718-634-4000

Scala To Run For City Council




Share this:

Mike Scala announced his candidacy for City Council on The Wave’s podcast. You can hear the entirety of the interview at tobtr.com/s/10022393.

Mike Scala announced his candidacy for City Council on The Wave’s podcast. You can hear the entirety of the interview at tobtr.com/s/10022393.

Mike Scala says Councilman Eric Ulrich shouldn’t be running for another term, and has decided to address the matter himself; by running against him.

Scala says he believes Ulrich has done an estimable job in certain respects, but term limits as adopted by the people of New York City, should be followed. Under current law, city officials can serve two consecutive terms.

Ulrich, says Scala, is taking advantage of a loophole that allows officials elected prior to 2010 to run for an extra term — a loophole the councilman once opposed.

In 2010, Ulrich joined New York Civic founder and former New York City Department of Parks and Recreation Commissioner Henry J. Stern on the steps of City Hall recently to raise awareness of the loophole. At that time, Ulrich was – and is — the only elected official and beneficiary of this “grandfather” clause who is against the loophole. In that story, reported by The Wave’s Nicholas Briano, Ulrich said that closing the loophole is all about fairness to the voters of the city and his local constituents who want to restore term limits as soon as possible.

“It comes down to what you think is right. I could easily run for three terms. But it’s about the people,” said Ulrich. “They voted for term limits three times already. This is what they obviously want.”

JoAnn Ariola, the president of the Howard Beach-Lindenwood Civic Association, says given the current imbalance on the City Council, the 32nd District – which covers the neighborhoods of Belle Harbor, Breezy Point, Broad Channel, Howard Beach, Lindenwood, Neponsit, Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Rockaway Park, Roxbury, South Ozone Park, West Hamilton Beach and Woodhaven – needs their councilman on the job.

“Councilman Ulrich is running for his last and final term this November,” Ariola told The Wave. “Now more than ever, he believes that the City Council needs to be a check, not a rubberstamp, on Mayor de Blasio’s radical agenda. The Councilman has earned the trust and support of his constituents because he has delivered real results for our community. Councilman Ulrich is an excellent elected official who fights for every neighborhood in the district.”

Scala says he also pushing against Ulrich’s recent comments concerning the reactivation of the Rockaway Beach Rail Line, a plan Ulrich said “we won’t see in our lifetime.”

Scala, who is First Vice President of the Queens Public Transit Committee, says transportation is a vital issue.

“It’s time to wage an aggressive battle for better transportation,” said Scala. “This means working to improve and expand ferry service. It means diligently and dutifully advocating against Select Bus Service on Cross Bay and Woodhaven boulevards, a plan that every community along the proposed route rejected. It means forcefully promoting the QueensRail to reduce the commutes working people are making to and from Midtown Manhattan by up to 45 minutes. It means never giving up the fight, even in the face of resistance.”

Aside from issues of transportation, Scala plans to focus on holding the city more accountable to communities, citing the Build It Back fiasco; stopping the warehousing of homeless families without input from local leaders and elected officials; as well as contending for better education and health care access for his constituents. He believes that his record and background prepare him well for these challenges.

As a civil litigator, Scala has successfully argued cases throughout the New York court system. Clients of his practice have included local homeowners for whom he has been able to provide legal relief. Prior to his admission to the New York State Bar, he worked for the legal department of New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) as well as for the healthcare non-profit National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO).

During the 201st New York State Legislature, Scala served as legal counsel and legislative director in the New York State Senate. His duties in- cluded drafting, managing and negotiating proposed laws. Several of them, including an initiative to help veterans find work in the state, passed the Senate due to his effort and persistence.

One such bill, requiring police reports of missing adults, was signed by the governor on Sept. 9, 2016, and has become Section 837-F-2 of the Executive Law.

In this capacity, Scala was also involved in the state budget process, which included a $12.94 million allocation for transportation improvements in Rockaway and $10.15 million for St. John’s Episcopal Hospital.

Scala isn’t the only Democrat looking to unseat Ulrich, as Dan Guarino, who worked for The Wave from 2012- 2016, has announced he’s running as well.

According to sources, the Queens County Democratic Party has told Ulrich that they don’t plan on opposing him in the upcoming election. Calls to the party for confirmation were not returned.

Either way, Scala told The Wave party backing isn’t really that important.

“This is a grass roots campaign,“ said Scala.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *