Early voting is underway, and Election Day is Tuesday, June 23 for the historic Democratic primary for the Assembly District 23 race, the first Democratic primary challenge in the district since 1966. One of those candidates is Mike Scala of Howard Beach, but as an attorney who has served as counsel for several Rockaway interests from QueensLink to Dayton Beach Park board elections, he’s no stranger to the community.
Scala has spent most of his life living in south Queens, making him an ever-suffering Mets fan. But he also shares a passion for music as a rapper, a love of helping others and a passion for law, often helping people through his talents. “Serving the people has always been about being part of something greater than me,” Scala said.
Scala even has some legislative experience. While working in Albany as a counsel and legislative director in state Senate, he got to be part of the lawmaking process, managing a legislative office in Albany, and working on 150 bills, several of which became state law, like one that requires police to take all missing adult cases seriously. “That role was the highlight of my professional life,” he said. “Assembly is right up my alley. I think I could do a lot of good.” He noted his belief that the seat should remain blue. “We need to keep the seat in Democratic control because being the majority party in Albany gives you more resources for your community and I would be concerned about it falling into the minority party and losing some of the resources we now take for granted. I do think, given my history in the community, that I’m best positioned to win this seat and hold it for Democrats.”
In addition to his resume, Scala considers his community contributions to be valuable experience. That includes serving as a member of the Queens Public Transit Committee, fighting for QueensLink as counsel and serving as a co-chair of the Rockaway Ferry Committee to bring back the ferry, with earlier departure times for commuters. He was also brought on to the board of Queens Defenders to stabilize the organization, so it can continue services like housing assistance. And his work is widespread. “I’ve worked across the district, which makes me uniquely qualified for the seat, not just in Rockaway, but Ozone Park,” he said, adding that he helped form a successful food pantry in Ozone Park, and has been active in park and shoreline cleanups in Howard Beach.
Scala’s top three priorities if elected would be affordability, making QueensLink a reality and improving transportation overall, and bringing a trauma center to Rockaway. On affordability, Scala said, “Everything is too expensive. People are talking about having to move but I think New York is the best place to live, so we need to make things more affordable.” Scala would focus on utility costs, suggesting a cap be placed on utility rate increases, as done in New Jersey, while looking for ways to improve subsidies for alternative energy investments. He also spoke about insurance rates, especially car insurance, suggesting the state should regulate it better. Instead of looking at demographics, zip codes, credit history and other things unrelated to a driving record, he would like the state to reward people for good driving records. He’d also build upon Tier 6 improvements, calling for public employees to pay 3% instead of 6%, putting more money in their pockets. He also suggests lowering the retirement age to 55 after 30 years on the job, which would also serve as a way to attract more public workers.
On QueensLink, Scala has been a longtime advocate. “I would love to see it get done,” he said, but he’s also advocated for other transportation improvements like funding Rockaway Rides again, giving people access to free rides in electric vehicles. The service had made 125K trips before funding dried up. While not a supporter of congestion pricing, Scala suggested having that funding come back into the community for local transportation upgrades. For ferry service, he’d like to see OMNI implemented so people can have free transfers between the ferry and subway or bus. For drivers, Scala believes the ever-growing number of speed and redlight cameras to be excessive. “There’s way too many. It’s a cash grab. We were told it was for school zones and now they’re 24 hours. They can be dangerous because they don’t take into account the condition of the road. I have sped up to get around a truck to avert an accident and wound up slamming on the brakes to avoid a camera. That’s why we should have people issuing tickets instead of cameras that indiscriminately tax you.”
Lastly, Scala urged the importance of bringing a trauma center to Rockaway, saying it would be his first budget priority. “We know it’s a recipe for disaster when we have no trauma center and we see people die en route to Jamaica or Brookdale,” Scala said. “I was recently at City Hall for a rally for QueensLink and the trauma center. There’s a lot being done on the city level, but more has to happen at the state level. It’s going to take all of us coming together to make it happen. In the meantime, we should have a helipad, maybe at Riis Park, as a better way to get people from point A to point B.”
Scala shared his position on several other concerns. Raising taxes? “We should never raise taxes on the middle class,” he said. However, he suggests lowering the threshold for those in the highest tax bracket at 10.9% from $25 million to $15 or $10 million, so more people can be taxed at that rate. On more development in Rockaway? “No, we have overdevelopment on the peninsula. I don’t think the problem is a lack of housing,” he said, adding that the federally determined Area Median Income, which affordable housing is based off of, should be adjusted as it currently includes places like Westchester and Long Island in the figure. When it comes to expanding 2K for the state? “I hesitate when it comes to universal childcare because if you have the money to hire someone, why is the taxpayer paying for childcare? We want to make it accessible, but we have to keep an eye on the cost to the taxpayer.” When it comes to public safety, Scala says he supports the police and wants to advocate for better pension systems and supports officers being able to serve in their own communities to improve community relations. On bail reform, Scala said he didn’t support it and would make changes. “It’s not good that they don’t consider dangerousness of a defendant when making bail determinations. We want to give judges more discretion to make sure they’re not let back on the street without bail.”
On staying independent from the party when it comes to making decisions for District 23, Scala believes not being the candidate endorsed by the Queens Democratic Party and other Democrat officials, gives him an advantage. “I am running without party support so nobody can say I’m beholden to the party. My campaign is grassroots. It’s funded by the community and small donors. I’m 100% running for the people and that’s how I’ve always been. We have to put people over politics and put the community first.”
So why should Democrat voters choose Scala? “A lot of people are fed up with the status quo and fed up with the machine and they want something different, so I’m someone who you know if you vote for, I’m always going to put the community first because I’m not supported by the party bosses or the special interests. I’m someone who has the people’s back, and I think I’ve proven that. For example, suing HPD when they weren’t providing proper oversight in Dayton Beach Park. I’m not afraid to stand up to powerful interests on behalf of people and I think that’s who the people want at a time like this.”
