A Fiery Chat In the Last Leg of the Mayoral Race

Art by Christian Branch

By Alyssa Beaumont

On Wednesday, October 1st, the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) hosted one-on-one live interviews with the candidates of the upcoming New York City mayoral election, “A Fireside Chat with the Mayoral Candidates.” The event took place in St. Albans, Queens with journalist Cheryl Wills conducting the interviews. The candidates were asked questions related to topics such as homelessness, mental health, ICE, and care for the elderly and the youth — all based on questions submitted by the community.  The lineup of invited candidates included Zohran Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo, Curtis Sliwa, Joseph Hernandez, and Irene Estrada. However, Andrew Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani were both unable to attend the event and each shared the reasons for their absence. The crowd, which was primarily composed of older black adults, had very strong reactions to the absence of both candidates and the messages shared by the candidates who were there that night. 

Andrew Cuomo’s absence was announced at the very beginning of the night. The crowd responded by shaking their heads. A video was shown of Cuomo stating that he was attending a friend’s wake, but he would be there to support those in his “backyard” (Cuomo is from Queens, though he no longer lives there). At the end of the night, it was announced that an email from Zohran Mamdani’s team was sent, apologizing that he could not make it to the event. This time a loud chorus of unintelligible murmurs broke out all over the room, and one very clear “boo.” The reason for his absence was not shared publicly, but a member of the NCNW stated that it was “telling” if a candidate did not make an appearance at the event. Despite the disgruntled response that might have come across as biased, there was a disclaimer made at the beginning of the night that the NCNW was not endorsing any candidates. Be that as it may, the candidates that were in attendance all received a fair opportunity to share their positions. 

Below are the highlighted notes in relation to issues raised by the community.

Homelessness

Joseph Hernandez was asked, “What would you do differently from the current administration to address the homelessness crisis?” He shared that he would lease optional floating temporary housing facilities to house individuals and provide them with medical/drug intervention, “to get them back to being functional members of our society.” He put forward the idea of re-establishing old cruise ships as hospitals or housing facilities — something that has been done before in relation to a lack of necessary facilities. In 2022, approximately 15,000 Ukrainian refugees of the Russo-Ukrainian war were temporarily housed in the MS Volendam — a cruise ship belonging to Holland America Line — in an agreement between government officials in the Netherlands and its city of Rotterdam. The housing agreement lasted 3 months and included three hot meals per day, private stateroom accommodations, housekeeping services, use of public spaces, fitness facilities, internet access, and other necessities. Mercy Ships, founded in Switzerland in 1978, is a charity organization that provides free medical care and education to those in need via its two hospital ships staffed by volunteers. What could this solution look like if applied to New York City?

AI/Elderly Care/The Youth

Candidate Hernandez was asked to share his plans to address Access-a-ride’s unreliability. His solution is AI. “It is the future of the world, it is the future of America, it is the future of this city,” he said. He wants to implement AI all over the city to address issues such as traffic, bus routing, garbage collection, and potholes. He added that it is very important that children, especially those from minority communities, be educated on AI so that they may have a path forward in this new age of technology. “Artificial Technology is the future, and we need to educate our young kids in that field. It is what electricity was in the 1800s.”

The interviewer expressed concern with this response. She stated that AI is not a perfect science and asked Hernandez how he would protect New Yorkers from the dangers of AI; the crowd applauded and cheered in response. Hernandez said that there are guardrails that can be put in place to avoid AI abuse, but, “it is a tool that if we don’t lead in it, we will be following.”

Curtis Sliwa was asked what he would do as mayor to stop the “iron pipeline” in NYC, a phrase used to describe the unlawful movement of firearms from states with weaker gun control laws to states with stricter regulations, especially to cities like New York and Philadelphia, via Interstate 95 and related routes. In response, he condemned Andrew Cuomo’s decision to sign the "Raise the Age" law in 2018 which raised the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 18. Sliwa shared, “I don’t think he had the street smarts to understand that older men, especially then, will utilize juveniles to carry guns and to commit acts of violence against one another and others, so I think we have to get back to where we were because we really were curving juvenile youth violence.” He added, “More than anything else, we have got to get these young people off the streets and involved in activities that keep them out of harm’s way.” He named his organization, the Guardian Angels, as one example of such an effort. 

ICE

When asked how she would communicate to the White House about the current threats that civilians face from ICE, Irene Estrada said that she would respect the law of the land and sit with the president “to give her two cents,” as she put it, about what to do for NYC in regards to immigration. She concluded her response by stating, “I will always stand that if you come against a police officer and do any kind of criminal activity, you will be deported immediately.” The crowd, which was very responsive throughout the night, remained completely silent. According to Data USA, in 2023, 85% of the residents in NYC-Queens Community District 12, which includes St. Albans, were U.S. citizens and 45.3% were born outside of the US. 

The audience for this event might not reflect the opinions of the diverse community of St. Albans or how they are likely to vote this November. However, many residents across NYC hold the same concerns mentioned during the chat and believe it is imperative that their concerns be addressed by the next mayor. Insight into the possible motivations for a person’s vote is not only crucial to campaigning politicians, but also to everyday people that hope to understand one another. 

The full discussion can be found on the NCNW Inc. Queens County Section’s Facebook/Instagram pages or YouTube channel, @ncnwqueenscounty. Don’t forget to register to vote! You can easily do so online and find your local polling site at vote.nyc. The early voting period is from Saturday, October 25th to Sunday, November 2. The election will be held on Tuesday, November 4. 

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Alyssa Beaumont is a freshman at The City College of New York, majoring in Communications with a concentration in Journalism. She joined The Paper to hone her writing skill and gain experience in the world of journalism. She is a novice movie buff that loves expressing herself creatively.