As of Jan. 1, Council Member Phil Wong dropped the -elect from his title and officially took office representing District 30 and replacing his former boss, Robert Holden. Wong stayed true to his word and retained the entirety of Holden’s staff, including Alicia Vaichunas, his former opponent during the election, who will return to her same position as deputy chief of staff.
“We hit the ground running on Day One,” said Wong. “This team has years of experience, they are from the district, they know what the community needs, and they’ve been doing the hard work day in and day out. We’ll continue the great work that’s been done and work even harder for this community.”
District 30 consists of Maspeth, Middle Village, Glendale and Ridgewood, with parts of Rego Park and Elmhurst. Wong won the election both by riding the blue wave that swelled in most of the country and with a grassroots team of door knockers and canvassers, who he said managed to visit every corner of the vast district at least once. Bernard Chow, Wong’s campaign manager who directed the canvassers, will be putting those community outreach talents to use as one of the constituent service liaisons. Accompanying his promise to bring on board the office, which he worked in as director of constituent services and budget, Wong also vowed to continue work on the bills Holden had in the works, which include Ryder’s Law, Priscilla’s Law and a package of bills dedicated to veterans.
Most recently, Wong also stated he will include the reconstruction of the St. Saviour’s Church, a 160-year-old church disassembled by Holden and the Juniper Park Civic Association (JPCA) that has yet to be rebuilt, into the capital budget plan for 2026. However, he remains dubious that the City would be willing to fund the project.
The contentious 2025 race for District 30’s City Council seat ended in dramatic fashion when Vaichunas rebuked her former boss for a lack of support during her campaign. However, despite some initial allegations of dirty campaign tactics levied at Wong’s team, Vaichunas since agreed to reprise her role in the office and has been in talks with Wong since early December on how best to serve the district. Since Nov. 4, Vaichunas had taken her leave from Holden’s office to recuperate, spend time with family and manage her business. Wong announced Viachunas would be rejoining during a Queens GOP holiday celebration.
“I want to make him shine and to make sure he does right by the community like we all held Bob accountable,” Vaichunas said. “We’ll hold Phil accountable, but I think it’ll be great. I think he’ll do a lot of great things for the community. I think he’ll go across the board to everybody: Elmhurst, Ridgewood, Rego Park, Maspeth and Middle Village. I don’t have any regrets… because if it wasn’t me, I’m glad it’s Phil.”
The rest of the staff appointments are as follows:
- Daniel Kurzyna, Chief of Staff
- Alicia Vaichunas, Deputy Chief of Staff and District Director
- William Dougherty, Legislative and Budget Director
- Jessica Rutkowski, Constituent Services Liaison
- Muhammad Hodzic, Constituent Services Liaison
- Benjamin Geremia, Constituent Services Liaison
- Bernard Chow, Constituent Services Liaison
- Charles Vavruska, Education Director and Constituent Services Liaison
