Queens Chronicle: Meet the City Council

Queens Chronicle Profile by Willow Beldon
Daniel Dromm
As a public school teacher of 25 years, it’s not surprising that Daniel Dromm’s number one priority in his bid for a City Council seat is education.

In a district plagued by overcrowded schools, Dromm pledged to work hard to decrease class sizes. “What we’ve got to do is get additional seats here in the district,” he said. “We have to think of creative ways to be able to do that. We may have to build up instead of out. We may have to use existing space and convert it into classroom space. We may have to rent from the Catholic schools.” Dromm also supports unionized charter schools.

To fund new schools, Dromm would dip into the “airport fund,” a $100 million pot of money allotted to the neighborhoods bordering LaGuardia Airport. The money, which comes from the federal government through the Port Authority, is intended for capital projects.

In addition to reducing class sizes, Dromm would advocate for more teacher and parental involvement in school affairs. “[Chancellor] Joel Klein has really had a top-down management style that has excluded the parents and actually excluded the voices of the teachers in terms of the decision-making process,” Dromm said, adding that he supports mayoral control but feels more checks and balances are needed.

Another priority is health care. With St. John’s Hospital closed and Elmhurst Hospital overwhelmed by the volume of patients it receives, Dromm feels the area needs “primary care resource centers.” He pledged to work to bring doctors and insurance companies together to create accessible centers for routine medical care.

Then there are quality of life issues — things like traffic congestion and public transportation, which Dromm said incumbent Helen Sears (D-Jackson Heights) has neglected to address. He stressed the importance of strengthening the public transportation system and suggested means of improving traffic flow.

Dromm wants 73rd Street, which currently has two one-way segments that “collide” at Roosevelt Avenue, to become one way in a single direction. He also complained that the recent removal of a bus stop on 73rd Street, which was replaced with several metered parking spaces, is aggravating, rather than alleviating congestion. Dromm said he would solicit input from the community about these and other transportation-related issues, using neighborhood input as a guide to advocate for infrastructure improvements.

On the housing end, Dromm said affordable apartments should be a must in new buildings. “Any time we allow development to go on in the district, we should be asking for affordable housing,” he said, adding that at least 30 to 50 percent of the units in any given development should be priced for low- or middle-income families.

As for jobs, Dromm wants to promote green industries and said processes such as retrofitting buildings with greener components could put many people to work. In addition, to encourage small businesses, he wants to reduce what he calls “overburdensome regulations” which individuals must comply with in order to open new establishments.

In all areas, Dromm pledged to engage the community and be attentive to constituents’ concerns and wishes. “I think that we have the same problems in the community that we had eight years ago,” he said. “What we need now are solutions. ... I think I have the ability to bring people together.”

Dromm is well known for his leadership in the neighborhood’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. He founded the Queens pride parade and has been an active supporter of LGBT rights.

He is currently the district leader for the Democratic party and has received endorsements from a wide array of unions. His fundraising efforts have placed him between his two competitors, Sears and Stanley Kalathara, with $111,000.