Pesach Osina has spent years navigating government, and now he wants to bring his experience to Albany \u2014 and he\u2019s pitching himself as a practical voice focused on making sure South Queens communities stop feeling overlooked.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur utility bills are going up, our insurance rates are going up,\u201d Osina said Monday during an interview with the Chronicle. \u201cWhile everything\u2019s going up, our paychecks and everything is staying the same.\u201d<\/p>\n
Osina, a Rockaway resident and father of six, is running for the Democratic nomination in Assembly District 23 with the endorsement of the incumbent, Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer Amato (D-Howard Beach). He will face off against Howard Beach attorney and advocate Mike Scala at the polls.<\/p>\n
Osina enters the race after years working behind the scenes in government, including in the district for former Assemblymember Phil Goldfeder, for former Comptroller Scott Stringer and for the past several years as lead senior liaison for the City Council Speaker\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say the past four or five years were really instrumental in getting me to where I am now,\u201d Osina said. \u201cAs the previous speaker [Adrienne Adams] says, our job is really to be the adult in the room, to work with all sides, no matter which party they are, no matter what their policies are. Our role is to bring the members into the room, bring the advocates into the room, and to uplift their voices.\u201d<\/p>\n
Osina, who describes himself as politically moderate, credited Adams with shaping his approach to leadership.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe really taught me how to lead as a human and how to lead as an adult,\u201d he said. \u201cTo lead not to be petty, but to lead to bring people together.\u201d<\/p>\n
At one point, Osina said, he was tasked with helping oversee City Council districts without elected representatives, functioning in what he described as an \u201cacting council member\u201d role.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really taught me leadership \u2014 working with staff, ensuring that constituent services are getting done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Addressing hate crimes and strengthening relationships among the district\u2019s many communities are some of Osina\u2019s top priorities. He serves on the city\u2019s Commission on Racial Equity, and has focused on civil rights issues and combating hate crimes.<\/p>\n
Osina has worked with communities of different backgrounds and faiths to improve outreach and education efforts, he said, adding that hate prevention starts with exposing young people to different cultures and communities before divisions take root.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need cross-cultural collaboration,\u201d Osina said. \u201cWe need to bring our youth to the African Burial Ground, we need to bring them to the Jewish Heritage Museum. We need to bring them to a mosque.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saying that many hate crimes go unreported because victims often do not know how to navigate the reporting process, Osina suggested funding community-based organizations that can help residents report incidents and access resources.<\/p>\n
Though his roots are in the Rockaways, Osina said he has spent years working throughout Queens and believes communities farther north in the district \u2014 especially South Ozone Park \u2014 have not received enough attention.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that overall, with redistricting, that section of the district has been extremely overlooked,\u201d Osina said. \u201cEach pocket of the community has different issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
He described AD 23 as \u201cthe stepchild of Queens\u201d when it comes to resources and government attention.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis district is extremely diverse,\u201d he said. \u201cI think what\u2019s important now is to be that person who\u2019s able to uplift the voices and able to collaborate, work with every elected official and every state and city agency to really bring resources back to the district,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Osina is focused on affordability concerns, especially the rising cost of insurance. He pointed specifically to auto insurance premiums, saying they are crushing middle-class families.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have two cars, four drivers,\u201d he said. \u201cMy insurance premiums are double the amount that I\u2019m paying for my cars each month.\u201d<\/p>\n
Osina suggested Albany should examine the way auto body shops bill insurance companies, arguing there are often massive differences between insurance claim prices and out-of-pocket costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re putting in a claim, you should be able to use your insurance without worrying about that insurance going up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
On taxes, Osina drew a firm line against raising rates on middle-class residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think that there should be any new taxes on the middle class,\u201d he said. \u201cHard stop on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the topic of the abandoned rail line that runs through parts of the district, Osina said he supports QueensLink, the proposal to reactivate the Rockaway Beach Long Island Rail Road Branch.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do think that the rail line, or QueensLink, as it\u2019s called now, is something imperative,\u201d he said, adding that the project would better connect residents throughout Queens while reducing congestion on major roadways.<\/p>\n
On climate resiliency, Osina said communities along the water remain vulnerable years after Superstorm Sandy, and he argued infrastructure upgrades have not kept pace with the reality on the ground. He committed to working with federal partners on those issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur sewer grates … are now falling apart,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to figure out real infrastructure that would actually alleviate some of the problems.\u201d<\/p>\n
As June approaches, Osina said he is focused on presenting himself honestly to voters, noting that authenticity matters more than political posturing.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy focus from the beginning has always been to be authentic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He recalled recently spending almost an hour speaking with a woman while canvassing after she told him she had given up on voting because she was struggling to pay rent after losing her job as a home health aide.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday we have a few home aide companies and HR departments calling her up to get her back on her feet,\u201d he said. \u201cSo it\u2019s not only about campaigning. It\u2019s about, at the same time, doing the people\u2019s work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Primary Day is June 23.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pesach Osina has spent years navigating government, and now he wants to bring his experience to Albany \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239976,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[857,93791,416,29390,9,24,63,29389,69477,122,124,123,71656],"class_list":["post-239975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-assembly","tag-assembly-district-23","tag-elections","tag-howard-beach","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-ozone-park","tag-pesach-osina","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-rockaway"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}