District 38 Republican candidate is “ready for something different.” Are you?

The Republican and Conservative Party nominee on the Nov. 4 ballot presents himself as a neighborhood-rooted candidate who wants to restore public safety, cut red tape for small businesses, and push bold fixes like burying the BQE.

We sat down with Luis Quero, a Lutheran Medical Center–born Sunset Park native, at George’s, the diner on Fifth Avenue and 57th Street where his family has marked milestones like graduations and promotions for decades. Quero had just come from his job as a vice president of technology at a major American bank. He said he would leave the corporate world and take a pay cut if he wins a seat on the City Council.

“It gives you an idea of how passionate I am about the issues and the change in the community that I want to see happen,” Quero said. A licensed yoga instructor, he has also volunteered at community centers, including United Senior Center.

Quero’s family moved to 61st Street from Puerto Rico in the 1960s. His father worked security, his mother clerical jobs. Though many neighbors have left over what he calls a declining quality of life, Quero says his family is staying put. “I’m going to stay and fight for all of us that remain.”

He links that exodus to what he describes as a steady erosion of basic services. “The people here are upset,” Quero said. “They see the diminishing quality of life, they see the garbage in the streets. You pay good money to live here; you should have a safe and secure environment for you and your family.”

Public safety tops his agenda. He says bail reform laws have allowed repeat offenders to cycle back into the neighborhood and argues raising police salaries would boost morale and retention.

“We have 5,000 fewer police than just a few years ago. Our police force is demoralized, and this revolving door of criminality only emboldens offenders,” Quero said.

He also criticizes Avilés for her opposition to NYPD funding, including her vote against a bill that would have required officers to receive training on recognizing and interacting with individuals with autism.

“She hates the cops so much she would put her own constituents who have autism at risk to not fund the NYPD,” Quero said.

When asked for a response, Avilés said she didn’t recall the specific vote, but stressed that the city needs alternative response teams for autism and mental health crises rather than relying on police trainings, which she called a “band-aid.”

Quero is equally blunt on immigration. He says he respects immigrants who “work their butts off to support their families” but argues city resources should go to “our citizens, our people here who have contributed for years and don’t see the return on their investment.” He accuses Avilés of “weaponizing the justice system against American citizens” by supporting legal workshops for migrants and points to her participation in anti-ICE protests as proof she is distracted by ideology and not focused on constituent needs.

On small business survival, Quero argues the city’s permitting and fine system is crushing Fifth Avenue storefronts. “They’re getting priced out of the neighborhood, or they’re getting fined out of it,” he said. He wants an independent ombudsman office to act as a one-stop shop where business owners and vendors can go to challenge tickets and get licensing and registration information.

Quero draws a sharp line between neighborhood nonprofits he supports and those he believes are wasting money. He calls himself a “big fan” of the Center for Family Life and says groups like it should be bolstered with more funding. But he wants a new level of transparency: a public database showing exactly how discretionary dollars are spent, side-by-side performance surveys from residents served, and “apples to apples” comparisons of results between organizations.

“There are a lot of nonprofits that aren’t doing the people’s work, and no one knows what they’re doing,” he said.

He also points to what he describes as a disproportionate share of the city’s homeless shelter beds in Sunset Park, arguing it has strained neighborhood quality of life. He proposes redistributing shelter beds more evenly across all communities.

On schools, Quero recalled one resident throwing his palm card back in his face after reading his platform on charter schools: “Kick out failing schools and bring in charter schools through a community-led RFP process.” The issue is divisive in Sunset Park, but he stands by his support, saying charters offer innovation and flexibility that traditional public schools constrained by union control can’t always match.

“Some of these charters outperform public schools, not because they cherry-pick, but because they’re entrepreneurial, they position their teachers differently, give more dynamic training,” he said. Quero stressed he has nothing against “vanilla” public schools, having gone to one himself before attending a boarding school on scholarship, but he says families deserve options.

Asked about safety on Third Avenue, Quero says the only real solution would be to bury the BQE, an ambitious project that would replace the highway with tunnels.

“No one’s talking big like that,” he said. “Think about the land we can get back for real parks and affordable housing.”

In the meantime, he favors more practical steps: retiming traffic lights, adding crossing guards, and resisting lane reductions that he believes would snarl traffic for residents who depend on the corridor. He also questions why cyclists should not contribute financially to infrastructure upkeep, suggesting a modest licensing or registration fee, and he expresses skepticism about the city’s blanket daylighting plan, arguing decisions should be made district by district.

Avilés remains the favorite in a heavily Democratic district, but Quero insists the election should be about more than party labels. “We need to consider candidates and their ideas beyond the party,” he said. “In New York, once you win a Democratic primary, you’re all but guaranteed a seat. That’s nonsense. We deserve leaders who will put the community first.”