SPECIAL ELECTION - FEBRUARY 9, 2010

NYS Assembly, 24th Assembly District:
Alley Pond, Bellerose, Bell Park Gardens, Bell Park Manor Terrace, Beech Hills, Cambridge Hall, Cloverdale Gardens, Deepdale, Douglaston Townhouse Condo, Estates of Bayside, Floral Park, Fresh Meadows, Glen Oaks Village, Hilltop Village, Hollis Court, Holliswood, Jamaica Estates, Little Neck, Langdale Gardens, Meadowlark Gardens, New Hyde Park, Parkwood Estates, Oakland Gardens, Queens Village, Windsor Oaks, Windsor Park.
Zip Codes: 11001, 11004, 11040, 11358, 11361, 11362, 11364, 11365, 11366, 11423, 11426, 11427, 11432

A Solid Record of Community Involvement

As Board President of Glen Oaks Village, with 10,000 residents, I have been able to accomplish what many said could never be achieved in co-op communities. 

My financial accounting background, Community Board 13 service and years of civic action have given me the KNOWLEDGE, LEADERSHIP AND SKILLS to effectively represent our district of co-ops, condos and single-family homes.     

I ACCOMPLISHED ALL OF THIS AS A VOLUNTEER.   IMAGINE WHAT I COULD DO AS YOUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVE!

• RE-INVENTED GLEN OAKS VILLAGE, transforming it from a transient problem-plagued community into a desirable destination for 10,000 residents.
  

• INSTITUTED CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM  to give residents new driveways, roofs, sidewalks, and state of the art flood control.
  

• KEPT MONTHLY MAINTENANCE THE LOWEST of all neighboring co-ops!
  

• HELPED FAMILIES BY LEADING A SUCCESSFUL 3-YEAR "BATTLE OF THE BUREAUCRACIES" through a maze of regulatory agencies to secure new rights & choices for 3,000 families who can now raise their roofs and transform attics into comfortable additional living space.  This newly gained right helped transform a transient community into one where families remain intact, by giving them an unprecedented choice:    An affordable way to enlarge their homes without having to move from our community, at a fraction of the cost of a new home purchase.
  
  This visionary example of Liberty in Action made our community stronger.   Habitat Magazine called the Dormer Project and Friedrich's other Value-Added Programs a "quiet revolution," unprecedented in co-op housing.  We strictly adhered to zoning codes and maintained the character and garden-apartment appeal of our homes. We set an example of how buildings can be tastefully altered without creating McMansions.

• FIGHTING FOR NEW CURBS THROUGHOUT THE DISTRICT.   Curbs are in disrepair, creating flooding and tripping hazards.   Many no longer exist, and mud from flooding covers the sidewalk.  As a Community Board 13 member, I listed the curb-repair project as a high priority.  

• SUCCESSFULLY ARGUED A NYS TAX AUDIT CASE on behalf of Glen Oaks Village that resulted in an audit-reversal, saving residents more than $700,000 and potentially SAVING OTHER CO-OPS many thousands of dollars by creating this precedent. 

• SUCCESSFULLY ARGUED FOR REDUCED PROPERTY-TAX ASSESSMENTS  after the city raised them a whopping 70% in one year.   SINGLE-FAMILY HOMEOWNERS face the same burden.  As a tax accountant, I understand this issue very well, and will aggressively pursue property tax relief for homeowners.

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  CREATED THE GREENTHUMB PROGRAM AND TRANSFORMED LITTLE NECK PARKWAY from an overgrown weeded eyesore into a well maintained tree-lined GREENSTREETS.    I even installed the signs myself.

• OPPOSED CONGESTION "PRICING" (TAX) and OFFERED BETTER SOLUTIONS to REDUCE CONGESTION

  At City Hall press conference, Bob strongly opposed congestion pricing and opposed new tolls on the free East River crossings.   Doubling tolls and imposing new ones is unfair to communities like ours without ready access to subways and only sporadic bus service at off-hours.   Seniors and others who travel into the city for medical care, or to shop, see a show, or have dinner, are hit hard.   Self-employed plumbers and electricians making service calls to Manhattan would pay a $21 toll -- and what is their alternative?  Carrying a 100-lb toolbox on the bus?  
  Bob's plan is to bring Subway Pricing to communities like ours, by converting the Little Neck, Bayside and Douglaston LIRR stations into Subway-Priced Fare Zones.  This will reduce congestion, bring Metrocard-priced train service to eastern Queens, and won't take years or prohibitive expense to achieve.

  The Congestion Pricing scheme to raise revenue places an unfair burden on outer-borough residents with limited or no mass transit alternatives.   Creating an Expensive "Toll Moat" around Manhattan disproportionately hurts the folks of eastern Queens.

• BOB TESTIFIES BEFORE the NYC Council Committee on Environmental Protection on behalf of Glen Oaks Village, and other district residents.    
  
  With Councilman Gennaro, Chair of the Committee on Environmental Protection.  Bob testified that the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has been unresponsive to letters and phone calls.  Water bills that should have been $12,000 were billed to the co-op as $271,000.  
  Bob testified, "If the DEP were a private business and handled its affairs in this manner, it would have closed shop long ago.   Although Glen Oaks Village has some resources to fight this, I feel for the single-family homeowner who may be going through a similar ordeal. This agency needs to be held accountable for its poor service."

• BOB FOUGHT TO STOP THE DOUBLE-DIGIT INCREASES ON WATER RATES AND PROPOSED A SOLUTION.  When the city tried to raise water rates by a whopping 17.5%, right  after a recent 11% increase, Bob led the battle to stop this raid on the family pocketbook.   
  Bob's Idea:  Cap water-rate hikes permanently, by allowing full deductibility of such increases from property tax bills of homeowners.  

• Working with all the local civics to SAVE THE KLEIN FARM.   We must seriously negotiate purchase of the property.   As an extension of the Queens County Farm Museum, it could become a learning center for neighborhood schools, and open its small roadside vegetable stand as a source of revenue.
  
  Our civics need to work together.   It is a buyer's market, and we have a motivated seller.   Our elected officials have not yet come up with a funding mechanism.   I will work hard to get the job done -- not use it as a "photo opportunity" as so many elected officials have done in the past. 

WORKS IN PROGRESS INCLUDE: 

• FRIEDRICH WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR HAVING AN OUTDOOR READING TERRACE added to the final plans for the Bellerose Library on Union Turnpike scheduled to open in 2011.
  

• HELPED COMPLETE THE BEAUTIFUL ANTIQUE STREET LIGHT PROGRAM on Jericho Turnpike, by securing funds for the Bellerose civic and merchant associations. 

BOB friedrich BECAUSE RESULTS MATTER!