Two is Better than One

Incumbent Diana Reyna and challenger Gerry Esposito turn out for debate

On Monday evening, Williamsburgers headed up north to The Boiler gallery in Greenpoint, for a combined 34th district city council and mayoral candidates forum, hosted by WG News+Arts and The Brooklyn Rail. Though all candidates were invited to the forum, only mayoral hopeful Tony Avella showed up, along with city council incumbent Diana Reyna and her opponent Gerry Esposito; Avella’s challenger Bill Thompson, and third council candidate Maritza Davila, were nowhere to be found.

“Just to let you all know, we invited all of the candidates here tonight,” said Brooklyn Rail Publisher Tedd Hamm, who emceed the event. “We wanted it to be fair and unbiased.”

After last week’s 34th district forum, which was attended only by Reyna, Monday’s forum will be the second public debate to which Maritza Davila has not shown up, though the show went on without her. The two candidates fielded questions, ranging from the very general to the very specific, from Hamm and audience members, regarding term limits, mayoral control of public schools, discretionary funding and government reform.

In terms of their vision for office, Reyna made sure to emphasize her commitment to being a “catalyst for change,” and putting forth creative and innovate ideas that can be implemented in the community. In addition, she mentioned her ability to work closely with bodies such as community boards—three of which are included in the 34th district—to “bring about the impact that community members seek.” Esposito, who has served as the district manager for community board 1 for 32 years, emphasized his deep community involvement and understanding of complex and dynamic neighborhood issues.

Apart from the candidates’ commitment to the community, the two had almost nothing else in common. Reyna voiced her vehement opposition to the controversial Broadway Triangle rezoning plans, attesting that not only was the process unethical and undemocratic, but the plans themselves neglect the best interests of the business owners operating within the Triangle, community members and the city at large; Esposito, on the other hand, expressed his support for the plan, calling the alternative developed by Churches United for Fair Housing, a coalition of more than 40 community groups opposed to HPD’s rezoning plan, “a smoke screen alternative,” adding that, “if they wanted to land, they should have approached the mayor a long time ago.”

When asked about her position on term limits, Reyna explained that though she voted in favor of the extension, “I voted with my conscience. I want to be the voice for the voiceless, and I voted to extend term limits because I wanted to give the district the option to chose leadership over the machine—to leave that option open.”

When pressed about the merits and dangers of discretionary funding, Reyna actively defended it, stating that “discretionary funding is useful and helpful for communities in need of advocacy, though it must be transparent so any one individual can see where the funds are going.” Esposito, on the other hand, vowed that if elected into office, he would “move to eliminate discretionary funding altogether,” as it presents too much of an opportunity for corruption and favoritism.

Whichever you may favor, don’t forget to vote in the democratic primary election on September 15.