September 12, 2012 : NEW YORK PRESS : EDITOR’S LETTER
When state Sen. Tom Duane announced his retirement earlier this year, an announcement which saddened many West Side residents, Brad Hoylman quickly emerged as Duane’s likely successor. Hoylman makes for a fine candidate. A Rhodes Scholar and alumnus of Harvard Law School, Hoylman has both the legal and community experience to make a great state legislator.
Hoylman admirably represented the requests of the downtown community on two key, recent issues, the St. Vincent’s Hospital redevelopment and the NYU Expansion Plan. While these projects were ultimately voted through by the City, we commended Hoylman for the work he put in to represent the views of downtown residents and the compromises he was able to help broker.
During his campaign, it has become clear that Hoylman has an encyclopedic knowledge of local housing issues as well as practical legislative solutions to address them. He has proven to be a forward-thinking politician. Whereas others might believe the obstacles facing the LGBT community have been largely resolved, especially in light of the passage of the Marriage Equality Act, Hoylman has advocated for the Gender Expression Non-discrimination Act on the campaign trail. (The bill would protect the rights of transgender individuals.) Hoylman’s top competitor, Tom Greco, presents a formidable wealth of experience when it comes to owning and operating a small business in New York City and the challenges local business owners face. Greco, however, appears to need more insight into other issues such as housing facing the community in order to make for a stronger candidate. Greco also makes some valid points on the “handpicked” nature of Hoylman’s candidacy in this race. As we have seen with other local, and sometimes even federal, races, it appears that not enough qualified candidates are coming to the fore. (The other candidate, Tanika Inlaw, may or may not be qualified, but she did not visit our offices for an interview.) While we endorse Hoylman, we wish that the race for this district presented stiffer competition.