Christopher Marte faces Helen Qiu in District 1 City Council Race

Incumbent District 1 City Council Member Christoper Marte, having handily vanquished a slate of Democratic rivals in the June primary, is now pitted against Republican Helen Qiu in the general election. Both candidates received the same questions in late October but at press time, only Marte had answered them.

Why are you the most qualified candidate to become District 1 Council Member?

I’ve experienced firsthand the issues that our community faces–my father owned a bodega that was priced out from rent hikes, my mother was forced to work brutal 24-hour shifts as a homecare worker that damaged her health and relationships, and I’ve seen countless people from my childhood be forced to move out of the district due to big real estate’s displacement agenda. I ran for City Council because I saw that while elected officials were lining their pockets with money from special interests, the community was being destroyed.

During my time in office, I’ve developed relationships with people and community groups from every corner of my district. I’ve stood up for our city retirees’ healthcare, fought to end the 24-hour workday, all while investing in our parks, schools, and senior centers. We’ve already shown what’s possible, and in the next 4 years, I will continue working to ensure that Lower Manhattan thrives.

District 1 is perhaps the most diverse in Manhattan, with the Financial District, Battery Park City and Tribeca as centers of commerce and affluence one side, and greater Chinatown and the heavily Hispanic East Side NYCHA projects on the other, with the Civic Center and Orthodox Jews along East Broadway mixed in there too. How do you view the district’s vast range of constituents and interests?

I initially won my campaign for City Council because of the diverse coalition that we brought together. My coalition is a diverse mix of community groups, including the Coalition to Protect Chinatown and the Lower East Side, tenants fighting displacement from the Bowery to the Seaport, workers fighting against stolen wages from restaurants and home care agencies, Bowery Alliance of Neighbors, Save Our Seaport, gardeners expanding composting and caring for our parks, teachers helping our young people grow up with the knowledge they need, and democratic clubs like DID, GSD, among others. Voters realize that there is more that brings us together than there are differences; we all want Lower Manhattan to thrive.

When it comes to the key differences in my district, I focus on delivering strong constituent services and policy solutions that deal with every issue with the utmost importance, no matter what community they come from. We’ve helped Lower East Side and Chinatown tenants fight evictions and also assisted Tribeca and Battery Park City apartment owners with property tax abatement programs. I introduced legislation to ban fake grass in city parks to protect our health and our planet and introduced the “No More 24” bill that would ban the 24-hour workdays that home attendants, who are mostly immigrant women of color, are forced to work. Serving the diverse needs of the district only makes Lower Manhattan stronger.

One of the most contentious public projects in the district is the “Borough Based” Chinatown jail. Your thoughts.

I do not support the construction of the borough-based Chinatown jail. From the original proposal, I have been against the demolition of the Tombs and the creation of a new jail. Instead, there are three decommissioned federal and state jails that could be renovated and could meet the same goals as the Borough Based jail plan. Until a contract is signed and construction actually begins on the Chinatown site, these alternate locations remain viable options. I have been in constant contact with the mayor who lied to our community about his opposition to the current plan.

I’ve been sounding the alarm to city agencies when the demolition contractor violated protocol and put the lives of our neighbors at risk –and secured stop work orders and additional protections. But this is not enough. The decisive time to act was before I took office–when there was a clear plan to stop this dangerous proposal. Now that the Tombs have been demolished, I am working with various neighborhood groups to advocate for 100 percent truly affordable housing to be built as an alternative to the planned jail, and for the currently empty MCC Federal Jail to be renovated and used instead. We’ve taken every creative strategy, worked with top engineers, developers, activists, to assemble alternative plans, and I will not stop fighting this plan until it’s truly over.