11th Council District candidate Tony Perez Cassino is a member of the Van Cortlandt Park Conversvancy.

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Tony Perez Cassino sleeps in Riverdale. But the 11th Council District candidate is headed east. Cassino recently opened a campaign office on Gun Hill Road. He plans to woo, then represent, the residents of Norwood, Wakefield, Woodlawn and Bedford Park.

Cassino was raised by a single mother, and is Puerto Rican. The Fordham University alumnus lived in Bedford Park. He thinks incumbent Oliver Koppell has neglected the 11th Council District east of the Major Deegan Expressway. There are enough reasons why Cassino would open an office on predominantly minority and low-income Gun Hill Road.

He also wants to win.

In any other council district, Cassino would run on experience. As chair of Community Board 8, he worked to rezone Riverdale and Kingsbridge, axed four days of alternate-side parking to two, and established a partnership between public and private schools.

Nonetheless, this is the 11th Council District and Koppell boasts four decades in city and state government.

In any other council district, Cassino would run on neighborhood bona fides. He bought a house in Riverdale 16 years ago, chairs the Riverdale Nursery School & Family Center board, and sits on the Croton Water Filtration Plant monitoring committee.

Nonetheless, this is the 11th Council District and Koppell is a legend in Riverdale and Fieldston.

In any other council district, Cassino would run on the approval of powerful friends. He has been endorsed by 1199 SEIU and the Liberty Democratic Association. 1199 SEIU, with 5,000 members in the 11th Council District, has troops on the street. Cassino’s Gun Hill Road campaign office is steps from Mosholu Montefiore Medical Center. The LDA is strong in Wakefield and Bronx Park East.

Nonetheless, this is the 11th Council District and Koppell boasts the Bronx County Democratic Party endorsement.

Cassino wants to win and needs the east. Or does the east need Cassino?

“I campaigned at the Mosholu train station,” he said. “The sidewalk was filthy. Koppell should be embarrassed. The sidewalk isn’t filthy in Riverdale.”

LDA member and 80th Assembly District leader Joe McManus agreed. Koppell works on Waldo Avenue in Riverdale – a tough trip from Gun Hill Road on the bus or train.

“Where’s Waldo?” McManus said. “Koppell is too parochial.”

Geography aside, Cassino is an appealing candidate. The pro bono coordinator for a Manhattan law firm, he’s younger and hipper than Koppell. Cassino’s son and daughter are “secret weapons,” campaign manger Chris Miller said.

Cassino has yet to claim an elected’s endorsement, but touts the support of residents like Ed Yaker of Amalgamated Housing.

“The establishment endorses the establishment,” Cassino said.

Cassino will set a three-year deadline for mediocre 11th Council District middle schools. Too many parents leave the public school system between elementary and middle school, he said. Cassino plans to launch a small business task force.

Koppell is soft on schools and empty storefronts because “it happened on his watch,” the candidate said. At the Aisling Irish Community Center, resident Peggy Fleming asked Cassino to keep the Woodlawn Heights post office open. The candidate knocked Koppell, who won no City Council chairmanships between 2001 and 2005. The 11th Council District is an easy target, he said.

“The pecking order matters,” said Cassino.

Cassino is a natural leader, although critics question where the candidate wants to lead the 11th Council District. He helped snag more 50th Precinct police but is a member of the Van Cortland Park Conservancy, a public-private partnership that Cassino is certain will lead to top-notch renovations, but that others fear will bend to Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Koppell has blasted Cassino for Riverdale developers’ campaign donations; Cassino has made no promises, he said. Friends stuffed the candidate’s $103,695 treasure chest.

“There are no donations that’ll leave me compromised,” Cassino said.

Koppell has also knocked Cassino for endorsing Bloomberg, a Republican, in 2005. Cassino plans to vote for Mayor Mike again but won’t endorse Bloomberg, he said. Koppell, on the other hand, joined Bloomberg’s term-limit coup of 2008.

“Outrageous,” Cassino said.

Janet Golovner of Riverdale won’t back Koppell again.

“[Cassino] is the future,” Golovner said. “He wants to attack new issues, not rehash old issues.”

Cassino has knocked on 30,000 doors thus far. He sleeps in Riverdale. But this is the 11th Council District, and Cassino rarely sleeps.

This story belongs to a series of profiles of the Democratic candidates running for City Council in the 11th Council District, encompassing Kingsbridge, Riverdale, Woodlawn, Norwood, and parts of Bedford Park, Wakefield and Bronx Park East. The other candidate is Oliver Koppell.

©2009 Community Newspaper Group