I'm heartened by the interest shown in the candidacy of Attorney-at-Law Trevor Rupnarain. I also employ the notion that contributors to this thread are well-intentioned, if at times some degree of mean-spiritedness may be occasioned by not being informed or being ill-informed. I must say that I am an unabashed supporter of the candidacy and indeed of the person Trevor Rupnarain.

I support this candidacy first and foremost because it is reflective largely of the GUYANESE, CARIBBEAN and ASIAN migrant communities. Reflective in the sense that he is of Guyanese extraction. However in his professional and civic capacities, Mr. Rupnarain has made friends in the African-American and Hispanic communities, among migrants to the USA. This candidacy is a culmination of the natural process to get the Caribbean community firmly on the political landscape of New York City. There have been other success stories of Politicains of Caribbean heritage in NY State and City governments, but this is the first time that a Guyanese and Caribbean person of Indian descent in a largely Indo-Caribbean migrant community is part of a campaign that has elicited broad-based support.

I also support Mr. Rupnarain, because of the civic leaders that have come to the fore in District 28 - which includes parts of Richmond Hill, Ozone Park, South Ozone Park, and Jamaica - he has demonstrated a keen grasp of the issues; he is articulate; he has an unimpeachable professional reputation; and most importantly he cares and has genuine concern for the advancement of our community.

I know some contributers have opined on Mr. Rupnarain's professional reputation and I wish to address this. Firstly, Closing of some 5,000 real estate transactions at prevalent closing fees does not amount to millions of dollars, let alone to making "a killing off of those poor immigrants who chose him as their attorney." It is a testimony to his ability as an attorney in this market that his customer base has grown - a basic characteristic of a market economy, wouldn't you agree? In his professional exrcise as an attorney Mr. Rupnarain has worked on a lot of nonm-real estate matters.

Mr. Rupnarain has embraced issues that affect Council District 28 other than "illegal conversions", euphemistically referred to as the basement issue. This candidate has publicly testified in front of New York City Council that he does not condone illegal dwellings that present a health and safety concern. He questioned the provisions of the law that ascribe illegality using early 19th century criteria (the coal pot era). He does not support any part of the real estate industry - reltors, mortgage financiers, and such professionals - that seek to dupe potential buyers with the carrot of a rental income from an illegal dwelling. He certainly is adamantly opposed to chopping up legal ones and twos into multiple dwellings that are a violation of the code. What the Candidate is up in arms about is the selective application of enforcement of Local Law 65 (and now Intro 363); the disproportionate City resources employed in our district that has the characteristic of "targetting" us; the harassment tactics that are a clear infringement of privacy and a violation of our civil rights; and lastly the need to re-examine what constitute illegality of some of these conversions. A homeowner testified to me about a building inspector peeping into her dwelling and on the basis of this wrote her a violation. The inspector pasted conspicuous yellow notices that looked like the homeowner is a criminal. A visit shortly thereafter had the inspector apologising. Do this in Howard Beach, Crown Heights or Flatbush and see the residents' response. The Candidate has had the insight to advance this issue to a level that seeks to address the larger concerns of affordable housing and delivery of city services to residents of New York City especially in education capacity.

As to his civic involvement, Mr. Rupnarain has touched a lot of immigrants' lives in maany unpublished ways. His charitable contributions to people privately obviously will never be disclosed. You may chose to question my sincerety when I say I am convinced of this. He has made finacial donations to some charity causes and organisations. Last Thanksgiving he provided over 150 turkeys to poor residents of South Jamaica that are part of a large church congreation in an African-American Community. The Sikh Community in the District is reaching out to our candidate. He is well respected by them, and you know why? Certainly not because he made millions off of poor unsuspecting immigrants.

In American political campaigns candidates have to expect attacks that seek to impugn their character. It comes with the territory. If you have factual evidence of past improprieties involving our Candidate please come forward with them. Meantime, it is OUR TIME. Other migrant communities have made their mark. Our contribution to revitalising a gentrified district is unquestioned. Our work ethic is legendary in offices in Manhattan, our enterprise and law abiding nature are public knowledge. Sure there are going to be exceptions. In all our failings I like to take the positive tack and work on our rich traditions and positive attributes. No one should deny any person who disagrees with the Candidate, but let's be sensible about our remarks and characterisations. I am not an apologist for anyone, certainly not one running for public office, but lets work on our differences. We have the makings of a Candidate who can do us proud, in our first concerted effort to match our economic and cultural enrichment to New York with the civic and political responsibilities this entails.

Sorry for the length of this post.

that was ah long post Kari

And then they put the bangles on him

yuh went fishing bai

Didn't he run bai? He lost and then there was some TV station chasing after him and he jumped over the fence to hide over some real estate deal? Can you post that please? 

Oi Kari, I hear something about u and bangles, or I mix up de story?

Or is you dat I hear do some kinda jump ova a fence an fall pon some tv station dat had some kinda deal with real estate people dem?

Ha hahaha, even back in 1999 d2 was perceived to be a buffoon. 

This is what bushmaster had to say about him:

bushmaster says: " man who writes too much gets no work done."
bushmaster says; " D2 writes a lot of shit and therefore has a shitty brain." 
bushmaster says: " man who hates Indo Guyanese is a PNC Black Goon."

Bushmaster was a lowlife scumbag, no wonder MonsterGoads adores him.

But coming back to Trevor, he been there, done that and it's time to move on. 

Bgurd_Seedless, you are a coward for a turncoat. hahahahahahaha!

RS, I saw clips of the local TV station trying to get Trevor on camera. I don't know the circumstances, to be honest, and never sought to find out. I can't speak to that.

What you have to know though that were it not for the 9/11 Event of 2001 Trevor would have been the first elected City Councilman from the Indo-Caribbean community of South Queens. He had the machinery in place and the people who were going to the polls. As you know that fateful day the elections were called off and by the time it was rescheduled, the momentum had waned though Trevor lost narrowly.

I do not condone criminal acts and Trevor had his flaws - personally and publicly. He went through the legal process and made his deal. I was behind him fully on that 2001 campaign.

Those were my days in the local Richmond Hill media Ray. [It was pro bono BTW - I had my regular IT job]. We had a connection at that time with folks in the community. Then the drug violence back home, the Jagdeo takeover of the PPP, and the financial crisis of 2008 and its run up with the real estate bubble. Our local media, sadly, regressed.

And you angry you got "F'ed" back and front, well just deal with it, go run behind Obama.

not Kari, Trevor

???????

Banah yuh so bazadee, yuh real stchupidee sk0nt!....

Alyuh ungrate katahars lucky BJ and RG took control of the situation and pushed back the PNC drive for back door power.  All alyuh katahars live here stufing yuh face while the PNC instigated an onslaught against mostly Indians in Guyana.  You crabdawgs stay right here and deal with America Justice system, let Guyana deal with theirs, they don't need you.

Ray went hunting in the archives.    Who was this Desmond beating up Eddie, and who was Eddie?     Some of those members passed away and some are still posting.  I heard Bushmaster passed away a few years ago but don't know if it's true. 

Trevor had the best chance of winning of any Indo Guyanese....

is he still in jail?

actually I was on google searcing for something and this came up

Bai, go wash some bartan before yuh get some belna pon yuh raas.

Bushmaster .. the former member of GNI?

He was a PPP knee bender as you. He simply did not want to hear me say those fellows had a reputation for being crooks. History has proved the rumors true and my suspicions of them prudent. 

Today 14years later you are still crying while the nation has progressed at breakneck speed. Your conspiracy theories were all debunked. 

Where has the nation progressed? Its principal agriculture base is suffocating and we have no income except from begging and from "income" based on those who spend monies "extracting" or non renewable resources. Those who do better ate the PPP crime cartel.

Democracy is being suffocated as the PPP sees itself as omniscient and refuses to relinquish the strangle hold on the state afforded it by a constitution the formerly called dictatorial and illegal. Now it is their base for power and their means to "win" the state as their personal cash cow.

Crime is rampant; trafficking in human souls continues unabated, the drug lords flourish, murder rates mirror the days of the year and other violent crimes as armed robbery and rapes are pandemic.

The only ones who have "progressed" are the crooks in the PPP No one expects you to say that. You are too much invested in the racist curse. Your views have become perverse and you a chronic liar with no compunction to imagine the thieves to be other than who they are.

Agriculture all over the world is suffering due to high gas price, labor shortage and erratic weather conditions. Even your great USA subsidize its farmers to be competitive.  Almost all the Caribbean has exited agriculture as an industry and turned to tourism. Guyana had made some blunders with the Skeldon estate when they should have exited the industry. But now there is hope as we see rice, coconuts, cassava and other crops having success.

The average Guyanese is living at a much higher standard, you just have your head buried in the sand because of your stubborn political allegiance.

Us farmers are producing more than they can use and on their backs rests the hope worldwide for handouts in times of need. We have better soil, and were it not for the complicated rule of bartering rice for oil and no systematic accounting to return the money to people, rice would prosper. Quit the damn middleman in NICIL and let the buyers be it the government pay the farmers when the product is delivered. The farmers should not finance government Petrol enterprise.

Sugar fails because Ramotar squatted on the sugar board while the industry failed. He was there when they accepted that white elephant that has eaten a 3rd of a billion dollars of the industry finances and yet it does not work.

He is the only dumb assed person I know would by a lemon and when he discovers the lemon does not ask of the seller for some recompense. The reason they do not ask the Chinese for a refund is because they took kickbacks and continue to do so given the lucrative one sided deals the Chinese always gets.

The average Guyanese gets a better living because of international charity not present in the Burnham era. Given the similar state of affairs any moron will see a small incremental quality of life improvement. Meanwhile, the generalized inefficiencies in the system pile up everywhere.

Correct!