Dr. Rupert Green
[Op-Ed]
Dear Residents of Southeast Queens, I am proud to report I am a candidate for City Council of District 27 (St. Albans, parts of Hollis, Cambria Heights, Queens Village, Addisleigh Park, Jamaica, and Springfield Gardens) in the November 7 general elections.
I migrated from Jamaica, WI, 37 years ago. I hold a Doctorate from Northcentral University, Masters from both St. John’s University and Mercy College, Bachelor from NYC Technical College, and an Associate in Science from Technical Career Institute. I also have 20 Years teaching in NYC public and private schools to the college level.
With the many issues affecting our community, our campaign will focus on the following:
1. Public Education to Drive Economic Development and Growth.
2. Stopping Illegal Foreclosures and Increasing Access to Affordable housing.
3. Addressing and Improving Quality of Life Concerns.
You need better choices in candidate to represent your needs. I aim to show you that I am the better choice for the present and future of D27.
Many of you identified the problem associated with:
· Smelly and filthy subways and other ills associated with being in a Transportation Twilight Zone.
· The exponential rise of homelessness due to illegal foreclosures and the lack of affordable housing.
· The void of family recreational facilities to engage both our youth and elders as important quality of life issues.
· Financial pressure on licensed van drivers to push them out of business.
· Problems with flooded basements.
· Exclusion of our local business people from local building construction and airport revitalization jobs.
Together, with me as your representative, we can address and resolve the further decline in home ownership, the lack of affordable housing, the inequality of our public school education, and the rise in crime due to the lack of economic opportunities. We need our resources back!
With a return of needed economic and social resource to our communities, we can effectively reduce the economic downturn responsible for heightened criminal activity that results in loss of life and property damage.
I have always been committed to holding public schools accountable for delivering quality education and providing extracurricular activities that will give our youth, particularly out boys, an alternative to criminalization. We can use education to empower our community by replacing drugs and prostitution corridors with satellites of York College and Police Athletic League (PAL), which will offer programs to be used as incubators for (STEAM) Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics, and Entrepreneurship.
Vocational training, journeyman/apprenticeships, and mentoring resources must be made available once again. That can only happen through the participation of skilled and licensed professionals willing to make these resources accessible to our youth. When we talk about empowering our constituents, that is not something that happens from outside. It has to come from within.
New York has a wealth of resources available to spur economic development through business startup, growth, and sustainability. Enterprises owned by Women, Veteran, Retirees, Disabled Individuals and our Youth are the fastest growing in New York State and across the country. Businesses that survive past their first year or their tenth contribute to job creation and community wealth.
Despite the fiasco in Washington, for the knowledge all politics are local, I run as a Republican. My choice is not based on ideology, but on the need to utilize an available opportunity in a heavily Democratic district to help educate our community about bringing resources by establishing a strong presence on both side of the political spectrum. For example, the city matches each dollar I raise with six dollars. Thus $18,500 raised (I am nowhere near that) could gain me an additional $111,000.
Such money could be used to buy “yawd” food, Haitian food (banann peze fried avèk griot), African food (fu fu), Latino food (arroz con pollo), or southern food. Additionally, it could be used to rent space, hire dollar van drivers to transport voters and election workers, and purchase other goods and services from businesses in our community. This is how I want community members to see politics, instead of being misled into voting for one party all the time and hating the other party.
As seen on parts of Murdock, Jamaica, Hollis, and Farmers Blvd, one party voting is destroying our community. For many years Blacks in District 27 have been voting Democrats into office. Yet, all they have to show, besides failing schools that “graduate” too many of our children to prisons, are:
ü Excessive illegal foreclosures in the community.
ü Weak police community relation.
ü Jamaican dollar van drivers “getting a fight” with excessive ticketing.
ü The exclusion of Black businesses from the housing development and airport expansion jobs.
ü Filthy and stinky subway cars.
ü More homeless shelters than all other districts combined.
ü Roads, such as Jamaica Avenue, that are in in horrible conditions.
ü Lack of incubators to develop high-paying and futuristic jobs.
My candidacy is one that is committed to strengthening our community’s social, educational, economic, and political status in New York City.
Take a chance on me, Dr. Rupert Green, a true dark horse that can beat the odds with your support. Remember, politics is like a horse race! There must be at least two contestants for your vote/wager to return any value.
Use me as your advocate for change. Stop the voting on the same one lame mule. Take a closer look to see what that mule has actually delivered you?
Please visit my website http://drgreen4ny.com to learn more about my campaign, to support my run by becoming a volunteer and/or making a contribution.
Your contribution will help to elect someone who will champion the charge for improvements in our communities. I am available to speak at your church, businesses, and other institutions.
Dr. Rupert Green
