A Walk Through Queens
Posted By: Bill Thompson Team on 06-12-09
Last weekend Bill Thompson took his campaign to Queens to meet voters and the response of the community was overwhelmingly positive. Read the Queens Tribune article:
Thompson Meets Queens: A Walk Through The Streets Of the Boro With the Democratic Mayoral Hopeful
By Vladic Ravitch (Queens Tribute)
One part of campaigning is shaking hands; another is keeping your stump speech fresh. Then you need a resume stocked with relevant experience, a litany of issues and a winning smile - and apparently a guy with a bullhorn.
On a sunny boisterous Saturday, mayoral hopeful and City Comptroller Bill Thompson rolled up his sleeves and shook dozens of hands as he and his campaign entourage - which included a fired up Assemblyman Jose Peralta (D-Jackson Heights), various democratic staffers, a group of little leaguers holding Thompson signs ("our coach really supports him," said one of the kids), and a man walking along the street side of the parked cars bellowing "Say hello to the next mayor, Bill Thompson!" on loop over his bullhorn.
An Uphill Road
Residents from all walks of life greeted Thompson and many wished him the best in his run. "I support you - but you don't have enough money. Good luck against Bloomberg's machine," said one elderly woman. "I think I'm gonna vote for you cause Bloomberg's getting on my nerves," said another.
Even the encouraging remarks highlight the need for Thompson to walk the streets and stump in all the restaurants, cafes, and beauty salons he can find. Bloomberg has much more money, eight years of political muscle to flex and everyone knows his name. Thompson has a solid record, a pleasant style and an enduring work ethic.
Thompson campaigns after work and on weekends. "I don't miss having free time; I haven't had any for years," he said. "We're taking this campaign day by day." On this particular day, he began with a Hispanic-centric meet and greet at local eatery Loc Barzola on 37th Avenue and 92nd Street. Then he drove to 74th Street to walk through the heart of Jackson Heights. Then he was off to East Elmhurst and Corona Community Day at the PS 127 schoolyard.
In that whirlwind tour of Queens he was flanked by a half dozen local politicians and generated hundreds of photographs. He also gave speeches and listened to local concerns, even as the campaign caravan kept its brisk pace through the borough. The next day, he planned to return to Queens for the Annual LGBT Parade in Jackson Heights.
There was no doubt that he found many sympathetic ears: "I'd vote for a dog if he ran against Bloomberg," said Evelyn Felix, a retired social worker. "He has no concept what poor or middle class people go through."
"I don't know much about Thompson, but I'm gonna vote for him cause its time for a change," said Vermell Wesley, a day care worker from Woodside.
Such comments explain the steadily increasing number of Thompson's public appearances and press conferences. Many people are angry with Bloomberg over a wide variety of issues, but few of them know about his potential Democratic challenger. According to a recent poll by the NY Times, NY1 and Cornell University, 51 percent of New Yorkers thought the city was on the wrong track compared to 40 percent who thought it was going in the right direction. Furthermore, of the 683 respondents, almost three quarters did not know who Thompson was.
Who Is Thompson?
Thompson sketches out his background in the speech he gave that morning: he is the son of New York City public school teacher and a New York State Supreme Court Judge. He served in various political offices, as an aide to a Congressman, as the youngest Deputy Borough President for Brooklyn, and as President of the Board of Education. He also has also worked in the private sector for an investment banking firm. He was elected City Comptroller in 2001.
He highlights some of the successes his office has accomplished in the last eight years, including uncovering the MTA's second set of books, audits that have uncovered more than $248 million in savings for the City, and a long list of innovations and improvements that can be found at the City Comptroller's website at comptroller.nyc.gov.
Bill On Mike
Then comes the meat of his speech: "The mayor is trying to balance this budget on the backs of New Yorkers." Thompson tends to be soft spoken and unflappably optimistic, but this relaxed style changes when he steps up to attack the current mayor.
"Four more years of no affordable housing," he says as the crowd begins to cheer him along. "The newspapers are saying [our schools] are getting better, but our children are doing worse." He is accusing the mayor of charging homeless families to stay at shelters, alleging $400 million in cuts to public schools, pointing to reduced childcare slots, and repeatedly painting Bloomberg as an out-of-touch billionaire who only cares about creating jobs "that pay $500,000 and up." He also rallied against the proposed one-half-percent sales tax increase to plug the City budget.
He reminded the audience that Bloomberg flirted with running for president and vice-president and said his opponent considers "being mayor the consolation prize."
He argues he can take the City down a different path from what he characterized as Bloomberg's policies: "tolls on the bridges, taxes on our back."
To end his speech, Thompson looked out over his riled up audience, slowed his pace and made a ubiquitous political reference: "How do you beat the richest person in the city? We saw that last November."
He said he would not co-opt the slogan ‘yes, we can,' - "I'm not going to say ‘si, se puede.'" Instead, a bit sheepishly, Thompson delivered his own version: "together we can."
Differing Perspectives
During a brief interview with Thompson, he discussed his past successes and offered himself as a better mayor because "people are turned off by [Bloomberg's] style."
Of all the voters interviewed that day, style seemed to be main turnoff for Bloomberg. "Even though [Bloomberg] wants to do good, he can't relate. He's a billionaire," said Daryl Fredrerick, a student at Borough of Manhattan Community College and an East Elmhurst native.
What about all the positive crime and school numbers? What about his plans to revitalize New York's green economy? "We all know numbers can be played," said Fredrerick.
Thompson is trying to tap into this sentiment and it may be working. But there is a risk people who are not already against Bloomberg may not respond the same way to the billionaire bogeyman rhetoric.
After hours of handshakes and greetings, Thompson was asked what the word populism meant to him. "It means you listen to people about what they care about," he said. "I don't think there's anything wrong with populism... if it's honest, as opposed to pandering."
Category: Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island
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