With 24-hour tour of NYC, comptroller candidate highlights role as ‘economic cheerleader’

Comptroller candidate Michelle Caruso-Cabrera is kicking off a 24-hour tour of New York City to highlight small businesses on Wednesday morning. In this photo, she eats ice cream from Manhattan’s Mikey Like Its Ice Cream shop. Campaign photo/Facebook

By David Brand

A city comptroller candidate is kicking off a 24-hour, five-borough tour to prove New York is still the city that never sleeps. 

Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, a former journalist hoping to handle the city’s finances, will set off from Court Square in Long Island City at 5 a.m. Wednesday. Caruso-Cabrera said she’ll refuel at food trucks in Jackson Heights, a diner in Astoria and the Donut Pub in Lower Manhattan between stops at other business districts and hot spots throughout the city. 

She said she’ll also head to the Regal Cinemas in Union Square, which features 27 screenings of the new blockbuster Godzilla vs. Kong, and may pay a visit to the Eagle printing plant in Richmond Hill.  

“I want to show that New York City is back,” she said. “New York City is known as the city that never sleeps and I’m going to prove it. This is still a 24-hour city.” 

Caruso-Cabrera is a moderate Democrat who lives in Sunnyside and primaried Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez last year. She has called on the city to spend more efficiently, establish universal wifi access and continue to divest public employee pensions from the fossil fuel industry.

The tour, she said, will prove New York City needs its 24-hour subway service restored. She also aims to highlight the comptroller’s role as “economic cheerleader” for a city recovering from the COVID pandemic, she said.

“We need a comeback that is equitable, just and inclusive, and we need a turnaround that is focused on bringing back jobs and helping small businesses,” Caruso-Cabrera said. “Showing off the city this way would be a great way to do that.”