Photo by: Emily Field
Joe Goonan in front of his polling site on City Island, expected to be one of the few Bronx neighborhoods to go for Gov. Mitt Romney.
Even though the power came on only a few days ago at P.S. 175, the
only voting location for City Island in the Bronx, voters and poll
workers say there have been no problems here. Poll worker Robert
Swiecki said that voter turnout has been strong here. “We weren’t one
of the affected polling places, fortunately.”
The shoreline neighborhood is pocket of conservatism in the heavily
Democratic Bronx. A majority of the voters here voted for McCain in
the 2008 election.
Joe Goonan, 68, said “I think it probably is a lot more conservative.
It’s a lot more closer knit, it’s more like a small town than the
city. We’re separated from everything else. There’s only about 5,000
people here, a lot of people know everyone.”
Goonan, who voted for Romney, said that the yacht clubs on the island
had sustained the most damage, and that a number of restaurants had
been flooded out.
“I think Bloomberg is doing a very good job, and telling Obama not to
bother coming down for photo ops,” Goonan said. He said he didn’t
think the hurricane had an effect on the election and said he did not
believe that climate change had been a factor in the storm.
City Island, which is in a Zone A evacuation zone, was not as badly
damaged as Staten Island or Rockaway Beach. Tony’s Pier, a landmark
seafood restaurant at the end of the peninsula, burned down during
Hurricane Sandy.
Richard Jannacio, 58, said he thought Republican N.J Governor Chris
Christie’s endorsement of Obama following the storm had a positive
impact on the president’s campaign. He voted for Obama in 2008, but
voted for Jill Stein of the Green Party this year.
“I don’t vote for warmongers. I voted for Obama because of Iraq, which
he got us out of. But then he upped the ante in Afghanistan.”
He also agreed that City Island is a conservative area. “It’s more
conservative, more provincial, maybe there’s some connection between
the two.”
Produced in cooperation with CUNY Graduate School of Journalism’s NYC News Service.
