“Citizens of New York are frustrated with the Bloomberg administration. In reality, we have a mayor who doesn’t understand the struggles and suffering of the working family,” said Adolfo Carrión Jr., Bronx Borough President, during a interview with El Diario/La Prensa on October 29, 2003, in which he gave details of his administrative plan for the borough.

Lark-Marie Anron, spokesperson for the Mayor, responded that Mayor Michael Bloomberg “in fact understands the struggle and suffering of the working family, because he himself was and is a man from a working family.”

Carrión announced that he has plans to run for a second term, adding that he would give his backing to Fernando Ferrer if he decided to run for mayor again. According to Carrión, Ferrer has a very good chance of winning the mayoral election.

Regarding Proposition #3, which would eliminate party-based primaries in municipal elections, Carrión said that he campaigned against it. He said it was a tactic by the Republican Party on a national level to penetrate urban centers—areas which are predominantly strongholds of Democrats and minorities—without having to identify their party, and consequently, without having to defend their philosophy and fundamental principles, “and simply [to win people’s votes] by buying commercials and being on television every five minutes.”

“By [passing Proposition #3], we would be handing over politics to the wealthy,” said Carrión, who used the case of Mayor Michael Bloomberg as an example of someone who was able to obtain votes in this way. “Bloomberg started off with $5 billion and nobody’s support,” he said.

“He had as much money as was possible and as many resources as possible, and now look what we have: a mayor who in reality doesn’t understand the struggle and suffering of the working family,” said Carrión.

Moreover, Proposition #3 proposes to eliminate party-based primary elections for those who are elected to defend the people—the post of comptroller, the presidents of the boroughs and the City Council.

Carrión also stated that he was in favor of the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act [Intro 101A], which is awaiting approval by the City Council. This law would seek to prevent lead poisoning in children, a problem that affects thousands of children every year, mainly in minority communities.

He expressed interest in designing new routes for the trucks that inundate the Hunts Point community [where a fish market will be created], so that truck drivers won’t drive through residential areas.

Furthermore, Carrión announced that he would carry out environmental studies of fertilizer factories and garbage processing plants in the South Bronx, to determine if these businesses adhere to regulations.