"FBI probe of Liu funds shocks Flushing!" reads the headline in the Flushing Times. I say innocent until proven guilty, but it is a fact that politics in Flushing revolves around money. The politician who raises the most money wins. Any discussion around candidates begins, not with their political views, but with how much money they have raised. Most are business owners, who may or may not lean on their workers to support their candidacies. Corporate donors and business owners are well represented on their lists of donors; as well as donations from employees.
Once elected, it is clear to see who in Flushing is truly represented. Whether Democrat or Republican; Flushing has more luxury housing and high-rises built than most other districts in Queens except perhaps Long Island City. Yet Flushing has large numbers of workers who barely earn enough to make ends meet. We have workers living eight or more to a room; but over the last decade of Asian representation; we have begun to see the Flushing middle-class and professional class feel the sting of the city-wide economic failures.
Flushing has seen layoffs at local banks; closures of small businesses, and the threatened closure of Flushing High School. Maintenance payments on co-ops in Flushing are higher than those on apartments of equal value elsewhere. Flushing residents are facing eviction, unable to pay the raised rents. Few current residents can afford to pay the rents on the new luxury housing that has sprung up throughout Flushing. Our elected officials see no problem with letting expensive apartments and condos remain empty while the people of Flushing are unable to find affordable housing. Affordable housing does not mean that only poor people cannot afford it. Affordable housing is also for the middle class recent graduates who would like to leave home; or young couples with a new child, who have outgrown their studio apartments. Why should anyone work hard at whatever their job may be; and then have to hand over half or more of their pay to the landlord or to pay maintenance, rent, or for an artificially inflated mortgage? Why should small businesses face constant commercial rent increases until they are forced to close? Why can large businesses in Flushing be so profitable that they can expand and open various branches and yet not give their workers the wages and benefits that are due them?
Politics in Flushing must begin to mean more than raffling off our representation to the highest bidders.
Once elected, it is clear to see who in Flushing is truly represented. Whether Democrat or Republican; Flushing has more luxury housing and high-rises built than most other districts in Queens except perhaps Long Island City. Yet Flushing has large numbers of workers who barely earn enough to make ends meet. We have workers living eight or more to a room; but over the last decade of Asian representation; we have begun to see the Flushing middle-class and professional class feel the sting of the city-wide economic failures.
Flushing has seen layoffs at local banks; closures of small businesses, and the threatened closure of Flushing High School. Maintenance payments on co-ops in Flushing are higher than those on apartments of equal value elsewhere. Flushing residents are facing eviction, unable to pay the raised rents. Few current residents can afford to pay the rents on the new luxury housing that has sprung up throughout Flushing. Our elected officials see no problem with letting expensive apartments and condos remain empty while the people of Flushing are unable to find affordable housing. Affordable housing does not mean that only poor people cannot afford it. Affordable housing is also for the middle class recent graduates who would like to leave home; or young couples with a new child, who have outgrown their studio apartments. Why should anyone work hard at whatever their job may be; and then have to hand over half or more of their pay to the landlord or to pay maintenance, rent, or for an artificially inflated mortgage? Why should small businesses face constant commercial rent increases until they are forced to close? Why can large businesses in Flushing be so profitable that they can expand and open various branches and yet not give their workers the wages and benefits that are due them?
Politics in Flushing must begin to mean more than raffling off our representation to the highest bidders.
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