Queens State Senator Tony Avella gathered a dozens-strong crowd outside the Holiday Inn Express in Maspeth, Queens—the site of a bitter battle over the city’s effort to lodge homeless families—to launch a quixotic bid to beat Mayor Bill de Blasio in next fall’s Democratic primary, accusing the liberal leader of an arrogant “top-down” approach that ignores the needs of local communities.[snip] “It is time to stop dumping homeless families and individuals in hotels and motels throughout the city without support services and the prospect of stable long-term housing and without community notification or involvement,” Avella said. “It is time to...