“The South End Avenue redesign is a major development project masquerading as a transportation safety initiative. The World Trade Center complex is a shopping mall disguised as a train station that was built at public expense and still went $2 billion over budget. We need to hold government accountable, and to make it transparent.”
Don Lee, a career civil servant, grew up in Lower Manhattan, spending the first two decades of his life in Chinatown, and the last 20 years in Battery Park City. He prides himself on being an outsider, saying, “I’m an independent Democrat who does not belong to any club, and is not allied with any special interest.” But he also has a track record of public service and accomplishment, helping to found two non-profit eldercare facilities and presiding over the reform of the Fulton Fish Market at a time when it was infested by corruption. These twin themes — service and reform — are the animating forces behind his candidacy.
Mr. Lee, who worked at senior levels in the mayoral administrations of Edward Koch, David Dinkins, Rudy Giuliani, and Michael Bloomberg, has also served as an executive in the private sector, in jobs focused on information technology and healthcare. In these roles, he says, “I have been helping businesses and organizations grow and create jobs.”
He adds, “with my background in technology and management, we will monitor and use information to create more effective budgets for education, transportation and infrastructure. This will also benefit community services, support for small business, jobs, and expanded opportunities.”
“The reason I am running is that we have to get away from this culture of political machinery and back-room deals,” Mr. Lee says. “I want to be a truthful voice in Albany. We need to hold government accountable, and to make it transparent.” For him, this imperative begins at the local level. “In Battery Park City, where I live,” he says, “a series of decisions, such as removing Parks Enforcement Officers, have been made in spite of public opposition.”
Another example is the planning now under way to redesign South End Avenue, Mr. Lee says: “This is a major development project masquerading as a transportation safety initiative.” He argues that, “as residents of Battery Park City, we pay extra to live here, which is how the Battery Park City Authority is funded. So they need to be accountable to us.” He adds that the exotic nature of home ownership in the community (which is based on a land lease, rather than a “fee simple” title to the property), “is making it impossible to get mortgages here, or to refinance. That hurts people who already live here, along with people who want to live here.” Mr. Lee reflects that, “taxation with representation is fair, but without representation, it becomes another example of how government doesn’t work.”
Mr. Lee continues, “it’s time for accountability; starting with reforming the Battery Park City Authority. I will fight and demand reform, transparency and accountability from State agencies and quasi-governmental organizations. When taxation must come with representation.”
He cites, as a further case in point, the World Trade Center complex, “where we have a shopping mall disguised as a train station that was built at public expense and still went $2 billion over budget.”
Looking at the 65th Assembly District as a whole, he says, “it’s apparent that education has not kept up with growth in Lower Manhattan. This is one more example of a complete misalignment between decisions made by our leaders and the actual needs of residents. In this area, as in so many others, we need much better planning.”
On a broader level, he says, “I am running because of issues like the State spending 30 percent of its budget on healthcare, and buying medication that usually costs $2 per dose, but paying $600 per dose. That is an example of what is wrong with government, generally. But the response to problems like this is a problem in its own right. Our politics fosters a culture of superficial reaction, rather than a comprehensive approach that prevents crises, by solving problems before they occur, instead of reacting to them afterward.”
A priority for him as a legislator, Mr. Lee says, “will be to advocate for and protect local small businesses, because they are the engine for job creation. But they are under siege in Lower Manhattan.”
Another area where he wants to play a leading role is the proposed reopening of Park Row, a once-central artery that connected Chinatown with the Civic Center and Financial District, but has been closed to traffic for security reasons since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. “Businesses in Chinatown have been suffering for 15 years because of this,” he says. Mr. Lee is proposing the creation of a roof deck over the street, which would protect sensitive facilities above (such as the police headquarters building) from attacks, while also creating a new park space, and still allowing traffic to flow unhindered beneath.
“My daughter is now the fifth generation of my family to live Downtown,” he says. “But I worked my way through college cooking and washing dishes in a restaurant, so I know what it’s like to struggle. Today, I live in a beautiful home in Battery Park City, so I also know how good life can be in Lower Manhattan. My approach to Albany will be to remain what I have always been,” he says, “a reformer with deep roots in the local community, and an activist who delivers results.”
“I have a long history of working for the community,” Mr, Lee concludes. “I am not tainted by the political machines nor tied to any special interests, and I will not be corrupted by political games. However, I will still be able to get the job done.”