Council District 20 debate video

From BoroPolitics:

The six Democratic candidates running for the seat — John Choe, Yen Chou, S.J. Jung, Constantine Kavadas, Isaac Sasson and James Wu — duked it out during a forum sponsored by TimesLedger Newspapers, part of the Community Newspaper Group, last Thursday.
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An otherwise civil discussion on District 20 issues turned ugly when the candidates were asked about the role of ethnic politics in the race, briefly descending into a screaming match between Kavadas and Sasson, who have each been accused of racism during the campaign.

For more about the elections, visit the Queens Campaigner.

District 20 debate turns into Royal Rumble

From the Queens Campaigner:

It was billed as a debate, but it turned into an airing of dirty laundry.

The six Democratic candidates running for the seat of City Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing) participated in a candidates’ forum in Flushing Monday night, but what started as a cordial discourse on issues affecting District 20 quickly devolved into a fracas replete with allegations of everything from racism to planted questions.

During the course of the forum, held at Korea Village by Terence Park’s Our Political Coalition, candidates Yen Chou and Isaac Sasson were openly called racists, John Choe was criticized for calling the United States imperialist in a 2006 speech, S.J. Jung was accused of living in another state and Constantine Kavadas erupted against forum panelists whom he accused of asking questions planted by opposing campaigns.

Tomorrow night is round 2 at the Flushing Library! Don't miss it!

A challenging time in the 20th Council District

From the Queens Campaigner:

In the race to replace City Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing), even getting on the ballot is a battle.

With just under two months until the Democratic primary, 46 objections to candidates’ ballot petitions had been filed with the city Elections Board in the race for Liu’s seat — easily the most for any city race in Queens.

According to board records, as of 3 p.m. Monday all six Democrats and the lone Republican registered for the race had at least four challenges filed against them.

Constantine Kavadas received 10 challenges, S.J. Jung and Isaac Sasson each received seven, James Wu received five and John Choe and Yen Chou each received four. Peter Koo, a Republican, received nine challenges.

Council candidate wants RKO Keith's restored

From the Times Ledger:

[James] Wu said he would...mount a major effort to restore the long-abandoned RKO Keith’s theater on Northern Boulevard to its former glory. Wu said he believes working with existing city institutions to purchase the property could result in transforming the historic theater into a major community arts center.

“You realize in times of economic crisis how much people need the arts. People flock to these centers,” Wu said. “There’s no reason we can’t make this that major center for the community in northern Queens.”