Budget + Taxes

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

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

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).

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)
• Limit outsourcing of city jobs.

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

1: Change street vendor permit rules, such as the Street Vendor Modernization Act.
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.

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

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

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

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

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

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 city funding to the MTA
• Increase state funding to the MTA - and seek state approval to accomplish this change
• Audit MTA finances, including contracts with vendors and maintenance costs, to find opportunities for savings.

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.

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 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.
2: Keep/grow community spaces, including parks and gardens.
3: Expand presence of chain and big-box retailers.
4: Increase market rate housing units.
I do not support this initiative: Increase luxury units.

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?

• Tie the percentage of rent increases to inflation rates - rather than the annual determination of the Rent Guidelines Board
• 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?

• Offer permanent rental assistance
• Reform anti-loitering laws
• Increase accessibility of shelters to those with disabilities.

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.

Environment + Sanitation

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

• Expand green energy usage for public facilites, such as solar and natural gas
• Update the city's Fair Share criteria, and reform the city's statement of needs process for siting of facilities
• Tax credits for private green energy usage, such as solar and natural gas.

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

1: Increase compost collection sites.
1: Recycle styrofoam.
2: Expand commercial waste zones.
2: Improve education about residents' role in waste management.
2: Increase e-waste recycling facilities.
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).

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?

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

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 metal hearth issues, street and parks gangs. Creating awareness and more mental services in a comfortable environment and caring staff. More police presence in parks and street and more community outreach

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.

Education + Children + Youth

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

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

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

Increase funding for schools in needs, hiring experience teachers and principal in renewal schools. More funding in classroom and teacher and staff rather than in consultant or studies.

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
• 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 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.

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 and/or partnerships for art and music education in schools
• 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.

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

• Standardize financial data reporting from private partnerships that care for parks - such as the Central Park Conservancy and Prospect Park Alliance .

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 Disability Rent Increase Exemption (DRIE).
• Education and job training for individuals with disabilities.
• LGBTQ community centers.
• Housing for homeless LGBTQ, particularly youth.
• Mental health training for city employees.

Fine as is:

• Education regarding availability of evaluations for Individualized Education Plans (IEP) for students with disabilities.
• Drug abuse and addiction services.
• Department of Veterans Services.

Decrease funding:

• Sexual health/HIV and AIDs services.

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).

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?

• 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 immigrants with no criminal record.

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?

You need more female to get involved in the process, provide internship fro young women

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?

• 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)?

• 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
• 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.

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?

An study should be done to create a museum in RI or we should built a sport complex for the public

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
• The mayor's office has too much power and the other branches of government cannot adequately counteract or check it.

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
• Have the city council review COIB and DOI internal rules, procedures, and findings
• Strengthen the role of community boards in neighborhoods' land use decisionmaking, while enhancing oversight of community boards.

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.

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 exclusively determined by an independent commission
• 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:

• Extend the vote to non-citizens who have been lawfully present for a specified period of time

Support:

• Extend the vote to permanent residents

Oppose:

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

Not sure:

• Nonpartisan elections
• Instant runoff voting
• Extend the vote to non-citizens who have applied and are waiting for green cards

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

• Doing business contribution limit ($250 for council candidates)
• Spending limits in years prior to the election year ($49,000 for council candidates)
• Maximum public funds payment ($100,100 for council candidates)

Good as is:

• Contribution limit ($2,750 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?

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.