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: 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.
2: Living wage requirements for city contracts, with cost of living adjustments (COLAs).

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

• I would have to do more research to come up with a more educated answer.

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.

I believe we need lower taxes for small businesses.
I believe we need more tax credits for renewable energy.
I would like to see a tax code that incentivizes healthy living.
Overall, I think the tax code needs to be simplified.

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 use of provisional employees
• 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: Develop the technology sector, including campuses such as Cornell, and incubators for the sector as a whole.
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.
5: 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: Airports
1: Rail and bus service
1: Water and sewer system
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: 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
2: Bike Lanes Expansion
2: Bus Rapid Transit
3: Brooklyn to Queens Streetcar
3: Ferry Service
4: CitiBike Expansion
4: Increased Ride Hailing
5: LaGuardia AirTrain
5: Second Avenue Subway Phase 2
5: Triboro RX Subway Extension

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?

• 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.

We need to get control of the MTA before it gets worse than it already is.
We need a full financial audit and a full operational audit.
I believe we need to separate the platforms from the tracks, similar to AirTrain and many other systems.
This would prevent people getting onto the tracks, saving lives.
This would also prevent trash from getting onto the tracks, causing fires & delays.
This would also provide a ventilated, temperature-controlled platform.
At the same time, we need to update sensors, announcement speakers, and wait notifications.
All of this will take people. That means jobs.
We just have to give job priority to people who live in the city.

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 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 classroom seats at pace with the increase in housing units.
3: Limit building heights to stay close to those of surrounding buildings.
5: Increase market rate housing units.
I do not support this initiative: Expand presence of chain and big-box retailers.
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
• 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 low and mixed income families (eg 3 person households with income between $34,360-51,540)
• Preserve affordable housing through financing arrangements with owners, ie tax subsidies.

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

• 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.

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.

I believe we need to convert the city-owned vacant lots into city-owned affordable housing.
I believe we need to turn NYCHA developments into blocks of privately-owned 3 or 4-family homes.
This will allow NYCHA to sell off their property, but instead of selling it to developers, it is sold to their current tenants and other long-time District 41 residents.
This allows tenants to become owners.
I believe that hundreds of private landlords who are appreciative of the opportunity to own a home will be better property managers than NYCHA.
This will also create jobs in the District if we require that at least 50% of the employees on the job site live in the district.

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
• 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?

1: Improve education about residents' role in waste management.
2: “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).
2: Increase compost collection sites.
2: Recycle styrofoam.
3: Increase e-waste recycling facilities.
Not listed as a priority: Expand commercial waste zones.

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.

I believe we need to place more public waste receptacles at bus stops and high-traffic areas.
I believe we need to empty public receptacles more frequently, before they are full.
I believe public receptacles should have smaller openings on top to prevent disposal of full bags into these receptacles.
I believe we need to allocate sanitation staff to clean the sidewalks and storm drain grates.

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?

I believe that gun violence and food choices are the greatest health challenges in District 41.
I will work to bring jobs, affordable housing, youth programs, and education funding to the district.
These things will help to improve the conditions of life which cause this violence.
Access to nutritious food, food education, and urban farming jobs throughout the district will do lots to expose people to a healthy lifestyle.

I will always use well-made documentaries to introduce new ideas to people of all ages.
In 90 minutes you can learn a lot.

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.

We need a universal healthcare system which incentivizes healthy living.

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: 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.
3: Not enough classrooms and/or seats.
3: 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?

I will work with CECs, SLTs, and PTAs to find solutions to the issues at all schools in District 41.
I will facilitate dialogue between these entities in order to spread information and ensure that we are enacting programs and curriculums that will prepare students for the future.

Where do you stand on charter schools?

• 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?

• Universal free school lunch
• 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.

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
• 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?

• Give the Parks Department its own discretionary budget, to give parks discretionary funds that are separate from those distributions from council members
• 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.

We need to be growing more edible trees in our parks. Apples, peaches, etc.

We need to erect beautiful greenhouses on many community gardens, and turn them into year-round food production, education, jobs, etc.

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?

• I would need to read over each of these in their entirety before answering. In general, I believe everyone should have equal rights, regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability, or any other label.

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?

Since this is an elected office, it's hard to ensure that half of all City Council members are woman, man, black, white, LGBTQ, Muslim, Jewish, or any other label.

I believe that as more women become members of the City Council, more women will run. Maybe one day it will only be one-third men.

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)?

• 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
• 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?

Since there are around 10,000 inmates on Rikers Island, with around 85% (8,500) of those awaiting trial, there are only 1,500 who have been convicted and are serving sentences.

If we rethink how that 8,500 are held before trial, maybe we only need to house the 1,500 who have been convicted.

I don't think there is a single place where a jail is good for the community, but perhaps it would be best if jails are incorporated into precincts.

Rikers Island could serve many uses.
With it's proximity to LGA, it could possibly be an extension of the airport.
Perhaps it could become a park or recreational space.
I would like to hear what ideas NYC residents have, and go from there.

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.

We need to ged rid of quotas.
We need to expand community policing.
We need to legalize and regulate marijuana.
We need to treat drug possession offenses with treatment rather than imprisonment.

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, 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 we need to share as much data as is available with New Yorkers.
I believe that we need to produce visual representations of this data to improve understanding of this data. (example: OASISNYC.net)
We should seek new ideas to solve issues from the wealth of perspectives New Yorkers have to offer.

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
• 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?

• Advocate for legislation that requires salaries of council members to be voted on by New Yorkers through referendum.

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.

I believe Participatory Budgeting should be mandatory in all City Council Districts.
I would expand Participatory Budgeting to discretionary spending.

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

Support:

• 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

Oppose:

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

Not sure:

• 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:

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

Good as is:

• 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)
• 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)
• 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:

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

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 believe we need to ensure that campaigns are funded by the public.

Perhaps a voucher system would be best, whereby each voter receives five $10 vouchers (public funds) to contribute to the candidate(s) they wish.

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.

I believe we need automatic voter registration.

Once you turn 18 you should be able to vote.

If convicted of a felony, your voting rights could be suspended, then reinstated upon serving your sentence, rather than requiring you to register again.

I believe we need more than one day for elections.