[BwayDems] Mayoral, borough president candidates debate at forum

[Paula Diamond Roman]

Mayoral, borough president candidates debate at forum
Candidates for mayor, borough president, and public advocate 
shared their visions for the city and explained why they think they 
deserve voters’ support.
By Avantika Kumar
Spectator Senior Staff Writer 
Published April 1, 2013
 
David Brann / Senior Staff Photographer




	* 
Prominent political hopefuls came to Morningside Heights 
Thursday evening for a candidate forum hosted by the Broadway Democrats 
club.

Candidates for mayor, borough president, and public advocate shared their visions for the city and explained why they think they 
deserve voters’ support. About 50 people attended the three-hour forum, 
which took place around the corner from Columbia at Bank Street College 
on 112th 

Street between Broadway and Riverside Drive.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Comptroller John Liu, former 
comptroller Bill Thompson, and former City Council member Sal Albanese, 
along with a host of fringe candidates, discussed their mayoral 
campaigns.

Quinn, who had spoken at Barnard earlier that night, emphasized her commitment to supporting education, preserving 
affordable housing, and maintaining quality jobs even in the face of 
recession. She noted that during her time in public office, she worked 
to stop the layoffs of 4,100 teachers and kept fire stations in the city from being shut down.

Liu, who has served as comptroller for three years, said that his 
experience making “very vigorous audits” qualified him for the position. 

“We need to change our fiscal priorities,” he said, emphasizing the 
need to invest in people rather than in companies, hold the New York 
City Housing Authority accountable for providing affordable housing, and reform the flat income tax in the city. 

Thompson, who lost to Bloomberg in 2009, also criticized his former 
opponent’s administration, saying Bloomberg’s policies “squeeze” people 
out of the city.

“We’re being priced out of our own neighborhoods,” he said.

Former City Council member Sal Albanese said he was the only 
candidate who was “not a career politician.” He stressed the need to 
create jobs by giving small businesses “room to grow.”

“We need jobs that pay the bills,” he said.

The candidates for borough president, City Council members Gale Brewer, Robert Jackson, Jessica Lappin, and former Community Board 1 chair Julie Menin, CC ’89, also spoke at the event.

To loud applause, Brewer announced the passage of a paid sick leave 
bill for city workers, an effort for which she had spent years lobbying. The accomplishment involved, at one point, a teleconference of around 
19,000 people, Brewer said.

She added that her work advocating for small businesses, pushing 
environmental efforts, starting a new school, and making open data 
available reflected her ability to “take something really important” and mobilize support.

“I’m very focused on what people care about,” Brewer said.

Lappin emphasized her “progressive, reform-minded” Democratic agenda. She cited her experiences working on a law regulating crisis pregnancy 
centers, working for seniors as chair of the City Council’s aging 
committee, opening five new public schools, and designating historic 
areas as landmarks. Lappin also thanked Brewer for her work on the paid 
sick leave bill, calling her a “real quarterback” in the effort.

Menin emphasized her role helping rebuild Lower Manhattan following 
9/11. Although some doubted Lower Manhattan would ever again be a viable center of tourism and commerce, she said, “we really proved them 
wrong.”

As borough president, Menin said she would make affordable housing 
more available—adding that her mother, a Holocaust survivor, would not 
have been able to make a living in the city were it not for affordable 
housing.

Jackson said his efforts promoting education qualified him especially for the position. He also touched briefly on his support for Columbia’s Community Benefits Agreement with Manhattanville residents, mentioning 
the 87 nonprofits that were recently awarded grants as part of the 
agreement. When City Council candidate Thomas Lopez-Pierre asked him 
about accusations that Columbia was not hiring enough black architects, 
he responded that Columbia has fulfilled the agreement’s obligations in 
that respect. 

Morningside Heights Historic District Committee president Laura 
Friedman, who attended the event, said that making a choice about which 
borough president candidate to endorse would be especially difficult 
given the “visionary” candidates. 

“Manhattan has a really great number of wonderful candidates for 
borough president,” Friedman said. “I wish all of New York had these 
choices.” 

Friedman said that Brewer’s tenacity on the sick leave bill and her 
familiarity with the neighborhood were significant, but “I think that it will be a very tough choice.”

The night also included candidates for public advocate, including 
State Senator Daniel Squadron, former deputy public advocate Reshma 
Saujani, Teachers College professor Catherine Guerrerio, and Brooklyn 
City Councilwoman Letitia James.

Squadron addressed issues of education, affordable housing and bus safety.

Saujani emphasized supporting working families, creating 
opportunities for students to obtain qualification for open technical 
jobs, and provide free legal assistance to affordable housing tenants. 
She also proposed a moratorium on school closures. 

James cited her experience fighting for residents’ rights during the 
implementation of the Atlantic Yards development project and her support for public facilities, such as libraries, as well as the lawsuits she 
has filed against stop-and-frisk, the soda ban, and term limits. 

Guerrerio, who emphasized her working-class background and her Ph.D. 
in school policy, said that the number of officials who will be replaced this year makes this election season especially significant. 

“It’s going to be the Wild West,” Guerrerio said. 



avantika.kumar at columbiaspectator.com | @avantikaku
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