Tony Avella
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Tony Avella is a member of the New York City Council from the borough of Queens. He graduated from Hunter College.
He is the Chair of the Zoning and Franchises Committee and is a member of five other Council committees: Higher Education, Housing and Buildings, Fire and Criminal Justice Services, Land Use, and Veterans. He is the founder and Chair of the first Italian-American Caucus of the Council.
Avella's public service career began over 20 years ago as an aide to New York City Council Member Peter Vallone, Sr. He served as an aide to Mayors Ed Koch and David Dinkins, and as Chief of Staff to the late State Senator Leonard Stavisky and to State Senator Toby Stavisky.
He represents the 19th Council District, which includes the affluent neighborhoods of College Point, Whitestone, Bayside, Little Neck, Douglaston, Beechhurst, Malba and Auburndale. A Democrat, he was first elected in 2001.
In 1997 Avella was awarded New York States Community Service Award from nominations received across New York State for his volunteer civic endeavors on behalf of New Yorkers. In 2005, Tony was honored by the Garibaldi Meucci Museum on Staten Island, received the 2005 Friend In High Places Award from the Historic District Council, the Community Mayors 2005 Humanitarian Award and the Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award from the New York Landmarks Conservancy. [1]
Avella introduced legislation which would require all businesses in New York City to post at least half of each sign in English. According to Avella, many businesses in his district in northeast Queens do not post signs in English. In 2004, a task force concluded that five percent (5%) of all businesses in a busy commercial portion of northeastern Queens posted signs that did not have any English. Avella said that he would continue to support passage of his legislation calling for all business to post signs including English language translations of "equal size and proportion". [2]
In 2005 Avella forwarded a bill proposing that the Department of Transportation increase the operational duration of four public bus companies operating in his area. The bill would allow for the smooth integration of the private lines with the MTA, and was signed into law in May of 2005. [3]
In response to a recent attack in his district (Douglaston) on four Asian males by two Irish-American males (one with a pending criminal case on charges of assaulting an elderly man with a claw hammer), in which racial slurs were used by the white males, Mr. Avella blamed Asian developers for increasing the tension in his district.[citation needed]
Avella has announced that he will not seek re-election when his term ends on December 31, 2009, although given the issue of term limits it is not clear if he could have done so. He plans to run for Mayor of New York City in 2009. [4]
[edit] Links
- New York City Council, official website
[edit] References
- ^ Councilman Tony Avella. NY City Council. Retrieved on January 14, 2007.
- ^ Lou Dobbs Tonight. CNN News. Retrieved on January 14, 2007.
- ^ Mayor Bloomberg Signs Legislation Extending Bus Franchise. NYC.gov. Retrieved on January 15, 2007.
- ^ Comptroller Raises $524,000 in Undeclared Bid for Mayor. New York Times. Retrieved on January 19, 2007.
| Members of New York City Council
Speaker: Christine C. Quinn |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Manhattan - |
9: Dickens (D) |
17: Arroyo (D) |
26: Gioia (D) |
35: James (D) |
44: Felder (D) |
