Steve has spent decades working to make our community’s schools better.

“Let’s be clear, a quality public education is too important to compromise on. When my parents moved to our community when I was six years old they were drawn to our great local public schools. They made the right choice. Now, I want my kids to have the same opportunities that I had. I want every child in the district to have the same opportunities I had. When I was Counsel to Council Member Grodenchik, we drove over $300 million of investment into our local schools.”

Working in City Hall, Steve was able to secure large-scale improveme

nts to schools, preparing them and our communities next generation for the future. This includes adding 2,600 seats to the district, including expansions at P.S. 26, P.S. 46, and Cardozo High School to address overcrowding, investments in technology and the arts.

However, under our current Councilwoman, that progress is under threat. She has already voted to cut our school’s budget by $488 million. Those cuts cost 700 teachers their jobs. As our Council Member, Steve will tirelessly fight to restore funding to our schools and ensure that all our schools are fully funded. Steve will NEVER vote to cut the school budget.

This is Steve’s Plan:

Invest in Our Schools to Invest in Our Future.

We must work towards smaller classes so students get the attention they need. We must ensure that teachers have the tools and resources they need to properly educate our children. We must strive to increase the number of full-time nurses and guidance counselors. We must invest in STEM education (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) to ensure that our children will be able to compete in the global marketplace. We must invest in technology in our schools so our children can learn the latest technology and will be prepared for college and the 21st-century workplace. We must ensure that the arts are part of our children’s education. We must provide students with opportunities to learn trades through programs and apprenticeships. We must increase afterschool programs which keep our kids off the streets and help working parents by providing a place for their kids to learn and play in a safe environment after school.

Provide Kids with The Support They Need to Succeed

Public schools are the great equalizer, but students with special needs and those who require additional academic support face unique barriers to success. All of our children must receive the education they need to succeed and live a happy and productive life.

Continue To Invest in our School’s Infrastructure

In his six years of working with Council Member Grodenchik, Steve helped negotiate investments of approximately $300 million in the schools in our district. These investments include building science labs, building a courtroom, rebuilding auditoriums, building a dance studio, modernizing schoolyards and investing in technology. In addition, Steve’s work with Council Member Grodenchik led to the addition of over 2,600 new school seats in our district. These seats include converting former Catholic schools at St. Robert Bellarmine Church into P.S.

390Q and Our Lady of Lourdes into a District 29 Pre-K Center. Their efforts to add school seats also led to the expansion of P.S. 26, P.S. 46, and Cardozo High School.

As your Council Member, Steve will make education a top priority at City Hall, act on parent and teacher concerns and continue to drive investment in our schools and children’s future.

While working at the City Council, Steve helped secure $105 million for a new precinct serving Bellerose, New Hyde Park, and Floral Park.

With increasing car tire thefts in Floral Park, Bellerose, Glen Oaks and New Hyde Park, Steve understands that we need more police patrolling our streets. Steve also understands that we must improve emergency response and non-emergency response times. Currently, the 105th Precinct stretches from Bellerose, Glen Oaks, New Hyde Park, and Floral Park down to the boundaries of John F. Kennedy International Airport, making it one of the largest precincts in the city and inadequate for our community’s needs.

For over four decades, the communities served by the 105th Precinct demanded that a new precinct be created to alleviate the strain of the 105th covering such a large territory. Steve and Council Member Grodenchik campaigned to secure funding for such a new precinct. Upon taking office, Steve and Council Member Grodenchik drafted a New York City Council resolution demanding the funding of the new Precinct. Steve and Council Member Grodenchik worked with then Council Member Donovan Richards to secure $105 million for the construction of the new 116th Precinct in Southeast Queens. The new 116th Precinct will cut the 105th Precinct in half and serve the southern half of the current 105th Precinct. This will allow the NYPD to properly staff and patrol our communities.

Our district is a transportation desert. Our district is the only district in New York City where you cannot take a train. We have no subway stations, no Long Island Railroad stations and no Metro-North stations. No stations whatsoever!

The transportation needs of our district have been ignored by the MTA for years. The first thing we need is improved bus service. We need better Express Bus service to Manhattan from Eastern Queens. We need Bus Rapid Transit service on the Q46 line along Union Turnpike. We need to put technology into use along the Q46 line that allows buses to change the streetlights to green as they travel along Union Turnpike. This will allow faster service to the Union Turnpike – Kew Gardens subway station where commuters can catch the E or the F trains. For years Steve has fought cuts to bus service in our district including the elimination of the Q75 and Q79 and cuts to the frequency of operation of other bus routes. The Q75 bus line allowed commuters to travel from Oakland Gardens and Fresh Meadows to the F train at 179th Street. The Q79 was a true north-south bus line connecting through Bellerose, Glen Oaks and Little Neck to the Little Neck LIRR station. Our district is home to Queensborough Community College. It is time to create a bus line that will take students from Southeast Queens to QCC on one ride. The Q27 bus currently only runs as south as Cambria Heights. It’s time to extend some of the Q27 runs as far south as Far Rockaway so students from the entirety of Eastern Queens can attend QCC and travel on one bus route.

With ridership way down, the LIRR must offer more affordable transportation options for Eastern Queens. It’s time to institute a low NYC Fare on the LIRR within NYC and include transfers to buses and subways.

Steve has been a member of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy for decades. He has taken vacations to specifically bike trails throughout the country. Steve grew up biking through Alley Pond Park, Cunningham Park and the Long Island Motor Parkway. He loves biking on trails and wants vibrant, well-kept trails throughout our district. Council Member Grodenchik has funded the renovation and repaving of the Long Island Motor Parkway. Steve will continue to support our trails and look to expand them. Specifically, Steve supports creating a safe route from Fresh Meadows through Alley Pond Park to the Joe Michaels Mile to Fort Totten and Little Bay Parks. In addition, Steve supports the restoration and expansion of the Long Island Motor Parkway which he’s biked on since he was 7 years old.

Steve lives in the same garden apartment co-op he moved into with his parents and his younger brother when he was six years old. Steve understands the issues of co-op and condo owners because he must deal with them himself.

In 2021, when Steve was Counsel to former Council Member Barry Grodenchik, he drafted a bill to completely exempt garden apartment co-ops and condos from Local Law 97. The former Speaker refused to call that bill for a vote. Now, our current Councilwoman has done nothing to pass this bill which would resolve the issue of Local Law 97 for garden apartment co-ops and condos.

Steve also supports legislation that would stall the implementation of Local Law 97 for all co-op and condo residences for seven years.

Finally, Steve has supported efforts to revise the property taxation of co-ops and condos in Albany for many years. Many times, Steve traveled to Albany with former Council Member Grodenchik to lobby the Albany legislature to make desperately needed changes to the tax code. Co-ops and condos are currently taxed as commercial properties not residences. This must be changed. Co-ops and condos in our district provide an affordable way for families to own their home and raise their families in a beautiful community with great schools and parks. Our co-ops and condos represent affordable home ownership and must be protected and not overtaxed.