Candidate Stickball Challenge

Joe Concannon and Curtis Sliwa

City Council candidate, Joe Concannon, as well as candidates for mayor, public advocate and comptroller got up to bat in a friendly competition called the “Candidate Stickball Challenge” held at Brooklyn Borough Hall today at noon, August 27. Organized as a benefit for Harlem RBI, a little league baseball club, the event was planned by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, the self appointed commissioner of stickball for the City of New York. Since Bloomberg doesn’t know anything about stickball, Sliwa mentioned, he stayed in office. But with a new mayor coming, Sliwa might be term limited out. So he organized the game and invited the candidates for mayor and other offices.

Joe Concannon preparing to hit it out of the park!

Joe Lhota up at Bat

Joe Lhota hit the ball out of the park a couple of times, and Joe Concannon got in a few good “homeruns.” When Catsimatidis stepped up to bat he swung and missed several times, but got a shot that sent the ball about 40 feet. Concannon mentioned that this is New York City at its best, living, loving and have a good ole time. He is determined to get into office in the City Council to keep it that way, by reversing the misguided Community Safety Act better known as the Criminal Protection Act. Former NYPD Captain, Joe Concannon will be the sole voice of law enforcement in the City Council.

JOE & JOE

Both Joe Concannon and Joe Lhota have similar backgrounds, platforms and visions for New York City. City Council candidate Joe Concannon is a retired NYPD captain and former Deputy Director to Mayor Rudy Giuliani in the Mayor’s Office of Operations. New York City mayoral candidate Joe Lhota is the former Deputy Mayor for Operations to Mayor Giuliani. Joe Lhota, whose father was a New York City Police Lieutenant, said, “the New York Police Department is the best law enforcement agency in the world.”

Both Joes share a platform of fiscal responsibility, relief for small businesses from onerous regulations, fines and fees, education reform and smaller and more effective government. But public safety is the number one New York City issue for both Joes.

Earlier today, Joe Concannon and Joe Lhota discussed the issue of public safety and the recent override vote of the City Council making Intros 1079 and 1080, also known as the “Criminal Protection Act,” settled law for New York City. In an earlier statement on the Council’s brazen vote, Concannon stated, “the Council has…forsaken the trust of all New Yorkers and put NYC Police Officers once again in harm’s way, while they let murderous criminals have their way on the streets of NYC. Shame, shame, shame on the NY City Council.”

Joe Lhota mentioned that the entire dynamic of the campaign has changed due to this irresponsible vote of the Council that would tie the hands of the NYPD and embolden the criminals. He said because of this, all the other issues will now take a back seat to the issue of public safety and the cessation of the pro-active police policy of Stop, Question and Frisk, which will cause crime and murders to return to the levels they were at decades ago.

Both Joes believe that the majority of New York City citizens are infuriated with City Council’s vote that was not in their best interest. Observant New Yorkers realize it was governed by deceitful election year politics, and they will summarily answer the call in the upcoming elections. Joe Concannon said: “all good citizens demand honest government to replace the culture of corruption, and they demand safety and security of this city. …and New Yorkers will speak up and have their voices heard at the ballot box in November.”

COMMUNITY PRESERVATION

Joseph R Concannon

Hurricane Sandy has managed to throw whole communities into disarray and completely destroy homes, families and entire neighborhoods.  Last evening Joe Concannon was present at the Bayside Historical Society wherein a number of these issues were discussed with candidates for City Council in the 19th CD.

Joe agrees that community maintenance issues are compelling for all communities.  Timely scheduling of these services needs to be properly in place and quality work performed.  The proper maintenance and care for our waste systems, trees, utility services are critical during times of emergency.  Many of these preservation issues are missed at the City Council, why?  Because many times the Council is focused on Manhattan centric issues.  While important to Manhattan and the City’s overall thriving economy, the preservation issues in Eastern Queens are equally as important.

Joe reports one item brought up last night could have been one of those, “Shovel Ready” jobs we heard talked so much about during Obama’s “stimulus program” wherein millions of dollars got wasted and saw no return on the funds allocated.  Precisely, the removal of overhead wires on street utility poles to underground systems is an excellent idea.  Why is this such a good idea?  Ask the millions of residents about their experience during Hurricane Sandy.

Many residents waited weeks because of fallen trees clipping power and communication lines running overhead on street utility poles during the storm.  The homebound, seniors and just good old fashion run of the mill residents like Joe who lost power, lost their connection to what was going on regarding the storm, its status and our continuing reliance on television for up to the minute reporting regarding our safety outside and indoor practical safety guidance during a storm.

Joe stated it was not lost to him that in Queens County and the City, representatives in Congress, the state and the city are overwhelmingly from the Democratic Party.   These representatives have within their collective power the ability to get these and many other important things done, just because of their large numbers.  Joe asserts, this more of the same old thing.  More incumbents are thinking that they own their seats, that they whip everyone up, capture a photo and move on. They bring up good ideas at forums like last night’s and issues such as the above, which merit consideration, but never get acted upon.

Even though this idea warrants implementation, it’s a safety and security issue for our residents.  Truly, the Queens Democratic Party must have some clout with President Obama’s Federal Aviation Administration, if the Queens Democrats really wanted to solve the ever continuing saga (let’s keep it alive, with the pretense of being concerned) of the airliner flight patterns over our homes which plagues Eastern Queens residents it would be a done deal.

This is one of the reasons why Joe is on the Reform Party line, anti-incumbent, anti-crime, anti-corruption and sweeping change to put the power back in the hands of the people and demand that first and foremost we ensure the safety and security of our citizens and residents here in NYC.

This November, send a shock wave into the ranks of the go along to get along crowd and elect our candidate Joe Concannon for City Council in the 23rd District.

CONCANNON 2013

CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE