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NYC District 2 City Council Candidates Debate

villager debate photo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBqNEhX7aQE

The Villager sponsored a two-hour debate at Theater for the New City, at 155 First Ave., on Monday evening Aug. 21 between the five Democratic candidates — Ronnie Cho, Carlina Rivera, Jasmine Sanchez, Mary Silver and Jorge Vasquez — running for City Council in the Second District. The district includes the entire East Village and stretches from the Lower East Side up to the E. 30s,  also taking in Gramercy, Union Square, Kips Bay and Rose Hill.

The City Council seat, currently held by Rosie Mendez, is opening up for the first time in 12 years. Mendez will be term-limited out of office at the end of this year.

The debate’s co-moderators were Lincoln Anderson, editor of The Villager, and Paul Schindler, editor of Gay City News.

Issues discussed ranged from the fate of the old P.S. 64 building (the former CHARAS / El Bohio) to The Right to Know during police stops and how the candidates — none of whom is openly gay — aim to follow in the footsteps representing a district held by three openly gay lawmakers in a row going back to the early 1990s.