Election Q&A: Meet Upper East Side Candidate Alina Bonsell

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Republican candidate Alina Bonsell is running for City Council in District 5, which includes Lenox Hill, Roosevelt Island, Carnegie Hill, and Yorkville in New York City's general election on Tuesday, Nov. 4.

In November, Bonsell will face off against Julie Menin, the incumbent and winner of the Democratic primary in June.

Ahead of the election, Patch posed several questions to Bonsell about her platform, priorities, experience, and district. See her replies below.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following article contains information about one of several candidates who have announced their campaigns for Upper East Side offices in the 2025 election. Patch has contacted the other candidates with the same questions and will post replies as they are received. None of what Bonsell said during this interview has been fact-checked.

PATCH: What neighborhood are you from?

BONSELL: I live in Yorkville, on the Upper East Side, and I’ve been a proud District 5 resident since 2012.

PATCH: What languages do you speak?

BONSELL: Russian is my first language — I was born in the former Soviet Union, when it was still the USSR, and at that time the language was Russian. But I’ve lived in New York since I was six years old, and I was educated here, so English is actually my stronger language.

PATCH: Educational background?

BONSELL: I graduated from Hofstra University’s Frank G. Zarb School of Business with a bachelor’s focusing on information systems. I went on to build a 15+ year career in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry in business development, sales, and marketing, where I learned to navigate complex bureaucracies to get life-changing medicines onto hospital formularies and into the hands of patients. Later, I founded my own healthcare startup and continued my education through Wharton’s business and entrepreneurship accelerator program.

PATCH: Renter or owner?

BONSELL: I currently rent on the Upper East Side, so I know firsthand what it means to face rising rents and affordability challenges that drive people out. I also own property outside of Manhattan, which is part of my small real estate investment portfolio.

PATCH: Why are you running for City Council?

BONSELL: I’m running because New Yorkers deserve safety, fairness, and balance in City Hall. Right now, the one-party supermajority has left communities like ours behind. We see it in unsafe subways, small businesses shuttering, and families who feel abandoned by city systems that don’t work. My own experience fighting through a broken family court system showed me how damaging it is when government fails to protect people. I want to make sure no family, no small business, and no neighborhood gets left behind.

PATCH: What makes you qualified to represent your district? Share the work and life experiences that prepared you for this role.

BONSELL: I’ve spent over 15 years in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry, working for some of the most respected companies in the world, where I managed complex negotiations, built partnerships, and fought to get essential products approved. I know how to navigate bureaucracy, deliver results, and hold powerful systems accountable. I later launched my own healthcare startup, which gave me a front-row seat to the challenges entrepreneurs face in New York City. Today, I manage a small portfolio of real estate investment properties, which gives me the ability to run full-time as a candidate. Beyond business, I’m also a mother who has had to fight against a broken court system. I know what it means to advocate when the odds are stacked against you, and I’ll bring that same tenacity to City Hall.

PATCH: What do you see as the three biggest issues in your district?

BONSELL:

• Public safety and quality of life, from crime to the e-bike crisis and addressing homelessness and mental illness, which cannot be solved with shelters alone — we need to reopen our state mental facilities so people can get real care, treatment, and stability instead of being left to spiral on the streets.
• Protecting small businesses from being pushed out by unfair leases and rising costs.
• The rise of anti-Semitism and the dangerous drift toward socialism. My family came here as Jewish refugees who escaped the Soviet Union. We lived under communism — which operated as socialism — and I know how destructive those policies can be. I will stand as a firewall in City Hall against any attempt to bring those ideas into our city.

PATCH: How would you address these issues through policy?

BONSELL: On public safety, I’ll push for stricter regulation of e-bikes and mopeds, expanded NYPD presence in subways, and increased mental health funding so police aren’t left alone to handle crises. For small businesses, I’ll fight to revive the Small Business Jobs Survival Act, which would give local businesses arbitration rights and long-term lease protections, stopping landlords from squeezing them out. To address anti-Semitism and ideological extremism, I’ll make sure City Hall prioritizes safety for Jewish communities, fully funds NYPD hate crimes units, and blocks dangerous policy experiments that could destabilize our city and repeat the mistakes my family once fled. And when it comes to homelessness and mental illness, I believe the city and state must reopen our mental facilities — providing long-term care and treatment for those who need it — so people can finally get off the streets for good.

PATCH: Who did you rank in the 2025 mayoral primary election this June?

BONSELL: I couldn’t vote, because I’m a registered Republican and was not eligible to vote in the Democratic primary election. But if I had been able to vote, I would have voted for Cuomo.

PATCH: What’s something that always makes you smile about your district?

BONSELL: I love the sense of community — neighbors greeting each other on Yorkville streets, kids playing outside, shopkeepers who know your name. That neighborhood pride is why I love living here and why I want to protect it. But I’m also concerned about where things are headed. A men’s homeless rehab shelter is planned for 89th and 3rd Avenue, and the current council member has taken no action to stop the process. Many in the community say that although she owns a home in District 5, she actually resides in Tribeca — which may explain why she doesn’t share the same stake in protecting the neighborhood’s character.

The concern goes further than just that shelter. At a time when Jewish families in our district are deeply worried about the rise of anti-Semitism, our council member has remained silent about the front-runner mayoral candidate — even though she herself is Jewish. That silence suggests her priorities lie with party politics, not with protecting the people she represents. And that is exactly why it’s dangerous to keep re-electing the same supermajority in City Hall. City Council is our last line of defense — and I intend to be the firewall for District 5.

For questions and tips, email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.