NYC Council District 26 Election: Brent O'Leary Seeks LIC Seat

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — Democratic voters in New York City's 26th Council district, which includes Sunnyside, Woodside, Long Island City, Dutch Kills, and parts of Astoria, will see 15 names on their ballots when they vote in the June 22 primary election — making it one of the most crowded primary races in the city.

One of those names will be Brent O'Leary, a legal consultant and president of Hunters Point Civic Association.

Patch reached out to all candidates in the election to create these profiles. O'Leary's responses are below.

<b>Age (as of Election Day)</b>

51

<b>Position Sought</b>

New York City Council Member District 26

<b>Party Affiliation</b>

Democratic

<b>Neighborhood of residence (i.e., East Village, Astoria, etc.)</b>

Long Island City

<b>Family</b>

Laureen O'Leary, Mother 88 years old, Heather O'Leary, sister

<b>Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?</b>

No

<b>Education</b>

B.A. in History Trinity College, Juris Doctorate in Law Boston University

<b>Occupation</b>

Lawyer

<b>Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office</b>

Democratic National Committee Member

<b>Campaign website</b>

www.olearyforcouncil.com

<b>Why are you seeking elective office?</b>

I'm running for New York City Council because I believe in community service. I believe that government can be responsive to our needs and provide true equality in both law and resources so that everyone can go as far as their hard work and dreams can take them.
I believe that in New York City, one of the richest cities in the world, no one should go untreated, unsheltered, uneducated or unrepresented.
I believe healthcare is a human right. The measure of a compassionate society can be seen in how they take care of their sick, old and weak. I will fight to make sure everyone has quality health care.
Education is a key to the American dream. I will fight for the resources to enable our schools to provide the best education possible and I support free college education and vocational training.
We are in an affordable housing crisis. It is becoming harder and harder for working class people to afford this city. I will fight for true affordable housing and rent protection for both residential and small business.
I believe money in politics and the influence of special interests are a threat to our community and our democracy. We must remove these corrosive forces entirely in order to empower our community to self-govern and achieve the ideals of American democracy.
I am proud to be the first New York City Council candidate to refuse all money from the real estate industry, corporations, lobbyist and political action committees. I will represent the people of our community fully and only.
And when I say the people, I mean all the people, our communities of color, our LGBTQIA community, our Muslim communities, our communities of people with disabilities, our immigrant communities and all the ethnicities which make Queens the best place in the world.
The American Dream is an ideal, I am running to make it a reality.

<b>The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.</b>

Affordable Housing. DiBlasio's fake affordable housing program is a failure. Homelessness is exploding and rents rising. We need to build truly affordable housing so that all can live with dignity and have a roof over their heads. We will build truly affordable housing with not for profit developers, community land trusts and Mitchell-Lama style housing. We will also provide strong tenant rights protections and stop the privatization of NYCHA.

<b>What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?</b>

My track record of service and results. Anyone candidate can write nice things on their website. I am the only one who not only talks the talk, but walks the walk. I have been serving the community for over 10 years whether as Board President of Woodside on the Move providing after school programs, tenants right advocacy for over 4000 people a year and senior services or as President of the Hunters Point Civic Association fighting for resources for our neighborhood, conducting monthly meetings, for the last 10 years, with elected officials and government agencies and conducting food and toy drives for the needy. I was a leader in the Anti-IDC movement and in the fight to preserve public land. My competitors have no record of community service here.

<b>If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)</b>

<b>How do you think local officials performed in responding to the coronavirus? What if anything would you have done differently?</b>

Our local officials responded poorly. When Covid hit I knew many people would be food insecure so I established two emergency food pantries, one at the Mosaic Church in Sunnyside and one at Woodside on the Move in Woodside. In over a year we have served over 150,000 people making sure no one in our neighborhood goes hungry. We also distributed masks and other PPE. I personally delivered medical equipment to Elmhurst Hospital at the height of Covid and delivered food to people who were unable to get out in Queensbridge, Ravenswood and the senior centers. This should have been done in a coordinated way by our government. Our government should have delivered masks and other necessary PPE to all our community and set up food pantries and call centers to meet peoples needs during this time.

<b>Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.</b>

Affordable Health Care for All, Quality Education with small class sizes and free college and vocational training. Public Safety while Reforming the NYPD. Fighting Climate Change, Accessibility Justice, Getting money out of politics and having community led development instead of real estate industry led development

<b>What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?</b>

I am currently the President of the Board at Woodside on the Move where for many years we have worked to provide free or low-cost after school and summer programming including art, sports and education at schools throughout the district. We also provide housing and tenants right services for over 4,000 people a year, advocated for rent freezes including getting legislation passed to prevent landlords from unethically raising rents in rent stabilized apartments.
I founded the Hunters Point Civic Association and have run it for the past 10 years. There we have been fighting against overdevelopment and advocating for more schools, green space, traffic calming measures, and investing in better infrastructure and other quality of life improvements for the neighborhood. We hold monthly public meetings with government agencies and elected officials to advocate for community needs, hosted forums on community development, organized an annual Community Unity street fair and helped organize annual holiday celebrations.
I founded an annual Thanksgiving food drive where over the past 6 years, I have arranged for food contribution boxes in to be put in buildings throughout Queens and Manhattan during the 3 weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, after which we collect, sort and then distribute roughly 5000 pounds of food and critical items to our local food pantries in Long Island City, Sunnyside and Woodside.
I was also personally active in the NO IDC movement, having helped to form a local progressive political organization where we supported true blue democrats running against IDC candidates through fundraising and volunteer activities
Along with local unions and community groups, I helped Build UP NYC in their mission to fight push for responsible development and get large developers to contribute towards schools, more green space and infrastructure.
I volunteered for Citizenship Now in helping immigrants apply for US citizenship.
I organized local accessibility canvasses across the district to digitally map which stores in the area are accessible to those with disabilities.
I have arranged and participated in a number of waterfront and park clean ups, and helped to form other community groups such as the Long island City Lions Club and Blissville Civic Association
I also helped organized fundraisers for Puerto Rican Hurricane Relief, reuniting children separated at the border, the Floating Hospital, the Queensboro Dance Festival, Boys & Girls Club and helped with the Sunnyside Fire Relief to raise money for employees who worked at the stores which burned down on Queens Blvd.
When the coronavirus outbreak began, I knew that the food insecurity crisis would get much worse. So I volunteered with LIC Relief and delivered food to elderly and quarantined residents in Queensbridge, Ravenswood and Long Island City.
Then I established two emergency food pantries, one in Sunnyside and one in Woodside. I established one with Dan Sadler at the Mosaic Church and another food pantry at the Woodside on the Move which have been going for over a year now and together have served over 100,000 people in our community.
I delivered medical equipment and masks to Ravenswood Senior Center and Elmhurst Hospital at the height of the Covid crisis with the help of some friends, and provided food relief for Muslim mosques for Ramaddan.
I get calls from all different organizations and people in the district who I have
never met. And while this surprises me sometimes as I am not an elected official,
the fact that people would have heard and think to reach out to me help with
their problems, I think of as an honor and I do my best to help.

<b>The best advice ever shared with me was:</b>

<b>What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?</b>

I am from an immigrant family who came with here with nothing, my father grew up working poor, was a bartender and ran bars for many years and then ended up working as a ticket teller at Belmont racetrack. I have worked since I was 12 years. Busy boy waiter, bartender, concession stand at the movies, English teacher and was only ble to go to college and law school on financial aid working my mail through working in the college mailroom. I was able to have a 25 year successful legal career specializing in business and finance at a very high level. I think these white collar skills along with my blue collar values make give me the ability to deliver for my community and to do whats right.