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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now we continue our series 51 Council Members in 52 Weeks, in which we're welcoming all 51 members of the New York City Council in this year when most of them are new because of term limits and it's a majority female council for the first time ever. We're up to District 21 in Queens. I wonder if this might be the most diverse legislative district of any kind anywhere in the world, covering Elmhurst, Corona, Jackson Heights, and LeFrak City, Flushing Meadows Corona Park is in the district too as is LaGuardia airport.

The council member is Francisco Moya, a relative veteran in this council. Now in his second term, you only get two, he was one of the two finalists for city council speaker for this term as well, which wound up going to Adrian Adams from Queens. Moya was reported to be Mayor Adam's first choice. Moya's bio page says he is a lifelong resident of Corona, been a community organizer from the age of 15. He previously represented the area in the state assembly, where he was the first Ecuadorian American ever elected to public office in the United States. Councilman Moya, good to have you today. Thanks for joining 51 Council Members in 52 Weeks.

Francisco Moya: Thanks, Brian. Thanks for having me on your show today.

Brian Lehrer: Can I ask you first about the people of your district, I said it might be the most diverse district of any kind on earth, though I really don't know that, but how diverse is that part of central Queens that you represent today?

Francisco Moya: It is. It is the most diverse district in the entire country. We have over 162 languages that are spoken just in these neighborhoods alone. The beauty, I think, of what this neighborhood or this district really represents is that, it's that diversity. When I grew up here, it was predominantly Italian. Then it became more Dominican Columbian. Now it's Ecuadorian Mexican. We have a large South Asian community that's coming in, we have a large African community in LeFrak City. I think what makes New York City what it's all about is the beauty of its diversity and the richness and the different cultures that we celebrate here in New York, but in particular, in Queens.

Brian Lehrer: You've been in government at one level or another from the district for 20 years now. How have you seen the district change?

Francisco Moya: Look, I think like everything, there's an evolution. I think it's always good when we're seeing these changes that are happening because what we have now is that richness, that diversity, but a lot of the Latino community that is emerging is a central and south American community, where we're seeing the first generation of a family of immigrants really emerging into doing great things in the community, starting up their small businesses, really expanding a lot of the cultural education that we have.

You see it in our schools when we celebrate a heritage month. Ecuadorian Heritage Month is actually coming up in August, but you see that it really makes a big impact on how we view the world. I think that if people would be able to come and live here in this district amongst the diversity here, I think we probably would be better off because the people here truly get along and really adapt to the cultures that are really having a profound impact in the development of this neighborhood.

Brian Lehrer: Since you were the first Ecuadorian American elected to any public office in the United States, do you want to talk a little bit about the Ecuadorian community of New York City in particular? How large is it? Have there been specific periods when most Ecuadorian immigrants have been coming? What drives them out or post them here? Any of those things.

Francisco Moya: When my parents immigrated here in the '60s, there was that wave of their generation of Ecuadorians that came to Queens. Maybe in the last 20 years, we've seen an emergence of more Ecuadorians that are staying here. We actually here in the borough of Queens itself represent the largest number of Ecuadorians outside of Ecuador in the entire world. I believe in Queens, we are the largest Hispanic community behind the Mexican, Dominican, and Colombian community that is here.

As I said, this is really an emerging community now that's really making its mark, not just here in New York, but throughout the country. It's one of the greatest things that I think helped me really get to my roots and all that, is that my parents would send me and my brother to Ecuador every summer to stay with my family. As a kid growing up here where you have all the wonderful amenities, going to Ecuador, having to not have anything that would be open 24 hours to get something to eat, or you have to go shower in the shower outside, but it really made me connect with my roots and my family and made me a better person.

I traveled throughout the entire country. It's a beautiful country to visit. The Galapagos Islands are a treasure. We just have such great contributions that we're able to make here, and I believe that I read somewhere recently that the largest number of ex-pats from the United States that are retiring are going to Ecuador.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, that's interesting.

Francisco Moya: The ability to own your home is not expensive and the healthcare is free and it's something that we're seeing more and more people going over there to retire.

Brian Lehrer: I've been in Quito, beautiful setting up where it is for the capital city. Listeners, if anybody happens to live in Francisco Moya's district who's listening right now, arguably the most diverse district of any kind in the United States, Corona, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, LeFrak City, 212-433-WNYC for anything you want to say about that part of Queens or ask your council member. 212-433-9692 or tweet @brianlehrer. Councilman, I'm asking everyone in this series over your time in council, and you're in your fifth year now, in your case, what's the number one reason that constituents contact your office?

Francisco Moya: Well, that has shifted since COVID, but look, a lot of this is quality of life. We really need to start improving on a lot of the quality of life issues that we're seeing not just in my district, but I think throughout the city. That's real important to me. One of the ways in which I've been staying in touch with the communities, especially throughout the pandemic given that this was the epicenter here, is holding monthly PTA meetings with the parents on Zoom, where I'm able to bring in the different agencies from the city to talk about specific issues that they've raised.

It's really an amazing way in which we can bring the city resources directly to the community to figure things out that are happening there. A lot of this has been the garbage. That's been a huge issue, which has led me to work on legislation to improve the way DSNY's reporting and tracking of dirty conditions are reported in the city, how redistribution of resources can help alleviate some of that problem. Last year I brought in over $800,000 in different type of funding streams that dealt with the issues of the collection of the litter baskets where--

In my district now, we have five days a week twice-a-day pick up. I've got several cameras that are specific to areas that are known for a real problem of the illegal dumping that we see, whether it's under one of the overpasses on 111th Street in Corona, Queens or where it's an area over on Astoria Boulevard in East Elmhurst, placing those cameras have been key in helping us really lower the number of illegal dumpings that we see in the community.

Again, to me it's really important that we can really tackle these issues that are affecting the day-to-day lives of New Yorkers, but in particular my constituency. We've been through a very difficult two years and we want to make sure that the services that we see in some of the other surrounding neighborhoods in the area, we get the same resources; clean streets, making sure that we are communicating with the constituency. We're seeing a lot more now throughout the city. We do have a rat infestation that is running rampant here and we have to tackle these issues in a really effective way that also shows immediate results to our constituency.

Sometimes you get folks that call and we get stuck in some of the bureaucratic melees of dealing with some of the city agencies. Having a new administration here, a new mayor, where we're seeing that the follow up and the progress is much more immediate, is really helping us tackle a lot of the quality of life issues that we're facing here. There are a number of things that we have to still continue to improve on.

Brian Lehrer: Is the rat problem an outdoor dining shed problem? We get some phone calls to that effect sometimes, but I don't want to say one equals one unless there's real evidence.

Francisco Moya: Look, it's hard to say. I think that one of the things that the council and this administration have been working on is, as we're looking to make the outdoor dining facilities permanent, there has to be some regulation in terms of the maintenance, upkeep, and how they do that. There are some bad operators who basically are using that as storage, where that's not the intent of why you have an outdoor dining setting there, and that could create that. I just think overall we've seen that increase in the last couple of years, but one of the ways we have to do that is really making sure that the DSNY is fully funded to do a lot of the work that needs to get done.

We are working now in this budget process to ensure that some of these items should be baseline by the administration. I've been talking about this for a long time, that we have to take out of our discretionary fund to fund the litter basket removal programs in our community, where those resources can go to actually do other things that are necessary in the community.

I think part of that is what we like to always go and negotiate with the administration now about making sure that, and I think they share that vision of really ensuring that if we want to talk about New York City being open again, if we want to bring back the tourism, if we want to bring back the economy to the city, it really all comes down to how effective we are in our funding streams to ensure that the quality of life issues are addressed, cleaner streets, safer streets, making sure that our communities aren't getting left behind in this budget process.

Brian Lehrer: Related call. I think from your district. Koran, am I saying your name right, in Corona, you're on WNYC probably with your council member Francisco Moya. Hello.

Koran: Hello. Yes. I was calling in regards the 34th Avenue Open Street in Jackson Heights. I've been trying to reach the council member for about almost a year now regarding expanding it into Corona and I've had no luck in getting any response or callback from the council member.

Brian Lehrer: Koran, would you describe it for people who've not seen it, 34th Avenue Open Street, what's there now and what is it that you want to expand about it?

Koran: The 34th Avenue Open Street, it's a wonderful closed off street where people can walk, exercise, walk with their dogs, lots of activities, dance classes, a lot of activities for children. Just a great experience overall. It's in the neighboring city to mine, which is Jackson Heights and it stops right in Corona. I've been trying to contact the council member for about a year now regarding why the Open Street has not been expanded to Corona.

Brian Lehrer: Open Street in this case means it's closed to cars, so it's open to pedestrians and all these other activities, right?

Koran: Correct, yes. It's a little backwards, but it's closed to cars and open to pedestrians and cyclists, so it's a wonderful experience which came about during the pandemic where people needed more space. As you know, Corona was one of the hardest hit places by the pandemic, so we needed that space, but we did not-

Brian Lehrer: We're going to talk about that a little more too, but council member, you're familiar with the 34th Avenue Open Street and why it stops at the border between Jackson Heights and Corona?

Francisco Moya: Yes, absolutely. Listen, thank you so much for the phone call. To me, I represent a district where I have to hear the voices of my constituency. We have had several meetings that the DOT does in different neighborhoods, where the vast majority of the people that have been on those scoping meetings and calls for expanding into my district has been overwhelmingly known. While I'm glad that they're able to enjoy the open streets that is in the adjacent community, that's why they have a representative there that listens to their voice and understands that that's where they want it and they were able to achieve that.

I have a different constituency that sees it in a different light and we're not always going to agree. It doesn't mean that they're wrong, but you have to respect the wishes of the actual residents of the community that this initiative will impact. That's my job as a legislator I listen to everyone. Part of that is ensuring that those meetings that took place, we've had several with the DOT and the advocacy groups, the community groups in my neighborhood that just didn't want to have the open streets come into Corona. That's the reason why we don't have it.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you for your call, Koran. A few more minutes with City Council Member Francisco Moya, our latest guest in our 51 council members in 52 week series here on the Brian Lehrer Show, where we are inviting every member of New York City Council, touching every neighborhood of the city in this year in which most of the council is new because of term limits and it's majority female for the first time.

The caller mentioned how hard your district was hit by the pandemic. I remember the cruel irony that nowhere had a higher concentration of coronavirus than Corona, Queens at the beginning. We remember the excruciating scenes of body bags at Elmhurst Hospital, which represent too many for a while for the morgues to handle, which is why they piled up. How would you begin to describe the effects of the pandemic now two and a quarter years in on families in your district?

Francisco Moya: I think that we have not fully recovered here. I think that what we saw throughout the last two years, it really exposed the healthcare inequalities in the city of New York. I have a great affinity to Elmhurst Hospital because I was born at Elmhurst Hospital, I worked at Elmhurst Hospital, and I represented Elmhurst Hospital. To see what we had to go through is something that is the reason why I fight each and every day to ensure that in this budget, we are going to look to help get and secure funding for that hospital to have what it needs, to be prepared to provide good quality healthcare to the surrounding community.

While we may be over that initial phase of what we saw COVID had the impact on this community, we're not out of COVID yet. God forbid that we have to go through anything like that again. We want to ensure that we are helping this hospital expand, that we are bringing the resources in. As you mentioned, throughout that process, in the news, Elmhurst Hospital was the symbol of the overburdened hospital. Now that we're getting out of that, we can't forget what they went through. I think it's really critical for us, and that's why I'm working with this administration, to bring real funding to help expand Elmhurst Hospital.

The Borough of Queens in the last decade has lost, I think, somewhat of like nine hospitals. There is a real impact that we've had in the last decade with that loss of hospitals. We always knew Elmhurst Hospital was overburdened with its patient flow, but now is our opportunity to really right the ship for the future. That's something that I'm going to ensure that I fight for as one of my top priorities in this year's budget.

Brian Lehrer: Given that history and the fact that, as you just said, the pandemic isn't over, and the underlying conditions, I think you would agree, for spread still exist in your district more than a lot of other places, crowded housing, a lot of essential workers. Are you more wary than Mayor Adams perhaps about lifting the vaccine or mask requirements for indoor public spaces or requiring city workers to go back to the office five days a week as he is, even as the health commissioner is on TV and official public service spots imploring people to mask up, get vaccinated, and avoid large gatherings with the current high alert because of Omicron?

Francisco Moya: [unintelligible 00:20:07] We have to listen to the experts and really take their lead here. That's why we have a commission of health who will instruct us on what are the measures that we need to take, in particular in my district. I still am someone who is in favor of continuing to wear masks because of the things that you outlined. We have multi-generational homes and people living there, multiple dwellings, the essential workers. We see the spikes that come every so often with the new variants and we just have to make sure that we are not forgetting the communities that really were suffering throughout this. The epicenter of the epicenter was here.

Brian Lehrer: What does that mean on a policy level for you today?

Francisco Moya: Look, I think for me, it's that we cannot lose focus on making sure that we are providing the adequate resources for these communities. We know that we've gotten funding from the federal government to help with a lot of the COVID-related issues here, but that has to continue. We can't let up as we go forward after this year. We need to ensure that we are still going to be able to have access to rapid testing in the event that we do have another outbreak of another variant that may come in the fall, in the winter, like we saw last year, and making sure that our hospital staff is adequately able to manage any outbreak as well.

The education process of what we're doing in providing information in real-time, in multiple languages. We have to learn from the mistakes that we saw in the past where the information wasn't flowing to communities like mine because there was not enough of the adequate translation.

Really working on the ground with the different community-based organizations and faith-based organizations in the community because, as you know, this is a large immigrant community where there is a distrust of the government at times. Where is the places where they feel most comfortable in getting their information or finding out what to do is through the local community-based organizations or the faith-based organizations in the district. We need to ensure that we are adequately funding them as we go through the process of getting out of Omicron and going into the summer and then fall and winter as well.

Brian Lehrer: Let me take one more call from your district before we run out of time. Jennifer in Elmhurst. Jennifer, our time is getting short. I apologize. We have about 30 seconds for you. Hi, there.

Jennifer: No worries. Hi, I'm from Elmhurst and I was calling because after the pandemic, I saw such a big number of vendors on 103rd and Roosevelt Avenue. It just seems like things got way out of hand. I know people need to work, I know people need to make a living, but I feel like we need to either grab a hold of the situation and get things back in order or we're really going to move a lot of control in our community. I've lived here my whole life and I really haven't seen it this dirty, this populated, street vendors everywhere. I know everyone has their story and I'm no one to judge. Everybody has to make a living, but I feel like we need a little more control.

Brian Lehrer: Council member, the eternal tension between street vendors and the people who think there are too many of them or they make a mess.

Francisco Moya: Jennifer, thank you much for that question. I'm with you on what's happening in Corona Plaza. I voted to expand the licenses for vendors in the council last year, but I think that we also need to have certain regulations where we are not seeing what we're seeing right now. The fact that they're using propane tanks underneath the elevated subway station, we've seen what has happened there, one has actually exploded there. It's a real public safety issue.

To me, it's how do we come together to find a real way of working together as a community that isn't just, "Let's put our stands out," even in front of the small business owners that are suffering as well. They're getting fined by sanitation because of the dirtier streets and things like that, but we have to come to a real- [crosstalk]

Brian Lehrer: Find that balance.

Francisco Moya: -that it's important for us to figure out a way to make this work, but you can just go out and do whatever it is that you like. That is one of the biggest complaints I get in my office, is the dirtiness, the street vendors are taking over the plaza. Some of them are good people and I understand that they have to work and it's hard at times, but we also have to have certain regulations here that also isn't going to have a negative impact on the businesses and the local community itself.

Brian Lehrer: All right. Let's end with a little bit of fun because we're inviting all the members to bring a show and tell item from your district. I know what you have brought. Would you tell the listeners?

Francisco Moya: Listen, I'm really excited about this because this is a hidden treasure in my community. Most people think that the birthplace of Jazz is in Harlem, but people forget that East Elmhurst and Corona really were the birthplace of some of the greatest jazz musicians that the world has ever known. I am very fortunate enough to have representing the Louis Armstrong House and Museum in my district. What I did was bring you a nice coffee mug so you can have as well of the Louis Armstrong House over in Corona, Queens.

If anybody wants to take a visit to see the house, it is on 107th Street in Corona between 34th Avenue and 37th Avenue. It's open five days a week. We're going to inaugurate the brand new museum that I helped fund in September. I'm very excited about that. It's an opportunity to really do wonderful things to connect the young people to the history, not just of jazz, but of the legends that really came out of the area in Corona.

[jazz music playing]

Brian Lehrer: There's Louis Armstrong.

Francisco Moya: Oh, you know him?

Brian Lehrer: Maybe, for people who wondered why it's the Louis Armstrong Stadium at the Tennis Center there, well, local kid from the neighborhood. That's great for people to know about the Louis Armstrong House. Tell me, did you also know about this for that neighborhood as a center of jazz that people should know about? A street recently renamed for the jazz great and Queens College Professor Jimmy Heath.

Francisco Moya: I was very honored to do the street renaming over on 34th Avenue. [unintelligible 00:28:09]

[jazz playing in the background]

Brian Lehrer: There's Jimmy on saxophone, by the way.

Francisco Moya: One of the greatest saxophone players of our lifetime. The richness of that is in the history of great jazz musician. As a matter of fact, Ella Fitzgerald lived for a time in East Elmhurst. We're talking about legends that came out of this neighborhood and I don't want the younger generation that's coming up in this neighborhood to really forget the wonderful contributions of legends like Louis Armstrong and Jimmy Heath really gave to the world.

[unintelligible 00:28:50] Regina who is heading up the museum over there is doing just a wonderful job. We actually did a movie night last night in the yard of the Louis Armstrong House with the students of the Louis Armstrong Elementary School. We also had the Louis Armstrong School Glee Club sing at the Jimmy Heath street renaming. It's wonderful to really connect the community with the great cultural institutions that exist in that community and educate them on music and art and what that really means, and it can open up the door to see the next Louis Armstrong or Jimmy Heath come out of Corona, Queens.

Brian Lehrer: I'm really sorry I did not get a clip of the Louis Armstrong Glee Club, to Paul in addition to the trumpeter himself and the sax player, Jimmy Heath himself, but with that, we thank Francisco Moya, council member from Corona, Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, LeFrak City, our latest guest in our 51 Council Members in 52 weeks series. Thanks so much, council member.

Francisco Moya: Thanks so much, Brian. Be well.

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