Maria Castro (New York)
Maria Castro was a Democratic candidate for District 4 representative on the New York City Council in New York. She was defeated in the primary election on September 12, 2017. Click here to read Castro's response to Ballotpedia's 2017 municipal candidate survey.
Biography
In 2016, Castro was elected as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention from New York's 12th Congressional District and a judicial delegate for the Democratic Party from New York State Assembly District 75.[1]
Elections
2017
The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for the District 4 seat on the New York City Council.[2]
| New York City Council, District 4 Democratic Primary Election, 2017 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Keith Powers |
40.83% | 4,456 |
| Marti Speranza | 22.84% | 2,493 |
| Rachel Honig | 8.69% | 948 |
| Bessie Schachter | 8.41% | 918 |
| Vanessa Aronson | 6.84% | 746 |
| Maria Castro | 4.61% | 503 |
| Jeffrey Mailman | 4.42% | 482 |
| Barry Shapiro | 2.13% | 232 |
| Alec Hartman | 1.00% | 109 |
| Write-in votes | 0.24% | 26 |
| Total Votes | 10,913 | |
| Source: New York City Board of Elections, "2017 Primary: Certified Results," accessed September 28, 2017 | ||
Campaign themes
2017
Castro participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of municipal government candidates.[3] The following sections display her responses to the survey questions. When asked what her top priority would be if elected, the candidate made the following statement:
| “ | Making sure that the quality of life for New Yorkers improve. This would include health care, public transportation, affordable housing, and education.[4] | ” |
| —Maria Castro (September 6, 2017)[5] | ||
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues by importance in the city, with 1 being the most important and 12 being the least important: city services (trash, utilities, etc.), civil rights, crime reduction/prevention, environment, government transparency, homelessness, housing, K-12 education, public pensions/retirement funds, recreational opportunities, transportation, and unemployment. This table displays this candidate's rankings from most to least important.
| Issue importance ranking | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking |
Issue | Candidate's ranking |
Issue |
| City services (trash, utilities, etc.) | Civil rights | ||
| Transportation | Government transparency | ||
| Homelessness | Environment | ||
| Housing | Public pensions/retirement funds | ||
| Crime reduction/prevention | Unemployment | ||
| K-12 education | Recreational opportunities | ||
Nationwide municipal issues
The candidate was asked to answer questions from Ballotpedia regarding issues facing cities across America. The questions are in the left column and the candidate's responses are in the right column. Some questions provided multiple choices, which are noted after those questions.
| Question | Response |
|---|---|
| Very important | |
| Local | |
| Focusing on small business development | |
| I am proud to come from a city as diverse as New York. One can encounter people from all nationalities and all walks of life on any given day. | |
| If I can change one thing about this city, it would be our carbon footprint. I would like the city to become more sustainable by providing more service to straphangers, making it more affordable. | |
| The NYPD is making great strides in policing and public safety, the city should continue to emphasize community policing and make more efforts in improving relations between communities and the police. | |
| New York prides itself on being a 'melting pot'. Therefore any immigrant- whether documented or not should have the opportunity to | |
| I do not approve of the city's approach to public transportation. Many train stations are not ADA compliant, which causes an additional strain on senior citizens and parents with small children. Therefore, I think the city should make it a priority to make all subway stations ADA compliant. | |
| I think the city can do more to address the housing issues that our city currently faces. As the cost of living continues to increase, New Yorkers are struggling to pay high rent and stay in their homes. This, combined with the low number of affordable housing units available often leave the most vulnerable New Yorkers unable to pay their rent. Senior citizens are particularly at risk. District four contains one of the largest NORC (Naturally Occurring Retirement Community) in Manhattan. Therefore, I am fighting for senior citizens to stay in their homes without the fear of eviction. |
Additional themes
In the New York Campaign Finance Board's voter guide, Castro listed her top three issues as:
| “ |
|
” |
| —Maria Castro[6] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Maria Castro New York City Council. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| New York, New York | New York | Municipal government | Other local coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
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External links
- New York City Council
- Campaign website
- Social media
Footnotes
- ↑ Raise the Money, "Maria Castro for City Council," accessed July 31, 2017
- ↑ Ballotpedia staff, "Email correspondence with the New York City Board of Elections," July 14, 2017
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ballotpedia's municipal government candidate survey, 2017, "Maria Castro's Responses," September 6, 2017
- ↑ New York City Campaign Finance Board, "Maria Castro," accessed August 30, 2017
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