Budget + Taxes

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

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

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

• I am for ensuring that non-residents pay their fare share by raising the UBT and ensuring off-setting PITCs for residents

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.

We should be using our dollars to re-institute programs that help those in need, such as Fare Fairs, a program dedicated to ensuring that low income Harlemites and New Yorkers can purchase a MetroCard. Taking this program out of the budget is cruel and we will not stop advocating until initiatives such as this receive the funding that they deserve.

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)
• Improve evaluations and disciplinary processes
• I will provide access to City jobs by ensuring that our residents know that the jobs exist, and providing the proper training and re-training programs so that our residents can access the jobs as they come online

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

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

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

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

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?

4: Gas lines
4: Roads and bridges
5: Airports
5: Rail and bus service
5: Water and sewer system

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

3: Bike Lanes Expansion
3: Ferry Service
4: Brooklyn to Queens Streetcar
4: Increased Ride Hailing
4: LaGuardia AirTrain
4: Second Avenue Subway Phase 2
4: Triboro RX Subway Extension
5: Bus Rapid Transit
5: CitiBike Expansion
5: Half-price fares for working adults at or below the poverty line
5: Increased funding for Access-A-Ride and ADA compliance for subway stations

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?

• Audit MTA finances, including contracts with vendors and maintenance costs, to find opportunities for savings
• Develop mechanisms for community input in MTA spending plans
• Move the MTA, or its NYC-specific services, within NYC control - and seek state approval to accomplish this change
• Ensure the trains run on time and safely. Period.

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.

It is absolutely unacceptable that our subway's infrastructure has deteriorated to the point where trains are crashing in my district, and elevators to access the subway do not work, buses do not run on time, and benches to wait for those buses disappear from bus depots without explanation from the City. We will bring efficient and competent leadership to this space by ensuring that every dollar spent by or on the MTA brings our riders closer to the pleasant traveling experience that our riders deserve.

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?

3: Increase luxury units.
3: Increase market rate housing units.
3: Limit building heights to stay close to those of surrounding buildings.
4: Expand infrastructure, such as transportation and utility capacity, at pace with the increase in housing units.
4: Make sure development and zoning is in line with a BOROUGH-wide land use plan.
4: Make sure development and zoning is in line with a CITY-wide land use plan.
4: Make sure development and zoning is in line with a DISTRICT-wide land use plan.
5: Expand classroom seats at pace with the increase in housing units.
5: Increase affordable housing units.
5: Keep/grow community spaces, including parks and gardens.
5: Keep/grow small businesses, including mom and pop retailers.
5: Preserve landmarks and/or institute neighborhood review to recommend which landmarks matter most.
Not listed as a priority: 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
• Make borough president 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?

• Change inclusionary housing rules to limit zoning bonus of 421-a buildings to development on the building's zoning lot, eliminating transfer of air rights away from the affordable units (HPD proposal)
• 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
• Preserve affordable housing through financing arrangements with owners, ie tax subsidies.

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
• 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.

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.

We cannot afford to wait four years while our incumbent milks a paycheck because our residents are suffering right now, and they are leaving because they have no place to live.

Environment + Sanitation

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

• 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
• Prohibit siting certain facilities in oversaturated communities, even through emergency sitings, by requiring a higher bar than current law
• Tax credits for private green energy usage, such as solar and natural gas.

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

3: “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).
3: Expand commercial waste zones.
5: Improve education about residents' role in waste management.
5: Increase compost collection sites.
5: Increase e-waste recycling facilities.
5: 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.

Public Health + Safety

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

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

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?

The most pressing challenge I see in our community is making sure that our schools are safe from mass shootings, domestic and foreign terrorism, and safe in general. In light of recent incidents, we must have a thorough plan that is coordinated with the New York Police Department and the Department of Homeland Security. At the same time, we must also maintain an environment where our students feel safe when they enter the school building, and not as though a dangerous weapon may be present in the classroom or school.

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.

As an educator, I have seen too much tragedy in our public health space because a school is situated in the wrong neighborhood. City Council District 9's representative is not doing nearly enough to address the very real public health issues in our community, including the need for increased mental health programs, the need for safe schools, and the need to help our residents with substance abuse, maternal health, and healthy lifestyle development.

Education + Children + Youth

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

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

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

To address the persistent lack of quality schools in Harlem, all options are on the table. It starts with prioritizing education in our political discussion, which is currently lacking in our community. We know that to keep talent in the most expensive city in the world we must pay our teachers, and I will advocate for increased teacher salaries. Additionally, every school in my district will receive the tools it needs to succeed, and we will audit every single one to ensure that learning is happening and that our students do not face the same crisis of the same schools being at the bottom of the results pool with no elected official being held accountable.

Where do you stand on charter schools?

• The number of charter schools should be expanded
• Charter schools offer students great educational opportunities that they wouldn't have otherwise
• 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
• In New York City, charter schools are public. Every school should have its own building, but that is not practically possible in our city space.

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
• Increased oversight, beyond court-appointed monitor
• Increased use of city council's oversight authority.

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.

As someone that has witnessed many children operate under the purview of ACS, I advocate for this crucial organization to receive the resources it needs to handle each case effectively. We must avoid any children not receiving the proper protections because the organization was stretched too thin. I will not stand for our children having a lack of representation.

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
• Allow the city's cultural institutions that have free admissions - such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art - to charge admissions for non-city residents
• Fund cultural institutions and museums based on the diversity of their board members and employees
• Increase reporting and notification of film permits, their locations, and related data
• Change film permit requirements to reduce frequency of shooting in much-used neighborhoods
• 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
• Make community gardens into permanent park spaces
• 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.

Our community needs the bench at A. Philip Randolph Square reinstated so that those that are waiting for the M2 bus can sit down. Not only does taking this bench out not effectively deal with the homelessness situation, an individual with a disability, a senior citizen, or any other person that is waiting for the bus now has no place to sit. To add insult to injury, there is a bench across the street for the M2 route going the opposite direction. These are the sorts of policies in our community that our residents are tired of in our neighborhood.

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?

Yes it is a problem. If we really wanted gender equality, we would ensure new candidates have an opportunity to participate in running for office, as more women are likely to run now which will even out the numbers in City Council. With our current matching funds program for instance, a participant should not receive 25% of the maximum allotment because she is facing an incumbent, she should receive 125% of the "maximum allotment." Changes to these sorts of policies will ensure rapid changes in the physical make up of our City Council.

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.

Policing + Criminal Justice

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

• 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?

Harlem will not stay silent while the City puts any program or facility it wants into the heart of our community. This has happened too often in the past 5 years and we will not stand for it again. I would be open to discussing the idea of replacing Riker's with increased runway for LaGuardia or turning the entire space into a community with affordable housing, jobs and a quality education system.

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?

• The stories of corruption prove that the system is weeding it out
• New Yorkers are not appropriately represented by their elected officials
• Elections are not enough to keep government accountable.

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, Give the public advocate more powers, such as power to issue subpoenas and prosecute officials' violations of the city charter
• 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?

I believe the computer instructions or algorithms that are used, invisibly, in government decision-making should be public so that our residents can determine for themselves whether our city government is doing its job properly.

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
• Battle it out with state officials in the press
• Sue the state
• 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?

• Vote against giving council members another raise
• I strongly advocate for decreasing City Council's salary to prevent the malfeasance currently occurring with State Senators coming down to run for City Council explicitly to increase their salaries and pensions.

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.

What is happening right now due to the money that City Councilors are making is deplorable. Too many people's lives are on the line to have it come down to who wants to make six figures. What is in the public interest should be the criteria that each person is using when he or she decides to run and hold this seat. If you are incapable of functioning as the City Councilor, you should not be taking taxpayer money.

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:

• Nonpartisan elections
• Instant runoff voting
• Expand use of poll workers working shorter shifts (less than the current 15 hour shifts)
• Extend the vote to permanent residents
• 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

Support:

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

Oppose:

• Extend the vote to all non-citizens, including undocumented residents

Not sure:

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

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)
• Spending limits in years prior to the election year ($49,000 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)

Make it lower:

• Threshold of funds raised to participate in public matching system ($5,000 for council candidates)
• Threshold of donors to participate in public matching system (75 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?

As a campaign that has not engaged in any form of bundling, dealing with lobbyists or taking money from non-profits of elected officials, I believe all of it should be eliminated completely.

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.