NYC Council Elections 2021: Maria Danzilo Seeks UWS Seat

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Voters in New York City's 6th Council district, which includes almost the entirety of the Upper West Side, will see six names on their ballots when they vote in the June 22 primary election.

One of those names will be Maria Danzilo, a lawyer and 40-year resident of the UWS, who is among the Democrats seeking to replace the term-limited incumbent Helen Rosenthal.

Patch reached out to all candidates in the election to create these profiles. Danzilo's responses are below.

Answers have been lightly edited for clarity.

Maria Danzilo

Age (as of Election Day)

64

Position Sought

City Council--District 6

Party Affiliation

Democrat

Neighborhood of residence

Upper West Side

Family

Married, 3 children

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

Yes. My sister and my brother-in-law both work for the US Government in Washington D.C. They are lawyers with the CFTC and Justice Department.

Education

BA Brooklyn College, J.D. Brooklyn Law School, LL.M. ( Trade Regulation) NYU School of Law

Occupation

Attorney, 40 Years experience.

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

President of the Copyright Society of the USA, and Lifetime Trustee

Campaign website

mariadanzilo.com

Why are you seeking elective office?

I am running because now more than ever our City needs common sense leaders to bring the City together, to bring our local businesses back to life, and to create a nurturing, safe environment for everyone. I am a lifelong New Yorker and 40 year resident of the UWS who raised my family in this community. I am not beholden to special interests or seeking higher office and I am not a career politician. I have raised more local dollars than any other candidate because I understand our community and our priorities, and I will work tirelessly to achieve them. I am an attorney with 40 years of deep business and legal experience in the private sector, helping small businesses and the creative community. I am stepping up because I believe the City needs people with my skill set to help our community rebuild, recover and thrive.

The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

Recovering from the pandemic is our most pressing issue. To fully recover we must restore public safety by making sure the streets and subways are safe, while addressing quality of life issues such as scaffolding, sanitation, poorly lit streets and pedestrian safety. This is pivotal to helping our entire community including our small businesses recover. We need to improve community policing to restore public confidence, push for scaffolding laws and compliance, address gun violence and hate crimes, and improve traffic law enforcement. We must also address the mental health crisis and homelessness, by implementing a comprehensive approach for proper services and supportive housing, and fully open our schools. Addressing all these issues is essential if this City is to fully recover and I have plans for all these issues. More is on my website at mariadanzilo.com

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

I am not a career politician so I am not beholden to any special interests. I am not using this seat to run for speaker, and it is not a stepping stone to higher office of future ambitions. I am running to represent community interests first and foremost, not push ideology. I have decades of deep legal and business experience which I will use to fight for clean and safe streets and the quality of life that will make people want to live on the UWS not leave it. My message has been consistent from day one. I am an advocate for accelerated learning options and making sure our schools work for every student. I am against removing public safety dollars from the budget ("defunding," "reducing," diverting" or a similar word) while other candidates have waffled and have called for deep budget cuts.

The City needs more resources for violence prevention, addiction services, and mental health but city policy should not come at the expense of public safety dollars which are essential to keep all communities safe. I am in favor of preserving our historic architecture and against up-zoning--including tall towers. I am for making sure our community has final say on what gets built, and would oppose giving this power to a central appointed committee as the City Council's Progressive Caucus is pushing in "Comprehensive Planning" and as supported by Brewer, Lind and Omura.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)

The incumbent is term-limited but Gale Brewer is running to reclaim the seat.
Gale's leadership has been anything but leadership, as her stance on controversial issues has divided the community. She has stated her support for turning tourist hotels around the City into SRO housing. Our leaders have not supported the "fair share" doctrine since the UWS is in the top 10 of neighborhoods with the most shelter beds. Moreover, Gale has has supported using lotteries for assigning seats in accelerated learning classrooms, and has supported up-zoning ( building tall towers) at the expense of preservation at the South Street Seaport. Gale has rallied for public safety defunding, in a neighborhood that has seen an exponential rise in bank robberies, assault, burglary and plummeting quality of life. She has stated her support for " Planning Together", a City Council effort to override community boards on zoning decisions that will allow development to be approved without further review by the community. Is the the Upper West Side ( or Manhattan) doing better now than it was 8, 6, 4, or even 2 years ago? if not, it is time for new leadership with a fresh perspective.

How do you think local officials performed in responding to the coronavirus? What if anything would you have done differently?

The coronavirus challenged our public officials, as the safety and well being of every citizen was at stake. While first responders and essential workers did an outstanding job, local leadership was lacking. During the pandemic our sitting council member was unresponsive to the needs and concerns of the UWS, ignoring letters, emails, and phone calls that brought quality of life issues , small business failures and public safety concerns to her attention. Gale Brewer, a career politician who represented this district in the past, ignored these same concerns. So many neighborhoods in Manhattan have been devastated by fleeing residents , unsafe streets & empty stores, it will take years to recover. As the Borough President, Gale needed to do much more to restore the public's confidence that our neighborhood and the whole City will recover and thrive. We need leaders who will bring us all together, not fuel divisiveness, and that means being responsive and listening to all constituents. I will not ignore community concerns and will prioritize public safety, quality of life, education, small businesses and combatting the mental health crisis and homelessness with specific plans that will address these challenges. We cannot continue to spend billions of dollars a year ( 3.5 billion on homelessness) and not get results. We need leaders who will fight for real solutions.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

1.- Protecting small businesses by helping then to recover and thrive by bringing city relief in the form of grants, reduced taxes, streamlines regulations and forgiving out of control fines. 2.- Supporting our education system so it works for everyone by opening schools fully, reducing class size, expanding G and T, protecting SHSAT, creating more after school programs like tutoring, test prep and other opportunities for students to catch up and achieve. We have to fix the " lost year" as an urgent priority and make sure our schools are fully educating our children for the jobs of the future. 3.-Defending the character of our neighborhood by preserving our magnificent historic architecture, fighting back against up-zoning--including tall towers, and making sure our community has final say on what gets built. We have to preserve our existing housing stock and repair NYCHA. More affordable housing must be prioritized for our in-district neighbors who are struggling. 4,-Combat the mental health and homelessness crisis by implementing a comprehensive approach that prioritizes housing with services that are responsive to individual needs while respecting community input.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

I am an attorney with 40 years of deep business and legal experience in the private sector, working in a senior position at a large corporation, and then in private practice helping businesses and the creative community. I specialize in copyright law, First Amendment law, and general business law. I believe these skills will be essential for our community to rebuild, recover and thrive. In my corporate job, I managed a global litigation program with multi-million dollar budgets, working with diverse and often competing interests, bringing people together to reach a common goal. I have drafted and negotiated thousands of business contracts worked on complex transactions, handled difficult and challenging tasks, and was known as someone who could handle the most impossible problem and find a solution. For many years, I managed the Company's conflicts of interest policy, and through this work, I learned the importance of transparency and how this bills trust in individuals and institutions.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

From my Dad who passed away in 2008: Never switch allegiance from your home team. My Dad was a Brooklyn Dodgers Fan (he worked at Ebbets Field as a kid) who was " allowed" to switch allegiance to the Mets under the unwritten rules of true sports fans when his home team moved to LA. As a lifelong Mets fan, I of course stayed true to my roots even after moving to the UWS. I even wanted to name my son Mookie but lost that battle. To my neighbors who are Yankees fans, I respect your loyalty and support you 100%, just not the Bronx Bombers. Let' Go Mets! Pennant Fever!!!

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I am a co-founder of the Common Sense Coalition, a diverse group of candidates from around the City with the shared goal of addressing the challenges ahead through a common-sense filter. I have reached out to sitting City Council members who share this philosophy so I can hit the ground running and get things done to bring the City back from day one. I raised my three children in the City while working full time, so and I know the challenges working parents face. Since I was a teenager and rode the subway from Midwood, Brooklyn to AMNH, I have only wanted to live on the Upper West Side and it is my home. I will represent this community first and foremost.