In a West New York commissioners’ race dominated by two powerful political slates – one associated with Mayor Felix Roque and one opposed – two independent candidates, Juan Espinal and Patrick R. Cullen Jr., hope voters will select one or both of them to help bring other voices to the West New York Board of Commissioners.
Espinal said he has been campaigning since May 2014 on a “solid anti-corruption” platform and has a general plan for the WNY community. Cullen previously ran unsuccessfully twice for the West New York Board of Education, and once for county Democratic Committee.
Five seats are open for the Board of Commissioners, and from among them, the sitting commissioners will choose a mayor.
The ticket led by Mayor Felix Roque includes Cosmo Cirillo, Gabriel Rodriguez, Susan Colacurcio, and Margarita Guzman.
The West New York United Team, consisting of current West New York Commissioner Dr. Count J. Wiley, Carlos Betancourt, Myrli Sanchez, Hector Hernandez, and Thomas Leung, are running in opposition.
Espinal and Cullen are running as independents.
A public safety background
Espinal has served 32 years in law enforcement as an immigration agent and enforcement investigator for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
His platform includes a broad range of programs for the public, from after school and summer youth programs to a number of initiatives for seniors and the unemployed. He said he is concerned with holding down property taxes while maintaining city services. He would like to increase parking in West New York at the same time as lowering parking fines.
But he would establish heavy fines for people who fail to clean up dog waste their pets deposit on city streets.
He wants WNY to explore renewable energy, maintain safe streets, and provide services for residents with disabilities.
He said he believes in voting rights for legal immigrants in local elections and would like to increases community assistance programs for residents.
“As mayor, I will hold every town employee accountable and will ensure quality customer service,” he said.
“I am not afraid to speak my mind.” – Patrick R. Cullen Jr.
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Espinal’s career was flush with community relations for which he received high praise during his stint in Washington, where he realized that the Latino community was under-represented in police matters.
Under Espinal’s leadership the MPDC established a partnership with a Latino radio station that covered the Washington Metro area. He hosted a radio show that was broadcast twice weekly in AM and FM, informing and educating the Latino community on police matters. His police chief regarded Sergeant Espinal as one of his key community policing advisors.
As an advocate for Civil / Human Rights, and armed with expertise in Equal Employment Opportunity issues, Espinal has successfully filed EEO complaints and lawsuits on behalf of those subjected to discrimination in the areas of hiring, assignments, promotions, disciplinary actions, and bi-lingual pay. These complaints were filed against numerous government entities at local, state, and federal levels.
He is a registered Democrat who grew up in New York City, and attended public schools before John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He said he is very familiar with the benefits and challenges that public education has to offer. He has on his agenda the task of allocating the necessary resources to ensure a great public education for tomorrow’s grownups.
Cullen is a bread-and-butter issue candidate
This is Cullen’s first run for commissioner in West New York.
“I am not happy with the way our town officials have handled several important issues,” he said. “The lack of parking in most areas of WNY is a big concern. Even though we are the third most densely populated municipality in the nation, behind only Guttenberg and Union City, our Planning Board, under the watchful and approving eye of our administration, recently approved a new master plan that increased our allowable population densities in several areas of town, showing total tone deafness on how its actions will make future parking worse than it already is.”
He is critical of some of the decisions of the parking and zoning boards, whose members are appointed by the mayor and commissioners. He said conflicts of interests among board members have allowed projects to move ahead when some members should have recused themselves from voting.
“Unfortunately for WNY, too much of development applications have also been granted long-term tax abatements, creating multiple problems for WNY and its full rate property taxpayers,” Cullen said.
Cullen didn’t blame the Roque administration so much as prior administrations that set up long-term tax abatement programs to benefit waterfront development. These policies contributed to the property tax increase former Mayor Sal Vega was forced to impose, and which became the big issue in the 2011 municipal election that allowed Roque’s ticket to beat Vega’s.
When the tax increase hit the city, Cullen said residents from the older sections of West New York were forced to bear the brunt of the increase, not those who along the waterfront.
“Vega and Roque shielded that Gold Coast of wealthy and upper middle class residents from substantial taxes they would have paid without the tax abatements,” Cullen said.
Another key issue, Cullen said, is pay to play.
“[This] has to stop,” he said. “The current state laws, which prohibit would-be service providers from donating more than certain amounts of contributions (in hopes of ‘legally’ bribing officials to get that contract) have to be changed to prohibit contributions of any amount by donors who receive town contracts. Let’s only hire the best for the job.”
Cullen said bread-and-butter issues such as snow removal and maintaining working traffic lights are also issues in this campaign. But government must accomplish this without increasing the municipal debt.
“I am not afraid to speak my mind,” he said. “I bring independence of thought, good judgment, critical thinking skills, strong communication skills, and I am an intermediate speaker of Spanish. I am a long time resident. I am honest. I was in scouting for ten years and coordinated a newspaper drive for recycling at P.S. No. 5.”
Cullen served six years active service in the U.S. Army and 18 years in the Army National Guard, including three months working perimeter security a the Ground Zero WTC Recovery site.
“I earned a B.A. Cum Laude in History from NJCU and an M.A. in Social Sciences from Montclair State University,” he noted. “I have 14 years experience in education, including six as an adjunct college instructor and eight as a homebound instructor. I also have eight years in security.”
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.