“I think the reason I won is that I got my message out. I talked about the issues and I understand the needs of the people in the district and the new arrivals,” he said.
It also didn’t hurt that Kim raised the most money in his race: $266,632. His closest competitor was Vallone with $144,256.
Although he did not get the Democratic Party endorsement — that went to Iannece — Kim had a strong ally in his former boss, Congressman Gary Ackerman (D-Queens).
But wearing out shoe leather may have been his biggest asset. Kim said by visiting 4,500 homes he was able to talk one-on-one to voters to find out their concerns and to better serve them.
His major issues are education, overdevelopment, public safety and public transportation. He favors more after-school programs, full library service and strict enforcement of zoning laws.
District 19 includes Auburndale, Bayside, Bay Terrace, Beechurst, College Point, Douglaston, North Flushing, Little Neck, Malba and Whitestone. A great portion of that area has no subway service and limited Long Island Rail Road trains.
Kim is calling for better bus service, use of technology to track bus schedules and the use of bus rapid transit as is used in Manhattan to help with congestion.
He praised his fellow Democratic candidates, calling them all qualified. “With so many on the ballot, it gave people a wide variety of choices,” Kim said.
Although there was mud thrown by some candidates, the candidate said he stayed above the fray. “I concentrated on getting out my message and staying on point.”
Kim grew up in Bayside Terrace where he attended P.S. 150, I.S. 25, and Townsend Harris High School in Flushing. He went on to receive a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from Stanford University and returned to New York for law school, attending Columbia, where he was a senior editor of the Columbia Law Review.
After a corporate law career that included founding his own firm, Yoon Suh & Kim, he became deputy director of community affairs for Ackerman, quitting when he decided to run for office.
Kim says working in the private sector has led to a strong belief in public-private partnerships, such as the Adopt-A-Highway program and his time spent in public service, has shown him that for the community as well as the individual, “economic success is just not enough.”
Drawing from his own experiences, Kim recalls watching the Los Angeles riots on TV and seeing, “images of store owners either crying or standing on the roof with guns, while the police abandoned Koreatown and headed to Beverly Hills.” This affected Kim and led him to become a certified community mediator, working specifically on a Brooklyn-based project between the black and Korean communities.
Assemblyman Mark Weprin (D-Little Neck) who won his primary Tuesday to become councilman in District 23, said Kim won’t have any problems in City Hall. “He’s a great candidate,” Weprin said. “The money he raised helped, but it didn’t carry the day.”
Pundits say the low voter turnout, combined with the outpouring of Asian voters and the large number of candidates may have helped Kim win the primary.
But Kim is taking no chances. He’ll continue knocking on those doors.
|
|
