Last night’s mayoral forum, organized by the Park Slope Civic Council and other local civic groups, was set within the grandiose beauty of Congregation Beth Elohim’s sanctuary. Esteemed WNYC radio journalist Andrea Bernstein sat on the bema (stage) at a round table with a blue tablecloth. There were maybe two hundred people in attendance.
The idea was that each candidate, one at a time, would get their fifteen minutes or so to answer questions, some of which were submitted previously by members of the audience.
A fairly simple idea. But politics is always a circus, isn’t it? Apparently there were two other mayoral forums going on elsewhere in the city and the candidates were shuttling from one to the next.
Up first was City Comptroller (and former City Council Member) John Liu. Fresh on the heels of a conviction by a federal jury of two of his campaign staff on campaign-finance fraud charges, he came across as smart, direct, well-informed and a little defensive.
“I will defend Jenny Hu until the day I die ,” he said referring to the 26-year old staff member. He called the investigation into his campaign “basically a witch hunt.”
I couldn’t help but think he was making the old “I am not a crook” mistake. Let it go, Liu. Let it go and move on.
The Park Slope audience was pleased by his dis of the Barclays Center and disdained the developer’s use of eminent domain and the promise of affordable housing. “We got a stadium and jobs for popcorn vendors,” he told the crowd. “What else have we gotten but promises that were never met?”
He proposed ending all subsidies given to corporations for development, including tax abatements. “We can develop without tax payer’s money if we’re getting little in return,” he said and many in the audience applauded.
In a moment of levity, he asked that the audience not hold it against him that he’s from Queens. Asked what he didn’t like about Bloomberg he said, “NYC is too much of a Nanny state,” citing the proposed restrictions on beverage drink sizes.
Asked about the Prospect Park Bike Lane, he said there was was “a paucity of outreach” and that many of the bike lanes around the city were eroniously set up as pilot programs that circumvent the community process. (In fact, the Prospect Park Bike Lane was supported by the Community Board process.)
Next up was William Thompson, who was the Democratic candidate in the last election against Mayor Bloomberg. He was also NYC City Comptroller for eight years and the head of the Department of Education for five years. Born in Brooklyn, Thompson has lived in Park Slope and Prospect Heights.
A career politician, he presents with a lot of grace and well-formed answers. While he supported the Barclays Center when it was, he says, the Atlantic Yards Project, he is disappointed that the affordable housing and jobs were a no-show. “When you enter into a agreement with the city, you owe us money if you don’t live up to your promises.”
He cited Battery Park City as a sucessful development because multiple developers were involved and it evolved over time. “It’s probably one of the greenest parts of the city now.”
A proponent of mayoral control of the public schools, he beleves that the Bloomberg administration has closed too many schools “and that should be a last resort. Bring back music, art, and physical education to the schools. Bring value back to local high schools,” he said. The crowd applauded loudly.
His pitch for his 2013 campaign: “New York is at a crossroads and we need a mayor who cares about all five boroughs, job creation and affordable housing.”
George McDonald, a garment industry executive is the founder and President of The Doe Fund, an organization that provides paid work opportunities to individuals as a way to transform their lives for the better. His interview reminded me of what’s fun about these early mayoral forums when anyone can throw their hat into the ring.
Indeed, he provided the requisite cringe moments and comic relief.
McDonald, who portrays himself as “a very honest guy,” was unprepared and the opposite of slick. While his Doe Fund is a very successful $50 million non-profit that serves 1,000 individuals each day, he comes across as a concerned citizen with some good—and bad—ideas.
In other words, he’s no politician, not a good interview, and can’t seem to sum up what it is that he would do for the city. It’s more like some guy you might argue with over dinner. Asked if as mayor he would have instituted bike lanes all over the city he answered, “But I’m not the mayor.”
That got a big laugh.
“I know it says in the Politicians Handbook that you should tell everybody yes. But I don’t believe in promising things you can’t deliver.”
After McDonald there was a lull in the program because there were no more mayoral aspirants in the synagogue. The head of the Park Slope Civic Council made a speech and one of Park Slope’s City Council Members Brad Lander took his seat at Bernstein’s blue table and talked about the positive traffic changes on Fourth Avenue. He was just biding his time until another candidate made an appearance.
There was excitement when Sal Albanese and his entourage entered the synagogue. But I had to leave and my report on the other candidates is based on the opinions of two friends who were there. A New York City public school teacher for eleven years and a four-term City Council member, Albanese won one friend over by saying that he wants to get people out of their cars as much as possible. In 1997, he ran for Mayor and has been working in the private sector ever since.
Christine Quinn followed Albanese. Another friend said she was strong, loud and talked non-stop. The friend who liked Albanese thought Quinn came across okay. But she didn’t like that Bernstein asked her about her reputation for being mean. “Personality traits didn’t come up in any of the questions to the men,” she emailed me. Park Slope Patch reports that Quinn “basically steamrolled Bernstein.”
Everyone wanted to hear Park Slope’s old City Council Member Bill Di Blasio but he was late, and few were left to hear what he had to say.