1. What is the most important issue in Manhattan you would address if elected?
“Dollars!” – I will lobby Washington for the fair share of federal dollars that we haven’t received. And I will go to the place I was born – Rockland County – and I will lobby to reinstate the commuter tax that died there, and I will fight to get that to finance a Second Avenue Subway. "Done!" – as in getting things done. I will always listen to the public, but projects must move forward. I’m talking about Ground Zero. West Side. New housing. A Democrat will talk about it forever, consult the unions, add restrictions and clauses, and ultimately make the investor walk away. This can’t become the city where nothing gets built. We need a Manhattan Borough President who cares about making Manhattan great.
2. What other important issues would you address if elected?
We’ll all try to make our air cleaner, our citizens healthier, and work for women, seniors, LGBT. However, I will promise that Republican and Conservative voices will be heard on a Community Board level, where they now have almost no representation whatsoever. I’ll work to get you free wifi and free toilets! I will always listen and respect our free newspapers and, unlike another candidate, I will never take away your free speech and call it "beautification."
3. What makes you the best candidate for this office?
I will never forget finally dedicating “Big Apple Corner,” alone, in the rain, while my mother was dying. No one needs to question my dedication to New York. But you shouldn’t vote for me for that, or because I found the first “beep” (borough president), or “hizzoner,” or New York “Yankees” (they played in Manhattan as the “Highlanders”), or the Manhattan cocktail, or Manhattan clam chowder, or the origin of “the Great White Way.” The difference is the qualities I’ve displayed to do all this. A past Manhattan Borough President had ignored the African American who called us “the Big Apple.” I had asked for help from some of the city council members running for this very position, but I didn’t get a response. And I guess a dead black man won’t get you many votes. But I love New York, and I care, and that makes all the difference in the world.
(Reprinted as supplied by the candidate.)
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