By Vladic Ravich
Lynn Serpe is hoping to unseat Peter Vallone (D-Astoria) in the general election for the City Council’s 22nd district.
Serpe is running for office from “a green perspective – which to me is a common sense solution.” A long time Green Party member, Serpe cited her community involvement and professional experience to take the two-term incumbent who she says represents the “political establishment stuck in the past.”
Her main priorities are increasing energy efficient housing, pursuing sustainable land use and expanding recycle and reuse programs in the district. She also said that transportation must be “safe, reliable and most importantly accessible.”
Lynne currently works for the Community Environmental Center, the largest weatherization program in the State,
“Two twin passions I have come together for this campaign: the environment and fair election policy,” said Serpe. Her current job is for a Queens nonprofit that provides weatherization services for low- to moderate-income households and various social service buildings. She has also worked for more than a decade as an expert in election law, first as an architect for New Zealands’ local elections and then as a senior analyst for FairVote.
Lynne is also a member of the Long Island City Alliance and a co-founder of Triple R Events, which organizes free green events such as clothing swaps to promote reuse and the annual Queens is Green Fashion Show.
One of the cornerstones of her campaign is to expand recycling. “We produce enormous amounts of waste, then spend enormous amounts of money shipping it out to other states.” Citing a statistic from CORE environmental services, Lynne said that food and yard waste account for 22 percent of our garbage load. She argued that creating an effective composting program, as well as expanding our recycling program, would become cheaper with five or six years, in addition to improving the environment.
Regarding development, Serpe said her policy would be that “anytime public money is used a public benefit must follow.” This means that any pro development zoning changes or tax incentives must also include provisions for public good, such as requiring a percentage of affordable housing and an emphasis on local hiring.
For example, Serpe said that “the billion [dollars] spent on stadiums could have been used to fund the Parks Department many times over.” She also opposed a plan to rezone the industrial parts of Hallets Cove into luxury residential housing. “Let’s keep the zoning industrial and invest in green manufacturing. It’s happening at the Navy Yards in Brooklyn, why not in Queens?”
Serpe said she disagreed with Vallone about the NYPD’s stop and frisk policy, and on term limit extensions “I spent three and half hours waiting to get my two minutes of testimony to urge the council not to do an undemocratic power grab.” She also bemoaned the general malaise she sees in the City Council for progressive changes.
“We need clean air and water, but also jobs, affordable housing, and immigrant entrepreneur programs,” said Serpe. “I believe the Green Party’s core principles are common sense and people agree with them when they hear them”
She also stressed the need to make the elevated N and R trains more accessible to the elderly, the disabled, mothers with baby carriages, or just someone lugging their bags to the airport.
Serpe argues that green policies offer “a quintuple bang for your buck: lower utility bills; reduced energy consumption and reliance on foreign oil; improved wealth and safety of tenants; better reserved affordable housing; and more green jobs that can never be shipped overseas.”
