By Dustin Brown
If candidates for City Councilman Walter McCaffrey’s (D-Woodside) District 26 were identified only by position statements on the most pressing issues facing Queens, voters might be hard-pressed to tell them apart. Who doesn’t support pedestrian improvements to step up safety on Queens Boulevard, or school construction to push down the district’s soaring class sizes?
Although the candidates are honing in on the same basic issues of education, housing, and the local environment — and tend to agree on what should be done about them — they set themselves apart with distinctive approaches to addressing these concerns.
Although more candidates are expected to jump into the race before the June 12 deadline — and one registered candidate has already dropped out — Council District 26 sports a balanced roster of political insiders and grassroots activists. Ann Eagan, Joe Heaphy, and Michael Kearney are prominent local activists striving to make a bigger impact by working from within the council, while Matthew Farrell and Eric Gioia hope to shift into public office after serving under politicians for years.
Although the five candidates have collectively logged decades of experience in community activism and political support, none have previously held elected office. All are Democrats, except for Eagan, who is running on the Green Party line.
“At first the whole idea sounded horrible for me — the whole idea of running for an office,” said Eagan, a grass-roots environmental activist who has lived in Queens for 20 years. “But running for a Green is quite different.”
The Green Party is decentralized, its members united through philosophy rather than political machinery, which is exactly how Eagan likes it. “I’m an advocate, I’m an activist. I’m not a politician,” she said.
“I think because of my experience working on the environment that that in itself gives me qualifications,” she said. “I don’t know too many people who have served on the City Council who have really cared about the quality of our air, water, and food.”
Heaphy, 32 of Sunnyside, has devoted the past 10 years to community organizing, most recently as the executive director of New York State Tenants & Neighbors Association.
“Myself and the other candidates probably agree on a lot of these issues. Where I’m different is the process,” he said. “I’m planning to take a real community-based approach.”
He considers the jump from community organizer to politician to be an easy one, as the skills and experience he has developed in his old job will “absolutely translate” to the council.
“The role of an elected official is to provide leadership but also to empower the community to act on issues they care about,” Heaphy said. “Whatever’s on people’s mind, I’m someone who has learned how to build coalitions on issues.”
Ten years after immigrating to Queens from Ireland, Kearney sees his candidacy as a chance to serve the local community. “There comes a time when you feel that you have to give back, and I’m at that stage,” he said.
Kearney, 40, founded Kearney Home Care Services shortly after arriving in Sunnyside, and he served as the president of the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce for two years ending in 1999.
“We have been referred to as the gateway to Long Island, the gateway to Queens. I don’t like the terminology,” Kearney said. “I don’t want us to be seen as the gateway to anything, I want us to be the stopping point for anyone coming in here.”
While the activist candidates offer the fresh perspective of political outsiders, Farrell brings a first-hand knowledge of the nuts and bolts of council proceedings. Farrell, 30, of Woodside, has served the past eight years as chief of staff for Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz (D-Forest Hills).
“It’s extremely important that we elect someone who has an understanding of the council, someone who can hit the ground running,” he said. “There’s going to be no adjustment period for me, I’ve been doing this for the past eight years.”
Farrell is continuing a family tradition in politics which began with his grandmother, who was a member of the Anoroc Democratic Club in the 1930s and served as an elector for John F. Kennedy in the 1960s. “What makes me stand apart is one, my understanding of the community, and two, my knowledge of the council,” he said.
Another candidate with deep local roots is Gioia, also of Woodside, whose family has run Nunziato Florist on Roosevelt Avenue for 100 years. Having already managed Al Gore’s New York campaign for the presidency and served in Bill Clinton’s White House — as well as volunteered for local members of Congress and the state Assembly — 28-year-old Gioia believes his candidacy is set apart by his years of experience “getting stuff done for working families.”
“What my life illustrates is that a kid can grow up working-class, go to public schools, not come from a wealthy family and still succeed,” he said.
“This race is about opportunity. I want to fight to make sure this neighborhood is the great neighborhood I grew up in,” he said. “It’s a good neighborhood, but it could be better.”
Community Board 2 Chairman Joe Conley said he expects to announce his candidacy at a fund-raiser in April.
Reach reporter Dustin Brown by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 154
