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continued from page 9 help to become the next mayor of New York City. In his interview with this newspaper, Thompson said he would work to create more jobs, keep the city safe against terrorism, dismiss NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, remodel the police departments controversial stopand-frisk program and fight for affordable home insurance rates. If Ed Koch can be called the cheerleading mayor for his boastful style, and Rudy Giuliani is referred to as the law and order mayor for cleaning up crime, and Bloomberg can be called the nanny mayor for his crack down on cigarette smoking in restaurants and his soda beverage wars to promote healthy eating, how will New Yorkers remember a Thompson mayoralty? I want to make the city better than when I found it, said Thompson. Eight years down the road, I want people to say I

was fighting for them. I was trying to make the city better for them, more affordable. Thompson said New York is a Gotham that is squeezing out the middle class. I think some policies have made the city less affordable, he added. If you look at [increased] water rates and assessments on properties, its tough on everybody. In addition, Superstorm Sandy has made life financially painful for many New Yorkers with insurance companies dropping policy holders and doubling rates. The biggest hit people in that area have taken is flood insurance, said Thompson. They are

getting killed. There are insurance rates of $8,000 [annually]. No one can afford that. He vowed to make a difference. The mayor needs to go to Washington and fight for it [affordable flood insurance], he said. When was the last time the mayor fought for insurance rates? Thompson also said he would replace Kelly and overhaul the citys controversial stop-andfrisk program. I think stop and frisk is a useful police tool. It has been misused by the Bloomberg administration and Ray Kelly, said Thompson. People have been stopped because of who they are and what they look like, and

thats wrong. The New York Civil Liberties Union charges that the stop-andfrisk program is an ineffective crime fighting tool, which infringes on the civil rights of many New Yorkers. The NYPD stopped and interrogated people 532,911 times, a 448 percent increase in street stops since 2002 when police recorded 97,296 stops during Mayor Bloombergs first year in office. Nine out of 10 people stopped were innocent, meaning they were neither arrested nor ticketed. About 87 percent were black or Latino. White people accounted for only about 10 percent of stops, according to a May 2013 report by NYCLU. We need training and retraining on what to look for, said Thompson, who branded Kelly as the architect of the escalating stopand-frisk program. No one should be in any position forever, said Thompson. Ray Kelly has been there a long time. We need someone new. (Kelly was police commissioner from 1992 to 1994 and again from 2002 to the present.) In a major decision handed down Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled that the New York City Police Departments controversial stop-and-frisk policy has violated the rights of thousands of citizens. Scheindlin said she is not putting and end to the policy, but is reforming it. She named Peter L. Zimroth, New York Citys former lead attorney, to develop an initial set of reforms to the policy to ensure that it complies with the

Hes come up the right way. He had no silver spoon. He went to public schools and he grew up in the streets of New York.

Constitution. The citys highest officials have turned a blind eye to the evidence that officers are conducting stops in a racially discriminatory manner, Scheindlin wrote. Thompson has been criticized by his opponents for coming late to denounce the stop-and-frisk policies, and he refutes those charges. It [my position] hasnt changed, said Thompson. There are others who will like to categorize it that way. Bill de Blasio has tried. Also on Monday, Thompson and State Sen. Diane Savino, who represents the Coney Island area, held a telephone press-conference to denounce the vandalism done earlier this month to the statute of baseball greats Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese in Coney Island. Swastikas and racial epithets were scrawled on the statute. We will find out who did it and prosecute the offenders, said Thompson. He called for increased funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to fight hate crimes and for further education in schools about racism and anti-Semitism. Thompson, who was elected New York City comptroller in 2001, said the brutal lesson of the events of Sept. 11 is that we cannot be caught sleeping in the war against terror. Its obvious that you must remain vigilant. You need to focus on anti-terrorism, he said. No matter who you are, you could have been in that building. hompson was asked by a reporter why he doesnt have

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JEWISH WORLD AUGUST 16-22, 2013

Photo: Antwaun Gavins, Bill Thompson for Mayor campaign

I dont think being black and showing up is going to get me the black vote. I think talking about jobs, issues of affordable housing and safety will get me the support in the black community.