It’s little wonder that most New Yorkers polled simply don’t have the appetite for Quinn as mayor, despite endorsements from three of the city’s top newspapers.
The latest Quinnipiac poll shows Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, 52, born Warren Wilhelm, with a whopping 43 percent support in the race to Primary Day September 10th.
Far behind with 20 and 18 percent, respectively, are Quinn and former New York City Comptroller Bill Thompson.
On election day it will come down we believe, to the black and Caribbean American vote and as a representative media outlet for Caribbean immigrants in New York City, we thought long and hard about the one person from the current crop who we’d like to have as our next mayor.
For us, the choice came down to the person with a real succinct plan for immigrants in this city.
And that is undoubtedly Italian American Bill de Blasio. De Blasio, unlike Quinn and Thompson, has taken a stance on issues of importance to this bloc and is not afraid to get arrested for the cause.
De Blasio has truly served this city, beginning as an aide in City Hall under former Mayor David Dinkins and continuing as Regional Director for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for New York and New Jersey under the Bill Clinton administration of President Bill Clinton; as a member of Community School Board 15 and as the former City Councilmember of the 39th district in New York City.
On the City Council, de Blasio passed legislation to prevent landlord discrimination against tenants who hold federal housing subsidy vouchers, and helped pass the HIV/AIDS Housing Services law, improving housing services for low income New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS and as head of the Council’s General Welfare Committee, he also passed the Benefits Translation for Immigrants Law, which helped non-English speakers access free language assistance services when accessing government programs, the Gender-Based Discrimination Protection law to protect transgendered New Yorkers, and the Domestic Partnership Recognition Law to ensure that same sex couples in a legal partnership could enjoy the same legal benefits as heterosexual couples in New York City.
As Public Advocate, de Blasio has repeatedly shown he has the cohones to stand up to Mayor Bloomy. It was who de Blasio was not afraid to be arrested for standing up against the closing of Long Island College Hospital.
It was de Blasio who did his job right by voicing opposition to a New York City Housing Authority decision to cut the number of Section 8 vouchers issued to low-income New Yorkers.
It was de Blasio who slammed Bloomberg for the firing of more than 4,600 teachers to balance the city’s budget policies; who stood up against Bloomberg’s appointment of Cathie Black as DOE Chancellor; who slammed the MTA’s proposal to eliminate free MetroCards for students, many of whom are Caribbean Americans and stood up against the mistreatment of immigrants in detention centers, especially those operated by private for-profit companies.
And it is de Blasio not Thompson whose stance against stop-and-frisk, which impacts the Caribbean American community significantly, has not flip flopped.
But most importantly to us at NAN, it is de Blasio – not any of the other candidates, who has outlined a real plan for immigrants in New York City. Mayor de Blasio supports a city-backed ID card that will allow all residents — including undocumented immigrants — to access basic services like opening a bank account or signing an apartment lease; ending cooperation on federal “detainer requests” for all residents, except those who have been convicted of violent or serious felonies; supports legislation that would make New York the fifth state to allow undocumented immigrants access to driver’s licenses.
He will also end the policy of the city’s Human Resources Administration, implemented in 2012, that requires sponsors of legal immigrants to repay the city for any assistance the sponsored immigrant seeks out; work to improve English Language Learner (ELL) programs for students in schools and designate high-ranking officials at HHC and the city’s health department to protect immigrant families’ access to health care.
These are issues that are important to us as immigrant New Yorkers, in addition of course to his plan for jobs and a safer city for all!
For us Thompson’s time has come and gone. That was the last election! This time around, suddenly touting his roots in St. Kitts and waving around a St. Kitts/Nevis flag should not be enough to win Caribbean votes and neither should his race.
Let’s give the candidate who has proven he will stand up for the middle class and immigrants a chance. Let’s vote Bill de Blasio on September 10th – not because of his wife and children – but because of his record. Let’s show the power of the Caribbean American voting bloc in the greatest city on earth.
