For over 25 years now, the Bay Terrace Community Alliance has invited candidates running in local races to speak on issues important to local residents.
At the Meet the Candidates Night Forum on Oct. 8, five of the six invited candidates running for Congress and state legislature answered dozens of questions on housing, public safety, immigration and education.
While turnout was low in person, with just a few dozen attendees, likely due to the High Holidays, close to 1,000 people had watched the forum streamed live on Facebook within the following week.
Warren Schreiber, President of the Queens Civic Congress and Co-President of the Co-Op Council, and Phil Konigsberg, former BTCA President, co-moderated the forum as they had for years past. Matthew Silverstein, current President of BTCA, also led the discussion.
Before and after fielding questions, the candidates delivered opening statements and closing remarks that were limited to two minutes.
Silverstein noted that several of the candidates seeking reelection have had “perfect attendance” at these forums.
NY Senate District 11 (Flushing, College Point, Whitestone, Bayside, Douglaston-Little Neck, Hollis, Bellerose)
Yiatin Chu, a political newcomer who made a name for herself as an education activist, seeks to replace long-term incumbent State Senator Toby Stavisky, who has held the seat since 1999.
In her opening remarks, Chu touched on her experience with working in the business side of medicine before taking a career break to focus on raising her two daughters. That’s when she began pushing for education issues in NYC, such as retaining the SHSAT exam and opposing affirmative action programs.
“I wanted to preserve merit-based education. That led me to interacting with local electeds and opened my eyes to a lot of global issues that we face as residents,” said Chu in her introduction. “Instead of just rallying… I wanted to have a seat at the table. ”
Also keen on education issues, Senator Stavisky, who worked as an educator in public schools before entering politics, humbly stated, “I’m a high school social studies teacher; I never use the word former.”
As longtime chair of the committee on higher education, she expressed that she was proud not to have tuition increases for CUNY or SUNY students during her tenure. She shared that since education is the surest path to upward mobility, it was “the one thing I would not give in on or compromise”
She was also proud to see Roe v. Wade codified into state law in 2019 and wrote her own bill, which passed in the Senate last year, allowing pharmacists to dispense birth medication and devices without a prescription.
Chu, on the other hand, focused her time on addressing public safety, which she said is her top priority. She’d like to put an end to bail reform—which Stavisky supports with modifications—and address an increase in crime, particularly car theft and retail theft, which is on the rise in Northeast Queens.
“In the last couple of years, I feel our quality of life has been attacked. My top priority is fixing bail reform and restoring public safety,” said Chu, later adding that she supports a mask ban for public safety reasons, with exceptions.
Stavisky, who spent much of her time speaking on housing, expressed her solidarity with co-op owners, whom she says represent the last bastion of the middle class. She pointed out that she has been fighting city council legislation seeking to impose additional costs on co-op residents and uproot zoning laws.
“I feel at home here, obviously,” Stavisky concluded, noting her many union endorsements this cycle from police, carpenters, teachers, nurses, school administrators and conservationists.
Her opponent has been endorsed by City Council Members Vickie Paladino, Robert Holden, and former U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin.
Chu, who is 57 and suggested that there should be term limits of 8-12 years, didn’t shy away from pointing out that she thinks Stavisky, who is 85, overstayed her tenure.
“You get kind of lazy and you take things for granted,” said Chu on the issue. “I’m not going to be a career politician. I’m hoping to do a couple of terms, maybe three or four, of good work for the community, and I want to retire.”
NY Congressional District 3 (Queens: Little Neck, Whitestone, Glen Oaks, Floral Park, Queens Village and Long Island: Oyster Bay Cove, Old Brookville, Levittown, Glen Cove, Roslyn, Manhasset, Plainview, Bethpage, Port Washington, Hicksville, Jericho, Syosset, Mineola, Farmingdale, Massapequa Park, Great Neck)
U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi, who represented a bit of eastern Queens and most of Nassau County, is running for reelection less than a year after winning a special election in District 3.
Like last time, he is running as a Democrat on a staunchly bipartisan platform that stresses border security and American support of issues abroad.
Republic Mike LiPetri, who served one term in State Assembly District 9 on Long Island, is running a more conservative campaign. He says he would focus on transportation infrastructure and equipping homeland security to secure the border if elected.
During the forum, he said he wants to make resisting arrest a federal crime, believes “cop killers” should get the death penalty, and that those who get caught selling fentanyl should get life in jail without parole.
Suozzi, currently on the Homeland Security Committee in Congress, shared that securing the border is his top priority. He said he continues working with republican representatives in other states to find a solution. However, addressing a rise in mental health issues and drug use is also at the top.
The two candidates were asked about their stances on healthcare. Suozzi says he supports amending, not ending, the Affordable Care Act by finding ways to make it cheaper.
In response to a question on whether he supports Medicare for All, LiPetri said, “Anything for all is never a good thing.”
LiPetri also touted that he has the support of both Council Member Vickie Paladino and Donald Trump, whom he plans on voting for. But when asked about whether the former president won or lost in 2020, he said he believes he lost. He was also asked if then-VP Pence did the right thing on Jan. 6, to which he replied, “I need to look at what he did that day.”
More locally, the candidates were asked how they would support the Queens section of the district. Suozzi noted his support for the northeast Queens community in fighting both the City of Yes housing plan and Local Law 97. He also shared how he is working on a bill to assist older adults with the cost of care in their final years.
“I’m trying to bring money to the district and heal the partisan divide causing everyone to fight with each other,” said Suozzi.
Suozzi also shared that he currently drives a fully electric car and has driven a hybrid in the past. While he encourages others to make the switch, he acknowledged concerns about increased insurance and tire maintenance costs.
“We got to fix the climate crisis, but we can’t price people out in the process,” said Suozzi.
State Assembly District 26 (Auburndale, Bay Terrace, Bayside, Bayside Hills, Broadway-Flushing, Douglaston, Floral Park, Glen Oaks, Little Neck, New Hyde Park, North Shore Towers, Oakland Gardens, Whitestone)
State Assembly Member Edward Braunstein, who assumed the seat in 2011, made his case for reelection during the forum.
According to organizers, his Republican opponent, Robert Speranza, a former NYPD officer, declined an invitation. Speranza, who is running on both the Conservative and Common Sense Party lines, also ran against Braunstein in 2022 and received 45.5% of the vote.
Braunstein appealed to the attendees by sharing his wins for co-op owners concentrated in the district. As a resident of the garden apartments, he introduced bills to cap property tax assessments for condos and co-ops, and one recently signed into law that will give those with long-term ground leases more initiative in the renewal process.
“I love living in this community, and the reason I run for office is because I grew up here, I live here, and I want to keep it the special place that it is to raise a family,” he shared.
While he supports bail reform, he explained that there were “clear problems” when it first passed in 2019, which led to amendments, including the removal of the repeat offender loophole and another that gave judges more discretion.
“There’s something unfair about the fact that someone has to sit in Rikers Island for months before they see the evidence against them, just because they can’t access a couple thousand dollars,” said Braunstein in response to those trying to throw out the measure.
“Today, that bail reform law is a lot different than the one that we passed. I pushed very hard for those changes,” he added.
While Speranza was absent, his opposing stance to “cashless bail” is at the top of his campaign website. The outlined stance explains that he would vote to repeal bail reform laws and give police more funding, which Braunstein also supports.
