Budget + Taxes

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

1: Participatory budgeting for all council members and borough presidents.
2: Minority and women owned business enterprises (MWBE) programs.
2: Participatory budgeting at the executive level.
3: Council and borough president discretionary funding process.
3: Living wage requirements for city contracts, with cost of living adjustments (COLAs).
4: A Database of Deals for all economic development projects.
5: 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?

• 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
• Constitute a new property tax commission to study and make recommendations on tax rates
• I would support tax abatements for individual homeowners to improve and create affordable housing. I would support tax credits for 1st time homebuyers that provide affordable housing.

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.

There are several tax incentives we can provide to stimulate business development and homeownership. It is important to differentiate categories of investment and stimulus through tax reform. As a democrat and small business owner, I do not advocate tax increases if those increases are not sustainable over the long term. I do support taxation that is directly benefiting community infrastructure, transportation. I would not support a commuter tax because it does not directly benefit my community, and it may hurt our competitiveness as a city. I disagree deeply for example, with NYS tax abatement for developers through the 421a and the Affordable New York program which represents billions of lost dollars per year in revenue for the city.

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
• In good conscience, I could not recommend city agencies work less days. I'm in the building industry and it would be impossible to work given the backlog and lethargy that currently grips many NYC agencies.

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

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

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

1: Develop the technology sector, including campuses such as Cornell, and incubators for the sector as a whole.
2: Support manufacturing expansion and protection.
3: Support film and TV productions, including in the form of credits.
4: Reform of Scaffold Law (requires change to state law).
4: Support the sharing economy.
5: Implement Midtown East Rezoning.
I do not support this initiative: Develop ports and waterfront jobs.

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

Transportation + Infrastructure

How would you prioritize upgrading NYC's aging infrastructure?

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

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

1: Bike Lanes Expansion
2: Half-price fares for working adults at or below the poverty line
3: Bus Rapid Transit
3: Increased funding for Access-A-Ride and ADA compliance for subway stations
3: LaGuardia AirTrain
4: Brooklyn to Queens Streetcar
4: CitiBike Expansion
4: Increased Ride Hailing
5: Ferry Service
5: Second Avenue Subway Phase 2
I do not support this initiative: 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
• Increase funding via toll reforms, such as the MoveNY tolling plan, seeking state approval for this change
• Audit MTA finances, including contracts with vendors and maintenance costs, to find opportunities for savings
• 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
• Again, raising taxes is a step I would take if it benefits my community directly, in this case, it would be plausible that I would support tax increases for that income bracket

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.

Generally speaking I support public transportation and funding for public transportation infrastructure, however, we all agree the service today is less than optimal. We need greater resources for alternative transportation solutions. This includes bikes, private membership ride sharing, as well as creating new revenue streams through congestion pricing, and provoking new work and telecommuting technologies that will allow less daytime commuting.

Transportation is transforming before our eyes, and we must be able to address new modes of individual and public transportation such as skateboarding, hover and single wheel electrical vehicles. There are so many things we can do to promote public transportation and improve mobility, while creating better and more sustainable subsidy structure to help low income New Yorkers and our elderly.

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

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

• Increase transparency and refine procedures before ULURP applications are filed and/or during the certification stage
• 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)
• Expand the city's Mitchell-Lama program
• 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?

• Increase the number of Section 8 and public housing placements
• We need to purge the roles of individuals who are no longer qualify for affordable housing. We must survey and have transparency and clear definitions of "affordable housing", clear targets specific to economic segments, and family types, toward a just housing policy, and sustainable public subsidy.

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.

The term affordable housing is as misunderstood as it is misused. I am a building professional, and I understand the building and real estate trade better than most. It is completely erroneous to use the term "affordable" as a one size fits all solution - or to break out brackets to qualify for affordable housing. Usually 20/80 affordable lotteries for 421a developments focus on the high end of income brackets. This means that average rents for those "affordable units based on AMI are much higher than median income for lower income families. NYC agencies are invested in these developments; they are the bank so to speak, through an instrumentation of federal monies, state abatements, and banking instruments. Each family type has a particular set of11 needs. Single mothers, formerly incarcerated, a family a 5, or a single working class individual cannot all qualify for the same type of housing solutions. Instead, I would offer a greater set of housing alternatives, I would promote more access to home ownership, I would support ongoing legislation to tax vacant apartments, and I will put forward legislation to raise the bar for transfer development rights and FAR bonuses within NYC pegged to mandated income brackets, greater offering types within the rental market such as SRO's temporary housing, ADU basement/cellar apartment legalization, improved MItchell-Lama, and re-boot of Nehemiah Program at a cooperative scale - through Community Land Trusts.

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
• 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
• The Green economy is underexploited in NYC, particularly in commercial cores. Business waste is considerably under recycled , we do not promote sufficient re-use of recycled materials or any cradle to cradle repurposing technologies, and we do not have policy to promote plastic and styrofoam replacement in major sectors of manufacturing, fast food, and retail. We have the technology to do that, and we can create many business and work opportunities by promoting recycling technology and more effective sanitation policies.

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

1: Increase compost collection sites.
2: Expand commercial waste zones.
2: Improve education about residents' role in waste management.
3: Increase e-waste recycling facilities.
I do not support this initiative: “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).
I do not support this initiative: 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.

I do not support any imposed tax or fee for garbage collection. On the contrary, I support generating new and creative enterprises that deal with waste management. In particular I believe that we need have an obligation to move manufacturing toward renewable and biodegradable packaging, and repurposing local business that generate plastic waste.

Public Health + Safety

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

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

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 my district, inadequate mental health services and services to the elderly and and homebound are of great concern. We have a vast elderly population in need of many services and care. Coupled with a growing mental health population, our hospitals and public care facilities will be overwhelmed. Emergency preparedness is less of an issue immediately in my district, but during Hurricane Sandy many new factors have come into play. For example, in 2019 we will lose "L" Train service, making it even harder for commuters to travel inland. We currently do not have the capacity to respond to hurricane emergencies to the south of our borough, and this puts enormous strain on the inner parts of the borough in districts like mine.

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.

I'd like to see less legislative initiatives to solve the basic public health and sanitation issues in our district. Again, I see that entrepreneurship can solve many of these issues with more guidance from community leaders. We need jobs and services in our community. I'd like to see these problems as opportunities when possible, coupled with legislation for the support and funding needed.

Education + Children + Youth

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

1: Inadequate racial and ethnic diversity.
1: Parental involvement mechanisms, such as Community Education Councils, need strengthening.
1: Student achievement gaps based on race and income.
2: Class sizes are too big.
2: Restrictive environment for children with disabilities.
Not listed as a priority: Not enough classrooms and/or seats.
Not listed as a priority: Too much student testing.
Not listed as a priority: 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 left 2 questions unanswered because they speak to a greater systemic issue. I believe that we have a cookie cut education model that doesn't address the needs and talents of students or teachers. Common core, while well intentioned is creating a greater gap between parents and their kids. We need a greater diversity in the school system including more "magnet" schools. We need more vocational training at the high school level for struggling students, we need more private and charter school education to address the diversity issues and to provide greater alternatives for parents to select the type of school they want their kids to attend. This fans in short, I DO NOT support any failing school system - not do I believe we should pay taxes into a system that continues to fail. Public schools are an amazing resource to us in NYC and they are an integral part of our infrastructure. However, when a structure fails or is unsafe, we evacuate that structure, we condemn it, we asses the cost to make the repairs needed. Public schools in failing communities are no different. We must evaluate teachers as well as students for performance, we must provide greater educational alternatives, and we must have parental choice. This means that the composition of public schools and "home rule" must change in communities where failure rates are too high to be sustainable. We have a 65% effective drop out rate in our district.

Where do you stand on charter schools?

• 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
• Case by case, and Charters must not be able to cherry pick or subscribe to a different set of standards to public schools. Charters must be engineered to provide something significantly different to public schools. Otherwise we are defunding public schools. To be clear carter are an alternative, not a substitution for public schooling.

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

• Childcare for all, from birth to age 4 (Pre-K)
• More youth employment and apprenticeship opportunities
• Again, many great questions. Is it sustainable and for what economic brackets. We need all of these things, but can we structure them so that we have buy in from the community. We don't need all of these things. For example BPL is bankrupt. There is a budget shortfall. We can crete partnerships with private enterprise and we can focus our resources into converting and repurposing libraries as community centers, and as after school educational facilities. THis in turn would provide greater competition and focus to these libraries and centers particularly as we need to provide a greater supply of blue collar workers in STEM fields. Libraries may be a great resource to satisfy all of these needs, while creating greater employment 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 oversight, beyond court-appointed monitor
• Increased use of city council's oversight authority
• There is often too much proximity between caseworkers and those they are tasked with monitoring. The system is experiencing "mission rot".

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.

Youth and children's services should be a community and legislative co-effort. Protecting and providing safe places and educational support is paramount. But if parents face systemic challenges such as addiction, multiple jobs, single parents, high rents, then you cannot effectively provide these environments, unless we re-model how all stakeholders are contributing. Faith based, corporations, and individuals must be included in this partnership.

Arts + Parks

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

• Increase funding for small and/or community-based arts and cultural organizations
• I support all our public institutions, and will seek ways for them to have a greater impact in my community while looking at new ways for them to fundraise and allocate spending toward community and public initiatives.

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

• Redistribute privately donated funds from well-financed to lower-financed parks conservancies
• Standardize financial data reporting from private partnerships that care for parks - such as the Central Park Conservancy and Prospect Park Alliance
• Institute shadow laws to prevent parks from losing sunlight because of shadows from new, tall buildings
• Parks like DOT has been expanding and making great contributions to public space in our borough, we need more money from those enterprises to cascade into community parks that are not driven by tourism to support maintenance and upgrades in our existing park network.

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:

• Education regarding availability of evaluations for Individualized Education Plans (IEP) for students with disabilities.
• Education and job training for individuals with disabilities.
• 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:

• 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).

Decrease funding:

• LGBTQ community centers.

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)
• Additional protections under "sanctuary" definitions for undocumented workers and taxpayers.

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?

• Health care
• Educational and youth services
• Senior services
• Again, I believe many of these issues can be addressed through greater community tailoring around the needs of specific neighborhoods. We can address cultural and language needs - while using these as an educational and learning platform to diversify our community. Just think of an African American child learning spanish, or a Mexican child learning Arabic. This happens in my community.

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 not convicted of serious felonies.

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?

Absolutely. We could use greater leadership t the political club level, we could also support
greater funding and education within the high school population about the importance of voting, what responsibilities and opportunities are in civic services, and greater targeted support for young women in communities like mine. We need to focus like a laser beam on girls, because in many cases they are the conduits to creating more sustainable and fair communities. There is simply not enough female role models for our social habits to change significantly, and my community is certainly no exception. I live in a majority West Indian and Conservative Jewish, Arab and Indian community.

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
• We need a fundamental change in community policing, and "home rule" principals in our precincts. I advocate a community based policing force similar to the Shomrim to protect our youth and disadvantaged communities from abuses committed by NYPD.

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
• 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?

First, I think we should site jails in more affluent communities.
Second, I believe jails should be reprogramed as rehabilitation-centers, where we are primarily focused on tracking the root causes of criminal activity particularly with minors.
Third, we must provide greater resources and alternatives for felony offenders to reintegrate into their community once they have been released. The greatest cases of recidivism occur because offenders are desperate to find work, housing, and acceptance. They need skills, they need encouragement, and they need forgiveness, so they can become contributors in our society, and help others that face similar life circumstances.

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.

I would like to see greater emphasis on providing leadership in the precincts that reflects the composition of our neighborhoods. We need less white leadership, and we need less presence of training and assigned police officers that do not live in NYC.

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?

• 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
• 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
• There has to be greater integration between Borough hall, Community Boards and the Council members to match funding to needs. Additionally, community boards should have greater tools for negotiating through the council members on land use and development. "As of Right", should be challenged through ULURP processes that is easier to communicate and disseminate, and conversely, additional "bonuses" for development should be contingent on community board approval, this is NOT "As of Right" and should be subject to the greater requirements of the District, i.e. affordable housing, parks, community centers, etc.

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?

Land Use Development and Filing Applications for the Department of Buildings directly to Community Board Committees.

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
• 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
• A combination of solutions and compromises can be achieved. However currently because of the IDC and other "state" laws and regulations, we need to find ways in which public stakeholders and private enterprise can partner to solve crisis. IE. MTA, Congestion Pricing, School Taxes, School Oversight, etc. We can find ways in which we can generate resources to augment or supplement state funding and control. I advocate for an expanded business model in these sectors.

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
• Advocate for legislation that requires salaries of council members to be tied to inflation and/or median income
• City Council members should not be allowed to determine their own salaries. Another independent mechanism should be established. IE. the comptrollers office.

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.

The community board structure in our district needs to be radically changed and re-established. We have too much graft and collusion between non-profits, the council members office, and community institutions and developers. The community board is a rubber stamp and a toothless entity used by Borough Hall to advance it's own interests. Both the Brooklyn Borough Presidents office and City Hall need greater transparency and accountability. I propose yearly audits of both offices including the council seat I am seeking.

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:

• Extend the vote to permanent residents

Oppose:

• 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:

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

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:

• Doing business contribution limit ($250 for council candidates)

Make it lower:

• Contribution limit ($2,750 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)

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?

All city council candidates should be automatically enabled to get matching public funds eliminating the minimum 75 person threshold. Incumbents should be barred from receiving any support from individual members of non-profits in their communities, this represents a conflict of interests. These are lobbyists and bundlers. Currently in my race, I have opted out of the matching funds as a challenger to an incumbent, because the household income of our constituents is not sufficient for a non-incumbent to raise sufficient funds to make the matching funds effort worth while. I have funded my own campaign entirely through my own savings. I cannot compete fairly against the incumbent because he has access to non-profits, corporations, and PAC's that contribute to his campaign.

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.

There is no level playing field to challenge an incumbent if you aren't a political professional. I work 8 hours a day as a building and urban planning professional in private practice. I campaign mornings and nights and weekends, I have no team, and I have no resources to hire a team. The CFB makes it onerous to manage the business side of my campaign because of the scrutiny required for compliance and audit. This means I would have to choose between working full time on a campaign and spending my own money, versus keeping control of my time and finances to manage my schedule and the time allotted to compliance. So someone with the skills to contribute to political life is essentially disqualified unless they are independently wealthy or they have the full backing of the Democratic Party.