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No Slam DunkMayor Bloomberg secured his third term for another four years, beating Controller William C. Thompson III – as every New Yorker knows – but not with a slam dunk that the polls and the news pundits had been forecasting but in a last-minute layup due to the good fortune of his being a billionaire who could ante up $102 million (without blinking). “Obscene,” according to Stellaa in her Salon blog. A lot of New Yorkers were also upset by Bloomberg’s audacity to run for a third term after he had supported a two-term limit for city pols and then pushed successfully to changed the law to suit him.
With the 1.1 million voters who turned out for this election, 200,000 less than when Bloomberg won his second term, according to Bloomberg.com, registered legal immigrant voters displayed significant muscle. With the aid of two organizations, the 2009 mayoral positions and plans of the candidates regarding New York’s demographically diverse people were released to the public. The New York Immigration Coalition and the New York Community Media Alliance released the responses to a questionnaire sent to mayoral candidates Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Democratic contender William C. Thompson III and Dan Fein of the Socialist Workers’ party.
Critical immigrant issues were addressed in the questionnaire, such as the city’s role in immigration enforcement, English classes for immigrants and the dropout crisis facing people trying to learn English. As well, vital concerns regarding health care access, affordable housing and strained relations between ethnic/immigrant communities and police were focused on. A non-partisan organization, the New York Immigration Coalition, doesn’t endorse political candidates. “We cannot predict who will win. What we can say is that there are many issues that are important to immigrant New Yorkers – and that it’s important that the mayoral candidates understand immigrants’ concerns and be responsive to them,” Norman Eng, Director of Media Relations, told this reporter.
The New York Community Media Alliance played an “active role in facilitating ethnic and community media’s coverage of the mayoral race and to encourage healthy election debate on issues that directly or indirectly affect communities across the city,” said Jehangir Khattak, Communications Manager of the NYCMA.
By inviting candidates to address the ethnic and community media, their plans on subjects ranging from economy, health, education, housing and immigration were revealed. NYCMA disseminated information on issues affecting communities through mass mailing and also collaborated with partner organizations. “The effort contributed to more column space to the mayoral race in publications that, in the past, had not covered the election that extensively. Similarly, it galvanized the strength, significance and outreach of this vital media sector,” said Khattak.
Bloomberg Supporter Wioletta Falkowka, President of the Hunter Polish Club, has a green card but couldn’t cast a vote. Yet, as a permanent resident she favored Bloomberg’s stance on health care access.
One of the incumbent mayor’s advantages was the massive support from newspaper endorsements. Throughout his campaign, Bloomberg received “endorsements from each of the city’s four major daily newspapers –the New York Times, the Daily News, the New York Post and the Staten Island Advance – and from dozens of neighborhood and ethnic newspapers,” according to Bloomberg.com. Newspaper circulation, from mainstream to local news, reaches large audiences.
Based on recent demographic information at Hunter, half of students enrolled aren’t white but are of a variety of ethnicities. Of the 20,899 students enrolled for the 2009 term, 9,523 students were white. Thus, a considerable half consisted of 3,052 Asians, 3,731 Hispanics, 2,839 Blacks and 1,720 non-resident aliens, according to stateuniversity.com.
Heath care availability to all, regardless of immigration status and the ability to pay, was one of the philosophies of Bloomberg’s campaign. On how to make health care more accessible to immigrant communities, Bloomberg responded with the need for outreach programs such as Health and Hospitals Corp. HHC provided information in different languages so that people could be aware of the health and human benefit programs and health insurance outreach services available.
“A lot of my friends don’t have health insurance. I myself had to wait three months until I received coverage under my mom’s health plan,” Falkowska, a pre-dental student, said. “It’s torture to know no one can help you when accidents and life happen and you are suddenly in the need of health assistance.”
Falkowska, of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, said she was also concerned about the health of her friends and family members. Information on outreach programs for free health care is a vital need for immigrants. “I hear a lot of stories about how people suffer with the lack of insurance,” she said, “and how much they appreciate information about ways going about getting free health plans sponsored by the school of such.”
Falkowska, interviewed outside of the cafeteria, said, “There are alternatives but people have to know about them, and they have to be readily available for them.”
Improved funding for CUNY and Community Colleges and Universities, cutting the price of bureaucracy, cheaper transportation and inexpensive housing were some concerns of Anna Bashkatova. “With Bloomberg, very little is likely to change, so we’ll all keep our money,” said Bashkatova, former Vice President of the Russian Club, in an e-mail. Bashkatova, a psychology major, said her entire family voted for Bloomberg, like most middle and upper class families. As a student and New York resident, the transportation issue concerned her the most because she spends most of her money on unlimited metro cards, which cost her $89 a month commuting from Brooklyn to Hunter.
In this questionnaire which addressed these critical immigration issues, anyone could gain access to the solutions the candidates’ offered. But if someone doesn’t identify as an immigrant or non-citizen, inspiration and awareness has to come to play for them to become engaged in the issues. New American Media Marcelo Ballvé’s report, “Immigration Reform: The Phone Call Heard Around the County,” on November 19, a “massive conference call” connected thousands of immigration reform supporters, including U.S. Hispanic legislators to one another and to Washington, D.C. decision makers.
In his English class, an Ecuadorian, Pietro Idrovo, 43, said he felt more engaged with the immigration issues during those phone calls. Idrovo, a U.S. citizen, said, “Since I came to this country, I’ve been hearing about immigration, but I had never paid that much attention because I came in legally and I’m a citizen,” he said. “But that doesn’t change this fact – I’m an immigrant too.”
David Wexler, President of Undergraduate Student Government, voted for Bloomberg. “Mike has done many things to bring New York City into the 21st Century,” said Wexler, a political science major. Wexler, who said he was one-fourth Greek, one-fourth Italian and half Eastern European/Jewish, considered himself a “mutt,” regarding his ethnicity. Nevertheless, he said he couldn’t speak confidently on the candidates regarding their positions on immigration. “They both seem like good men [Thompson versus Bloomberg] who hopefully would be sensitive to our city’s growing immigrant population,” said Wexler, 21.
Studies have shown correlation between poor housing conditions and asthma prevalence, therefore, battling asthma triggers was an important topic in the questionnaire. Bloomberg launched PlaNYC, a master plan for building an environmentally sustainable New York City since New York has one of the highest asthma rates. Wexler, of Manhattan, said, “The PlaNYC model, in an effort to make our city greener, has been a tremendous success and should be used as an example to mayors all across the world.”
Venus Velez, Cultural Affairs Commissioner of the Latino Honor Society, was indecisive on whom to support, thus, she opted not to vote. Velez, of Manhattan, said she didn’t follow the candidates’ campaigns. Contacted via e-mail, she responded that she was inundated by electoral promotional material. Velez, an English major, said she “just saw a whole bunch ‘you don’t want him you want me’ messages.”
“Nevertheless, as with every candidate the futuristic story sounds beautiful and clean cut. How will it end up being, we will find out in time,” said Falkowska.
Bloomberg Wins 3rd Term as Mayor in Unexpectedly Close Race, David W. Chen and Michael Barbaro, New York Times.
For First Time, Minority Vote Was a Majority, Sam Roberts, New York Times.
Mayoral Campaigns Look Skyward, and Everywhere Else, for the Keys to Victory, David, Chen, New York Times.