Diverse Neighborhood Has Mixed Enthusiasm About New York City Mayor's Race The last presidential candidate Steve Waldman voted for was Hubert H. Humphrey. The last mayor he cast a ballot for was Edward I. Koch. And he'll be darned if he is going to break his nonvoting streak by partaking in the mayoral election on Tuesday. The Republican candidate, Joseph J. Lhota, reminds him too much of Rudolph W. Giuliani, of whom he takes a dim view. The Democratic candidate, Bill de Blasio, strikes him as likely to help people who abuse welfare. Mr. Waldman, a 65-year-old computer supplier, sees the city is on a reverse Robin Hood course - with parking fines, bridge tolls and assorted high taxes - and extracting more dollars from people like him. "It's "how can I take money from the pockets of the people and give it to the city and no one knows where it goes?' " said Mr. Waldman, as he basked with his wife, Sharon, in the weekend sunshine on the patio of the El Greco Diner, at the lip of Brooklyn's Sheepshead Bay. It's like legal organized crime. With New York City on the verge of electing a new mayor for the first time in 12 years, the people of Sheepshead Bay, with its mosaic of Russians, Irish, Italians and Jews, have views on the city's prospects that are as diverse as their neighborhood. The community can at times seem ethnically segmented, but the four-decade-old El Greco serves as an enduring melting pot, and draws hordes of local residents by the boothful each weekend. While Mr. Waldman feels pessimistic about the city's road ahead, Rachel McField, 37, who was sitting with her family in one of those booths, warmly looked ahead to the change at City Hall, for reasons as personal as they were political. Ms. McField, who works as an accountant for the Administration for Children's Services, said she yearned for an end to the Police Department's controversial stop-and-frisk tactics that Mr. de Blasio has vowed to change. Ms. McField said that many of her family members had been harassed by the police, including her husband, John McField, 36, a former corrections officer who recently returned from serving as an Army specialist in Afghanistan. "Being black in New York, we see a lot of things that other people don't see," Ms. McField said as her family tucked into brunch. "It's emotional for me," she added, her eyes welling, "It's targeting." Ms. McField, who said she was "one paycheck away from being homeless," also lamented that luxury apartments were colonizing Brooklyn, causing a ripple effect that forced small stores out. Having a mayor less beholden to developers, she said, would be a relief. "I'm always hoping for something better," she said. Out on El Greco's patio, a few tables from the Waldmans, Oleg Boldyrev, 43, stretched his Dr. Martens in the sun, keeping an eye on his prized Harley-Davidson parked nearby. With his black leather jacket, bandanna-clad head and big silver rings - depicting, among other things, a skull and a lion, for he is a Leo - Mr. Boldyrev might seem an outlaw, but in fact he owns a glass-installing business. Not only does he find the multiple taxes levied upon New Yorkers crippling, but he has also been hit with high flood insurance at the home in Sea Gate, Brooklyn, which he shares with his girlfriend, Julie Vasilevich, 32. Mr. Boldyrev said he felt that the biggest problem with government was a disconnection from middle-income earners. "All the government sees are the extremely rich that give to them, and the extremely poor that they have to give money to," he said. The middle class used to be the backbone - they have no idea how we live. As for the election, Mr. Boldyrev shrugged it off as a "farce," saying all politicians invariably become corrupted by kickbacks and cronyism. Yet back inside the diner, after polishing off a plate of corned beef hash, Sean Sheinin, 27, an electrician, said he had high hopes for Mr. de Blasio, who is ahead in the polls by a large margin. Both Mr. Sheinin and his parents belong to labor unions that have felt embattled during the Bloomberg administration. Mr. Sheinin said he expected that, should Mr. de Blasio win, he would strike a more conciliatory tone toward labor, and he praised Mr. de Blasio's plan to raise taxes on people earning more than $500,000. "Hopefully he'll be able to return the middle class to New York," he said. Whether such a tax passes or not, other diners at El Greco said more enduring issues were at stake. Dr. Joyce Grossman, 62, who lives in Brighton Beach, wanted the next mayor to focus on terrorist threats and crime. "If you aren't strict, the elements roaming the streets will be," she said. Her aunt, Fran Ventre, 72, a childbirth educator and midwife, said something ought to be done about the great power wielded by co-op boards, as well as the ubiquitous smell of urine in subway elevators. Leon Katz, 78, brother to Ms. Ventre and Dr. Grossman's uncle, said the leeway given to bicyclists, along with their lawlessness, had gotten out of control. "New York has become pedestrian-unfriendly," Mr. Katz said. The sidewalks are blocked by scaffolding and vendors. You step out and you wind up in a bike lane. It's almost impossible now to walk. Yet Luchia Larrazabal, a caregiver who was eating with her daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren, said she pinned her hopes on Mr. de Blasio to help bridge one of the city's enduring issues - racial schisms. After all, he is white, his wife is black and their two children are biracial. "Because of the mixed race," Ms. Larrazabal said, "I look forward to him uniting everyone." Voting Age Citizens 46,767 Registered Voters, 2012 33,746 2009 MAYORAL VOTE 10,782 (Bloomberg, 7,508; Thompson, 2,750)