Community Confronts Councilmember Julie Won On Broken Pledges & Abuse

At a rally outside Lou Lodati Park, community members testified against Councilmember Julie Won's broken promises and abuse of power. Won represents District 26 in the New York City Council, which includes Sunnyside, Woodside, Long Island City and Astoria. Councilmember Won arrived at her own Get Out the Vote (GOTV) event, which took place at the same time and location as the community accountability rally. Election Day is Tuesday, June 27, 6am-9pm. For more information, visit vote.nyc.

Kayla Almanzar, a social worker in Sunnyside, spoke about the harms to our community that resulted from the austerity budget approved by CM Won, including $1.7 million in cuts to the mental health continuum, $7.2 million in cuts to mandated counseling, and $469 million in cuts to local schools.

Grace Frutos, a bilingual speech teacher in Sunnyside, spoke about the devastating impact of cuts to local schools, which directly resulted from Counilmember Julie Won’s vote for a Fiscal Year 2023 budget that defunded the Education Department by $469 million. Frutos spoke about the pain inflicted on school children from the $1.1 million cut to speech therapy programs as a result of Won defunding the education budget. Frutos also detailed how Councilmember Won's budget cuts further expand the school to prison pipeline.

Leah Kirts, representing Sunnyside Woodside Mutual Aid, spoke about how Julie Won came to food distributions for photo-ops when she first ran for office in 2021, but confirmed that Won never followed through with promises to invest in mutual aid once she was elected.

Another community member, Sunnyside artist Matt Rouillard, expressed his deep sense of disappointment and anger after Julie Won betrayed the people who elected her to office. Like many in the community, he had voted for Won in 2021 because of her pledges to support local schools and not increase the police budget.

Public defender Dannelly Rodriguez, Esq., along with small business owner Roque Rodriguez spoke emotionally about their own experiences with police brutality and their outrage when CM Won broke her pledge to support the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

Won signed the “People's Budget” and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Courage to Change” pledges in 2021 as a candidate and promised not to support any budget that increased the NYPD budget at the expense of social services. Once in office, she subsequently voted to fund a record high police budget that defunded schools by $469 million along with deep cuts to libraries, parks, housing, and other critical services needed in our community.

Chris Tofer, a representative from The Secure Jobs Act campaign repudiated Councilwoman Won’s claims to be a proponent of workers rights after she repeatedly refused to support "The Secure Jobs Act," legislation introduced in the City Council to limit arbitrary terminations. The bill is sponsored by nearly every member of the Progressive Caucus and endorsed by multiple progressive organizations (including Sunnyside Community Services).

Thomas Muccioli, a union member with the Campaign Workers Guild and local resident, pushed back on Won’s claim that she is a proponent of tenants when she doesn’t show up for them. Muccioli specifically pointed to Won’s abandoning tenants in the Phipps Apartments, where Won lived before she became a Councilmember. After her election, Won quietly left the building and her promise to help the tenants.

Muccioli bore witness to Councilmember Won’s campaign manager Eugene Noh and his history of toxic behavior, including multiple accounts of him harassing and abusing community members. In addition to video, which recently surfaced showing Noh at Woodside on The Move’s Annual Street Fair cursing at two minors giving out election information, Muccioli read a tweet from Chris Sosa about his disabled brother being harassed by Noh. It is an open secret in the community that Won enables her campaign manager’s public bullying. Muccioli called on Won to remove Eugene Noh as campaign manager to prevent further harm to the community.

Many local residents and business owners upset with Councilmember Won stepped up to speak, including Tabitha Howell, Woodside parent and activist, who experienced brain trauma from being run over in a Black Lives Matter march.

Muccioli ended the rally by reciting the exact language in the two pledges Julie Won broke, summarizing the points made by previous speakers, and listing a number of actions that Won can take to make amends for the harms she and her team have caused our community.

After the rally Kayla Almanzar, a social worker in Sunnyside, facilitated a conversation with community members around what they want to see in District 26.