Our Neighbor’s Civic Association of Ozone Park hosted a Queens borough president candidate forum, drawing Jim Quinn, Donovan Richards, Elizabeth Crowley, Costa Constantinides and Anthony Miranda to one of the final forums before the March 24th special election was cancelled (and later rescheduled for June 23rd). Civic association President Joe Caruana moderated the forum.
The 21st St. Pat’s For All parade marched up Skillman Avenue, drawing thousands of participants and spectators on a sunny March Sunday. The St. Pat’s For All parade was founded by Brendan Fay in response to the long exclusion of LGBTQ groups from the large Manhattan parade. That exclusion ended in 2016 but the St. Pat’s For All parade continues as a vibrant Irish celebration drawing enthusiastic involvement from the LGBTQ community and the Jackson Heights and Woodside neighborhoods that host the parade.
Christ Church International hosted a Queens borough president candidate forum, drawing Costa Constantinides, Anthony Miranda and Elizabeth Crowley to Jamaica on a Saturday night. The forum was co-sponsored by Faith In New York, with FINY executive director Crystal Walthall moderating. The forum also featured remarks from Christ Church International Bishop Joseph N. Williams.
Assembly Member Catalina Cruz expressed her support for Council Member Donovan Richards in the Queens borough president special election, joining Richards for a Corona press conference. Cruz described herself and Richards as close friends, noting that Richards supported her in her 2018 primary against a candidate backed by the Queens Democratic Party.
As they waited for the press conference to begin Cruz and Richards face timed with Cruz’s mother, as captured in the photo below. After seeing the photo Cruz later tweeted “[h]e calls her mi madre. She calls him mi hijo. We are more than colleagues, we’ve become family.”
The Rockaway Youth Task Force sponsored a Queens borough president candidate forum that featured four candidates. Anthony Miranda, Costa Constantinides, Donovan Richards and Elizabeth Crowley attended the forum at Macedonia Baptist Church in Arverne, appearing before a full house of approximately 200 people.
The New York League of Conservation Voters held a candidate forum focused on environmental and sustainability issues. Costa Constantinides, Anthony Miranda, Donovan Richards and Elizabeth Crowley attended, fielding questions from moderator Katie Honan and the audience at the New York Hall of Science in Corona.
The Bay Terrace Community Alliance held a candidate forum featuring all six active candidates in the March 24th Queens borough president special election. (A seventh candidate, Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, is on the ballot but has announced that he’s ended his campaign and is not seeking election.) BTCA President Matthew Silverstein, 1st VP Warren Schreiber and 2nd VP Phil Konigsberg questioned the candidates for nearly two hours, with the candidates also given the opportunity to pose a question to one of their competitors.
The New Visions Democratic Club hosted a Queens Borough president candidate forum Monday night in Jackson Heights featuring five candidates. Council Member Costa Constantinides, former Council member Elizabeth Crowley, Anthony Miranda, Jim Quinn and Council Member Donovan Richards spent nearly two hours answering questions from moderator Ross Barkan and, briefly, from each other. An audience of approximately 100 people attended. The forum was co-sponsored by the Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club of Queens, the JFK Democratic Club and the South Asian Democratic Alliance.
The special election, filling a vacancy created by the resignation of Melinda Katz upon her taking office as the Queens district attorney, is on March 24th with early voting beginning March 14th. The winner will serve through December 31, 2020, with the remaining year in the four year term to be filled in the November 2020 general election.
New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson held a press conference calling for police action against members of the alt-right group “Proud Boys” for their actions following an appearance by Gavin McInnes, founder and leader of the “Proud Boys,” at the Metropolitan Republican Club. After McInnes’ appearance fighting broke out on nearby streets, with video showing “Proud Boys” members beating protesters. The Met Club’s clubhouse had been vandalized ahead of McInnes’ appearance, with a broken window and spray painted doors visible behind Johnson. Johnson was joined by fellow Council members Ben Kallos, Keith Powers, Donovan Richards and Rory Lancman and Assembly members Rebecca Seawright and Dan Quart.
Republican state senate candidate Pete Holmberg was at the press conference, although not invited to join it. Holmberg, a Met Club member who was present at McInnes’s appearance, had a seemingly conciliatory conversation with Johnson ahead of the press conference but the press conference ended with Holmberg, Johnson and Paxton Hart (also a member of the Met Club) shouting at each other as Johnson departed.
Mayor Bill de Blasio marked the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Sandy today with a Rockaway press conference and presentation on several resiliency projects. de Blasio was joined at the Arverne YMCA by Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, NYS Senator James Sanders, Council Member Donovan Richards, NYC Director of Resiliency Dan Zarelli, Director of the office of Housing Recovery Amy Peterson and Parks Commissioner Mitch Silver.
The mayor outlined seven projects that the City will move forward with, using surplus funding from the rebuilding of the Rockaway boardwalk. The projects include several parks in the eastern part of Rockaway. Continue reading Sandy Fifth Anniversary→
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