Dear Juniper Park Civic Association Member,
While the Juniper Park Civic Association does not endorse candidates, I feel that as your President it is necessary for me to provide you with some facts about one of the candidates in the upcoming election for City Council.
As councilman, Anthony Como kept the disgraced former Councilman Gallagher’s staff, who waged a vindictive battle against the Juniper Park Civic Association for the past 2 years.
Anthony Como racked up 14 building violations (which according to the Dept. of Buildings haven't been paid) at his oversized “McMansion” on 64th Road, yet claims to be a fighter against overdevelopment.
He also paved over his driveway so that stormwater, such as what we had last week, would end up in his neighbors’ basements and overburden the local storm sewers.
During a candidates’ forum in May, Como promised to fund the St. Saviour’s rebuilding effort. He missed our June meeting, stating that he was working hard to pass the budget for next year. When the budget came out,many pork projects were funded, but nothing was allocated for St. Saviour’s.
He also failed to deliver on the capital budget for our district; he was allocated $1.3million less than Gallagher’s allocation the year before.
Anthony Como had the audacity to distribute a campaign piece targeting Catholics that claimed Cardinal Egan had endorsed him. A Daily News exposé revealed that the Church had never authorized the piece, there was no endorsement and that the quote attributed to the Cardinal was phony. In other literature, Como brags about stopping the disbursement of slush funds when that scandal broke before in April – 2 months before he was actually elected.
The New York Post reported that Anthony Como made a deal with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn that allowed himto vote “no” on the termlimits extension bill, but only if he also voted “no” on an amendment to the bill that would have forced a referendum on the issue. This took away
the people’s voice and helped pave the way for the council to extend term limits against our will.
Anthony Como promised to attend our candidates’ debate in May but cancelled at the last minute without a valid reason. He promised in writing to attend our debate on October 30th but once again was a no-show. Since becoming our councilman, Como has not shown up for one JPCA meeting
and has not called us to discuss the needs of the neighborhood.
Anthony Como has proven that he lacks both the integrity and leadership ability that we expect of our elected representatives. He does not look out for the best interests of our community but only for his own. Please keep this in mind when you head to the polls on Election Day, November 4th.
Sincerely,
Robert F. Holden
President
