Queens Borough President – General Election 2013

 

Melinda Katz currently is an attorney at Greenburg Traurig, and is seeking election as she wants to return to public service to serve the borough with which she has long been engaged. She previously served in the City Council and the State Assembly and was the Director of Community Boards from 1999-2002 in the Queens Borough President’s Office. During her tenure in the City Council, Katz was the chair of the Land Use Committee for 8 years. Katz is a supporter of reform, and she hopes to change the budget process, increase transparency in the office, and create a more uniform set of rules guiding the various community boards. More specifically, she wants to put capital and expense funding online to make the system more transparent, give the borough president office more independence in terms of budgeting, and utilize Section 197-a of the City Charter to give the citizens a greater voice in establishing plans for community development. Another priority of hers is to increase diversity on community boards by encouraging more people to apply for appointed positions. Aside from reform issues, Katz would create a war-room to improve education by increasing the number of schools and reducing overcrowding. Additionally, Katz wants to create more jobs by converting Long Island City into a technology hub. Citizens Union believes Katz is extremely well-qualified to be borough president and will be very effective in the position. She has a strong grasp of the importance of good government issues as they apply to the office and is an effective coalition builder. These positive attributes counterbalance her deep ties to the party. Citizens Union therefore endorses her.

 

 

Aurelio “Tony” A. Arcabascio (R)
Age: 52

 

Tony Arcabascio is a businessman working in the health systems and technology field. In 2012, Arcabascio ran against Michael Gianaris for New York State Senate in District 12. He is seeking election to Queens Borough President because he wants to make Queens a better place and believes that as a businessman rather than a politician, he can be an effective advocate for the borough. Arcabascio is dedicated to reforming the community board appointment process by making appointments based on merit. Claiming that certain people sitting on community boards do not even live or work in the community, Arcabascio wants to increase the transparency of the appointment process. More generally, he plans on establishing capital projects to help beautify the borough and developing businesses by creating an urban enterprise zone. Arcabascio stated that Queens needs a detailed plan in order for the borough to continue to grow going forward. Citizens Union believes Arcabascio has some interesting proposals that he would advance as borough president, but his candidacy is not one that has gained sufficient traction.
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