Political Party:
Republican Party
http://www.alex2009.com
Candidate Submitted Biography:
Alex T. Zablocki was born in the Great Kills section of Staten Island, New York on November 19, 1982.
Alex comes from a family of native New Yorkers and immigrants and continues his family's history of public service. Alex's father, Thomas Zablocki, who was born in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and attended Queens Vocational High School, is a veteran of the U.S. Army and served in the Vietnam War. After his service, he joined NYNEX in Brooklyn, New York. Thomas also serves on Community Board 3 in Staten Island. Alex's mother, Diana Zablocki, born in Borough Park, Brooklyn, continues to serve as a NYC public school teacher which she has done for over thirty-five years as well as an adjunct professor for the City University of New York (CUNY). His parents moved to Staten Island in the 1970's. His sister, Hillary, recently starting teaching special education for the Department of Education.
Alex attended Public School 23 in Richmond, Staten Island, Intermediate School 75 in Huguenot, Staten Island and Susan E. Wagner High School in Sea View, Staten Island. He obtained a BBA in Finance and Investments from Baruch College (CUNY) in Manhattan. Alex has attended public schools his entire life and continues to be an advocate for public education.
As an entrepreneur, Alex started his own small business in 2001 while attending Baruch College, selling various items on the Internet as well as developing small business websites. To date, he has shipped over 15,000 orders worldwide. That successful business is still active today.
Shortly before graduating Baruch College in 2004, Alex interned for then City Councilman Andrew J. Lanza and was quickly hired after graduation as his Director of Land Use, where he managed numerous land use applications in the 51st Council District. He worked tirelessly as the project manager of eight rezoning applications that sought to protect the neighborhood charm and character of many communities on the South Shore of Staten Island and prevent the further overdevelopment that negatively affects our quality of life. Neighborhoods in South Brooklyn, Throgs Neck in the Bronx and much of Queens have dealt with the same quality of life issues. Alex continues to be a leader in combating overdevelopment. In the City Council, he helped countless constituents with issues they were having with city agencies, such as the Departments of Finance, Transportation, Parks and Buildings. He also helped save dozens of acres of open space from being developed throughout Staten Island. While serving as Councilman Lanza's Director of Land Use, Alex represented the Councilman on Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's Growth Management Task Force and the Mayor's Traffic and Transportation Task Force, contributing to solutions that have led to improvements in zoning, building code, and transportation throughout the five boroughs.
In November of 2006, Councilman Lanza was elected to the New York State Senate and asked Alex to be his top staffer. In that role, Alex continues to assist hundreds of constituents with problems regarding the Department of Environmental Conservation, NYS Insurance Department, NYC and NYS Parks, the Department of Buildings and Transportation as well as private organizations such as Con Edison and Verizon. Alex is in charge of special projects for the office, most notably the Greenbelt Preservation Plan, which seeks to protect hundreds of acres of open space from destruction. Alex has been closely involved in the budget process while in the State Senate and works on an array of legislative issues. He also has organized "clean teams" removing garbage and graffiti from our community, working with the non-profit organization, Where to Turn.
In 2007, Alex obtained a Series 7 brokerage license and works as a financial consultant in his free time with a small brokerage firm in Brooklyn, NY. With his college degree in Finance, his government experience and his real life experience as an entrepreneur, Alex is in a unique position to advocate for the small business owner, the medium and large corporation and future entrepreneurs looking to get started.
Alex Zablocki is an Eagle Scout (2000) and is an adult leader in the Boy Scouts of America. In 2008, Alex won the 20 under 40 Leadership Award from Staten Island Economic Development Corporation, which recognized outstanding future leaders across Staten Island. He is a member of the Richmond County Republican Committee and the Richmond County Young Republicans.
Alex is an environmentalist and puts his money where his mouth is! Not only does he own and drive a Prius hybrid, but Alex is an avid bicyclist and user of public transportation. Alex has also organized and attended numerous cleanups throughout NYC and has planted trees as part of NYC's million trees initiative.
Since childhood, Alex has been an advocate for the elderly, volunteering at a local nursing home and Meals on Wheels. He has also advocated for the environment, the disabled, the homeless and historic preservation. He is an independent thinker and not a "cookie cutter" politician.
In March of 2006, Alex purchased a condo in the Tottenville section of Staten Island, where he currently resides.
Question 1: The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's website reports: "In New York City, obesity is epidemic: more than half of adult New Yorkers are overweight (34%) or obese (22%). Data show that obesity begins early in life: nearly half of all elementary school children and Head Start children are not a healthy weight. In New York City, 1 in 5 kindergarten students, and 1 in 4 Head Start children, is obese." Do you believe that increasing walking and biking in New York City would improve public health? If yes, what types of programs and policies would you pursue? Walking and biking will improve public health, as giving New Yorker’s access to fresh fruits and vegetables (better foods) in their community and having more physical education programs in schools. As Public Advocate I would like to: 1. Increase the amount of bike lanes in all five boroughs, connecting them to transit hubs and shopping districts; 2. Encourage the MTA to start a pilot program for bicycle racks on city buses, starting between Staten Island and Brooklyn; 3. Bring back vigorous physical education programs to schools, especially in grades K-5; 4. Eliminate unhealthy foods from school cafeterias; 6. Lobby the city to allow all city workers an extra 15-minute break every two days to be active (i.e. walking); 7. Ensure that the city follows through on making public parks available in every community in all five boroughs, as part of the Mayor’s PLANYC 2030 proposal; 8. Make safe bicycle parking available at all train stations and main bus stops. All candidates for public office must encourage more walking and biking and this is something that I have been discussing on the campaign trail.
Question 2: What is your vision for New York City's transportation network? What needs do you see and what steps will you take as the Public Advocate to help ensure that New Yorkers have access to affordable, convenient and healthy modes of transportation? Public transportation and less congestion is the key to economic success in any city. NYC has the best public transportation system in the country and it must remain affordable while also keeping it up-to-date. The next Public Advocate must be someone who understands the problems every community faces and offers real solutions to those problems. As Public Advocate I will fight for: More local & express bus lines in all five boroughs; a new train line on the North Shore of Staten Island; ferry lines from the southern most point of Queens & the northern most point of the Bronx & Queens; new park and ride facilities, including bike lane access and storage facilities, in all boroughs; updated, more reliable trains for the city’s busiest lines. Every borough’s needs are different when they come to transportation. As Public Advocate I would start a traffic & transportation task force in every borough, made up of city officials, engineers, civic leaders, Community Board member’s and others to brainstorm traffic and transportation problems in their community and work towards solving those problems. I will always fight fare and toll increases & offer other ways to raise revenue, as I have during my campaign, such as increasing advertising in subway stations (Adopt a Subway program).
Question 3: New York City's senior citizens make up a disproportionate number of the city's pedestrian injuries and deaths. What would your office do to protect senior pedestrians on our streets? As Public Advocate, through my five borough traffic and transportation task force committee’s, I would identify the intersections most utilized by senior citizens, by looking at neighborhood demographics and proximity to senior housing, large populations of seniors and/or senior centers. This data could be used by the Department of Transportation, with a recommendation from my office, to improve these intersections to make them safer for not only seniors but all residents. This can include longer timing for ‘walk’ signals, a waiting area in the middle of a street, lowering the speed limits on theses streets or, where high injuries or deaths are reported, installing lights, signs and having enforcement at these locations (traffic agents or cameras). As Public Advocate I would also use my office to reach out to seniors in these areas about the dangers that they could encounter when crossing some of the most dangerous intersections in our city.
Question 4: What relationship do you see between vehicular congestion on New York City's streets, highways and bridges and the quality of life for its residents? As Public Advocate, are there policies that you would pursue to reduce congestion? Congestion leads to stress, accidents, higher asthma rates, reduced air quality & loss in productivity & economic activity. As Public Advocate I would be in favor of revisiting Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan, as long as money raised would go towards transportation improvements in our city & small businesses weren’t disproportionately affected by new fees. I would only support this model if residents already paying tolls on bridges were credited for those tolls, similar to my “One City, One Toll” proposal on my campaign website (http://www.alex2009.com/news/mar1.htm). As Public Advocate I would work with the Department of Transportation & my five borough traffic and transportation task force committee’s to plan & complete major road improvements, better timing of lights, introducing “smart lights” to our city, HOV lanes for buses and motorists, approving more right turn on red signs in the outer boroughs and looking at ways to encourage more New Yorker’s to use public transportation (or make public transportation available) instead of their cars. Congestion is also caused by construction schedules that conflict with busy traffic times and the lack of rapid response to accidents by emergency officials – two areas I would focus on as Public Advocate to try to improve.
Question 5: In an effort to increase the safety, enjoyment and health of New Yorkers walking, running, skating or riding a bike in Central and Prospect Parks, car traffic has been gradually restricted on the loop drives within these parks. What do you think of these changes? Do you have an opinion on the idea of completely closing these loop drives (not crosstown transverses) to cars and reserving them strictly for recreational users? What effect do you think such an action would have on the people in surrounding neighborhoods? Cars, bicycles and pedestrians must share the road, but parks are for people, not cars. I don’t believe roads should be used as main thoroughfares within parks and for enjoyment, health and safety reasons, I would be in favor of closing loop roads, especially if a motorist can get from point A to point B some other way. I do think, however, that these roads should remain intact and available for use when there are special events and/or emergencies. I do not believe there would be an increased amount of traffic in the surrounding areas as motorists tend to find a better route when driving patterns are changed. People in the surrounding community would also have the ability you use a safer, cleaner park if cars were banned.
Question 6: According to the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, in 2007 speeding was a contributing factor in over 3,000 motor vehicle crashes in New York City. Furthermore, the same data showed that the top human contributing factor to the 264 fatal crashes in New York City during 2007 was also speeding. Given these figures, what measures, if any, do you support to redress this problem? I don’t believe speeding alone causes accidents, as a driver may be reckless or intoxicated as well. With that said speeding is always a problem, especially in the outer boroughs and is a danger to drivers and pedestrians. What is needed is more enforcement to reign in speeders and aggressive driving, something that I would advocate for as Public Advocate. I would also like to see stricter fines and penalties for speeding and aggressive driving. Through my five borough traffic and transportation committee’s, I would recommend improvements to roadways to slow down drivers that have high tendency of spending that result in accidents as well as recommended that the NYPD target these areas for enforcement.
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