At Bell Academy in Queens, first term Councilwoman Vickie Paladino delivered her State of the District address to a capacity crowd. Paladino, one of only 6 Republican members of the 51 seat City Council, has always been a political outsider in the deep blue New York City. In her years of political activism, she has managed to flip her neighborhood to become a red dot in a blue ocean.
Paladino replaced Democrat Paul Vallone, who was term-limited out of office, when she was elected in 2021. Since then, she has been an outspoken critic of the radical Left within the council chambers – basically continuing what she said from outside the council chambers. Her comments on Drag Queen Story Hour, which to the Left is akin to disparaging communion in Catholicism, got her kicked off a mental health committee. In the 14 months since assuming office, she has already become enemy number one for the radical Left. The atmosphere in the auditorium was festive, as many in the district could not remember the last time they felt like they had representation at City Hall. Joe Imperatrice, founder of Blue Lives Matter, NYC, emceed the event, saying that Vickie ran for council with “heart, merit, and love for her city.” After the Honor Guard, the invocation by Rabbi Yosi Blesofsky of the Chabad of Northeast Queens, and a performance from the Landrum School of Performing Arts, Paladino arrived on stage to deliver her address to a standing ovation.
After thanking the crowd and joking that she would actually stick to the script (something her followers are not used to), Councilwoman Paladino said that she is looking forward to giving her constituents “a fuller picture” on what the state of the District truly is. Looking back to the beginning of her term, she recounted how difficult it was to get started while the city was still in the middle of the Covid emergency. She held a massive rally in support of city workers who were fired over vaccine mandates and to unmask children. She introduced legislation to “end the Covid madness,” and even though the City council didn’t move the legislation forward, it gave activists the support that they sorely needed to eventually get the Mayor’s office to lift the mandates. “Thanks to the Common Sense Caucus and our efforts, the mandates are now history. And with our continued vigilance, we will never get back there again,” she said.
Paladino pledged to be with the community “every step of the way” after the negative impact of the Covid mandates, like the loss of learning by students, city workers who were never compensated, and many other cases of people who suffered during the Covid mandates. She proclaimed that, so far, her office has closed 1,600 cases. Paladino spoke about how she met with every principal in every school in her district, met with PTAs in her district, and distributed sorely needed funds to these schools. She introduced a resolution for NYC public schools to expand vocational and career programs so “every student at every level could develop the skills they need to succeed in life, even if they choose not to go to college.” She proclaimed that this resolution now has supermajority support in the city council and is set to pass. She also announced that there will be a new high school opening in College Point in 2026. “We are involved at every level. I take my responsibility towards my students very seriously,” she said.The Councilwoman pushed for more parental involvement in schools. “Kids succeed when their parents are involved in their learning, she said.” She also proclaimed that she will continue fighting against the national trend of unsuitable content for the younger grades. “I will continue to fight against inappropriate adult content in our schools,” she said to a standing ovation, “and Drag Queen Story Hour will not be coming to this district!”
Crime is also a major issue facing NYC. “Bail reform policies were sending criminals right back onto our streets,” she said. She congratulated the Common Sense Caucus for delivering a budget that fully restored police funding back to its pre-Covid level. “There are some on the council who are actively pushing for defunding or even abolition of the police and jails,” she said. “Our police are not the problem; the criminals, and those who enable them, are the problem.”
In a gesture of reaching across the aisle, she commended Mayor Adams, saying, “The administration takes policing very seriously,” and claimed that she worked with the Mayor’s office to put pressure on illegal smoke shops. “It is no secret that Albany’s botched cannabis legislation has been a disaster.” She said that smoke shops sell illegal drugs, target children, and are the sites of criminal activity, saying that she was present during raids of these illegal smoke shops. She discussed how small property owners and landlords are subjected to squatters and tenants who refuse to leave. “The law is not on their side,” she said. She has pushed for legislation to curtail squatters’ rights and remove non-paying tenants from the properties. She lamented that landlords don’t understand the laws, saying they “operate on common sense, but New York doesn’t operate on common sense.” She announced that she will be hosting an education seminar for landlords on how to find good tenants, or remove bad tenants. Currently, there is a proposed law which would make it against the law to conduct a background check, either criminal or financial, on a tenant. She demanded that the city give financial aid to landlords who were subject to a moratorium where renters didn’t have to pay, but landlords still had to pay for mortgage and utilities. While the Left is demanding a $350 million aid package for tenants to fight their landlords - at taxpayer expense - Paladino is demanding equal financial assistance to landlords for their losses.
Paladino is fighting against the so-called “green initiatives” that were passed under Mayor Bill de Blasio, which are set to take effect in 2024. This will directly hurt co-op and condo owners who are middle class and are on fixed incomes and cannot afford these massive upgrades, like replacing natural gas heaters with electrical ones. If they don’t upgrade their homes, they are subject to compounding and crippling fines. The electrical grid is also not designed for these new appliances. “This is a recipe for disaster,” she said. She introduced legislation to delay these initiatives for seven years. “Delaying and fighting this law is our only chance.”
She spoke candidly about the short notice - six hours - that she received regarding a migrant center being placed in a motel in her district, with no input from her or anyone. “I engage in transparency, and I expect it in return.” She said that she has gone to the migrant center every day, getting to know the people in charge in DHS and DSS, and ensuring that they have worked very closely with her to ensure that this is as easy as possible. She praised those in charge, but ensured her constituency that if anything went wrong, she would be on top of it. The Councilwoman continued to thank her office for doing the work for her district, including fixing a perpetual flooding problem, $11 million in funding for public parks, and road improvements, staying in the field to deal with constituent issues hands on. “This office is never in the office,” she said. She ended by thanking the police who she has worked closely with, saying that “we had a great year, and are looking for another great year. We may not win every battle, we will continue fighting for our values and our communities.” She vowed to leave the district off better than when she found it, when she’s termed out in six years, ensuring that she will continue running until she no longer can. “From the bottom of my heart, I thank you, and I love you.”
By QJL Staff
