Budget + Taxes

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

1: A Database of Deals for all economic development projects.
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.
3: 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
• provide incentives/inducements to recent college graduates to live and work in NYC, especially in the south Bronx.

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

1: Airports
1: Gas lines
1: Rail and bus service
1: Roads and bridges
1: 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.)

1: Brooklyn to Queens Streetcar
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: Increased Ride Hailing
1: LaGuardia AirTrain
1: Triboro RX Subway Extension
3: Bike Lanes Expansion
3: CitiBike Expansion
3: Second Avenue Subway Phase 2

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 state funding to the MTA - and seek state approval to accomplish this change
• 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
• Increase personal income tax rate from 3.9 to 4.4 percent for individuals makings $500,000 or more, or households earning $1 million or more.

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

• 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)
• 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
• 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
• Increase accessibility of shelters to those with disabilities
• Increase the number of Section 8 and public housing placements
• Offer permanent supportive housing with links to social services to address mental illness and other health issues.

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

Enforce littering laws and fines. Provide and employ a "clean-up crew" to keep sidewalks and streets clean near homes.

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: Funding for safety net hospitals.
1: Integrity and proper management of buildings and construction inspections.
1: 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?

In NYC, the greatest health, safety, or emergency preparedness challenges are terrorism, the drug epidemic, and violent crime committed against women, children, and the elderly. These challenges impact my district in the worst way given the fact that we have a growing Muslim community, a resurgence of the crack / heroin epidemic in the South Bronx, and a substantial increase of violent crimes being committed on women, children, and the elderly. I would address it via public forums, cultural tolerance awareness/education, self-defense training, crime prevention, increase of police patrols, place NYPD cameras in high crime areas, invoke community watch, and push for stiffer legislation regarding hate crimes and crimes against women, children, and the elderly.

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: 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?

Propose and incorporate a cross cultural curriculum, diversity training, online education, incentives/inducements for parents involvement in the school system/educational process, provide alternative ways of learning/teaching, and other forms of measuring/assessing performance and achievement.

Where do you stand on charter schools?

• 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.

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?

• 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.

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
• 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 .

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.
• Department of Veterans Services.

Fine as is:

• 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.

Decrease funding:

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

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

• 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 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?

Yes, this is a serious problem. I would advocate for internship opportunities for women, especially high school seniors and college students, to work alongside NYC Council's next class while engaging in forums and panel discussions led by current and former NYC councilwomen. Moreover, I would propose funding for educating young women about the political process and how to run for elected office. Furthermore, I would encourage/propose a take your daughter to work day for NYC Council members. Lastly, I would provide incentives/inducements for women in college majoring in political science, economics, law, business administration, ethnic studies, and public policy/administration.

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?

• 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
• Incorporate neighborhood watch, increase police patrol, and place NYPD cameras in high crime areas.

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
• 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?

I am against the closing 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?

• The stories of corruption prove that the system is weeding it out
• The system generally works, but could still use some improvement
• 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?

• 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 that any any data regarding city services/operations should be shared with New Yorkers if requested.

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
• 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?

• I would vote to give council members another raise based on their performance representing, serving, and empowering the people.

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:

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

Support:

• Instant runoff voting

Oppose:

• 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
• 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:

• Contribution limit ($2,750 for council candidates)
• Doing business contribution limit ($250 for council candidates)
• Threshold of funds raised to participate in public matching system ($5,000 for council candidates)

Good as is:

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

Make it lower:

• 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?

I think that the role of bundlers in raising campaign funds, lobbyists making donations, and nonprofits of elected officials taking donations from lobbyists should be fair, transparent, and in compliance with campaign finance laws/regulations - it should not be however, a pay for play or a quid pro quo .

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.