Ready for a “David against Goliath” fight
by Anna Aulova
After seven years of presiding over the northeastern Queens district, Councilman Tony Avella feels ready to take on the 2009 mayoral elections.
The Democratic chair of the Zoning and Franchises committees is looking to unseat Michael Bloomberg, who is seeking a third term in office.
Sitting down for an interview at his district office, Avella explained the influences behind his decision to run for mayor and the issues addressed as a City Council member.
“When I came into office, it was because of term limits,” explained Avella. “We made a covenant with the people of the city ‘eight years and out,’ and I believe in the term limits law, I voted for it twice and thought it was an absolute disgrace that Mike Bloomberg and 29 of my colleagues voted to overturn it.”
He went on to describe the race as “David against Goliath” to emphasize the importance of it. Issues such as education, the economic crisis, manufacturing businesses and creating jobs, have all sparked a sense of urgency in the councilman to make some real reforms beyond overdevelopment.
One of the major disagreements between the two candidates is the educational system. Avella pointed out that council members were outraged at the education system when coming into office and relied on the Mayor to make some reforms. The results, however, were disappointing, he said.
“Instead of reaching out to the parents, principles, teachers, unions and stakeholders in the educational system in coming up with a real plan for change, [Bloomberg] hired another businessman, Joel Klein, and between the two of them, they’ve been running it like a business, and in my opinion, running it into the ground,” Avella said.
He has noticed a lack of parental involvement, decreasing level of teacher/professor efficiency, and lesson plans which do not allow students to learn, but rather just regurgitate information to pass an exam. He added that there has been no collaboration between the ones running the educational programs and those who are trying to benefit from them.
Aside from the mayoral race, however, Avella is still involved in resolving other problems facing the city.
Being a member of five other committees, which deal with housing, land use, and criminal justice, he has been a strong advocate against overdevelopment and has criticized Mayor Bloomberg for allowing construction on sites that do not complement the structure and overall atmosphere of the neighborhoods.
“You know, this is a very quiet residential neighborhood. It’s sort of like living in the country but still living in the city,” Avella explained about his district. “It’s a different type of atmosphere that people want to keep… and one of my major functions is to try and preserve the character of the neighborhood.”
Video: Meet the Candidate
All the hard work of the councilmember resides in his office and staff. Located in Bayside, Queens, Avella’s district office is the base for his projects and constituent work.
When asked what he looks for in his staff, Avella replied that he mainly looks for commitment to the public and the desire to help and serve others.
One of the staff members, Xavier San Miguel, who serves as the community liaison, explained that, “it’s being able to have a real impact on someone’s life. Whether it’s making sure that someone gets their Social Security check or making sure that the tree in front of their house gets removed. If it’s important to them, it’s important to me.”
There seems to be a general consensus among the staff that although politics isn’t something you go into for the money, it is something extremely rewarding if you truly care. When asked about their opinion on Avella, they all seemed to be very fond of him, explaining that he is willing to help anyone.
From taking constituent complaints and trying to repair potholes in the roads, to passing reforms preventing demolitions and inappropriate development, Avella went on to launch numerous campaigns to prevent illegal construction by zealous developers, who interfere with the peaceful, middle-class character of the neighborhoods.
Such developers, Avella has said, are the hidden forces behind the harmful effects construction has on residential areas. Some even try to “beat the clock” on rezoning laws put into effect by rushing constructions of inappropriate buildings.
“A lot of reforms that I’ve tried to enact into law have to do with stopping overdevelopment, stopping illegal construction and reforming the entire process. That has met with a brick wall because of the real estate industry,” Avella further explained. “They control the agenda in the city, not you and I, not the city council, they do… [the developers] donate the most amount of money to elected officials to pull the strings… so that a lot of good pieces of reform don’t go anywhere.”
If elected mayor, Councilman Avella has vowed to no longer work with the real estate industry, eliminate the payouts of politicians and thus decrease the power that the developers currently hold over the city’s agenda.
In doing so, he said he would be giving the power back to the public in determining what is best for their community.
So, what motivates such a driven individual? Interestingly enough, the councilman’s early college years had nothing to do with politics.
An engineer major, he was very interested in civil constructions such as bridges but confessed that calculus was too tedious and dull for him to stay intrigued.
“I looked around an didn’t like what I saw going on in the country at the time,” Avella recalled, “and said… well I should actually get involved and I thought let’s see how far it goes. So, I switched my major to political science and here I am. I’m actually surprised at how far I’ve come.”
The councilman stated that he hates politics and described it as a “disgusting business the way it operates today.” He is strongly against combining politics with government and believes that a lot of politicians lost sight of what they should be campaigning for amidst how to best run that campaign.
“If it wasn’t for the joy out of helping people and seeing the reaction when we are able to help someone solve a problem, I wouldn’t be doing this,” said Avella.