1. What is the most important issue in Council District 5 you would address if elected?

Security: New Yorkers want safe neighborhoods. Crime is at historic lows but I know from my time on the 19th Police Precinct Community Council that theft and quality of life crimes remain concerns. Police & firefighters need state of the art equipment to detect, defeat, and deter future 9/11 attacks. Participating in the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, meeting current and former law enforcement officials, working as a trauma surgeon gives me the background to deal with the terrorist threat.

2. What other important issues would you address if elected?

Healthcare: 20 years surgery experience gives me the expertise to tackle crippling Medicaid costs, a costly public hospital system, high breast cancer rates in our District. I oppose the 91st St. Waste Transfer station at the Asphalt Green recreational facility. The Economy: Cutting New York’s sky high taxes to attract business and jobs is impossible without limiting spending which the current City Council refuses to do. Education: As a parent and professor at Columbia Law and Mt Sinai Med Schools I know the importance of quality education. Progress has been made establishing standards and accountability. We need to upgrade facilities, decrease class size, reward good teachers and remove bad ones, end wasteful school custodian rules, combat obesity, & improve public libraries. Transportation: The full length Second Avenue Subway must be built minimizing construction’s impact.

3. What makes you the best candidate for this office?

I am not a career politician. I am a surgeon and lawyer who has worked in our community 20 years and lived in New York my entire life. I know what it is like to run a small business and interact daily with the public. The City Council is dominated by politicians more concerned with grandstanding than governing, more concerned with debating international and national resolutions than solving local problems. Many have never worked in the private sector. Nearly all view the Mayor as an adversary rather than partner. Many District 5 candidates also have limited private sector experience. My experience in medicine law and education is unique. I have the maturity, experience and perspective to tackle tough issues and make the City Council a more effective and responsive body.

(Reprinted as supplied by the candidate.)

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PARTY KEY
C = Conservative D = Democratic EP = Education Party G = Green I = Independence L = Liberal	LBT = Libertarian R = Republican REB = Rebuild Party REF = Reform Party RNY = Reform Pary of N.Y. Party RTD = Rent is Too Damn High Party	SCS = Smaller Class Size Party SW = Socialist Workers Party VOP = Voice of the People WF = Working Families WVP = War Veterans Party