The primary for State Senate and Congress is August 23, and in the next weeks I will be talking to candidates for both. The top of the post is the result of a brief interview; scroll down for the answers to the TCQ&A for candidates. See links to posts on other candidates at the bottom.

As an immigrant from Italy — she came here at age 4 — Vittoria Fariello has lived all over the country — Texas, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin — and went to high school in Germany. She returned to Madison, Wisconsin, for college but when it came to finding a place to live for good, she picked New York City for the thrill it gave her as a child.

“I visited once or twice as a kid and I loved walking down the street and hearing all sorts of languages, feeling the vibe of the city, seeing the art the city hosts,” she said. “So after college, I just moved here on a prayer.” She got her first job at ACORN, the community organizers, and not long after that, landed at the rackets bureau at the Manhattan DA’s office. Law school followed after at Cardozo and then a career at the city Department of Buildings and Department of Investigation.

It was there that she met her husband, almost by chance, and fast forward several years later to 2008, the two have their own firm — Balestriere Fariello — a team of litigators who have represented real estate developers and high profile business executives but also victims of sex trafficking and consumers in class action suits. The experience is what makes her a good fit for elected office, she says.

“As an attorney, I am an advocate,” she says. “That’s my job. When someone presents me with a problem I have to find a solution – either a balance for the two sides, to negotiate, or a way to fight.”

Vittoria moved to Leonard Street in 1997, and when she got married, into her husband’s apartment on Maiden Lane. That’s where they were on 9/11, and she still looks back with wonder at her naivete when it came to the World Trade Center and the pile that remained and the weeks she spent walking around without a mask. “We should all be skeptical of the government,” she says now, “but at the time we ended up staying because we wanted to be a part of bringing downtown back.”

They moved to Gateway in Battery Park City in 2002, just before their first son was born. They have four children, ages 19 to 12.

Vittoria wears a cross, but it’s a Celtic one, a present from her eldest son. She is a member of St Peter’s Church on Barclay, sent all four kids to Catholic school (Academy of St. Joseph in the Village, and Fordham Prep) and believes in God, yet she also believes that women should be priests and gays should be married — an inherent conflict. “I just think the church gets it wrong,” she said simply. She subscribes to her own version of liberation theology — “a movement very much about the true teachings: love and empathy above punitive measures and judgement.”

She’s been the female district leader for Battery Park City and Fidi since 2017, and decided to run partly because while working with a group called Lawyers for Good Government, which was dispatching lawyers to Mexico to help defend immigrants, she realized there was plenty of work to be done at home. She was frustrated when Brian Kavanagh won the special election for Daniel Squadron’s seat without much of a challenge (he also won reelection in 2018). And she wants to take on anti-corruption measures, access to health care and affordable housing (she went through her own battle there along with fellow tenants at Gateway).

“We have this benchmark of 30 percent of your income going to rent and that’s insane. We accept that. And it affects the rest of the economy,” she notes. And then there’s the cost of health care. “The number one cause of personal bankruptcy is medial debt. The other thing that is so often missed it is such an economic burden on small businesses. With our firm, 25 percent goes to health care. In a civilized society, how is this possible?”

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1.How long have you lived in the district? Where did you move from? Where are you originally from?
I’ve lived Downtown for nearly 25 years. My family immigrated to the US from Italy when I was 4 years old. By the time I finished high school, we had moved 13 times. I was always fascinated with New York. Even as a kid, I saw it as a place where the whole world came together. So after graduating from the University of Wisconsin, I moved to Brooklyn. I’ve been a New Yorker ever since.

2. Married? Partnered? If so, what’s his/her name and occupation?
I’m married to John Balestriere. We’re partners in a downtown law firm – Balestriere Fariello.

3. Kids? Pets?
4 kids.

4. Where do you live?
Battery Park City.

5. What do you do for a living?
I’m a lawyer with a background in anti-corruption. My husband and I run an independent public service-oriented law firm that we’ve built up from scratch. We fight for businesses, institutions and individuals all over the world. We’ve brought cases on behalf of #MeToo victims, whistleblowers, consumer fraud and sex trafficking victims among others. Now I want to take that fighting spirit to Albany.

6. What are the first three issues you will tackle if you win the election?
Lower Manhattan should be a place where everyone has a home they can afford; doctors and hospitals they can visit without going broke; parks they can enjoy; schools that nurture and prepare their children for the world; and grocery stores nearby they can get to safely and that they can afford.

Healthcare:
I will help push through the game-changing New York Health Act to bring universal healthcare to all New Yorkers, giving everyone the ability to thrive physically and mentally, free from the threat of debt or bankruptcy. I will also fight surprise medical billing, which happened to my own family twice in the past year, by fighting to pass the End of Medical Debt package of bills.

Housing:
Affordable housing is also a priority because so much of the vision we share begins with having a stable, safe place to go to sleep in and wake up in the morning. I will develop and pass a suite of housing legislation that prioritizes permanent affordable housing in our district to bring middle income, low income and poor New Yorkers off the sidelines. This includes not only more funding for NYCHA, but deliberate oversight of those funds – with tenant participation – to make sure they are spent quickly and effectively on much-needed repairs. We also need to convert empty office buildings into residential units and we should impose a tax on empty luxury apartments that artificially inflate the housing market.

Environment:
Climate resiliency and environmental justice can’t wait. I’ll fully fund the Environmental Bond Act, which is just a start. Our neighborhoods should not be pitted against each other for these resources, but we must attend to the most vulnerable communities in our district before the next disaster hits.

7. What is the first staff position you will fill?
Chief of Staff/ Community liaisons for the different neighborhoods throughout our district.

8. What are the three most important issues for New Yorkers right now?
Rebuilding the city and the community – making sure our streets and subways are safe and bringing back our small businesses.
Building up an equitable and accessible healthcare system – one that’s fair to all constituents, including the healthcare workers.
Weeding out the corruption and greed that stand in the way of New Yorkers receiving the services and attention they need and deserve.

9. What do you think is the most important thing to help the district recover from the pandemic?
While there are many priorities, bringing back our small businesses is critical. Restaurants, shops, and services are at the heart of what makes our neighborhoods great.

10. Why are you running for office? What do you hope to change, or do better?
I’m running to combine the power of our communities’ voices with the power of elective office. I believe in a government that’s not beholden to political machines and corporate donors. Part of our inability to address so many issues stems from a system that privileges people with money or political connections. I will continue to work from the inside to change the rules so our community gets the government it deserves: accessible, responsive, and accountable to the people it is supposed to serve.

11. Most-frequented restaurants: Da Claudio, La Contenta, Giano, Dim Sum Go Go, Gigino’s Trattoria

12. For special occasions, I go to: DaClaudio

13. Sweet-tooth satisfaction: Dark chocolate salted caramel. Duane Park Patisserie’s marzipan cakes.

14. What’s your drink order? Redbreast, neat.

18. How I stay fit: Citi Bike

19. Where I get beautiful: Carlo Marco Studio

20. What’s the district’s best-kept secret? Eataly

23. I take out-of-towners to: Chinatown.

25. A doctor I’d recommend: Pediatrician, Dr. Michael DeFeo at Weill Cornell.

29. A business I’d like to have here: A hardware store. I like to fix things.

34. What’s your favorite park in the city? Elizabeth Street Garden.

35. If I couldn’t live here, I’d live in…. Rome.

36. I wish you had asked me about:
5 World Trade Center. I am honored to be a leader in the Coalition for 100% Affordable 5 World Trade Center. Site 5 is the last site to be designated at the World Trade Center. The current proposal is for a 75% luxury residential building. The Coalition is calling for 100% affordable housing with a preference for 9/11 survivors and first responders.

One of the founding principles of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation was to create affordable housing in our district, yet to date it has brought hardly any. In the last 20 years, we have lost thousands of affordable units downtown (think Independence Plaza, Gateway Plaza, South Bridge Towers). 5WTC is public land and is being subsidized with public funds. It sits at the heart of resource-rich neighborhoods, with great schools and parks, a transportation hub, and walking distance from Wall Street and our Civic Center which can provide jobs for the tenants. This is a historic opportunity to make a statement about our priorities downtown and in our City and to provide an opportunity for those who lived through the horrors of 9/11.

I’d also like to mention that I have been endorsed by four of the most prominent Democratic clubs in our district: The Downtown Independent Democrats, the Village Independent Democrats, the Grand Street Democrats and the New Downtown Democrats, as well as our City Council Member, Christopher Marte.

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Other candidates
Danyela Souza Egorov
Brian Kavanagh