Help Wanted: Op-ed By Michael Schwartz

The Democratic primary election for New York State Assembly, District 46, which includes Coney Island, Brighton Beach, Bay Ridge, Gravesend, and Dyker Heights, is taking place on Thursday, September 13th. The candidates are Dr. Mathylde Frontus and Ethan Lustig-Elgrably. You and I, the citizens of this community, are the employers who have to make a choice about whom to hire to fill this position. We can only hire one of the two candidates. The job of Assembly Person, the salary for which, we, the citizens, pay with our taxes, involves representing us in Albany, fighting for our best interests, creating and implementing solutions to our problems, and empowering us to improve our lives. We are looking for a self-starter and proven leader. At least ten years of living in and serving the community is strongly preferred. While we are reviewing each candidate’s resume and references – not from politicians playing the game of cronyism, but from at least two real people in the community who have benefited from the candidate’s service – we will be holding job interviews in the form of candidate forums and q & a sessions in which both candidates are expected to be present. In other words, the candidate should maintain a strong presence in the community during the campaign to demonstrate their ability to articulate their vision and plan, showing their dedication to earning our vote.

 

Let’s look at some of their qualifications: Dr. Frontus has lived in Coney Island for thirty-three years: She grew up here, and she has chosen to remain here as an adult, to serve her community. Long before she was asked to run for elected office by the community and decided to enter this race, I knew of her for the past several years as the stalwart of public service that she is, a true leader and local hero. She created and led three non profit organizations in Coney Island, having profoundly positive effects on a generation of individuals and families: From 2004-2016, she served as the founder and executive director of Urban Neighborhood Services (UNS), a grass-roots multi-service agency providing financial literacy, veterans services, health education, LGBTQ resources, legal assistance, college prep, reentry services for the formerly incarcerated, job and housing assistance, mental health services, and the Summer Youth Leadership Academy, which included environmental education, beach clean-up, and stewardship of our natural resources.

 

The college prep was in the form of The Coney Island College Bound Project, offering free SAT prep courses, college tours, and panel discussions on the college admissions process: picking a major, paying for college, how to apply, what kind of college to choose, etc. I wish this program was here back when I was a 17-year-old Coney Island kid on the doorstep of adulthood. My sophisticated methods of navigating those murky waters included choosing to apply to SUNY Fredonia because it shared its name with the country in my favorite Marx Brothers movie, Duck Soup. When I realized, however, that in the movie it was called Freedonia, and that the school was missing an e, I decided to go to a different college, from which I eventually graduated with a BA in English, but my spelling didn’t improve. Another reason I wound up picking a different school is that Fredonia was the first one to accept me, and like Groucho Marx, I didn’t want to belong to any club that would have me as a member.

 

Whereas my mentors of mayhem were Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and sometimes Zeppo, more recent at-risk Coney Island kids had a role model who was their real life neighbor from the block, right there with them in the ’hood, who didn’t disappear after the credits rolled and the screen went dark. Abiola Soyemi, now a young woman, was one of those kids: “When I was 15, I had the privilege of meeting Dr. Mathylde Frontus, who unbeknownst to me at the time, would become my mentor. In 2010, she invited me and other teenagers from Coney Island to stroll through the halls of her alma mater and its affiliate: Columbia University and Barnard College. That summer, I was invited to attend Dr. Frontus’s UNS Summer Youth Leadership Academy. During this time, I began to develop a sense of personal responsibility not only for myself but also for my community. This marked the beginning of my trajectory in volunteerism and helping others. Now, as a third year medical student, training and aspiring to serve in underserved communities, I feel honored to have been under the tutelage of someone who has given a great deal of herself to others. It is my belief that Dr. Frontus has been able to commit herself, with such grace, because of faith, hope, and love: faith in humanity, hope for change, and love for people. It is my strongest belief that these qualities will afford Dr. Frontus the opportunity to continue transforming not only individual lives but communities at large.” 

 

Another young woman, Moyo, said, “Mathylde Frontus is a role model, one that I had the pleasure of meeting as a participant in the Summer Youth Leadership Project. Since the beginning of our friendship, Mathylde has been someone I’ve been able to lean on for career advice. I remember sitting in Mathylde’s office asking her about how I was going to get into law school. At that point I hadn’t yet graduated high school. Even still, Mathylde was confident and reassuring that I would do fine. Years later, I am fine. I graduated college and I am on course to complete my second year of law school. I know for a fact that I wouldn’t be here were it not for Mathylde’s contributions. When I needed a recommendation, she was there to write one. When I needed advice on how to navigate elite privileged spaces, Mathylde was there to offer advice. This was and continues to be Mathylde’s nature: never out of reach and always in sight.” 

 

Yolanda Watson, added, “I didn’t think that I could go to college because there was absolutely no way my family could afford it… Ms. Mathylde helped open my eyes… Leadership/scholarship organizations like the Kaplan Educational Foundation and America Needs You enabled me to do what no one in my family had the opportunity to do. Ms. Mathylde inspired me to do what I didn’t think was possible. She helped me become the woman I am today. I’m proud to call her my mentor and friend. She is a true leader, a champion for and of the people.” 

 

While running UNS, in December 2009 Dr. Frontus created the Coney Island Coalition against Violence, consisting of local residents, businesses, schools, clergy, and elected officials and was elected as its co-chair. And in December 2013, she created The Coney Island Anti-Violence Collaborative. As the founder and acting chair of the Collaborative from 2013-2015, she wrote the proposals to obtain seed funding from Fund for the City of New York and Senator Diane Savino, who allocated $250,000 to the organization to help support its various programs.

In recognition of her service, Dr. Frontus has won many awards. As a college student involved in community service projects for the homeless, pre-school children, teen mothers, GED students and others, she earned NYU’s President’s Service Award for Volunteerism and Community Service in 1996 and again in 1998. In 2011 alone she received three awards: two Women of Distinction awards, from Senator Diane Savino, and from Courier Life, and an award from the Brooklyn DA for her work to prevent crime and keep our streets safe. In 2014 Dr. Frontus was one of ten national recipients of a $5,000 grant from the USA Network, as part of its Characters Unite Campaign, whose project director, Fred Haug, said, “We looked at hundreds of nominations. But for me, hers really stuck out. It was obvious that community service volunteering is in her DNA.” Frontus, who has a Master of Social Work degree from NYU, a Master of Arts in Psychology from Teachers College at Columbia University, a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School, and at the time of receiving the grant was working toward her PhD in social work at Columbia University, said with characteristic modesty, “I’m just glad the organization is getting recognition. I think the award has raised our profile. We can be introduced to more people.” Then in 2015 she was a co-honoree with Congressman Hakeem Jeffries in receiving the Brooklyn’s Best award from Coney Island Hospital. And in 2016 Dr. Frontus was one of the recipients of the Stars Under 40 award.    

Now that we have put a spotlight on some of the continuing legacy left by Dr. Frontus, let us look at the record of residency in District 46 of her opponent, Mr. Lustig-Elgrably, and his creation of programs that serve this community: He has lived in the district a total of one and a half years, having moved here from Flatbush in 2016. I’m a native of the district and long time resident, but before this race I never heard of Ethan Lustig-Elgrably. I have not found any record of his having created any organizations or programs in or for the community or having won any awards for community service. Before he moved here he served a stint as Councilmember Treyger’s Legislative Director and Chief of Staff. As far as references, he has received endorsements from cronies of the city council member who installed him into his candidacy, but as far as references from real people in the community who benefited from his services, I was unable to find any for Ethan Lustig-Elgrably.

 

As far as each candidate’s presence in the community during the campaign, to articulate their vision and plan, showing their dedication to earning our vote, Dr. Frontus held an event in the church across the street from my building, laying out her platform and taking questions from the audience. I was struck by her passionate commitment to fighting the big real estate developers who, without getting our input or permission, are building luxury towers of Babel on our blocks, blocking out the sun and sky, destroying our views, and pricing us out of the neighborhood so that the wealthy can move in and have their private playground by the sea. One of the ways she would fight the big real estate developers is by making our democracy stronger so that we the people will be the ones in power. One of the ways she would make our democracy stronger, she so passionately expressed at the event that day in the church across the street from my bedroom window, is to make her seat in the Assembly be about creating an infrastructure for citizens to learn how to run for office themselves, not about advancing her own political career.

 

Dr. Frontus is breathtakingly specific about how she plans to implement this. She would create The Civic Engagement Series, which has two components: The first is Civics Education 101, educating people about different types of government, how government is supposed to work for us, what the Assembly and other bodies do, etc. The second component is Electoral Politics Training, with workshops on how to run for office, from the smallest most local seats, all the way up to President of the United States. These programs would be available to everyone.

 

In addition to events such as the one at the church, Dr. Frontus has been going door to door all over the district, to meet the people in person, including coming to my door. I have had no sightings of her opponent, Mr. Lustig-Elgrably, however, holding any events in my neighborhood to talk to and listen to the community. Someone from his campaign did knock on my door one day, but it wasn’t Ethan himself. When she said she was there on behalf of his campaign, I told her, in a friendly way, that I’m a supporter of Mathylde. I was hoping that then the Ethan worker and I could have a conversation, and I could ask her questions about his platform and qualifications, but before I had a chance to, she vanished from my hallway faster than a fired member of Trump’s cabinet from the west wing.

 

Perhaps I could have finally gotten my chance to ask those questions, at a candidate forum held in August in Bay Ridge. Unfortunately Ethan stood up Mathylde, as well as the rest of the community: He did not attend, prompting a scathing and perhaps preemptive remark from Steve Saperstein, the Republican candidate for the seat, who will face off against the winner of the Democratic primary in the general election: “I think it’s clear that Ethan is a puppet being carefully controlled by the local Democratic machine, as were the two Democrats who filled that seat before him who coincidentally are now both convicted felons. We all saw Ethan try speaking before the Bay Ridge Democrats a few months ago and based on his horrific performance there, I’m not really surprised he’s fearful of debating Dr. Frontus. His Manchurian candidate campaign is a sham and I look forward to exposing him for what he really is. He can try hiding in this primary but that won’t work with me in the general election,” said Saperstein.

 

Hopefully it won’t work with Saperstein in the general election because it won’t be Ethan Lustig-Elgrably facing him in it; it will be Mathylde Frontus. Sapertein seems to be assuming that Ethan’s Democratic machine war chest makes his primary win a foregone conclusion. But Saperstein is failing to acknowledge the fervent movement building momentum across the country, of insurgent candidates who are beating establishment candidates because the people are fed up, such as the victory of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who accepted no corporate donations, over the powerful longtime incumbent Joe Crowley for U.S. Congress, an upset for the ages. Or, perhaps, Saperstein is as fearful as he says Ethan is, fearful that Mathylde might actually win, and then he would be the one who would have to debate her.    

 

With this insurgent wave of wins sweeping the nation, non-voters can no longer use the excuse of not having any good candidates to choose. They can no longer credibly say that they have a say in the election but not in the selection. So many of our forebears were beaten and lynched for the right to vote, a right that too many of us still take for granted. This kind of apathy can have devastating results, which we are all experiencing right now. So many of our forebears were beaten and lynched so that we could have the opportunity to rise up in the world. On Thursday, September 13th, we get a chance to rise up and select a qualified person to elect: a person who is “never out of reach and always in sight.”

 

Michael Schwartz is a writer, actor, director, and educator. His story, “Hey Gerry!” is published in Have A NYC II: New York Short Stories (Three Rooms Press). His writing awards include the Brooklyn Historical Society’s Interpreting Brooklyn grant. He is currently on tour performing excerpts from his book in progress, The Invisible Exhibitionist and Other Attractions