Comrie knows that a big part of being a successful City Council member is interacting with residents as often as possible. He holds three informational meetings per month on topics that will benefit his constituents and attends every major community meeting held in his district.
   “It has to be inclusive,” he said.“I don’t like being an individual. I like to create a group participatory process so that people can have pride and ownership in their communities.”
   Amongst his top priorities are education, care and safety for seniors, increasing employment opportunities and affordable housing.
   Since joining the City Council in 2002, Comrie has introduced many positive legislative initiatives including advocating to contain waste transfer stations, increasing tax and property exemptions for seniors, and developing a special database on city contracts.
   According to Comrie, for the last three years he has been the highest rated minority member of the City Council for bringing the most capital and expense dollars back into his district, an accomplishment that he is particularly proud of.
   “I want to continue to bring resources into the district and ensure that even in these recessionary times that there are no losses of services.”
   But he doesn’t dole out the cash haphazardly. He visits every potential site to make sure that it meets the needs of the community and has the ability to manage the funds properly.
   Economic development
   Comrie wants more minorities to be involved in economic development projects so he plans to tighten legislation in order to get every city agency to regularly report the amount of minority contracting and procurement that they acquire.
   He will increase opportunities for small businesses by eliminating unnecessary or redundant city regulations that prohibit them from doing business.
   Comrie will strengthen the economic development corporations within his district by having regular meetings between small business owners and marketing experts so that they can learn strategies to help them survive during these tough economic times.
   Crime
   There is an old proverb that says, “Idle hands are the devil’s playthings” so keeping busy means keeping out of trouble. Comrie plans to push for locally based after school programs that will challenge and invigorate youth.
   Long gone are the times when residents used to know the neighborhood cop on the beat, but Comrie wants to see that type of community policing return, because he says there is distrust between his constituents and law enforcement and that leads to harassment. He feels that when people trust the police and feel comfortable approaching them then crimes and other illegal activity will be reported more promptly and frequently.
   Seniors
   Comrie called seniors “our most precious resource” and he is always looking for ways to make their lives better. He opened two new senior centers – one at Maranatha Baptist Church and the other at the Congregational Church of Hollis, in addition to helping save PAL Senior Center, which was in danger of closing down.
   After a Florida study showed that the Nintendo Wii can have positive physical and psychological health benefits for older adults Comrie donated game consoles to all the senior centers in his district.
   In the future he would like to see the Meals on Wheels program return to serving hot meals as opposed to frozen ones and will work to end predatory practices against seniors.
   “Anyone who hurts the elderly deserves the maximum jail time,” he said.
   Education
   A good learning environment is essential to achievement so Comrie has made sure that every school in his district has been provided with a computer lab and technology upgrade.
   Comrie communicates closely with teachers and principals to find out what resources they need and diligently works to secure federal funding for those items.
   He recently secured 10 to 15 million dollars in funding for York College so that they can create more programming, increase security, revamp their admissions center, and beautify the exterior of their campus.
   He supports vocational programming such as the August Martin Culinary Arts Academy and has provided them with funds to develop their kitchen.
   “Every child does not necessarily need a traditional four-year program if they have marketable professional skills that can be developed,” he said.
   Mayoral Control
   Like many Democrats, Comrie does not support mayoral control, because he believes that it does not create enough opportunities for parents to have a say in their child’s educational development.
   Further he says that the system “does not provide transparency at any level.”