Sunday 80th A.D. Assemblyman Mark Gjonaj wanted to let the people of the 89th A.D. get to know more about the candidates running for mayor. Assemblyman Gjonaj hosted a mayoral forum at Columbus High School (the place of his inauguration) with Cable talk show host Gary Axelbank as the moderator. Axelbank I was told selected the panel to ask questions of the candidates. It was surprising not only to me, but many in the audience to see that the panel was not representative of the area, and the questions told the tale. A question about the Fresh Direct subsidiary by one panel member who had written at least one editorial against the project was asked to the first three candidates. Bill Thompson answered the question the best by saying "If Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. is for it, so am I". Christine Quinn and Bill DeBlasio waltzed around the matter with their answers.
Other questions included the Kingsbridge Armory, Living Wage Bill, Croton Water filtration Plant, and other topics that did not relate to the 80th A.D. By the third candidate was answering the questions people started to leave and told me "what do these questions have to do with my neighborhood"? The battle between candidates Quinn and Thompson over the East 92nd Street Waste Transfer Station came up in one question, but nothing about the problems of the 80th A.D. Bill Thompson was the closet when he spoke of the broken education system under Mayor Bloomberg. Bill DeBlasio said what he has many times before that he wants to build 200,000 new units of affordable housing, but did not go into any details of how and where. Quinn in answering a question about the poor transportation infrastructure around the Hutch Metro Center (which was a question from outside the panel) put the responsibility for that on the City Council Transportation Chair Jimmy Vacca to deal with.
After Quinn, DeBlasio, and Thompson came former Bronx BP Adolfo Carrion. He answered the question about the water filtration plant by saying that it had to be built somewhere, and added that the Bronx got millions of dollars for Bronx wide park improvements. Carrion said that he wanted to have "World Class Neighborhood Schools", but when I asked him afterwards why his children did not go to his neighborhood school Carrion answered "There was no World Class school in my neighborhood".
John Liu was next and last of the major candidates. Liu spoke of his work as Comptroller, and that he would have no problem moving across the street to City Hall. when asked of the conviction of two of his campaign workers Liu said that he is the only candidate who has been investigated for four years, and that nothing has been found except by an undercover agent who Liu said had lied. He added that the agent had entrapped his campaign workers. Liu said that he is not accepting any contributions from people who do business with the city or from Wall Street. Liu said that he was a member of his local community board and civic organization, and that other than his eight years as a councilman and four years as Comptroller that he is not a politician like the other candidates. On a question about cuts to senior centers of 26 million dollar Liu said that the city books need to be opened up to see just where there may be extra dollars and how they can then be used to fill that 26 million dollar gap. Liu added that should not be hard in a 70 billion dollar budget which is the largest of any city in the world.
After John Liu came Sal Albanese and any other minor candidate that arrived. The two top Republican candidates Joe Lhota and John Catsimatidis were no shows as well as current second place Democratic candidate Anthony Weiner. I must say however that on Sunday it was very warm out, and Assemblyman Gjonaj had plenty of water available to quell any thirst of the attendees. He and his staff tried to do a good job as they have done for the past year, but I am sure that they will learn from their mistakes.
Left - Assemblyman Mark Gjonaj opens the 80th A.D. mayoral forum. You can notice by his rolled up sleeves how hot it was in the auditorium.
Right - Bronx County Democratic Party Vice-Chair Lou Goldstein and, State Senator Gustavo Rivera were in the Audience.
Left - City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is seated as she waits for her turn to speak to the voters in the audience.
Right - Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio speaks to some potential voters outside the auditorium where this forum was being held.
Left - Former City Comptroller Bill Thompson as he is interviewed by the local cable T.V. station.
Right - City Comptroller John Liu poses for a photo with Mr. Ron Jordan a former parent and community activist.
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Left - Thompson and Diaz work different sides of the room as their backs are opposite each other.
