Who's Running for Dan Halloran's City Council Seat?

The Democratic primary for Councilman Dan Halloran’s seat will be held on Sept. 10.

The Bay Terrace Community Alliance will hold the final candidates forum for the race on Aug. 27. Drop back by Bayside Douglaston Patch later this weekend for more details on the forum, which will begin at 7 p.m. at the Bay Terrace Jewish Center.

In the meantime, be sure to read through the profile pieces Patch has posted during the past two months on all six candidates – five Democrats and one Republican – in the race.

During an interview with Paul Vallone, the Flushing attorney and brother of Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., D-Astoria, said the key issues in his bid were public safety, schools and providing assistance to small businesses.

In a discussion with Paul Graziano, the long-time Flushing community activist and urban planning consultant said he believed the most important issues to the district were fighting overdevelopment, quality of life issues and improving schools.

In our profile of John Duane, the former state Assemblyman and brother of former state Sen. Tom Duane said his top issues were education, veterans affairs and transparency in government.

In an interview with Austin Shafran, the former vice president of public affairs for Empire State Development told Patch that he believed improvements for education, fighting overdevelopment and pushing for reform on the City Council were the most important issues this year.

In our piece on Chrissy Voskerichian, the former chief of staff for Halloran also said that public safety, schools and preventing overdevelopment in northeast Queens were the most significant.

And in our profile of Dennis Saffran, a Douglaston attorney who is the race's sole Republican said that his priorities were quality of life issues, such as public safety and schools, but also integrity in government.