Candidate Steven Saperstein is running for City Council’s 48th District seat, currently held by term-limited Councilmember Chaim M. Deutsch (D-Brighton Beach, Manhattan Beach, Sheepshead Bay, Homecrest, Midwood).
Born and raised in the district, Saperstein, who is also a special needs teacher, said he’s been fortunate to work with people from many walks of life.
“I love being around my students, and actually watching them grow every day. Being unable to interact with our students as we did before COVID-19 can make teaching that much more difficult. However, we need to do whatever it takes to keep our children safe, our teachers and school stakeholders safe,” said Saperstein.
“We also have to make sure our students don’t fall behind. Completely closing down in-person schooling again just isn’t an option, but creating programs that allow the students that need school as a refuge, or need more in-person attention is a start to getting through these times,” said Saperstein, insisting on prioritizing safe in-person learning for parents who need it.
In the classroom, he said, he tries to tailor the needs of each student and that’s something that’s impossible for teachers with twice the students they can handle. He said the education system could generally benefit from reducing class sizes and educating teachers on how to work with students with special needs.
Saperstein is a multi-lingual candidate who speaks English, American Sign Language, and conversational Russian. “ASL was my first language as my parents and brother are deaf,” explained Saperstein.
He said that running was a “natural fit” that would allow him a sturdy platform to give back to the community that has been home to his family for generations and advocate for his neighbors.
“The direction of our city’s family safety and quality of life has deteriorated, and as a councilman will make that a top priority. My goal is to be hands-on, accessible and responsive to the issues my constituents care about most,” said Saperstein.
Saperstein has branded himself a “Common Sense Democrat” meaning, he said, a common-sense approach to solve public sector problems, such as education funding, senior programs, public transportation, public safety and housing.
“My main goal as a councilman is to solve day to day problems that will make the lives of families in our district better. There is clearly mismanagement of the delivery of government resources. We’re changing the way we do almost everything because of COVID-19. Now is when we need to look at our diverse communities and write our policy plans for what will benefit us all. We need to be responsible and maximize our tax dollars,” said Saperstein.
Saperstein emphasized saving small businesses as a key to reviving the economy.
“At the city, state and federal level we need to minimize redundancies and invest in our cities infrastructure to help create jobs,” said Saperstein. “We also need to provide resources for small businesses to create revenue and keep creating jobs. The more people are back to work the better. We need to make our government agencies more effective and do away with needless fines for small businesses.”
He said that governmental “waste, fraud, and abuse,” which was only exacerbated by COVID-19, is preventing re-investment into local communities.
Saperstein said that the district needs a proactive and not reactive approach to resiliency.
“Cutting back wasteful spending is the place to start for sure. We can reallocate funds that we save to boost needed government services that keep our neighborhoods safe and clean. We can learn from the mistakes of the ‘Build it Back’ program after [Superstorm] Sandy, and come back with a better plan to respond to the housing shortage and the devastating effects COVID has had on small businesses,” said Saperstein.