Scala and Osina Participate in BHPOA Primary Candidates Forum

By Katie McFadden

The Belle Harbor Property Owners Association meeting on Tuesday, May 19, put the spotlight on the choices that those voting in the democratic primary will have on June 23—District 23 Assembly candidates Mike Scala and Pesach Osina.

Before the candidate town hall, BHPOA President Paul King made some announcements. He shared the sad news of the sudden death of Robert Sarnoff on Friday, a local artist and filmmaker, who was just at last month’s meeting, and the drowning incident on Beach 73rd Street. On a lighter note, King highlighted last month’s successful beach cleanup and gave credit to NYC Parks staff for maintaining the dune crossovers.

As the town hall got underway, King made note of the P.S. 114 student council members who would be asking questions for the candidates, followed by local attorney Chris Smith. Each candidate began by introducing themselves.

Osina, of Far Rockaway, said, “My life has always been rooted in service, responsibility and standing up for the working man.” He spoke about his time working in government, for Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder, with Comptroller Scott Stringer and with City Council Speaker. He spoke about work on public safety, resources for veterans, protecting funding for education and being ready to pick up the phone for those in need. “I am running because our community deserves a representative who is present, successful and focused on results, not slogans,” he said.

Scala, of Howard Beach, is a local attorney who has served in the private and public sector. He has been involved in local cases, like successfully suing HPD on behalf of Dayton Beach Park stakeholders, so they could hold a board election after 10 years. Scala has served as chairman of the board for nonprofit Queens Defenders, which focuses on housing assistance, and as counsel for QueensLink in hopes of revitalizing the Rockaway Rail. He’s also done pro bono work for nonprofits, helped organizations establish food pantries and participated in beach cleanups. “I’m not beholden to the party interests,” he said. Scala shared that this is the first democratic primary for the District 23 assembly race since 1966. “I hope to have your support,” he said.

The P.S. 114 students then asked questions. Asked about education programs, Scala shared he was public school student, so that would be his priority. He spoke about modernizing the curriculum, introducing programs like financial literacy, robotics and bringing back civics. He promised to work with PTAs, teachers and students to get feedback. Osina explained the importance of civic engagement and promised to visit every eighth-grade class to work with schools to ensure they’re getting the resources they need.

Asked about making sure medians and public spaces are maintained, Osina spoke about working with agencies to make sure things are taken care of, and establishing community block associations in partnership with NYC Parks so communities can help with medians as Parks is spread thin. Scala said he’d host community cleanups with organizations that would include students, so they can understand why protecting the environment is important.

Asked about expanding healthcare, Scala said he’d make it a priority to meet with the legislative conference in Albany when the budget is being discussed to fight for trauma center funding. He and Osina shared disappointment in the mayor for not including funding in the city budget. Osina said he worked with councilmembers to secure $25 million in funding last year and he encouraged everyone to reach out to the administration to put pressure on.

Asked about rising fuel costs and pausing a state fuel tax, Osina said he would support putting a cap on the gas state tax after the state budget is negotiated, since taxpayers shouldn’t pay extra. Scala would not support eliminating a gas tax since it helps fund the MTA, but he would support a gas tax holiday, putting a 60 day pause on gas taxes. He added that there needs to be better regulation of car insurance rates.

Smith continued with the questioning. Asked what they would do about New Yorkers leaving the state due to the cost of living, Scala said, “We need to raise revenue, but we cannot do that on the back of working class.” As the highest tax rate is more than 10% for those making $25 million a year, he suggested lowering that threshold, so more top earners are taxed at that rate. He also suggested a temporary freeze on utility rate hikes and addressing Tier 6, so pension contributions would go from 6% to 3%, so New Yorkers have more money in their pockets, and he’d focus on making housing more affordable as “affordable” rates for NYC are based on an Area Median Income that includes Westchester and Long Island. Osina said as a father of six, he wants to make sure his kids can afford to stay. He suggested creating affordable home ownership, making sure property taxes don’t go up and fighting back on home insurance and utility costs.

Asked about supporting new places of employment, Osina said with more people coming to Rockaway, we need more officers, firefighters and other public employees and suggested businesses should focus on hospitality to provide more opportunities, and things like bowling alleys and movie theaters should be created to employ youth. Scala said we need to be careful to not turn Rockaway into midtown, but places like Resorts World can hire more locals, and QueensLink should be built to connect people with more job opportunities. He also suggested cutting the red tape for business owners so they can thrive.

With traffic increasing with more cars and bus lanes, Scala suggested implementing smart lights so people aren’t sitting in traffic, building QueensLink and funding things like Rockaway Rides so more people can use public transportation. Osina said speed limits need to be looked at in different areas and tweaked and the MTA budget needs to increase to support public transportation.

Asked about congestion pricing, Osina said he’s against it. Scala said it wouldn’t be his idea but since we have it, we should make sure funding is allocated to Rockaway. Asked about QueensLink, both said they supported reactivating it.

On bail reform, Osina said changes should be made like allowing judges to ask for bail after a first offense if the suspect is considered dangerous. Scala said he understood the intent of bail reform and said judges should be able to look at things on a case-by-case basis and those who reoffend should be kept behind bars.

On their top three priorities, Scala said affordability, reactivating QueensLink and creating a trauma center. Osina said resiliency and public safety, cost of living and creating a neighborhood advisory board so different communities are kept in the loop about things that affect their area.

Asked about Mamdani’s proposal to lower the estate tax threshold from $7.5 million to $750K and raise the rate from 16% to 50%, Osina said he would not support it. Scala said those rates would be too high and said the estate tax cliff rules should be adjusted from 5% to 10%. On City of Yes, Scala said some of the rules don’t apply to Rockaway and neighborhood character should be preserved. Osina said he was against City of Yes and the housing amendments since one size does not fit all for the city.

On using ID at voting places, NYPD cooperating with ICE, a total ban on facial recognition technology used by police and opening schools year-round, both said no. On battery storage facilities in neighborhoods, Scala supported it with mitigation, Osina said no. On banning face coverings for ICE and supporting windfarms and solar energy, both said yes.