Saturday, October 10, 2009

Ognibene offers ‘right’ message despite GOP ills


Queens Chronicle.....

Tom Ognibene wants his job back.
The former councilman and Middle Village lawyer will challenge Democratic incumbent Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village) on Nov. 3 to reclaim the 30th Council District seat, a position he was term limited out of in 2001.


The Republican contender’s campaign is conservative to the core — an all or nothing bet in a district where traditional blue-collar values run deep despite a two to one Democratic advantage among registered voters.

If elected, Ognibene is promising to fight for lower taxes, smaller government, commercial traffic reforms, more hospitals, a greater police presence and a return to local school zoning.

The GOP nominee is promoting a plan that would require a two-thirds majority to raise taxes and wants to cut government spending through changes to the city’s pension system, debt refinancing and consolidations, pay freezes and layoffs among the city’s various agencies.

“There are agencies in the city government with people walking around and doing nothing — it’s just appalling,” Ognibene said. “Nobody wants to make tough decisions. I want to force people to make tough decisions. The citizens paying the taxes are making tough decisions, aren’t they?”

Ognibene rejected arguments that sending government workers to the burgeoning unemployment lines would ultimately hurt the city by exacerbating financial problems in the private sector with fewer families spending at local businesses.

“Unless we begin to make the choices that I’m suggesting, we are heading for armageddon anyway — so we might as well begin to look at it now,” he said.

Ognibene is also proposing changes to the rules governing commercial traffic in the area, an effort he said would help remove trucks from the district’s crowded streets.

“There’s a lot of opportunity for rail traffic that can substitute for the truck traffic,” he said. “You can control the flow of traffic by having DOT map out better routes. You can have DOT organize themselves better and come up with a better plan than the current federal system that they use for deciding where traffic controls are and how they’re timed.”

Ognibene condemned citywide zoning regulations on new schools, calling for a return to neighborhood districting with a voucher system in place for parents who want to send their kids elsewhere.

“We need schools for kids from our communities — Maspeth, Middle Village, Elmhurst. When these new high schools are built, they’re universally zoned,” he said.

The Republican candidate said that education problems in poor communities are overblown and that efforts to improve the situation by integrating students from various economic backgrounds across neighborhood lines are now putting an unfair burden on parents in good school districts.

“We’ve never really addressed that issue,” he said. “Why are kids in poor neighborhoods not doing well? So they’re going to come to a new school and they’re going to do better? I want my child to go to a community school. I don’t want them to travel around the universe. I want them to go to a school where they’re going to feel safe and they’re going to learn. And I don’t want to sacrifice that because there are other communities in this city that don’t have the same commitment.”

Ognibene said the city needs to address problems in underperforming institutions individually and urged parents in troubled communities to take responsibility for improving their schools.

“This is the nonsense argument that’s infected all of our thinking in this world,” he said. “People have to learn to be accountable. What your status is in life and how your children learn is directly related to what emphasis you want to put on education in your community. Join the PTA. Fight for safer schools. Don’t say, ‘What the hell, I’m going to thrust my problems on you.’”

In the wake of this year’s hospital closings, Ognibene is urging Queens lawmakers to step up efforts to secure funding for new healthcare facilities at the St. John’s and Mary Immaculate sites.

And while he praised the city’s declining crime rates, Ognibene also stressed the need for additional police officers to deter lesser crimes, including vandalism and auto theft.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

just by having bloomturd endorse him makes me wanna vote for dizzy lizzy..... = (

Anonymous said...

Thomas Ognibene is our choice! Tom will be accoutable to the people of Middle Village, just as he has been in the past. He'll not be concerned about troubled communities,(Ghettoes), like Glendale, Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Ridgewood and Woodhaven, because Tom will just worry about us.

Anonymous said...

OGNIBENE WANTS CONDOS AT ALTAS!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said: "Thomas Ognibene is our choice! Tom will be accoutable to the people of Middle Village, just as he has been in the past. He'll not be concerned about troubled communities,(Ghettoes), like Glendale, Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Ridgewood and Woodhaven, because Tom will just worry about us."

You do realize this council seat is supposed to represent all neighborhoods, NOT just middle village. He's supposed to be the voice of everyone he represents NOT just the affluent.Unfortunately, Mr. Ognibene only cares about those who can do him good, which is why he is the WRONG choice.

Anonymous said...

I'm a registered Republican. I'm voting for Crowley. Ognibene IS in developers pockets.

Anonymous said...

Confucious says: Better to have tom in developers pockets instead of dizzy lizzy in crooked politicians pants.

Anonymous said...

How can he do the "right" thing with his nose so far up Bloomberg's ass?

Anonymous said...

Has anyone seen Tom?

Anonymous said...

"Confucious says: Better to have tom in developers pockets instead of dizzy lizzy in crooked politicians pants."

You have got to be joking right?