By Beth Mellow

In a crowded upstairs room at Council House on West 72nd Street last Thursday evening, six Democratic candidates, and one Green party candidate for City Council, debated and discussed hotbed issues ranging from affordable housing to city taxes. The candidates are vying for an opportunity to secure the District 6 City Council seat vacated by Gale Brewer when she announced that she would run for Manhattan Borough President earlier this year. The Democratic primary for City Council will take place in September.
Candidates participating in last week’s meeting included (in alphabetical order) Ken Biberiaj, Debra Cooper, Noah Gotbaum, Marc Landis, Helen Rosenthal, Tom Siracuse, who is a Green Party member, and Mel Wymore. Although there were many nuanced differences, and a few larger divides, in the way candidates viewed topics, a belief that the community needed to secure more control over its destiny emerged as the central thesis of the evening. Time and time again, in regards to various municipal issues including education and housing, the candidates declared that the state government, or mayoral appointees, hold too much of the power in policy making.

In addition, each of the candidates also debated issues not only relevant to the Upper West Side community, but also the city at large, including Hurricane Sandy recovery. As one candidate, Debra Cooper, stated, “The Upper West Side is a specific geographic space but we have always been the leader on progressive issues affecting the rest of the city, state, and country.”

Last week’s event was hosted by the Social Action Committee of the National Council of Jewish Women, New York, West Side Federation of Neighborhood & Block Associations, and the Committee for Environmentally Sound Development. Here is a summary of how candidates weighed in on various topics.

Housing
While all seven candidates expressed concerned over rising rents on the Upper West Side and throughout New York City, each came to the topic with varying opinions on how to cap increasing housing costs. Some of the candidates mentioned problems surrounding the Urstadt law, which enables state government, instead of New York City, to set parameters for rent regulation, while others talked about the need to bring Mitchell-Lama style housing back for the middle class. See their opinions below:

Tom Siracuse: “I live in a rent control apartment, and if it weren’t for rent control, I wouldn’t be here today. Rent regulated apartments form the bedrock of working class and middle class people living in the city.”

Debra Cooper: “We need to repeal the Urstadt law. We can’t accomplish this without getting the Republicans out of control of the state senate. That will require some political organizing.”

Helen Rosenthal: “We have to work harder to connect with the community [on housing issues]. I worked with residents of Trinity House (a Mitchell-Lama building located on West 92nd street) to fend off a purchaser. They are now hoping to have a tenant buyout.”

Ken Biberiaj: “We have to support the young families that are living here and we have to hold HPD accountable to make sure that rent stabilized units are not deregulated.”

Mel Wymore: “Housing is a broken system in New York City because there are so many different programs between the city and the state working at odds with each other.”

Education
From overcrowded classrooms to free tuition at CUNY, all the candidates felt passionately about the state of education on the Upper West Side and throughout the city. Many of the candidates had personal experience with the New York City public school system, including Siracuse, who spent 29 years as a high school teacher; Landis, who helped establish Frank McCourt High School; and Gotbaum, who has been part of school boards and parent organizations over the past several years. Read what some of the candidates had to say about the current school system and how to improve it.

Marc Landis: “We need to give families options that don’t cost $40,000 a year.” He also stated, “I want to make sure the city council has more of a say on educational policies. It shouldn’t be only up to mayoral appointees.”

Noah Gotbaum: “I have fought against charter schools, high stakes testing, and demonizing teachers. The DOE right now doesn’t listen to parents and communities and are out to privatize our schools.”

Tom Siracuse: “We must restore free tuition at CUNY for students who graduate from New York City public schools.”

Debra Cooper: “We need to improve access to early childhood education. When you prepare kids as preschoolers, they do better once they get to grade school.” She added, “We need to work on classroom overcrowding too. The current elementary school bulge, will become a middle school bulge, which will in turn become a high school bulge.”

Ken Biberiaj: He believes it’s important to provide children with access to their local schools rather than sending them to other neighborhoods. “We’re zoned for P.S. 87 and we only have a four percent chance of getting our child into preschool there. When a school is right there, it doesn’t make sense that they won’t enroll your child.”

Mel Wymore: “We need to make sure that our resources are shared more effectively. There are some PTAs with million dollar budgets, while others have only $20,000.”

City Council and the Mayor’s Office
All seven candidates agreed that there was a need for reform, or at least some improvement, in the functioning of City Hall and City Council. In fact, certain candidates believed that Speaker Christine Quinn’s relationship with Mayor Bloomberg had become too friendly, and as a result, is affecting proceedings at City Council. Additionally, others felt that Quinn’s leadership is skewed, claiming that she favors districts where council members are most helpful in pushing forth her agenda.

Noah Gotbaum: “City Council has become a lap dog. Christine Quinn and Bloomberg have gone together like this (shows crossed fingers to the audience). We need a strong City Council.”

Ken Biberiaj: “While I don’t agree with Bloomberg on everything that he has done, I believe that we have made progress on many fronts over the past few years.”

Marc Landis: “We need to break ties that bind in the council. I will only support a next speaker who will work on creating those reforms.”

Debra Cooper: She believes that Quinn favors some council members, and by extension, their communities, based on their loyalty to her. Cooper explained, “You shouldn’t have the power to punish those who do not support you.”

Tom Siracuse: “We need a city council that is not dominated by one party.”

City Taxation
The candidates also weighed in on city income tax. All believed that there were issues with the current system, with many citing the fact that the current tax laws impose the same percentage on all residents who earn more than $60,000 annually.
Ken Biberiaj: “We don’t have control of our destiny. We have a 70 billion dollar budget in New York City, but so much, including taxation, lies beyond our control.”

Marc Landis: “As a member of the Democratic party, I have been a proponent of the progressive tax through and through.”

Noah Gotbaum: “It was our own Democratic party that took a pass on the millionaire’s tax.”

Recovery from Super Storm Sandy
Although District 6 was minimally affected by the hurricane, recovery and future preparation was still important to many of the candidates.

Mel Wymore: “We need to re-design our drainage system because currently our drainage system and sewage system are connected [which creates a whole host of problems during and after a major storm].”

Helen Rosenthal: “We need to demand from the government that they issue bonds [to help with the recovery].”

Noah Gotbaum: “There was a shortsightedness in excluding the community from preparation. We had 20,000 New York Cares volunteers interested in helping out, but no way to get involved.”

In New York City, many people assume that the battle for reproductive choice takes place in “flyover states”—and certainly not in our own backyard! Yet these assumptions were proven incorrect again just a few days ago.

Last week, the Daily News reported on the closing of a surgical center in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, reportedly due to anti-abortion protests. Dr. Terry Lazar, an owner of the surgical center, told the Daily News, “It was getting more and more difficult. Doctors were getting harassed, and patients were getting harassed. It was a decision we finally had to make.” Although Dr. Lazar was later quoted by WNYC as stating that the closure was for “economic reasons” and was unrelated to protests, the bottom line is that this surgical center has closed, while another surgical center, under out-of-state ownership, will not provide abortion services. The protesters held a celebratory mass at a church located down the block.

Reading this story led me to flash back nearly 20 years, back to the spring of 1994, when Lincoln Women’s Services was denied a renewal lease at 1995 Broadway, in the old Jamaica Savings Bank building. Then, like now, the landlord denied that the protests had anything to do with the decision. I was the newly elected president of Community Free Democrats, and our Democratic club activists worked closely with then-Assembly Member Scott Stringer, then-District Leader Eric Schneiderman and others on this issue—first, to raise public awareness and to bring public pressure on the landlord to reconsider its decision; later, I worked with the owners to assist them in seeking alternative space on Manhattan’s West Side.

Earlier this year, just weeks after Rush Limbaugh labeled Sandra Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute” for daring to speak up about health insurance coverage for reproductive choice, I was among a handful of men who worked with Unite Women New York to organize a march and rally in support of reproductive rights along with other issues such as education, workplace equality and protecting women and children from domestic violence. Thousands of activists of all ages marched from Washington Square Park to Foley Square as part of a national call to action.

The brazenness of the anti-choice forces across the nation cannot be underestimated. This year, we have seen a Virginia governor who wants to deter abortions by requiring medically unnecessary and invasive procedures, a vice-presidential candidate who sponsored legislation to define life as beginning at conception, and a U.S. Senate candidate in Missouri who believes that rape victims cannot get pregnant. Still, when we see medical clinics closing here in New York City because abortion is one of the medical options offered to patients, we are reminded that the struggle to protect reproductive rights must begin here at home.

Marc Landis is a candidate for New York City Council and an Upper West Side Democratic District Leader.

While Brewer is widely rumored to be preparing for a run for borough president, four candidates are hoping to succeed her in representing the 6th District, which covers the Upper West Side from West 55th to 96th streets. All four candidates jumped into the race months ago, and now recent campaign filings give residents a sneak peek at who might be a serious contender come next September.

At this point, however, all four candidates are fairly close when it comes to the numbers. The front runner in total dollar amount filed is Helen Rosenthal, one-time chair of Community Board 7 and a former city employee in the Office of Management and Budget, who brought in $152,981 with 709 contributions.

“This early in the election, campaign filings matter primarily to the extent they reflect a campaign’s organizational strength and in-district support, and it allows us to focus more on talking to voters and building grassroots support,” Rosenthal said in an email. Her assessment could easily apply to the other three candidates in the race, who are also well-positioned financially.

Ken Biberaj, vice president of the Russian Tea Room, who made headlines for fully funding his campaign in only four months, registered a total of $131,020 from 982 contributions. “It is very exciting to be done fundraising and now have the ability to focus on having a conversation with Upper West Siders and the issues that matter most to our community,” Biberaj said in an email.

Both Marc Landis, an attorney, who reported $111,143 from 446 contributions, and Mel Wymore, a former community board chair, who reported $111,863 from 303 contributions, echoed that sentiment. “I look forward to focusing on the critical issues of the campaign: improving our education system, expanding our affordable housing options, improving our quality of live and reforming how our government works,” said Landis in an email.

“Everyone involved in the race now either has made or will shortly make the full budget,” said Jordan Jacobs, Wymore’s campaign manager. “Who raised more actually has no meaning to the race.”

Insiders agree that at this point in the race, having the least—or the most—money in a campaign account is no indication of where a candidate will fall on the ballot.

“Because of New York City’s extraordinarily generous and almost universally participated in campaign finance program, everybody will have the same amount of money, so the money has less meaning,” said political consultant Hank Sheinkopf.

Sheinkopf’s consulting firm has been hired by Biberaj’s campaign, but he spoke in general about City Council elections and not as a representative for the campaign.

The matching program gives candidates $6 for every $1 raised from New York City residents, for up to $175 per person. The program was intended to level the playing field and give candidates without access to big money a chance to compete, although the West Side candidates are all neck and neck at this point.

Sheinkopf said that it’s way too early to make predictions on front runners based solely on fundraising totals.

“Unlike most people in my business, I got rid of my crystal ball a long time ago; it didn’t fit in my wallet,” Sheinkopf said. “Early money helps define the race for people in the media business and for local community activists. But the general public, they don’t care.”