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District 32 Candidate Preview


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Kaled Alamarie

The son of Yemeni immigrants and a product of NYC public education, Kaled Alamarie has 20 years of experience in public service that he hopes will serve him well in City Hall. As a city planner with the Department of Environmental Protection, a marathon runner, and a father of four, Dr. Alamarie is planning to leverage the same level of determination he’s shown throughout his life to benefit the people of District 32.

Alamarie’s campaign rests on four key pillars: putting people first by enhancing the quality of life throughout the district, ensuring affordable energy-efficient housing and inclusionary zoning policies, reforming the education system, and working with the NYPD on community policing meant to ensure that all residents of the city can feel safe regardless of their zip code. 

 

Ruben Cruz

Ruben Cruz grew up in a Puerto Rican family in Ozone Park, and spent many summers here in Rockaway Beach. Now a business owner who’s managed to flourish during the 2008 recession and found ways to innovate during COVID-19 by providing services to the elderly and children. Cruz also serves on three non-profit boards including the Latin American Intercultural Alliance. Additionally, Cruz also created the only “Queens Pet Pantry” in collaboration with the Mayor’s Office of Animal Welfare and several other agencies, bringing pet supplies to Rockaway residents affected by COVID-19. This past November, Cruz sponsored a “Food for the Soul” pop-up presentation with NYCNext, New York Department of Parks & Recreation, NYC Precinct 100 Community Affairs, the Rockaway Black Surfing Association, and Latin American Intercultural Alliance. 

Some of Cruz’s major campaign points are ensuring that all residents of the area are able to receive a COVID vaccination, as well as the provision of additional transportation to District 32 residents. Most notably, Cruz wants to double the bus lines to take on the capacity the trains can’t accommodate. 

 

Raimondo Graziano

Raimondo Graziano is a Howard Beach native-born to a family of Italian and Puerto Rican immigrants and a graduate of Rockaway’s own Scholars’ Academy. Prior to his candidacy, Graziano worked at VOCAL-NY in Brooklyn, New York to help empower low-income communities impacted by the opioid and homelessness crises in New York State. Currently, he works for the Center for Popular Democracy to advocate for the working class in terms of housing justice and unemployment, as well as to make dynamic democracy a national priority. 

Pillars of Graziano’s campaign include various measures that are meant to uplift the working class of District 32, by advocating for rent and mortgage relief, as well as commercial rent stabilization. He is dedicated to supporting small businesses and facilitating their success in recovering from hardship at the hands of the pandemic and hopes to invest in infrastructure and overall resiliency throughout the district to combat increased flooding. Graziano also supports law enforcement but believes there is much needed reform. For the Rockaway area in particular, Graziano would like to renew the Rockaway Beach Branch Line into a working train station or a public space akin to the Highline, advocate to end the Cross Bay Bridge toll, and add a CUNY Annex on the Rockaway Peninsula

 

Michael Scala

A resident of Howard Beach, Michael Scala’s connections to Rockaway run deep – his parents met right here on the Rockaway shores. An attorney by trade, Scala has served as a community advocate across the borough. Most notably, Scala served as First Vice President of the Queens Public Transit Committee and co-chair of the Rockaway Ferry Committee with the late Laura Deckelman, where he fought to restore ferry service to the Rockaway peninsula.

Scala’s platform touches upon several different areas – for example, Scala hopes to implement civics classes and optimize remote learning in city schools, support resilience planning to address the threat of coastal storms and flooding, ensure affordable housing for alll New Yorkers, expand ferry service by adding larger vessels, and lay the groundwork for QueensRail, which would cut commuting times to Midtown Manhattan by as much as 45 minutes.

Shaeleigh Severino

Shaeleigh Severino describes herself as an average New Yorker – “The one you walk past in the street without any idea of what her story is and the adversities they faced to freely stroll around.” The daughter of Dominican-born parents, raised in a working-class family, Severino is a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, a woman with a disability, a student, an organizer, and an advocate. 

Severino prioritizes education justice and environmental justice efforts, and pledges to fight for families living on coastal fronts, facing mass flooding, and heightened pre-existing medical conditions because of the air quality and pollution. To that end, Severino hopes to organize and plan ahead to protect our beaches and homes from coastal flooding and intends to create thousands of Green New Jobs for our city and our district. She understands that in order to restructure, we must find the change from within, hence her pledge to work with corresponding offices and departments to remove oppressive policies and create a restorative system that focuses on rehabilitation, rather than punishment. 

 

Felicia Singh

Felicia Singh is a teacher who has lived in Ozone Park her entire life and grew up attending public school in the neighborhood. Raised by working-class immigrant parents who taught her the values of education, courage and hard work. Her father is from Punjab, India and is a taxi driver and her mother is from Guyana and is a school bus matron. 

Singh supports racially just public schools, desegregating schools, and increasing accountability for supporting students with disabilities and multilingual learners.  Singh’s focus on environmental justice involves bringing together community voices and city agencies to govern and create an integrated climate and environmental resilience plan, implementing climate education and hands on learning for all K-12 students, and the creation of updated infrastructure for sewage throughout South Queens to prevent backup and overflow. Singh also hopes to protect small businesses and workers by advocating for additional and accessible transportation options to and from the district, cutting small business fees and creating a more transparent process for the bidding for concession stands and space on the Rockaway Peninsula. Rounding out her platform is a reimagining of community safety – fully funding communities to make sure that all New Yorkers, regardless of their finances and/or personal circumstances, have what they need to live a dignified life.

Kenichi Wilson

Kenichi Wilson is a lifelong resident of Queens and has lived in the 32nd Council District for most of his life. Wilson joined the 102nd Precinct Auxiliary Unit at just 17, hoping to resolve community problems, and continued his service there until a close family member became seriously ill and sadly passed away. From this tragedy, he became interested in the medical field and joined the Woodhaven, Richmond Hill Volunteer Ambulance Corps to help residents in a medical emergency. As a result of his involvement in many community-based organizations and local neighborhood projects, Kenichi Wilson was appointed to Community Board 9. and was appointed to chair the community board’s Transportation Committee after just one year. Mr. Wilson was elected twice as Chairman of the Board. At this time, he continues to represent and serve approximately 160,000 individuals on behalf of Community Board 9.

Wilson is a believer in the “broken windows theory,” and as such seeks to improve the quality of life in District 32 by removing graffiti and focusing on public safety and noise complaints. Other pillars of Wilson’s platform include a focus on improving technology and after school programs in city schools, providing more trade programs for New York’s children, and implementing measures that would lessen the burden of operating a business in the Five Boroughs. 

One response to “District 32 Candidate Preview”

  1. Frank Chimera says:

    Interesting that you did not include their political party.

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