
Transportation – With so many surface public transportation buses in the area, the MTA needs to look at building a hub station in the College Point area. There is a new waterfront project beginning real soon and this will raise the area’s population massively. A hub on College Point will allow for a better flow of traffic in the downtown Flushing catchment area.
COVID-19 — Our area has the lowest allowance of services relating to the coronavirus. There is a need for better healthcare outreach for our ever aging community. Our children need better instruction than what’s being provided currently; they need to go back to school on a regular schedule. We must do better in this once-thriving community.
QNS: What aspect of your background speaks best to your abilities as a City Council member?
Yin: My background in finance and technology would allow me to integrate and update many of our businesses so that they may communicate with municipal resources that will allow them to keep in municipal compliance and any financial assistance for their respective businesses, and also the ability to communicate amongst neighboring businesses which would strengthen these businesses in providing our community the best of the best.
QNS: What do you love most about your district?
Yin: The diversity. We are home to one of the largest multi-ethnic communities in the state. Our ability to be resilient. I will a few of the community’s not-for-profit agencies have traveled the community to provide PPE and food to all those in need.
QNS: Which one of your opponents will you be ranking second on your ballot and why?
Yin: This is hard. I personally have not selected anyone, but I am open to suggestions.
QNS: How do you plan to prioritize and support small businesses in your district to recover from the challenges of the pandemic?
Yin: As I stated in question 2, my background in finance and technology would allow me to better educate businesses in understanding what resources they can use to not only rebuild their respective businesses, but to provide much needed employment for our local residents. I am a strong believer that small businesses are the backbone of every community and we must help these businesses maintain their status in the community.
Sam Wong
QNS: What, in your opinion, are the top three most pressing issues in your district?
Wong: Property taxes, crime, disappearing small businesses
I decided to run for City Council because I see a decline in the quality-of-life in this community. Property taxes keep going up, while small businesses are disappearing. Just look at all the stores for rent along Northern Boulevard. To make matters worse, crime is surging in the district with burglaries and robberies up 21 percent and 38 percent respectively. These are the issues that impact every family in this community. I want to use the power of the City Council to turn things around and leave this community greater than I found it.
QNS: What aspect of your background speaks best to your abilities as a City Council member?
Wong: I’m a people person and a problem solver. I grew up in Flushing, Queens, and spent the last 16 years building and training teams to solve problems for companies around the world. I’m also an active community board member. Considering 68 percent of the New York City Council will be freshman members, we’re going to need someone that understands the problems of the district and can work with people of different backgrounds to form a coalition and enact bold solutions.
QNS: What do you love most about your district?
Wong: I love the diversity and people of this district. Where else can you find tons of authentic food from all different cultures, cool independent mom-and-pop shops and great golf courses all within 4 square miles.
QNS: Which one of your opponents will you be ranking second on your ballot and why?
Wong: If I had to choose, I would second rank Sandra Ung. Even though some of our policies might be different I believe we share similar values. We’re both a product of working families that immigrated from a war-torn country, public school educated and a primary care supporter for our elderly parents.
QNS: How do you plan to prioritize and support small businesses in your district to recover from the challenges of the pandemic?
Wong: As councilman I will propose zero percent interest loan to small businesses that were profitable before the pandemic. It only makes sense to support these small businesses because they’re the ones that will help create new jobs once the pandemic is over. In addition, I want to create weekly immunity nights to help struggling restaurants. I want to allow restaurants to operate at 100 percent indoor dining capacity on certain nights to serve customers that can prove they are vaccinated. Finally, as councilman, I’ll work to create tax free weekends to get more people to go out and support our local small businesses.
Wong did not submit a headshot to QNS.
