Tony Avella ★ Endorsed Candidate
Democratic
Age: 69
Occupation: Former State Senator and City Council Member
Education: Hunter College (B.A.)
To read this candidate’s responses to Citizen Union’s questionnaire, click here.
Tony Avella served as the Council Member in this northeastern Queens district from 2002 to 2009. He was then elected to the State Senate and served there from 2011 to 2018, when he lost his seat to a primary challenger. He wants to go back to his previous role because the city government and the current Council Member have been absent from this district, he says. On top of his priorities is to divide the massive local police precinct that covers Flushing into two separate precincts. He also wants to cap property taxes for co-ops and condominiums and increase food stamps. In his interview with CU, he has said he plans to focus on improving the Council’s oversight capabilities, which he sees as lacking. He opposes several CU-supported police reforms. He is interested in “some mechanism of council involvement” in the appointment of the Police Commissioner, but not requiring advice and consent from lawmakers. He believes the proposal to provide the Civilian Complaint Review Board full access to police material relevant to its investigations needs more research before he would be able to support it.
Avella has been criticized before for his membership in the now-defunct State Senate Independent Democratic Conference and his opposition to some good government reforms, including by this body. However, he has also shown longstanding commitment to reform issues like campaign finance and ethics, and an independent-spirited record. Citizens Union endorses Tony Avella in this race, and hopes he would be a more active collaborator on reform issues in the next City Council.
Vickie Paladino
Republican, Independent
Age: 67
Occupation: Retired, small business owner
Education: High School
To read this candidate’s responses to Citizen Union’s questionnaire, click here.
Paladino is a retired small-business owner and a local activist, who serves as President of the Whitestone Republican Club. Her top priorities are to refund the New York Police Department, to stop Rikers Island from being closed, and to “ensure criminals face consequences.” She also promised to end all COVID restrictions and protect the district from upzonings that remove single-family homes and bring in homeless shelters. Paladino opposed most reform issues on the CU agenda. She believes Ranked Choice Voting has been “an absolute farce” and wants it to be repealed. She is against all proposals to increase accountability in the Police Department, and says the Civilian Complaint Review Board is composed of “radical activists and partisans of the worst sort.” She spoke about fighting “rampant corruption” but provided little evidence or concrete plans to address it. Citizens Union believes she should not be elected for this position.
John-Alexander Sakelos
Conservative, Save Our City
This candidate did not submit a candidate questionnaire.