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Hailie Kim: City Council 26 Candidate

By Matthew Fischetti

mfischetti@queensledger.com

Hailie Kim is running to represent the Sunnyside neighborhood she grew up in.

Kim, 29, is one of three candidates currently challenging Julie Won to represent City Council District 26 which stretches across chunks of Western Queens nabes like Sunnyside,Astoria, Long Island City, Woodside and Western Maspeth.

Kim, a 29-year-old professor, self described democratic-socialist and organizer is running on one main issue: education. It was her main issue when she ran for the seat in 2021. But Kim emphasizes that it was still her main issue after the City Council voted for the mayor’s budget, which the Comptroller’s office has estimated to total $469 million.

I would make sure that there are no more cuts to public education in the next budget. I would, at the very least, negotiate to a place where I can get to a yes,” Kim said in a recent sit-down interview.

While Won did vote for the budget, she did secure over $5 million in capital funding for schools which are funds that help pay for construction, upgrades and more. Also,

Kim also emphasized that she would support measures such as reducing class sizes and institute bilingual education in order to improve reading and education scores.

I think for students who need more actual in school, like structure, who are English language learners, having funds and resources to help them with their reading levels.”

In 2019, only 47.4% of students scored proficient in reading and only 45.6% of students scored proficient in math.

Beyond just education, Kim has said she would be a greater check on the Adams administration.

The mayor was able to take advantage of the lack of experience of a freshman City Council. And that he was really able to strong arm them into just voting whatever way he wanted,” Kim said. “Because that budget was passed two weeks early.”

Kim also heavily criticized the mayor and city council adopted budget, which she likened to an austerity budget, criticizing further cuts not just to education but to public libraries and parks.

The Kim campaign has raised over $15,000 in funds thus far, qualifying the campaign for over $120,000 in matching funds.

The matching funds are part of a new program to help finance city council elections. If a candidate reaches over 75 contributors in their district for $10 or more, as well as matches other basic criteria, they can qualify for 8 dollars to be matched for every dollar donated.

Kim’s campaign has also forgoed taking money from real estate developers or police unions.

Kim told BQE Media that her path to victory will center around her focus on education issues.

We will have the best field team out there and have as many people as possible knocking on doors, getting as many people talking about education as possible,” she said. “I think it is such an important issue, especially for a district that has one of the most crowded school districts in the city.”

Other declared candidates in the District 26 race include Lorenzo Brea and Marvin Jeffcoat. The primary for this election will occur on June 27 while the general election will happen on November 7.

Astoria Electeds advocate for bike infrastructure 1 month after tragic death

‘Street Safety is Public Safety’

By Alicia Venter

aventer@queensledger.com

 

Last Friday, a month after the tragic death of 62-year-old cyclist Tamara “Tammy” Chuchi Kao in Astoria, the neighborhood’s elected officials gathered at the intersection that she was struck by a cement truck driver to demand the Department of Transportation (DOT) build a north-south bike lane and an east-west bike lane — at the very least.

Assemblyman Zohran K. Mamdani demands it by September, and that the DOT begins commencing workshops immediately to determine where these protective corridors should be built.

“What we need to be clear about is that these are reckless policies that allowed for such deaths to occur,” he said.

In the two and a half years Mamdani has been in office, four cyclists have been killed in the 36th State Assembly District he represents.

According to Crash Mapper, 63 cyclists were injured in collisions from January 2022 to January 2023 in Assembly District 36, with one fatality.

“We see this happening again and again and again,” Mamdani said. “What we are calling for is protected bike lanes in Astoria — not just a north-south [corridor], not just an east-west [corridor], but both.”

He shared that he bikes daily, as do many Astorians, and that greater efforts should be taken by the DOT to ensure that street safety for the neighborhood becomes a priority.

Currently, there is one protected bike lane in Mandani’s district: the north-south corridor on Crescent Street. As for the rest of the neighborhood — more than 98 percent of City Council District 22 according to Spatial Equity NYC — all that counts for a bike lane is paint.

“[These are just] suggestions for where cars should not go. That is where our neighbors are being killed,” Mamdani. “These are preventable deaths, and these are deaths that we must ensure that they stop.”

Councilwoman Tiffany Caban, who represents the 22nd City Council District, denounced the recent proposed budget cuts by the mayor’s office, which would lower the budget over the DOT by over $35 million.

“Street safety is public safety,” Caban said. “We have to do better than these skeleton groups. We need really robust personnel and services.”

The intersection Kao was struck, 29th Street and 24th Avenue, is along the route to the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge, State Senator Michael Gianaris shared. As such, there are often trucks traveling down the street, which poses a danger to bikers and pedestrians.

”We are here today for something that is a tragedy but is remarkably simple in terms of why it happened and how we can fix it. There is not enough infrastructure to protect cyclists in our city, and in this neighborhood specifically,” Gianaris said.

New York State Senator Kristen Gonzalez reinforced that what happened to Kao was not an accident — it was a policy failure. These are preventable crashes, she expressed, and there should be funding to create the infrastructure needed to protect bikers in the community.

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