Voters Guide: NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY, District 20: Eric Ari Brown

ERIC ARI BROWN

REPUBLICAN

BACKGROUND:

• Brown, 54, of Cedarhurst, seeks his first full term after winning a special election in April and has the backing of the Conservative Party. 
• He is deputy mayor of Cedarhurst Village and president of a design/building firm. His bachelor’s degree in economics is from Queens College.
• He considers himself a fiscal conservative whose work with the village business improvement district reduced the downtown vacancy rate.

ISSUES:

• On public safety, he would repeal or fix bail reform, fight hate crimes and antisemitism and give more support to law enforcement, noting he has delivered $50,000 for two police booths in Oceanside. 
• He would eliminate New York City’s congestion pricing, saying it amounts to a commuter tax on Long Islanders.
• To alleviate traffic jams in the Five Towns area and provide a convenient evacuation route, he would reexamine a 1940s plan for Nassau Expressway to link southwest Nassau to New York City, but notes this would now cost billions of dollars.
• He vows to distribute aid equitably, saying he split a $25,000 grant between the five libraries in his district.