א מוראדיגע אינטערוויו טאמפסאן מיט די המודיע מאגאזין

Ask the Candidate

William Thompson, NYC Comptroller, has held one of the most prominent financial positions in the country, and the highest one in New York City, as its chief financial officer for the past eight years. The Democratic challenger of incumbent NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg is also a former president of the city's Board of Education and a former deputy Brooklyn Borough President.

In an interview at Hamodia's Brooklyn headquarters last week, Mr. Thompson responded to questions about many of the critical concerns of the city and its Jewish community.

INTRODUCTION

You have been the frontrunner in the mayoral Democratic primary almost since its inception. Now that you have won the primary, please introduce yourself and what you stand for.

I'm 56 years old and a lifelong New York City resident; I grew up in Brooklyn, in Bedford-Stuyvesant and went to New York City public schools.

My dad served in the army in World War II. He will be 85 years old in October. He's still working as an attorney five days a week. He went to law school at night while he brought us up and supported the family.

In 1965 he was the first African-American state senator in Brooklyn's history; a member of the New York City Council up until the end of 1973; became a judge on the [State] Supreme Court and then the appellate division, where he was on the bench for 20-25 years. 

My mother was a New York City public school teacher for almost 30 years. she passed away last year at 81 … She was the chair of a couple of boards of non-profit organizations. 

I went to Tufts University and came back to New York City. I've worked as a special assistant and chief of staff to a congressman; deputy borough president of Brooklyn for ten years [under then Borough President] Howard Golden; member of the New York City Board of Education from 1994–1996; president of the Board of Education for five years; and then, in 2001, I ran for Comptroller of the City of New York and was fortunate enough to win that.

My life has been in public service … in Brooklyn and [for] the city of New York.

I have had a great relationship over the years - it is not one that just began - with the Jewish community. My dad represented a big part of Crown Heights when he was in the City Council and the State Senate … I remember meeting JJ, Rabbi Shea Hecht's father, who was a friend of my father years ago.

I had a relationship with Rabbi Moshe Sherer - and have even a closer one with David Zwiebel. David is a friend I respect…

For either one of us to see each other would make us both smile…

Do you know any Yiddish?

Not like my father does! At my swearing-in [as Comptroller] on January 1, 2002 … on the steps of City Hall, Dad officiated. His comment to the crowd was, "I'm not exactly sure how to express what I feel. As they describe it in my community - nachas!"

The crowd died laughing!

The congressman I worked for years ago represented Williamsburg (and part of Crown Heights). I have always had a good relationship with the community in Williamsburg …

[I know] Rabbi Zvi Kestenbaum, with whom I worked at ODA … Dov Hikind could say, "I knew Bill in 1980," we have known each other so long.

Occasionally I will still get a call from Judge Noach Dear, whom I've known since we were in our 20s or 30s …

I've tried to do work that helps Israel… [I was] the first comptroller to buy Israel bonds directly.

I've been to Israel on a few occasions. I spoke in May at an economic summit in Tel Aviv. [I went] for the first time as part of the delegation of the JCRC in the middle of the intifada as part of a unity mission…

So that is a little bit of who I am.

THE SQUEEZED MIDDLE CLASS

In your victory speech on primary night, you mentioned that you feel the middle class in this city is being squeezed. What are the policies that caused it and what do you think has to be changed to keep the middle class in New York City?

Over the last eight years of the Bloomberg administration we have seen property taxes go up, assessments go up, [and] water rates go up. Property taxes have gone up 18 percent. Assessments go up even as the value of homes goes down. Water rates have gone up 60 percent in the last four years - close to 100 percent over the last eight years.

Parking fines have gone up, while this neighborhood has a huge problem with parking to begin with - there is just no place to park. Small businesses - and this is a neighborhood of small businesses - have been squeezed and pushed and fined.

These things have come together to create a difficult situation for middle-class New Yorkers and help to push them out.

Mike Bloomberg appears to be deaf to these problems.

What do you have in mind to help middle-class young people feel they can stay in New York City?

We need to build more housing for low, moderate and middle-income families. But not [just] a few more units…We need to stop giving tax breaks to big developers to build luxury housing. Tax breaks and zoning changes have to be given for affordable housing.

In the late 1950s and 1960s, the city had a crisis in housing. The Mitchell- Lama program built tens of thousands of units across the city.

We need to do that again. We need to talk about a 21st century Mitchell-Lama program.

Rents in rent-stabilized housing keeps going up. Let's put people on the rent stabilization board who feel, "We should look out for tenants a little bit."

The city contributes to [rising rents] with its rising assessments and water rates. Let's stop it. We're driving people out of New York City…

My 30-year-old daughter is a New York City public school teacher. If she didn't live in my house, I'm not sure where she would live right now.…

Secondly, what type of jobs are we creating in New York City? We need to create a focus on small businesses, not just Wall Street. New York City needs to create access to capital for small businesses so they can grow. We need to use agencies to help…cut through red tape…

The city [purchases and contracts] billions of dollars a year in goods and services. Let's direct some of that to small businesses in New York City rather than out of the city. That starts to grow a job base. 

Probably 20% of working New Yorkers are self-employed. Let's create databases of [office and work] space. The self-employed may be able to work out agreements with some of these businesses for space in return for services.

The Unincorporated Business Tax [UBT] is almost a form of double taxation. It works against the growth of small businesses. Let's eliminate it.

Let's be creative. New industries can be brought in…biotech…blue- collar jobs by bringing back a bit of manufacturing to New York City…

It's [about] creating job opportunities in New York, and then creating the housing so people can afford to live here. Those two things go together.

Those are the things we need to do that the city has not done in the last eight years.

POLICE CONDUCT, NEIGHBORHOOD SECURITY, THE ERROR OF THE 1991 CROWN HEIGHTS RESPONSE

Some support cracking down on police brutality even at the expense of certain NYPD methods to keep the city safe. New York was recently again deemed the nation's safest big city. In addition, many people have the Crown Heights riots of 1991 in the backs of their minds.

The mistake in Crown Heights was trying to talk to people rather than bring order and peace.

Remember that the black community was also scared, their cars being burned, they were being targeted and attacked by a group of young people.

I was the Deputy Borough President of Brooklyn then. We put together the Crown Heights coalition after that to try and make sure people work together.

[The riots occurred during] the first long vacation I ever had in my adult life. I was in the south of France; I came back to the hotel room and there were four messages from the office…

I came back to New York and marched that Monday at the West Indian Day Parade down Eastern Parkway with three or four rabbis and others as a sign of solidarity. (I found out later that they had bulletproof vests on; the rest of us didn't.)

…I think that the lesson everybody learned from Crown Heights is that what you have to do first is restore order. Not talk; restore order. It's not a question of color, it's a question of restoring order.

I've never had a hard time making a quick decision in situations like that.

I have expressed concern about the [NYPD's] stop-and-frisk-policy in New York City. During the primary, my opponent at the time, Tony Avella, [proposed], "We need to end stop-and-frisk." That's not so. We need to make sure it is being done correctly.

Right now  the biggest concern is that people shouldn't feel singled out, that [police] use the stop-and-frisk [policy] as it was designed. We are about to see probably a record number of people stopped and frisked - over 600,000 if it continues at the same rate this year…

Is it possible that the way people are stopped and frisked gives them the impression they are being picked on instead of conveying to them the bigger picture of why this has to be done. Is there a problem with police training?

You see the concerns - and I've voiced the need for additional training - such as in the situation of the police officer who was chasing a suspect in plainclothes and got shot [earlier this year].

Training! Did race play a role? Perhaps, but it wasn't a racial situation. But it shows the need for additional training in the police department.

The one thing which you hear from all communities is that there is a need for the police to be more polite as they engage the public. Explaining rather than [abruptly saying], "Get up against the wall" would help… But it's a two-way street.

But there can be no compromise when it comes to public safety. You've got to be strong. New York City has benefited over the last fifteen years because crime appears to be going down and neighborhoods appear to be safer, but we have to guard against police and fire [personnel] levels falling below where they are right now, because crime might start to go back up.

GOVERNMENT FUNDING FOR YESHIVOS

You have been a member of the Board of Education and are probably familiar with the needs of the Orthodox Jewish community that sends their children to yeshivos. In areas where there is no constitutional conflict - such as Priority 7 vouchers for working parents, lunch programs or transportation - do you support providing the maximum permitted? Will you make promises to the teachers' unions to gain their support?

One of the reasons David [Zwiebel] and I are such good friends is that as president of the Board [of Education], I had the opportunity to work with the committee of non-public schools. I always tried to take a more liberal reading of the law, to do things that were helpful, because I realized that the issue wasn't public school children vs. parochial school children - they are all our children…

I believe that the concerns of the unions and [yeshivos] can be worked out and resolved in a number of different ways.

Look at the voucher situation. I love the fact that the mayor is taking credit for not cutting [Priority 7] vouchers when he was the one proposing cutting vouchers in the first place. And he extended it for six months, until after the elections. Everyone knows he is going to make only the cut then.

He's done that with seniors' centers, day care, vouchers - a number of things have been pushed off until after the election; if Mike Bloomberg is re-elected, those cuts will happen…

[Regarding cutting Priority 7 vouchers], I came out then and said it was wrong…

I think there are ways we can find [funding for] supportive services… because  people who send their children to yeshivos also pay taxes and should have access to services for their children.

There may be separation of church and state but there are things we can do and I think it's right to do them…

If the teachers' union opposes something, will doing the right thing for private school children always entail either making concessions or barreling over the union?

I was the president of the New York City Board of Education for almost five years. I never had a problem with the teachers' union. One way or another we resolved every situation.

When it's a question of doing what is right for children, no one is going to stand in the way. As mayor of New York, you have to stand up and do what you believe in. And if it's a question of sitting down and putting everybody in a room and resolving the situation, that's what you do. You're not going to deny young people what they're entitled to.

[Regarding forms of funding that have already been granted to private schools] I've visited a number of yeshivos over the years in different communities, and seen what those dollars can do, computer education, software, etc.

CITY PAYMENT FOR PRIVATE BUSING CONTRACTS AT YESHIVOS

What of the public school bus drivers' union that refuses to allow yeshivos that dismiss after 4:30 p.m. - when bus drivers do not work - to contract the job to private companies? Public money is available but is being held up because of the union's intransigence.

That is a situation…that should to be resolved. There is no excuse for not providing those services…the children are entitled to the transportation…

So if Mr. Thompson becomes the mayor, and he agrees, for example, that funding transportation for private schools is appropriate, in what timeframe could we see that implemented?

That is one that I would honestly say you could see resolved by the end of that school year at the latest, which is June - if not sooner. It's not going to take forever - this isn't resolving world peace!

SPECIAL EDUCATION

What are your views regarding the trend whereby parents have to resort to lawsuits to force the city to provide special education services their children are entitled to?

I will say that the Bloomberg/Joel Klein administration has done a poor job at special education… That is an area that New York City needs to focus on, making sure that parents whose child is entitled to receive special education services receive those services. New York City needs to do a better job...

Many Orthodox Jewish parents, and presumably other ethnic populations in New York City, looking for appropriate special education placement for their children find resistance from the city. The complaint is that cultural needs are not taken into account in determining placement suitability - even in cases involving autism - despite such a mandate in the Individuals with Disabilities Act. Would a Thompson administration investigate the city's performance and compliance in this area and make any reasonable adjustments? If so, within what timeframe?

Yes. I will work to improve special education immediately upon taking office. Students with special needs, who account for approximately 181,000 of the city's student population, have been left behind in the last eight years. We must make a bold new push to improve special education.

There has been no serious effort to improve programs and services for students with emotional and behavioral problems. And there has been no strategy to provide preventive services that decrease the number of referrals to special education, or that address the over-representation of students of color in special education classes.

And there is serious, systemic non-compliance with students' Individual Education Programs, or IEPs. Many schools do not take responsibility to educate these children or accommodate their needs, or even understand what the law requires schools to provide.

Fewer than one in every five New York City students classified with special needs graduates in four years from high school. Black and Latino students continue to receive a disproportionately large share of the City's IEP diplomas, which provide no access to college, the military or any job requiring a high school diploma.

I embrace the recommendations of the ARISE Coalition to educate, include and respect students with special needs. Their recommendation to create a Task Force to conduct a systemic study of instruction of students with special needs is a sound plan, and as mayor I will launch such an effort immediately.