Questioning the NYC Mayoral Candidates: Part 2

New York City mayoral candidate and Councilman Tony Avella, stands in front of the apartment where he grew up in Astoria, Queens. (Joshua Philipp/The Epoch Times)

NEW YORK—The Epoch Times is interviewing the leading candidates for mayor in person. In a series of articles over the next several weeks, readers will find the candidates’ responses to a set of predetermined questions.

The campaign of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is running as an independent, said that no interviews will be given until September. The campaign of City Comptroller Bill Thompson did not respond to requests in time for this article. Thompson is running for the nomination of the Democratic Party.

New York City Councilman Tony Avella, also running for the Democratic nomination, agreed to an interview. He met with the Epoch Times in the neighborhood where he grew up, in Astoria, Queens. Below are his answers.

Q: Do you think there are any gaps in modern politics? How do you plan to change this?

“I think it was Socrates who said that people in power should be philosopher kings,” said Avella, adding that the unfortunate situation is that government officials often lack ethics and principles.

“That’s what I’d like to restore,” he said. “Elected officials, the politicians, should be more concerned about the people they represent.”

In regards to corruption, Avella referenced NY Councilman Miguel Martinez, who resigned on July 14 and pleaded guilty to three felonies after stealing $106,000 intended for nonprofit groups. “Unfortunately this is not shocking,” Avella said.

When Avella was campaigning in 2001, he said he wants to restore public faith in elected officials. He repeated a promise he made while running for city council—that he would always do what is right, regardless of the political consequences.

“I’ve kept this promise to myself, and have also kept this promise to my constituents,” Avella said.

He added that it’s a shame how government operates today. “People shouldn’t feel that way,” he said.

Q: What will you do to lower crime?

“We have to go back to the higher police force that we had,” Avella said, mentioning that New York City has one of the smallest police forces it has had in decades.

In addition to recruiting more police, Avella added that the city needs to go back to having officers assigned to specific neighborhoods where they patrol the block on foot.

Because of this, the officer was able to better know the community and its culture, “And the community got to know who their officer was,” Avella said.

“There was a better relationship then than there is today, because the officers now drive around in a car,” Avella said. “I think that would go along way to improve police-community relations and also provide more police protection and [crime] prevention—which is, in effect, what we want.”

Voter Information:

The next mayor of New York City will be chosen in the Nov. 3 General Election. The candidates of each party will be decided in the Sept. 15 Primary Election.

To vote in the primary, you must be registered and enrolled as a member of a party; you can choose among candidates within the party only. The deadline for registering is 25 days before the election date. This year, you must register by Friday, Aug. 21 in order to vote in the primary. For more information: http://vote.nyc.ny.us.

The League of Women Voters Web site contains additional helpful information: http://www.lwvnyc.org/register.htm.