Voters in the 46th Council District can look ahead to November, when the general election pits incumbent Councilmember Lew Fidler against challenger Gene Berardelli, during a candidate’s forum in Canarsie.
The two candidates had the opportunity to woo local voters who attended the September meeting of the Friends United Block Association (FUBA), which was held at Temple Shaare Emeth, 6012 Farragut Road.
Fidler — who has served since 2002 — is seeking his third term in office. A Democrat, at this point he has no primary challengers. He was one of 29 councilmembers who voted to extend term limits, a point that Berardelli— who is running on the Republican and Conservative lines — hammered during the forum.
Yet, Fidler stressed that he has always opposed term limits for legislators, from before he ran for office till now. “I haven’t changed my mind when it was convenient for me,” he went on, adding, “I ask you whether or not the community would be better off if I remain as your representative to city government for the next four years.”
To convince his listeners that it would be, Fidler went over his achievements in office. For Canarsie, these include the downzoning of the neighborhood, to put the lid on over-development, “So you won’t see a house torn down and replaced by a behemoth that doesn’t belong in the neighborhood.”
In addition, Fidler said, he had brought in $21 million to rehabilitate Canarsie Park, part of which was being “used as a garbage dump by the Department of Sanitation” when he took office. “This community is entitled to have a first class park, and $21 million in budget dollars later, Canarsie Park is going to be a jewel.”
Schools have also benefited from his tenure, Fidler said, noting that every school in the 46th C.D. has received both a capital and expense budget item every year since he has been in the Council. “No other councilmember in the city of New York can say that,” Fidler went on.
His efforts have also benefited the city as a whole, Fidler contended, noting that, as chair of the Council’s Youth Services Committee, he had held “over a dozen hearings into the plight of homeless children sleeping on the streets, 3,800 of them every night.” As a result, Fidler added, funding was increased for shelter beds. “That accomplishment alone justified my existence as a councilman for eight years,” he told the group.
He had also tackled the issue of foreclosure, Fidler added, noting that he was “the first elected official in the country to predict the subprime lending crisis,” a realization that sent him to his fellow councilmembers for money “to fund foreclosure prevention services.”
Also, Fidler said, he had not only opposed congestion pricing, but had developed an alternative plan, part of which was later adopted by the Ravitch Commission to help avert draconian service cuts and huge fare hikes by the MTA.
But, Berardelli had a different take. An attorney and community activist, Berardelli assailed his opponent for having voted “to overturn term limits.” One of his concerns, Berardelli said, was “that he believed that his vote counted more than ours did. He had a belief about term limits, but I believe he should have left his belief at the chamber door.”
Berardelli made a point of his pugnacity. “I’m not afraid of a fight,” he told the group. “I stand up for what I believe in. I don’t go along with the flow. When I see something wrong, I don’t just say that’s wrong. I try to provide an alternative.”
Asked what he could do to help the community get more in the way of after-school programming, Berardelli said that the believed that, “The councilman should be bringing money to fund these kinds of programs,” as part of the discretionary funding they allocate.
In addition, Berardelli said that the Department of Education should be providing funding for such programming. A key to that is going through the agency’s budget, he went on.
“No one has seen it because the mayor and chancellor don’t want to open their books,” Berardelli noted. “If money is going to fund educational consultants from overseas, take that money away and give it to our children. If I’m elected, I will make education a priority, and have the mayor open up the books so we can look to find inefficiencies to fund programs like these.”
Berardelli was also asked about how he could help with “skyrocketing” water bills. “You have to embarrass the mayor,” Berardelli replied. “He’s the primary person responsible for the increases. We have to send a message to the mayor and become a loud community. Yes, we are in a fiscal crisis, but that doesn’t mean you have to squeeze the middle class for every drop they have.”
A third question Berardelli was asked related to public safety. “There is no immediate solution,” he replied. “There has to be a long-term plan and a short-term plan. Short-term, we need to get the police more active and aware. Long-term, we need to interact with youth, get them motivated, and create a culture for young people of activity and education.”
