By James DeWeese
During the September Democratic primary, 31-year-old Corona native Luis Rosero will take on Jackson Heights lifer and incumbent state Sen. John Sabini (D-Jackson Heights) in a bid for the legislative seat that covers both their homes.Rosero, the youngest of five children of Ecuadorean immigrants, was born in Elmhurst Hospital Medical Center and grew up in the Corona house his parents owned for more than 50 years.”I grew up here. I've lived my entire life here,” Rosero said. “I've seen this neighborhood go from great to bad to coming back.”Sabini, 47, was born in the hospital that once stood at the intersection of 73rd Street and 34th Avenue. The only son of Catholic parents, Sabini was raised and continues to live within a several-block radius of his current Jackson Heights home.”I've been here all my life,” he said.As the two contenders from opposite sides of Roosevelt Avenue prepare to square off, they offer strikingly similar assessments of what needs to be done in Albany and in Queens.On a surprising range of issues, including better health care, opportunities for residents, the need for government reform and attention to constituents' day-to-day concerns, Sabini and Rosero appear to be singing a similar song: “Change.””I think (Sabini) had an opportunity when he was elected to the Senate to make a difference and he blew it,” Rosero said, marching in Sunday's Ecuadoran Heritage Parade in Jackson Heights. “I'm happy to carry the banner of change.”Change is a defining characteristic of Sabini's campaign message as well.”I've been one of the loudest voices for change in the way Albany does business,” said Sabini, speaking from his office in Albany Monday, where he promised to vote against a temporary extender for the latest state budget on record. “I have supported rules changes to make the legislature more effective.”Among the changes Sabini proposed are ones that would require more debate on bills and other measures to do away with empty-seat and proxy voting. “We have virtually no hearings on bills,” he said. “The legislative bodies above us and below us are far more democratic.”Rosero agreed that Albany needs reform. What the candidates clearly don't agree on is who is the better man to make those changes.Rosero, who ran for City Council against Corona's Hiram Monserrate in 2001 after spending seven years in Washington working for U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-Brooklyn) and as a Clinton administration appointee, said he decided to run after looking at the condition of his own neighborhood.Less than 50 feet from his campaign office on 104th Street in Corona, Rosero points to a crumbling, circa 1930 Long Island Railroad overpass, caked in pigeon droppings and littered with the telltale remnants of drive-by garbage dumpers and late-night park dwellers who spend their evenings drinking in and around nearby Linden Park.”It doesn't take a brain surgeon to see the problems around you,” said Rosero, who founded Friends of Corona, a monthly forum for neighbors to air their community concerns. If elected, Rosero, now a district coordinator for Long Island Congressman Tim Bishop, promised to host frequent town hall meetings to gauge concerns in the district that covers, East Elmhurst, Elmhurst, Corona, Jackson Heights and parts of Woodside.Rosero accused Sabini of waiting for problems to come to him, saying it took eight months to open his district office.Sabini called the accusation totally untrue.He said his district office opened in April or May 2002, after a protracted battle with the Republican Senate leadership, which holds the purse strings for district offices and that he worked to make his presence felt by sharing office space with state Assemblyman Ivan Lafayette (D-Jackson Heights) both in the area and in Albany.”Why would I not want a place to work?” Sabini said.Sabini also has launched an initiative to bring staff closer to the community through a series of satellite office days in senior centers and libraries throughout the district and rounds of evening constituent calls.The incumbent senator, who has raised more than $50,000 in the last six months, has the support of the Queens County Democratic Party.But Rosero seemed unfazed.”Even if the machine is against you, you can still do good things,” said Rosero, whose own campaign has taken in more than $35,000 in the last six months.The primary elections are slated to be held Sept. 14. There are no Republican challengers.Reach reporter James DeWeese by e-mail at news@timesledger.com, or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 157.
