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1. What is the most important issue in Brooklyn you would address if elected?
High end and high rise construction projects are displacing long term residents and dramatically pushing up rents. Housing is becoming unaffordable.
Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards, the Brooklyn Bridge park, and the waterfront development in Greenpoint-Williamsburg are schemes that have brushed aside legitimate community concerns about traffic, air quality and cost to taxpayers. Big box stores like Wal Mart threaten Brooklyn’s diverse network of small retailers and suppliers.
Brooklyn needs a different direction. I’m for genuine community involvement in development, not corporate control of politicians who cut sweetheart deals behind closed doors. I’m for public sports facilities, not a tax subsidized arena for a privately owned team. I’m for careers with union benefits. And I’m for parks, not parking lots.
2. What other important issues would you address if elected?
Expanding green space can both improve quality of life and counteract deadly global warming. I will enforce no-idling laws, and ban pesticide spraying. Community board members will be selected through a participatory process, not appointed.
Incumbent Marty Markowitz wants the borough to be a tourist capital. I want Brooklyn to be an education capital with a stellar public school system, well-paid and respected teachers, and a tuition-free CUNY.
Brooklyn’s high schools need to be free of aggressive military recruiters. Our kids need real job options, not a tour of Iraq.
3. What makes you the best candidate for this office?
Borough Hall today is a public relations office for corporate developers. I will turn it into a hub of civic participation, with open access for grass roots neighborhood, worker, youth, immigrant and women’s organizations striving to improve our borough.
Brooklyn needs a real leader, not a cheerleader. I am prepared to be that leader.
(Reprinted as supplied by the candidate.)
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Conservative |
| D |
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Democratic |
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Education Party |
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Green |
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Independence |
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Liberal |
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Libertarian |
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Republican |
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Rebuild Party |
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Reform Party |
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Reform Pary of N.Y. Party |
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Rent is Too Damn High Party |
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Smaller Class Size Party |
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Socialist Workers Party |
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Voice of the People |
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Working Families |
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War Veterans Party |
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