By Nathan Duke
Former City Councilman Tony Avella said he plans to push the envelope in Albany if elected to the state Legislature as he battles long-time Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose) this fall for the latter’s seat.
Avella, who served on the Council from 2001-09, is attempting to unseat Padavan, who was first elected to the Senate in 1972, in a contest that will likely be one of the fall’s most closely watched races. The councilman, who ran in last year’s mayoral race, said he is being embraced by voters who tire of Albany’s dysfunction.
“I think a lot of people are turned off and disgusted by what they see,” he said. “There is dissatisfaction with the government. I tell people you can’t not vote because then the system will keep going along. I think we should shake it up.”
The Senate race could be a bitter fight. Padavan narrowly defeated Councilman James Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows) in the Nov. 4, 2008, election after a prolonged recount. But Avella’s former district overlaps with much of the Senate district, giving him more name recognition in the northeast Queens communities he is vying to represent.
“We need fresh new ideas because we are taxing everybody to death,” Avella said. “We don’t have enough money to pay for services. We need to elect new people to office.”
The district covers a number of Queens neighborhoods, including Bayside, Douglaston, Queens Village, Bellerose, Flushing, Whitestone, Little Neck, College Point, Hollis, Jamaica Estates, Glen Oaks and Floral Park.
Avella said some of his campaign priorities are fighting overdevelopment, improvements to district schools and commercial rent control.
“It’s still an issue,” he said of overdevelopment in the Senate district. “Unlike my Council district, the zoning has not really been changed. There is still a lot of reform I want to get done.”
He said he believes he will be able to make a larger impact on city education through the Senate than he did in his former office.
“Parents feel they do not have enough involvement and complain about the bureaucracy,” he said. “I can have more influence in the Senate than on the City Council. New York City has little control over its destiny. The biggest issue is closing schools and reopening them under a different name. Why not fix the schools in the first place? I think Michael Bloomberg runs the Department of Education like a business. Teachers have no morale left to teach. We’ve dumbed down the tests so we can say scores have gone up, and we’re not educating kids.”
Avella said rent increases are preventing small businesses in the district from growing and believes some form of commercial rent control should be implemented.
“The No. 1 reason businesses close and why we’re the worst city for small businesses in the country is because of escalating rents,” he said.
He also supports the idea of getting commitments from small business owners to hire new employees.
“People have told me they have no jobs,” he said. “We should ensure that state projects employ residents of the state. We are in a free enterprise system, but we are also using state taxpayers’s money. We should be creating jobs.”
The former councilman said even though he has eight years of experience as an elected official, he views himself as more of a “civic member.”
“I think I bring an ethical standard to government,” he said. “I had a 100 percent attendance record [on the Council]. When I ran for mayor, I still did my job. I have a real dedication to being an elected official. I consider it a calling. I hate politics, but I want to serve the community.”
Reach reporter Nathan Duke by e-mail at nduke@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
