Budget + Taxes

How would you prioritize these elements of or changes to the city's contracting and spending processes?

1: Council and borough president discretionary funding process.
1: Living wage requirements for city contracts, with cost of living adjustments (COLAs).
1: Minority and women owned business enterprises (MWBE) programs.
1: Participatory budgeting at the executive level.
1: Participatory budgeting for all council members and borough presidents.
2: A Database of Deals for all economic development projects.
2: Greater limits and oversight for campaign donations for companies and individuals who contract with the city.

Which proposals would you support to change or study changes to the city's tax system?

• Add an additional tier for single earners over $200,000 and households over $250,000, who would be taxed at 4.013% ($500 million in revenues annually) - and seek state legislative approval to accomplish this change
• Restructure the city’s tax brackets to have 7 instead of 5, reducing rates for the lowest brackets, and increasing them for the highest ($400 million in revenues annually) - and seek state legislative approval to accomplish this change
• Reinstitute the commuter tax ($900 million in revenues annually) - and seek state legislative approval to accomplish this change
• Cap Personal Income Tax Credit at $10,000 for payers of the Unincorporated Business Tax ($77 million in revenues annually)
• Constitute a new property tax commission to study and make recommendations on tax rates.

Please use this space if you'd like to share any other thoughts and proposals to address the budget and taxes in NYC, or expand your answers to the questions on this topic.

Workers + Economic Development

How would you improve jobs for CITY employees?

• End gender and race-based pay gaps (Note that there is an 18-cent wage gap for women in city jobs)
• Move city employees in non-emergency and non-school roles to a 4-day, 36 hour work week, with 9 hour days (The NYC Independent Budget Office states that this could save $20 million a year)
• Improve evaluations and disciplinary processes
• Limit use of provisional employees
• Limit outsourcing of city jobs.

How would you prioritize creating and protecting job opportunities for NON-CITY employees?

1: Expand job placement services for veterans.
1: Expand summer youth employment.
1: Expand transitional jobs programs for the homeless and formerly incarcerated.
1: Provide workers with the right to advance notice of schedules, greater flexibility of scheduling, and access to full-time hours.
1: Support training programs to bring workers into emerging sectors.
2: Change street vendor permit rules, such as the Street Vendor Modernization Act.

How do you rank these initiatives to spur economic development throughout the city?

2: Develop ports and waterfront jobs.
2: Develop the technology sector, including campuses such as Cornell, and incubators for the sector as a whole.
2: Implement Midtown East Rezoning.
2: Reform of Scaffold Law (requires change to state law).
2: Support film and TV productions, including in the form of credits.
2: Support the sharing economy.
3: Support manufacturing expansion and protection.

Please use this space if you'd like to share any other thoughts and proposals to address workers and economic development in NYC, or expand your answers to the questions on this topic.

Transportation + Infrastructure

How would you prioritize upgrading NYC's aging infrastructure?

1: Rail and bus service
1: Water and sewer system
2: Airports
2: Gas lines
2: Roads and bridges

How would you prioritize proposals to address transportation and mobility in NYC? (Note that many of these proposals require state level advocacy.)

1: Bus Rapid Transit
1: Ferry Service
1: Half-price fares for working adults at or below the poverty line
1: Increased funding for Access-A-Ride and ADA compliance for subway stations
1: Second Avenue Subway Phase 2
2: Bike Lanes Expansion
2: Brooklyn to Queens Streetcar
2: CitiBike Expansion
2: LaGuardia AirTrain
2: Triboro RX Subway Extension
Not listed as a priority: Increased Ride Hailing

Many subway riders - and associated MTA data - would argue that subway service is getting worse. At the same time, city and state officials disagree about who is responsible for fixing the system and paying the bills. What proposals would you advance to improve the subways and their governance?

• Increase MTA rider fares
• Earmark state funds for the MTA and forbid moving MTA money from subways to other projects - and seek state approval to accomplish this change
• Audit MTA finances, including contracts with vendors and maintenance costs, to find opportunities for savings
• Develop mechanisms for community input in MTA spending plans
• Get more NYC representatives on the MTA board - and seek state approval to accomplish this change
• Move the MTA, or its NYC-specific services, within NYC control - and seek state approval to accomplish this change.

cm-subway-yes

Please use this space if you'd like to share any other thoughts and proposals to address transportation and infrastructure in NYC, or expand your answers to the questions on this topic.

Any subway user can attest to the continuing decline in the quality of transportation service in New York City. The New York City Comptroller’s office recently found that when facing subway delays, which have increased 267 percent from just five years ago, 50 percent of riders have been forced to take a taxi or other for-hire vehicle to work, 42 percent have walked to work, 40 percent took the bus, 10 percent drove and six percent biked.
The situation is even worse for people who require stair-free access to the subway. New York has the least accessible major subway system in the country. Nearly 30 years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, only 23 percent of the city’s subway stations have elevators—and more often than not, many are out of service, leaving even fewer stations accessible to those with mobility impairments.
While the Metropolitan Transit Authority recently embarked on a program to rehabilitate stations, adding stair-free access to currently inaccessible stations was not part of the plan. At the current pace of installing new elevators, New York City will not reach 100 percent accessibility until 2100. Meanwhile, both Chicago and Boston with similarly aging train systems are on track to reach 100 percent accessibility in the next 20 years. We cannot continue to ignore the more than 10 percent of the population who have disabilities and the 13 percent who are older than 65 and might find the stairs prohibiting. There is currently a lack of strong leadership and policy when it comes to providing access to all New Yorkers.
As advocacy group Transit Center recommends, the MTA should pick up the pace and take a more adaptable approach to accessibility and build accessibility into the 2020-2024 capital program. If the MTA committed to adding 15 newly accessible stations a year, New York would be on track to reach 100 percent accessibility in 25 years. One easy step toward meeting this goal is prioritizing work at stations that already have elevators but still aren’t completely accessible (e.g. by adding ramps at short staircases), such as at the 181st Street, 191st Street, 28th Street, and Clark Street stations.
Second, the MTA should follow the lead of Boston and Chicago and create offices with authority and resources that serve as clearinghouses for accessibility initiatives and maintenance. This would allow accessibility to become a priority, with clear targets and standards. This office could also spearhead the overhaul of maintenance and management practices, which is crucial to keeping stations accessible, but also necessary to keep an aging system out of general crisis mode.
Finally, the MTA should take advantage of long-term shutdowns of lines or stations to make more stations accessible. Last year, the governor announced that 30 stations would be closed for up to 12 months for revamping, yet the proposed New York City Transit Subway capital program for 2015-2019 includes ADA-compliant elevators for only 19 stations overall. This is a huge missed opportunity to upgrade our transportation system to serve all New Yorkers.
As the Manhattan Institute has pointed out, the Governor and other policy makers have blamed a lack of funding for the current state of the MTA, despite the fact that the MTA is taking in a record amount of revenue that has more than kept pace with inflation and with the costs associated with ridership growth. In turn, City Council Members and the Mayor regularly blame the Governor and state-elected officials. Instead, we should show real leadership and hold the MTA accountable for the $10.1 billion we provide as what Comptroller Scott Stringer has called an “invisible fare,” including $612 million from the City budget. In addition to holding regular oversight hearings to closely examine areas where the MTA has fallen short, the Mayor and City Council should demand that more funds in the MTA capital plan be put toward infrastructure maintenance and ADA compliance.

Land Use + Real Estate + Housing

As a council member you'd have influence over land use decisions and the process for decision-making in your district, and competing concerns may arise in the process. How would you rank various land use priorities as you make these decisions?

1: Expand classroom seats at pace with the increase in housing units.
1: Expand infrastructure, such as transportation and utility capacity, at pace with the increase in housing units.
1: Increase affordable housing units.
1: Keep/grow community spaces, including parks and gardens.
1: Keep/grow small businesses, including mom and pop retailers.
1: Limit building heights to stay close to those of surrounding buildings.
1: Make sure development and zoning is in line with a BOROUGH-wide land use plan.
1: Make sure development and zoning is in line with a CITY-wide land use plan.
1: Make sure development and zoning is in line with a DISTRICT-wide land use plan.
1: Preserve landmarks and/or institute neighborhood review to recommend which landmarks matter most.
5: Increase luxury units.
5: Increase market rate housing units.
I do not support this initiative: Expand presence of chain and big-box retailers.

Do you support any of these proposals to reform ULURP (Uniform Land Use Review Procedure)?

• Increase transparency and refine procedures before ULURP applications are filed and/or during the certification stage
• Make community board input binding, rather than advisory
• Change the ratio of mayoral appointees to the City Planning Commission, or change the term lengths or limits of commissioners
• Increase oversight of community benefits agreements between developers, community groups, and government officials - and make them enforceable.

What proposals do you support to address housing costs?

• Increase number of city-subsidized units set aside for middle and moderate income families (eg 3 person households with income between $69,000-141,735)
• Tweak mandatory inclusionary housing law to reduce role of council members in vetoing development projects which have the legally-mandated number of affordable housing units
• Expand the city's Mitchell-Lama program
• Increase number of city-subsidized units set aside for low and mixed income families (eg 3 person households with income between $34,360-51,540)
• Preserve affordable housing units by subsidizing physical repairs to property.

Which proposals do you support to change the city’s homelessness service delivery?

• Find funding for NYCHA's $17 billion capital budget deficit
• Offer permanent rental assistance
• Increase accessibility of shelters to those with disabilities
• Offer permanent supportive housing with links to social services to address mental illness and other health issues
• Expand eviction-prevention programs including subsidizing rent for those behind in payments
• Housing First policies: The City should focus on long-term permanent housing solutions through Housing First policies without preconditions

Please use this space if you'd like to share any other thoughts and proposals to address land use, real estate, and housing in NYC, or expand your answers to the questions on this topic.

New York is one of the most desirable places in the world to live. With so many people eager to become our neighbors, it is no surprise that the market rate for residential rents is high. However, affordable housing legislation and government-backed incentives for developers to build affordable housing are essential for ensuring that housing stock for middle- and low-income New Yorkers remains available. In District 4, Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village stands as proud example of this commitment to middle-class families. However, in an aggressive real estate market like New York, the work of protecting affordable housing is never done and when elected to the City Council, I will make it a top priority to fight for safe, accessible, and affordable housing.
First, I will preserve and protect the current dwindling stock of affordable housing units. To do so will first require an accurate audit of existing rent-regulated apartments as well as all units that have been deregulated within the past five years. This must be done to ensure that landlords who receive J-51 and other tax benefits are not illegally deregulating units. Additionally, I applaud the recent mayoral plan to grant low-income tenants free legal representation in housing court to prevent unlawful evictions of tenants from their rent-controlled and rent-stabilized apartments. As a City Council Member, I will fight to make sure funds are appropriated to administer this legal program, guaranteeing this right to counsel is not just granted in theory, but is also put into practice.
Second, I will fight to the repeal the Urstadt Law, which wrongly denies New York City home rule on critical housing issues. There is no legitimate reason why the City of New York should not legislate on a matter specifically concerning its citizens. Finally, while I support pro-growth policies that allow for additional residential development, I will not support any development plans that do not also adequately address the following: 1) neighborhood schools have sufficient class space to accommodate an increase in population density without displacing children of current residents; 2) occupancy rates remain high, so that additional housing stock is not simply absorbed into the non-resident, pied-a-terre market; and, 3) a sufficient number of units are available at prices that middle-class tenants can afford.

Environment + Sanitation

What proposals do you support to address the environment and environmental justice in the city?

• Fees for plastic bags (note that a city law was passed, but a moratorium was enacted at the state level)
• Expand green infrastructure to prevent storm runoff
• Expand green energy usage for public facilites, such as solar and natural gas
• Increase transparency of facilities siting through online publication of Fair Share Statements and mapping of facilities
• Update the city's Fair Share criteria, and reform the city's statement of needs process for siting of facilities.

How do you prioritize proposals to improve NYC's waste management?

1: “Pay as you throw” charging for collection of waste other than recycled materials, similar to charges for utilities and water (estimated to raise $337 million annually, by the Independent Budget Office).
1: Expand commercial waste zones.
1: Improve education about residents' role in waste management.
1: Increase compost collection sites.
2: Increase e-waste recycling facilities.
2: Recycle styrofoam.

Please use this space if you'd like to share any other thoughts and proposals to address the environment and sanitation in NYC, or expand your answers to the questions on this topic.

As a city, we are failing to effectively manage New York’s residential trash. In particular, we are simply not recycling enough household materials. In 2014, the EPA estimated the national recycling average to be 34.6% of residential solid waste. San Francisco manages to keep 80 percent of their household waste materials out of landfills, while New York comes in at a dismal 17 percent. This failure to keep more of our trash out of landfills is a detriment to the environment and our wallets. Trash in landfills creates environmental harmful methane gas and the City pays unnecessary transportation costs, $315 million dollars in 2015, for shipping solid waste to landfills that can be up to 600 miles away.
As a member of City Council, I will work to greatly expand the rate at which New Yorkers recycle at home. A first important step is to consolidate all of the recycling, reuse, and composting programs into one comprehensive city-wide program. Currently, there are two composting programs and not all sections of the City collect the same types of recyclable materials. It is no wonder that New York’s recycling rate is so low when we use a confusing, incomplete, and irregular system. We can do better, and if we do, we will see economic benefits, in addition to protecting the environment.

Public Health + Safety

What public health and safety issues do you believe are in most need of addressing?

1: Access to healthy food.
1: Community-police relations.
1: Continuing sanctuary city policies.
1: Emergency preparedness.
1: Epidemic of addiction, including opiates.
1: Integrity and proper management of buildings and construction inspections.
1: Keeping hospitals and emergency care in neighborhoods.
2: Funding for safety net hospitals.

What do you think is the greatest health, safety, or emergency preparedness challenge facing NYC, how does it impact your district, and how would you address it?

Please use this space if you'd like to share any other thoughts and proposals to address public health and safety in NYC, or expand your answers to the questions on this topic.

While New Yorkers understand that immigrants are a vital part of our city, the first half of the year has proven the Trump administration to be hostile toward immigrants. NYC’s status as a sanctuary city still stands, thanks to Mayor de Blasio and the City Council, but this status alone may not be enough to protect the rights of New Yorkers who are targeted by anti-immigrant practices of federal agencies.
Around the country, there have been numerous reports of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sending plainclothes agents to local courts to apprehend litigants making court appearances. By April of this year, ICE had issued to the New York Police Department more than twice as many detainer requests as they had in all of 2016. In New York City, ICE has made arrests in courthouses in all five boroughs, despite the fact that two city laws, Introductions 486-A and 487-A, were passed in 2014 prohibiting the presence of ICE at Rikers Island and all City facilities.
As a result, many immigrant communities are currently living in fear and distrust. Many are avoiding local law enforcement because of rumors of ICE enforcement occurring after interaction with various government agencies, particularly the NYPD. As a result, immigrants are far less likely to trust law enforcement and to report crime or cooperate in the investigation of criminal activity. In particular, given the NYPD's history of surveillance of the Muslim community, which includes blanket suspicionless surveillance of entire mosques, there is particularly deep distrust of local law enforcement amongst Muslim New Yorkers.
Now, more than ever, it is important that the public know what kinds of data the NYPD collects and disseminates, and with whom that information is shared. According to testimony by New York Immigration Coalition’s Immigration Policy Manager, Munza Ansari, before the New York City Council Committee on Public Safety, “New Yorkers do not know if the NYPD shares information gathered through surveillance with ICE.” While federal agencies routinely disclose information about new surveillance technologies, there is currently no requirement or incentive for the NYPD to disclose this information to local lawmakers who oversee our police forces.
I support the Public Oversight of Technology (POST) Act, which was introduced by Council Members Dan Garodnick and Vanessa L. Gibson and is currently laid over in committee. In short, the POST Act requires the NYPD to develop impact studies and use policies about its surveillance technology -- much like what’s already done by the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security for tools like facial recognition software, drones, and stingrays, (fake cell towers that collect sensitive location and communications data).
According to Council Member Dan Garodnick, the POST Act would provide New York City lawmakers with “a meaningful opportunity to understand and oversee decisions about the NYPD’s acquisition and use of new surveillance technologies and provides an opportunity for public engagement.” The Brennan Center, a nonpartisan law and policy institute that seeks to improve our systems of democracy and justice, states that the POST act is “a thoughtful approach to balancing the need for democratic oversight and transparency with the NYPD’s legitimate need for operational secrecy.”
In the face of anti-immigrant policies, undocumented New Yorkers’ last line of defense is often an attorney. Only three percent of those who are detained and facing deportation receive favorable outcomes in their cases, but individuals who have a lawyer are six times more likely to prevail in a case, according a 2010 study conducted by the Study Group on Immigrant Representation convened by Judge Robert Katzmann of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. New York has shown leadership in securing counsel with its Immigrant Family Unity Project, which provides lawyers to low-income people in immigration detention. In its current iteration, the project is funded by the City, except in the defense of anyone convicted of the 170 crimes deemed serious or violent by city law, whose defense is funded by anonymous private donors. As your City Council member, I will work to continue this program and ensure it is fully funded in the future so that no New Yorker facing deportation goes to immigration court without qualified representation.

Education + Children + Youth

How would you rank the significance of these alleged problems in NYC schools?

1: Class sizes are too big.
1: Inadequate racial and ethnic diversity.
1: Not enough classrooms and/or seats.
1: Parental involvement mechanisms, such as Community Education Councils, need strengthening.
1: Restrictive environment for children with disabilities.
1: Student achievement gaps based on race and income.
1: Too much student testing.
1: Too much testing to measure student and/or teacher performance.

What solutions would you advance to solve the problems you marked in the previous question?

The New York City Department of Education (DOE) faces an overcrowding problem that is only worsening as it adds pre-k classes. In School District 2 alone (which encompasses Council District 4), 48 schools were at or above full capacity (or had 100 percent or higher target utilization of school space), according to the most recent DOE data available. Add the 17 schools that were 95 to 99 percent utilized (organizations such as Class Size Matters and Families for Excellent Schools contend that utilization rates are actually higher than DOE figures), and you have a total of 36,227 students in overcrowded schools in School District 2. Yet the current Five-Year Capital Plan covers expansion for only five buildings in the school district, adding a total 3,150 seats.
According to School Construction Authority President Lorraine Grillo, one of the problems is that the City won’t begin the process of considering building a new school, which takes years, until there is a five percent increase in an existing school’s population. So if a school is currently operating at 110 percent capacity, the DOE won’t even consider opening a possible new school until the existing one is operating above 115 percent. What’s more, the City uses outdated data for its projections. In order to make predictions of where seats will be needed, the DOE looks at housing-permit and household-size information from the 2000 Census, which paints the picture of a completely different real estate landscape in Manhattan.
In order to begin to address overcrowding, the City must use more accurate and transparent enrollment projections by independent experts. Educational organizations across the country are already using predictive analytics—statistical techniques that include data mining, modeling, and artificial intelligence. These analytics, using City data on land use and real estate development, should be used to predict future school enrollment throughout the City.
At the end of 2016, the DOE put out a call to data scientists, offering a $15,000 award for the data model that most accurately predicts student population changes in communities. As your City Council Member, I will advocate that this type of innovative modeling become standard practice and be a regular line item in the DOE’s budget, instead of a one-off addition. The cost of implementing this type of predictive analytics to plan for the future educational needs of our city will certainly be a smart investment.

Where do you stand on charter schools?

• The number of charter schools should be reduced
• Charter schools divert city funds inequitably to benefit some students at the expense of the majority
• Since charter schools are funded publicly, the government should have more oversight of their finances and operations
• Charter schools should be a laboratory for improving public education citywide
• They should NOT be co-located with public schools.

Should the city subsidize any of these services for children and their families?

• Childcare for all, from birth to age 4 (Pre-K)
• Universal free school lunch
• Expanded alternative education/GED programming
• Longer library hours
• After-school programming for all students
• More youth employment and apprenticeship opportunities.

What proposals do you support to ensure the safety of children under the purview of the Administration for Children's Services (ACS) in the foster care and juvenile justice systems?

• Caseload reductions of front-line workers
• Greater transparency of data regarding caseloads
• Increased resources for parent and family advocacy in navigating these systems.

Please use this space if you'd like to share any other thoughts and proposals to address the children, youth, and education in NYC, or expand your answers to the questions on this topic.

Nearly 20 percent of New York City public school students have Individualized Education Plans, or IEPs, which indicate that these students are entitled to special services in school, such as extended time on standardized tests or speech pathology services. These students are entitled to these services by federal law, more specifically, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). However, a recent report by the NYC Department of Education (DOE) showed that as many as 40 percent of the students who should be receiving these services may not be getting them in New York City.
This is not a new problem. The federal Department of Education has given NYC public schools one of its lowest ratings, “Needs Intervention,” in regards to the services provided to students with special needs. In fact, over the past decade there have been a number of class action lawsuits against the NYC DOE for failing to provide services to students with special needs.
One reason for the deficit is the shortage of teachers in New York with a certification in Special Education. While there is a general shortage of teachers in New York City, there is a critical shortage of special-needs educators. In fact, there’s a shortage across the country. NPR recently reported that it’s partly due to burnout: on top of meeting their students’ needs, special ed teachers have to contend with long hours and endless paperwork. This leads to high turnover, especially when there aren not enough special ed teachers to begin with.
In order to serve the growing population of students with special needs in New York, the DOE must embark on an aggressive campaign to recruit and retain teachers with Special Education certification. This should include subsidies or grants for the continued training and support of current teachers as well as for the expenses of certification. This prioritization should be reflected in a shift in the DOE’s budgetary priorities. Currently, the DOE allocates only four percent of its budget to servicing students with special needs, which is incongruent with the percentage of the student population with IEPs.
The bottom line: any teacher can tell you that special education training is not a waste of time or resources. When teachers are trained and supported, we are wisely investing in the future of our city.

Arts + Parks

Which proposals do you support regarding arts and cultural institutions and initiatives in NYC?

• Increase the city's overall arts budget
• Increase funding for small and/or community-based arts and cultural organizations
• Increase funding and/or partnerships for art and music education in schools
• Improve education and/or ease requirements for applications for cultural funding, while ensuring integrity and proper use of funds.

What proposals do you support regarding the management and funding of city parks?

• Redistribute privately donated funds from well-financed to lower-financed parks conservancies
• Standardize financial data reporting from private partnerships that care for parks - such as the Central Park Conservancy and Prospect Park Alliance
• Institute shadow laws to prevent parks from losing sunlight because of shadows from new, tall buildings.

Please use this space if you'd like to share any other thoughts and proposals to address arts and parks in NYC, or expand your answers to the questions on this topic.

Constituent Groups' Needs

The city offers services to address constituent needs - how would you address funding for these services?
Increase funding:

• Additional staff, including social workers, for senior centers.
• Extended hours at senior centers.
• Additional meals at senior centers.
• Education regarding availability of Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE).
• Education regarding availability of Disability Rent Increase Exemption (DRIE).
• Education regarding availability of evaluations for Individualized Education Plans (IEP) for students with disabilities.
• Education and job training for individuals with disabilities.
• LGBTQ community centers.
• Housing for homeless LGBTQ, particularly youth.
• Sexual health/HIV and AIDs services.
• Drug abuse and addiction services.
• Mental health training for city employees.
• Department of Veterans Services.

Fine as is:

• (Candidate didn't select answers in this category)

Decrease funding:

• (Candidate didn't select answers in this category)

Do you support any of these changes to NYC's human rights law?

• Amend the definitions of gender and sexual orientation (City Council Intro 1186)
• Prohibit employer retaliation if an employee requests a "reasonable accommodation on the basis of a religious observance, disability, pregnancy, childbirth, medical condition, or their status as a victim of domestic violence, a sex offense or stalking, among other possible reasons" (City Council Intro 1479)
• Clarify which employees are protected by the human rights law, including interns and particular independent contractors (City Council Intro 1016).

NYC provides a variety of services and information to immigrants, but not always in the languages spoken by the city's many immigrant communities. In which of these areas do you believe the city should provide resources in more languages?

• Elections and voting
• Health care
• Educational and youth services
• Senior services.

The current city budget supports funding for legal services for immigrants facing deportation. What do you think about that?

I support this funding for all immigrants.

Women make up half of the population, but are slated to make up less than one-third of the NYC Council's next class. Do you think this is a problem? And if so, what would you do about it?

Women's rights are human rights, and women's access to reproductive health care should be the rule, not the exception. In New York City, however, access to reproductive health care is currently not equitable, while at the federal level, we are faced with a Republican threat to funding for reproductive health care providers
The City must ensure that all women—regardless of income, age, race, immigration status, or marital status—have access to the family planning and reproductive health care services they need. Reproductive health care cannot be separated from the overall health and wellbeing of individuals, families and communities. Affordable and accessible family planning services are essential to women's health, wellbeing and economic stability. According to the Guttmacher Institute, more than six in 10 women obtaining care at a publicly funded center providing contraceptive services consider the center to be their primary source of health care. For four in 10 women, that center may be their only source of health care. I support an investment in family planning, which will provide vital healthcare services to New York City families.
Additionally, as a New York City public middle school teacher, I witnessed firsthand the importance of sexual health education. Currently there is no consistent, comprehensive nor mandatory sex education curriculum in NYC public schools. At a time when rates of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) have dramatically increased, and two-thirds of all infections occur among adolescents, I support the creation of a comprehensive, age-appropriate reproductive health and sexuality education program to start in kindergarten and progress through the 12th grade.
In 2016 New York City Council unanimously passed a set of bills providing free menstrual hygiene products to public schools, prisons, and shelters, making New York the first city in the nation to pass “menstrual equity” legislation. The City now budgets for tampons and sanitary pads just like it does for toilet paper and hand soap. This is a huge step in the right direction for the women of New York City, however, a gap still exists for girls in middle and elementary school. When elected to the City Council, I will advocate for expanding this program into our middle and elementary schools, so that it can serve all girls, and in particular those for whom menstruation at an early age might be particularly sensitive issue.

Please use this space if you'd like to share any other thoughts and proposals to address the needs of constituent groups in NYC, or expand your answers to the questions on this topic.

First and foremost it is vital that we involve older adults in the policy planning process, as no one knows better the challenges seniors face. In addition, older adults have extensive professional and personal experience to draw upon for crafting solutions. We must also invest in job training, technology training, and job placement for seniors through age smart employment practices to value and retain older workers. We must also promote programs that allow older New Yorkers to age in place. As your City Council Member I will actively support social programs and technology investments that allow seniors to remain in the homes that connect them to family, friends, and their communities. Specifically, I will work to increase access to mental health services for isolated seniors through tele-health video-counseling, as well as the City’s parks and recreation resources. Finally, as discussed in the transportation section of this policy memo, I will work to make the subway system more accessible to older New Yorkers.

Policing + Criminal Justice

Which of these strategies do you think NYC should implement to prevent crimes?

• Broken windows policing, or cracking down on low-level offenses to prevent more serious crimes
• Reduce youth exposure to violence
• Invest in education and workforce development for young New Yorkers, to steer them away from making money through criminal activity
• Strengthen partnerships between the police, government entities, and community organization working with at-risk youths.

Which of these proposals do you support to change policies of the New York Police Department (NYPD)?

• Improve existing oversight structures such as the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) and Inspector General
• Pass the Right to Know Act, which requires police officers to identify themselves and the reason for the interaction, and obtain fully informed consent before conducting searches
• Publish data regarding when the Police Commissioner declines to discipline or reduces recommended penalties for officers, particularly for use of force cases
• Release incident level and geographically-coded data on summonses and misdemeanor arrests
• Assess NYPD's quality-of-life policing tactics in terms of reduction of higher-level felony crimes
• Improve diversity and special needs training for communities of color, LGBTQ and disabilities communities, and residents with mental health issues.

Which of these proposals do you support to address pretrial detention, case processing, and trials for criminal defendants?

• Eliminate money bail or limit it to a small fraction of cases, using pretrial supervision instead for defendants released on their own recognizance for those charged with misdemeanors or nonviolent offenders
• Simplify the process to pay bail
• Develop risk assessment tools to measure defendant's possible risk of re-offense, violence, and domestic violence
• Institute best practices to manage the timeline of criminal cases, including triage for cases likely to go to trial and speedy resolution of other cases, courts monitoring the timelines of cases, and holding attorneys accountable for moving cases along
• Use specialized courts that deliver services to address recidivism and provide alternative justice models, such as Community, Youth, Reentry, Drug, and/or Mental Health Courts.

If Rikers Island were to close, where do you think a jail should be sited in your borough, how would you discuss this with your constituents, and what do you think should be the use of Rikers Island?

Please use this space if you'd like to share any other thoughts and proposals to address policing and criminal justice in NYC, or expand your answers to the questions on this topic.

Government Structures

How do you think NYC's system of checks and balances is working?

• Elections are not enough to keep government accountable
• There should be more transparency regarding the work of lobbyists.

How would you fix NYC government's system of checks and balances and keep officials accountable to the public?

• Give the COIB, DOI, and/or the public advocate "independent budgets" - budgets tied to certain formulas rather than the annual, political budget process of the mayor and city council, Change COIB and DOI leadership appointments, so that they are not only appointed by the mayor but also by other branches of government that check the mayor and the city's agencies, such as the city council, public advocate, and/or comptroller
• Have the city council review COIB and DOI internal rules, procedures, and findings
• Conduct an extensive review of the city charter to balance and update government structures
• Strengthen the role of community boards in neighborhoods' land use decisionmaking, while enhancing oversight of community boards
• Build on NYC's OpenRECORDS by publishing documents in response to Freedom of Information Law requests.

Over the past several years, NYC has developed an Open Data Plan and has been releasing datasets about select city services and operations to the public through the Open Data Portal. Is there any data about city services or operations that you think should or must still be shared with New Yorkers?

All cities, including NYC, are "municipal corporations" of state government - and state law dictates what authority cities have over their own government and operations. State law limits NYC government's control over rent regulation (Urstadt Law), mayoral control of city schools, transportation and traffic (the MTA and subways, bridge tolls, and speed cameras and speed limits). As a council member, how would you deal with state government when it gets in the way of your city policy goals?

• Meet with state legislators, the governor, and other state officials to collaboratively find solutions
• Protest with other council members and constituents in Albany
• Develop public-private partnerships and other solutions outside of the law
• Meet with officials from other cities in NY state, to collectively change municipal home rule to expand cities' self control.

In 2016, the NYC Council voted to remove special stipends for chairs of council committees (which had been used as a political tool by the council speaker), while giving all council members a raise from $112,500 to $148,500 - the raise was signed into law by the mayor. If elected, how would you handle this issue if it comes up again?

• Advocate for legislation that requires salaries of council members to be tied to inflation and/or median income.

Please use this space if you'd like to share any other thoughts and proposals to address government structures and accountability in NYC, or expand your answers to the questions on this topic.

Elections + Campaign Finance

Where do you stand on these proposals to change voting and municipal elections in NYC?
Support - and would like to be prime sponsor on this legislation:

• Expand use of poll workers working shorter shifts (less than the current 15 hour shifts)

Support:

• Instant runoff voting
• Extend the vote to permanent residents

Oppose:

• (Candidate didn't select answers in this category)

Not sure:

• Nonpartisan elections
• Extend the vote to non-citizens who have applied and are waiting for green cards
• Extend the vote to non-citizens who have been lawfully present for a specified period of time
• Extend the vote to all non-citizens, including undocumented residents

Should these elements of the public matching system be higher or lower?
Make it higher:

• Maximum public funds payment ($100,100 for council candidates)

Good as is:

• Contribution limit ($2,750 for council candidates)
• Doing business contribution limit ($250 for council candidates)
• Threshold of donors to participate in public matching system (75 for council candidates)
• Spending limits in years prior to the election year ($49,000 for council candidates)

Make it lower:

• Threshold of funds raised to participate in public matching system ($5,000 for council candidates)
• Spending limits in the primary election ($182,000 for council candidates)
• Spending limits in the general election ($182,000 for council candidates)

Not sure:

• (Candidate didn't select answers in this category)

What do you think about the role of bundlers in raising campaign funds, lobbyists making donations, and nonprofits of elected officials taking donations from lobbyists?

Please use this space if you'd like to share any other thoughts and proposals to address elections and campaign finance in NYC, or expand your answers to the questions on this topic.

New York City may be ahead of other cities when it comes to good governance reform, but we still have a ways to go. First, the NYC Campaign Finance Board’s Matching Funds Program – which incentivizes candidates to raise money from ordinary citizens, rather than relying on a few wealthy donors, and empowers grassroots candidates like myself to run – has been found to be transformative to the campaign fundraising process. However, even when candidates raise enough in small donations to receive the full amount of matching funds available, there still exists a significant gap between the money in their coffers from the matching funds and small donations and the spending limit, which must be reached to be competitive. I support Introduction 1130, which proposes increasing the cap on public funding available to campaigns so that it aligns in a full match with the expenditure limit. The bill, which is currently laid over in committee, would encourage candidates to continue seeking small donations, instead of relying on large donors who will “max out” their contribution at $2,750 or $4,950, depending on the office sought. This would better ensure that elected officials are listening to all constituents voices equally, not just those with fat wallets.
By the same token, the increasing influence of lobbyists, particularly on behalf of business and real estate interests, on city government is continuing to increase each year. Lobbyists in New York City have raked in record earnings in the past decade and the number of hours per week City officials spend meeting with lobbyists also keeps rising. A number of steps can be taken to bring more transparency to the lobbying process and decrease the influence of big money in government. First, the City Council should disclose lobbying meetings, just as they disclose monetary contributions, so that the public can judge what influence lobbyists have on the actions of the Council. Second, lobbyists should be required to disclose not only their client list, but also the elected officials with whom, as well as the legislation about which, they are meeting. Finally, in New York City, former elected officials are currently prohibited from any lobbying of their branch of government for one year after leaving government, with many good governance advocates pushing to increase the moratorium to two years. What is not restricted, however, is current lobbyists seeking elected positions in government. That means that individuals currently accepting money to influence policy on behalf of special interests can soon thereafter be at the helm of government themselves. This type of trajectory needs to be taken seriously and monitored closely by government watchdog organizations and constituents alike.