Juan Ardila, a candidate running to represent western Queens in the state Assembly and a crusader against car culture, drives a compact sports utility vehicle that has racked up nearly 30 traffic violations since 2019.
The black Audi Q3 has been hit with multiple speed camera violations in school zones in the vicinity of Queens Boulevard and 55th Street. The vehicle has been ticketed for blocking crosswalks, parking in front of fire hydrants to obstructing driveways. There is also a bus lane violation, and a violation for blocking a pedestrian ramp.
Multiple people have told the Queens Post that he drives the vehicle and have provided photos and videos of him in it. He is often seen driving through western Queens as he campaigns to represent the 37th Assembly District, which covers Long Island City, Sunnyside, Woodside, Ridgewood and Maspeth.
His critics argue that his violations undermine his campaign, since he is a staunch advocate for street safety. His platform calls for conflict-free protected bicycle lanes, pedestrian safety measures and an end to car culture. He was endorsed by StreetsPAC today, which he announced via twitter.
🚨 ENDORSEMENT ALERT! I am thrilled to announce that we’re now backed by @StreetsPAC. Our streets belong to everyone, including #pedestrians & #cyclists. #Transportation is a matter of #justice & #equity. I will fight to make sure all NYers have safe access to our #publicspaces pic.twitter.com/yb3oNOzafi
— Juan Ardila (@JuanArdilaNYC) June 16, 2022
Ardila, when questioned about the violations, told the Queens Post “I don’t have a car.” In a short unannounced phone interview, he refused to say who the vehicle belonged to, nor did he address the violations. He said he had to get off the phone but would call back in 5 minutes.
He didn’t call back, and after the Queens Post reached out again, he sent a text asking for the questions to be e-mailed. The questions were e-mailed but there has been no response.
The DMV did not provide the name of the registered owner of the vehicle. Tim O’Brien, a spokesperson for the state DMV, said the agency typically does not share private registration information citing the Driver Privacy Protection Act (DPPA).
The Audi has been hit with 41 violations since 2017, although the limited public records available show that the vehicle was sold to an unnamed party in Queens in 2018. Since then, the vehicle appears to have remained in the name of one owner and has generated 29 violations.
Multiple people have said that they have seen Ardila driving the vehicle in recent years. In fact, video was taken of him in the car prior to a candidate forum held at the Ridgewood Presbyterian Church on Thursday June 9.
“I heard that he had a lot of traffic violations, so when I saw him in the car I took photos,” said Stefan Smetko, who was at the forum working on behalf of Brent O’Leary who is also vying for the Assembly seat.
Of course readers of this blog are aware of the evolution of Juan Aridla and his vain attempts to get into elected office. Last year while running for City Council he got involved in silly protests against residents he would have represented if he won and he got into major hot water when he got caught saying homophobic, racist and sexist things on social media platforms yet his base and the NYC's fauxgressive establishment politicians still stood behind him and endorsed him. This year in his mission to get into the State Assembly, Juan embraced the "public streets for people" movement and lobbies like Transportation Alternatives and Streets PAC above to get elected, so it's going to be interesting to see how they will continue to justify backing their chosen one to push and legislate their agenda to usurp streets from driving and make life difficult for residents with a man who is so dependent on car culture he needs multiple vehicles to get around town and is so addicted to car culture that he was willing to risk his political ambitions by driving and parking like an entitled jerk.
Maybe Ardila liked their agenda because he thought the streets would have more room for privileged drivers like him to drive on and also these bike/open street think tank lobbies donors to TransAlt, Streets Pac and Open Plans as well, especially car culture based corporations like Lyft and Uber and all their fellow hypocrite car owners and car dependent people from other corporations like the big banks and elected officials as well. They don't want safe streets "for people", these elitists wants the streets for themselves.
So long Juan. Thanks for sparing us one less regulatory captured politician in elected office. Now go get a real job.
