Thursday, February 23, 2006
Vote for your new Assemblyperson in the Special Election, Feb. 28
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
This should be cause for excitement – we are electing a virgin Assemblyperson, choosing between two well-liked community activists who are not previous officeholders, running on low budgets, uncontaminated by major donations and not treating this office as a steppingstone. May whoever wins succeed in lending a reformer’s hand in curing the Albany legislature, found by the NYU Law School’s Brennan Center to be the most dysfunctional in the entire country.
The resignation of Steve Sanders has left the 74th Assembly District without a representative. To fill the vacancy, the Board of Elections has opened the usual polling places on Tuesday, February 28, 6AM to 9PM, for a special election. Democrat Sylvia Friedman and Republican Frank Scala are the candidates for the interim term. The primary for the next full term will be in September.
By now you should have received the announcement notices from the Board. and party stalwarts will be receiving mailings from both candidates, to acquaint you with their programs. The time for campaigning has been short, and the literature is limited. I will try to condense some of it for you,
Sylvia Friedman, a former schoolteacher, joined the Gramercy Stuyvesant Independent Democrats in 1976 as a campaign volunteer, rising to the presidency of the club. For the past eight years she has been a representative of the district in the State Democratic Committee, and chairs its Reform Caucus. This work, as well as being an ombudsman in the office of the Public Advocate (providing apartments for families, getting streets repaired and garbage collected, resolving issues with city agencies), has brought her valuable contacts with state legislators and city officials. Early on she became a member of Community Board 6, at times chairing its Homeless Committee (she has been since1986, the chair of Friends Seminary’s Homeless Shelter Program), Parks & Landmarks Committee (working on the Stuyvesant Cove Park project), and Housing Committee (proposing a new Mitchell-Lama type program for low and middle income families). As a member of the Union Square Community Coalition board she worked toward the opening of three playgrounds (she opposes the proposed restaurant expansion.
Sylvia Friedman’s program also includes saving rent regulation, putting an end to MCI rent increases, providing housing for the disabled (she is on the boards of the 504 Democratic Club, a citywide organization for the disabled, and the Center for the Independence for the Disabled); keeping the height of the Con Ed site buildings to match the UN building; expansion of the Stuyvesant Square Park and Gramercy Park Historic Districts, and, let’s not forget, return of local school control.
Frank Scala, a Stuyvesant Town resident and a local businessman for 34 years (owner of the Murray Hill barbershop La Scala) is the president of the Vincent F. Albano Republican Club. He has been endorsed by former State Senator Roy Goodman, Mayors Bloomberg and Giuliani, as well as the New Era Democrats, a crossover group.
Appointed to Community Board 6 by Democrats Eva Moskowitz and C. Virginia Fields, he serves as the Vice Chair of Business and Government Affairs, and a member of Parks, Recreation and Landmarks Committee, where he helped secure major funds for the creation of the Stuyvesant Cove Park (on whose board he serves). He also presides over the venerable 13th Precinct Community Council, and is a graduate of the NYPD Citizen’s Police Academy. Frank Scala ran for State Assembly once before, in 2001, against Steven Sanders, and, although losing, received a formidable 35% of the vote.
As to a program, Frank Scala is an independent moderate reform Republican. He is an active member of the community and a believer in the community above party line. He believes one needs to serve our District independently and as an elected official, needs to get to answers, not to debate or fight political parties. He will work to maintain and extend rent stabilization and bring back NYC Home rule.
He has presented to Assemblymen and the Minority Leader in Albany the Scala Amendment, to impose stiffer penalties to anyone that commits a crime against our seniors or the disabled, an unprotected class, and anyone who commits such crimes should be registered and treated as they do for child molesters. Scala supports the Bloomberg administration's effort on reforming New York City's public schools. It is time for everyone to be accountable. He also believes something must be done to provide college-bound high schools for the district (his wife Melanie is a school teacher). He wants a program to coordinate all of the city's responder teams, police, fire, office of emergency management, and to educate all the citizens in the district on what to do in the event of a disaster. A more business friendly NYC is also desirable, decreasing the cumbersome regulations and providing tax incentives for new businesses. We need initiatives to make sure new businesses come and stay in New York City. Scala wants to solve the noise level problems in the district (bars, car alarms) through regulations and enforcement. He would retain term limits, “we do not need career politicians.”
This should be cause for excitement – we are electing a virgin Assemblyperson, choosing between two well-liked community activists who are not previous officeholders, running on low budgets, uncontaminated by major donations and not treating this office as a steppingstone. May whoever wins succeed in lending a reformer’s hand in curing the Albany legislature, found by the NYU Law School’s Brennan Center to be the most dysfunctional in the entire country.
The resignation of Steve Sanders has left the 74th Assembly District without a representative. To fill the vacancy, the Board of Elections has opened the usual polling places on Tuesday, February 28, 6AM to 9PM, for a special election. Democrat Sylvia Friedman and Republican Frank Scala are the candidates for the interim term. The primary for the next full term will be in September.
By now you should have received the announcement notices from the Board. and party stalwarts will be receiving mailings from both candidates, to acquaint you with their programs. The time for campaigning has been short, and the literature is limited. I will try to condense some of it for you,
Sylvia Friedman, a former schoolteacher, joined the Gramercy Stuyvesant Independent Democrats in 1976 as a campaign volunteer, rising to the presidency of the club. For the past eight years she has been a representative of the district in the State Democratic Committee, and chairs its Reform Caucus. This work, as well as being an ombudsman in the office of the Public Advocate (providing apartments for families, getting streets repaired and garbage collected, resolving issues with city agencies), has brought her valuable contacts with state legislators and city officials. Early on she became a member of Community Board 6, at times chairing its Homeless Committee (she has been since1986, the chair of Friends Seminary’s Homeless Shelter Program), Parks & Landmarks Committee (working on the Stuyvesant Cove Park project), and Housing Committee (proposing a new Mitchell-Lama type program for low and middle income families). As a member of the Union Square Community Coalition board she worked toward the opening of three playgrounds (she opposes the proposed restaurant expansion.
Sylvia Friedman’s program also includes saving rent regulation, putting an end to MCI rent increases, providing housing for the disabled (she is on the boards of the 504 Democratic Club, a citywide organization for the disabled, and the Center for the Independence for the Disabled); keeping the height of the Con Ed site buildings to match the UN building; expansion of the Stuyvesant Square Park and Gramercy Park Historic Districts, and, let’s not forget, return of local school control.
Frank Scala, a Stuyvesant Town resident and a local businessman for 34 years (owner of the Murray Hill barbershop La Scala) is the president of the Vincent F. Albano Republican Club. He has been endorsed by former State Senator Roy Goodman, Mayors Bloomberg and Giuliani, as well as the New Era Democrats, a crossover group.
Appointed to Community Board 6 by Democrats Eva Moskowitz and C. Virginia Fields, he serves as the Vice Chair of Business and Government Affairs, and a member of Parks, Recreation and Landmarks Committee, where he helped secure major funds for the creation of the Stuyvesant Cove Park (on whose board he serves). He also presides over the venerable 13th Precinct Community Council, and is a graduate of the NYPD Citizen’s Police Academy. Frank Scala ran for State Assembly once before, in 2001, against Steven Sanders, and, although losing, received a formidable 35% of the vote.
As to a program, Frank Scala is an independent moderate reform Republican. He is an active member of the community and a believer in the community above party line. He believes one needs to serve our District independently and as an elected official, needs to get to answers, not to debate or fight political parties. He will work to maintain and extend rent stabilization and bring back NYC Home rule.
He has presented to Assemblymen and the Minority Leader in Albany the Scala Amendment, to impose stiffer penalties to anyone that commits a crime against our seniors or the disabled, an unprotected class, and anyone who commits such crimes should be registered and treated as they do for child molesters. Scala supports the Bloomberg administration's effort on reforming New York City's public schools. It is time for everyone to be accountable. He also believes something must be done to provide college-bound high schools for the district (his wife Melanie is a school teacher). He wants a program to coordinate all of the city's responder teams, police, fire, office of emergency management, and to educate all the citizens in the district on what to do in the event of a disaster. A more business friendly NYC is also desirable, decreasing the cumbersome regulations and providing tax incentives for new businesses. We need initiatives to make sure new businesses come and stay in New York City. Scala wants to solve the noise level problems in the district (bars, car alarms) through regulations and enforcement. He would retain term limits, “we do not need career politicians.”
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 6:02 PM 
