District 2 Council Candidates AMA

Yes, I pledge to not take money from the real estate industry for this election cycle. I have not received money from the real estate industry thus far, and I have not received donations from real estate industry in past election cycles. I have and will continue to fight for the rights of tenants in our district (Council District 2) as well as work to grow affordable housing (specifically low-income, fixed income and middle class qualifying rental and homeownership). I will work to re-regulate illegally deregulated apartment units.

Yes, I have had a long history of fighting for tenants rights, as a lawyer representing thousands of tenants, as a member of rent guidelines board who got the first and second rent freeze in NYC history, to traveling around the state to get the 2019 tenant laws passed. Yes, I will not take money from REBNY.

As the only tenant in this race (I’ve never owned a home), yes!!! I’m a rent-stabilized tenant, and in my day job, I organize other rent-stabilized tenants to fight eviction. I will continue that work as a City Council Member.

But we can’t just organize—we have to get to the root of the harassment, neglect, and illegal rent hikes that tenants have faced for decades. Landlords who repeatedly violate the law should not be allowed to continue operating housing in NYC.

We also have to go beyond protecting what we have and fight for more. That means re-regulating apartments that were illegally deregulated but also expanding tenant protections to more tenants. I supported Good Cause Eviction, which would give market-rate tenants protection from unreasonable rent hikes but Albany left too many tenants out. We need to keep organizing to close that gap.

I have not taken money from real estate developers and will not take money from REBNY in the future.

Yes. I have pledged to never take a dime from REBNY, corporate landlords, or real estate developers.

I’m proud to have the highest number of contributors and the lowest average donation of anyone in this race. Our campaign is people-powered by tenants—and that’s exactly who I’ll fight for in City Hall.

I’m proud to have spent over a decade organizing alongside tenants—fighting evictions, pushing back against deregulation, and demanding real affordability in rezonings and land use decisions. I will fight to re-regulate the thousands of apartments that were illegally removed from rent stabilization, fully fund Right to Counsel, and advocate to improve Good Cause Eviction so tenants in market-rate apartments have real protections too.

But we can’t just defend what’s left—we need to grow what’s possible. That means investing in new deeply affordable, permanently affordable, nonprofit and social housing, including through Community Land Trusts, NYCHA repair funding, and tenant opportunity-to-purchase legislation. I’m not running to manage the housing crisis—I’m running to end it.

I voted for congestion pricing in the 2019 budget and support a residential exemption. We have seen reduction of injuries to people on the street, reduced traffic and increase in public transportation use. We need to do more to increase public transportation and make our system fully accessible as soon as possible.

I oppose Congestion Pricing , yes it is an overt TAX, because it is increasing our high cost of living. Residents who live paycheck to paycheck and small business owners are struggling. I am a part of the New Yorkers Against Congestion Pricing Tax, which has a active lawsuit in NY State court that the NY State did not follow its own procedures to approve congestion pricing and that an environmental impact study must be conducted to examine the three E’s: Environmental Effects, Economic Hardship and Equity.

In the Lower Manhattan on the East Side predominantly where low income immigrants / people of color have resided for generations, air pollution is increasing because vehicles are being rerouted to the FDR. The MTA's own data, based on 2015-2019 before City Council approved a flood protection plan for East River Park to be destroyed and 1000 mature trees chopped down. I am one of many Lower East Siders who advocated for a far less destructive environmentally friendly flood protection plan; we were forward thinking to save the flora and fauna of East River Park. Without 80+ year old trees in East River Park, air pollution will increase MORE than the MTA predicted.

The MTA desperately needs reform and to be audited, contracts renegotiated. This year NYS electeds chose to fund the MTA's ever-increasing ask for more money as opposed to being critical. A homeless sleeping woman burned alive on the subway should have been a call to arms, but it wasn't. Acts of violence in CD2 subway stations make the news, yet lawmakers pass laws to deter the use of cars, forcing residents to take the subway or a for hire vehicle.

Harvey is a state lawmaker. It's easy to say that one supports something. Why hasn't he introduced a bill to exempt residents who live in the "Congestion Relief Zone" / "Central Business District"? He is not looking out for residents. He was asleep on the job. We need pro-active legislators. He is a tool of lobbyists, in this case, the well funded bicycle lobbyists. My family uses all forms of transportation. Legislating refers to working for all constituents, not the best funded, loudest, and self perceived most moral.

Hi!

We must support our HDFC’s as a critical source of housing for our community and city. Extend the damp tax cap and provide additional capital funding for buildings in need.

Yes, I support renewing the DAMP tax cap, a HDFC property tax benefit that expires in 2029 for HDFC affordable low income housing. This is a state issue, though. I will always support housing that enables low income, fixed income affordable housing tenants and homeowners to live and work here for the long-term.

Thank you for asking about HDFCs, they are one of the last truly affordable paths to homeownership for working-class New Yorkers, especially Black, Latino, and immigrant families who have been priced out of most of the city. I recently became a shareholder myself, and know the issues that they face. And I would not have been able to afford a home any other way. As CB3 Chair, I’ve consistently advocated to push back against unfair tax burdens, strengthen governance support, and defend the community control that makes HDFCs unique.

As a Council Member, I would fight for legislation that protects HDFCs. That includes:

• Advocating for the DAMP tax credit renewal
• Ensuring HPD provides consistent, culturally competent technical assistance
• Reforming tax lien sales and offering exemptions or relief for mission-aligned HDFCs
• Creating right-to-counsel protections for shareholder disputes and clear pathways for internal accountability without city overreach
• Supporting peer-led networks and training models so buildings can remain self-determined and sustainable for generations

HDFCs are a pillar of deeply rooted affordability—and they deserve a Councilmember who will treat them as such.

Yes, I supported City of Yes. While not perfect, it was a necessary step toward addressing our housing crisis. NYC was still largely governed by the 1961 zoning code (written before the Fair Housing Act & most civil rights wins), which helped entrench redlining and segregation.

COY included smart tools: legalizing ADUs, office-to-residential conversions, and bringing back SRO-style housing. I also fully support eliminating parking mandates (fwiw parking will still be built where needed, but our district already has no parking minimums).

My biggest issue with COY was its limited affordability strategy. UAP was a good step, but with the lowest vacancy rates in the lowest-rent apartments, we need more deeply affordable housing.

On CB3, I voted to support COY with stronger affordability recommendations—I was the only candidate in this race to do so. I also worked with the Council's Housing Committee Chair Pierina Sanchez to advocate for City for All, which complements COY with needed public investment. I'm proud to be endorsed by Council Member Sanchez for my housing work!

Seems like every mayor and City Council create their own version of a plan to address housing. Mayor Adam’s City of Yes plan is the newest plan.

Testifying against the City of Yes Housing Opportunities in City Hall last year, I said that City Council must stop pitting green space against housing. I support creating more green space; as a council member I would examine the city-owned plots of land in CD2 and see what can be turned into parks. According to New Yorkers for Parks, CB6 has 1% of parkland of the entire district. 

I encouraged NYC City Council to commission to a report that analyzes how much affordable housing has been created by the seven rezonings passed during the deBlasio administration (2014-2021).

We have an affordability crisis. As a candidate, I have advocated for tiered income housing: low income, fixed income, and middle class housing. We do not need any market-rate/luxury housing in CD2. There are 126,000 New Yorkers living in the homeless shelter system and the highest concentration of homeless shelters are in Midtown, which includes the northern end of CD2. As a council member I will prioritize un-warehousing existing vacant low-income apartments and to convert office buildings into residential units, environmentally and sustainable fast solutions needed now.

PS: lawsuits have been filed to repeal the City of Yes, and a Mayoral election, only time will reveal the next mayor's approach to solving the affordability crisis.

Yes, I supported the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity—but it must be paired with deep public investment and tenant protections if we want to meaningfully tackle our affordability crisis. The truth is, zoning reform is necessary—but not sufficient. New York City’s housing crisis is the result of decades of exclusionary zoning and chronic underinvestment in deeply affordable, non-market housing. That means we must fix both the rules and the resources.

City of Yes is a step forward—it would allow a modest increase in housing in every neighborhood, legalize ADUs, eliminate outdated parking mandates, and enable more conversions of empty offices into supportive and permanent housing. That’s a good start, especially given the lowest vacancy rates since 1968. But I’ll go further.

If elected, I will fight for:

• The elimination of parking minimums, which inflate costs, lock in car dependency, and reduce housing production.
• Legalizing denser, mixed-income housing near transit, with affordability requirements calibrated to neighborhood needs. (I’m helping lead this effort as the current Chair of Community Board 3. We are conducting a study to analyze precisely what is needed based off of 2020 Census Data.)
• A public housing agenda that centers social housing, land trusts, and tenant-owned models, not just private development.
• Massive capital investment in NYCHA repairs and advocate for statewide housing vouchers, so rental assistance actually works for those who need it.

Housing must be treated as a public good. That means public tools—vouchers, supportive services, and public housing—must work in tandem with smart land use to address the real crisis low-income New Yorkers are facing: whether they can stay in their neighborhood at all.

We can’t build our way out of this crisis with a few skyscrapers in a few wealthy zip codes. City of Yes was a necessary first step—but the next steps are even more important. As Council Member, I’ll make sure we take them.

PS - As Chair of Community Board 3, I actually led the effort on our conditional favorable vote and was key to marshalling consensus on the vote. I wasn’t present at the official vote because of my sister’s wedding, but I played a pivotal part in ensuring we made that important decision. And as Councilmember, I will continue that fervent dedication to ensuring we build deeply affordable housing. 

I have coordinated with city and state agencies to create inter agencies task forces. This requires all the agencies to come to the table to work toward long and short term solutions. While not perfect, it has improved the situation for our community.

I’ve spent my career in social services, housing policy, & public health. Started at City Hall launching programs for homeless families & mental health serving. Later, I helped open a community center w/ LES Girls Club on Ave D during the pandemic.

I'm a details girl so forgive the long response -- there's so much more I'd like to write. Tackling homelessness & mental health needs a multi-pronged approach starting with fighting Mayor Adams' agenda: restoring funding for street outreach to unhoused NYers (think Bowery Mission), stoping shelter evictions of asylum seekers, and expanding rental assistance so more people can move from shelter to stable housing.

We also need more community schools (with orgs like Henry Street Settlement) w/ wraparound services for families experiencing homelessness.

And Albany needs to stop closing hospitals—losing Beth Israel has gutted access to psych emergency care. As a Council Member, I’ll push to chair the Hospitals Committee so we can bring back same-day psych evals and expand inpatient psych beds in the only system that serves all NYers...our public hospital system .

And we must build the supportive housing that never replaced shuttered institutions.

Sadly, dealing with the well funded but ineffectual Agencies will be a Herculean task unto itself.  I have far too much experience personally dealing with the violent and sexual offending mentally ill simply living in our district.  The violent, sexually assaulting, criminal activity prone mentally ill and often homeless need to be addressed as a separate group.  We have full families, couples, and people simply down on their luck who deserve the homeless services and funding wasted on ineffectually dealing with the visible and violent.

I will not pretend to have an overall solution to homelessness City Wide, any more than I will State Wide or Nationally, but I pledge to be hyper effective hyper locally.  We often know the bad players, as well as the most in need, and Electeds don't listen to constituents, so residents have given up asking Electeds for help.  We live in diverse neighborhoods of seniors aging in place, families, and artists, and there is no shortage of empathy, but misguided empathy, and feckless, absent, phoning it in Electeds, have failed us all.

That dysfunction stops with me.

I've served this district for over a decade, and have worked with unhoused New Yorkers—through roles at cultural institutions, community boards, and advocacy coalitions—bringing together city agencies, nonprofit providers, and mutual aid groups. I’m particularly struck by how commonly homeless individuals will accept safe haven, but are often too scared to accept congregate shelter due to dangerous conditions.

As Councilmember, I’ll work to assure that we provide unhoused individuals safe havens with single-room occupancies so that we can get more people into transitional services. We also need to reform the voucher process so that we can expedite quality housing placements for those living in shelters. 

Our community is lucky to have such a strong and dedicated network of organizations helping to promote equity and support residents facing homelessness and severe mental illness, but without the political will to resolve systemic issues, ending homelessness is further out of reach. I plan to expand community-based trauma-informed outreach models, rooted in dignity and led by trusted neighborhood organizations like Housing Works, Godard Services, Henry Street Settlement. Further, I will work to assure that social service workers are handling case-loads that they can manage. 

And lastly, as Councilmember, I’ll create accountability for agencies like DHS, HRA, and DOHMH through oversight and performance hearings as well as audit the number of psychiatric and stabilization beds that are needed on the East Side. I'll work to evaluate the club-house model, and co-locate these types of effective services in underutilized city buildings.

We need leaders who will fight for these reforms, and I have the experience and the drive to make it happen.

I helped start open streets on Avenue b and fully support efforts to do additional programming on open streets for our community.

I support making Avenue B a permanent Open Street and expanding Open & Play Streets across the city.

Outdoor dining has been a success in helping small businesses survive and bringing energy to our streets. In our neighborhood, it hasn’t always worked for everyone. We've seen issues with trash, rats, and late-night noise. I support common-sense rules—like early closures, proper trash storage, and avoiding platforms that our rat friends can live under—to ensure these spaces are clean, safe, and respectful of neighbors.

That said, the current rules have gotten overly complicated and expensive for small restaurants to navigate. We need a version of the program that works better for everyone and that keeps our public spaces truly public.

“Open Streets” has served its purpose and the rationale of needing open public spaces to safely congregate is no longer relevant. ​NYC Access for All, a grassroots group of neighbors, has crowdfunded to sue NYC to terminate the Open Streets program because Open Streets privatizing public space and violates the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) and Title II.

While the City spent, some might say WASTED, $350 million to close off several blocks of Broadway to appease the bicycle lobbyists, 800 Union Parks workers lost their jobs last year to budget cuts.

I advocate to dedicate a simple, but substantial, 1% of the City budget to the Parks Dept, We need to invest in parks and restore the Union jobs.

If Sarah had attended the 2021 CB3 or CB2 hearings on the zoning text amendment for the Outdoor dining program aka "Open Restaurants", she would have heard hundreds of Lower Manhattan residents testify how unpopular the roadbed dining sheds were and how they had decreased their quality of life: increase in the rat population and the mosquito population and increase in noise population.

My opponents are out of touch. ( or beholden to landlords, developers, so-called tech industry disruptors )

I support removing off street parking requirements that were partially approved in city of yes. We need to create housing without the parking requirements.

I support removing parking mandates across the entire city (we already don't have them in CD2). Parking will still be built where it is needed but removing mandates gives flexibility to build more housing.

I support universal daylighting!!! Though I hope we can get Intro 1138 passed this session, I plan to sign on it as Council Member if not.

As someone who lives in a transit desert on Ave D, I want to see more investment in free buses, expanded bike lanes, and city subsidization of Citi Bike. I also support extending dedicated SBS lanes down Second Ave and adding a bike lane to Third Ave.

We could pass a residential parking bill which would discourage people from driving into our community and getting free parking on the streets. That would be a huge help.

NYCDOT released a report about selectively implementing daylighting as opposed to the current universal daylighting bill in NYC City Council.

https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/daylighting-and-street-safety.pdf

In the past I have advocated to create two bike lanes to cross Manhattan right above Union Square. Presently there is a backlash against bike lanes, so I would not advocate any new bike lanes and preserve existing bike lanes at this time. As a council member I would direct the NYPD to issue "Parking in a Bike Lane" tickets.

In regard to CD2 we have sufficient dedicated bus lanes at this time.

We need safer streets. But we need real leadership and change to get there. I do NOT trust our current leaders or their backers to discover and execute the difficult solutions. I DO look forward to working with engaged concerned citizens such as yourself, who have suffered, and lost, just as I am working with victims of eBike violence, pushing Priscilla's Law for all of our safety.

I am terribly sorry to hear of the loss of your relative, every traffic fatality is a policy failure, and we can do right by your family by committing ourselves to Vision Zero. Yes, I support universal daylighting and Intro 1138—but we need to go further.

We must continue to design streets for people. The vast majority of New Yorkers depend on public transit to get around! That means:

• Expanding protected bike lanes, especially across gaps in the East Village, Kips Bay, and across Avenue D
• Prioritizing bus rapid (and free!) transit on Second and Third Avenues.
• Transforming curb space into public infrastructure to improve the livability of our neighborhoods: trees, bike corrals, benches, and stormwater capture.

We have been meeting with community board about the over 200 bikes on that corner. We need to find better solutions to that problem. This is a residential community and residents must feel safe and secure. I have lived in the community for almost 30 years, raised my kids in our neighborhood and will work to make it safer for everyone.

Yes, you are correct. There are multiple delivery bikes gathering spots around CD2, which are causing significant quality of life issues. Obviously when NY State and City Council passed legislation to legalize eBikes, they did not plan at all for the massive congregation of eBikes or even more criminally, the eBike lithium ion battery fires.

Right now we, as residents, can call 311 or complain at a NYPD precinct community council meeting, but that does not solve the problems at hand.

Legislators NEED to address the congregation of eBikes on sidewalks and the street because corporations (delivery apps) are taking advantage of public space and decreasing residents' quality of life.

New Leadership now.

What we’re seeing with e-bikes is part of a larger pattern: tech companies moving faster than government has responded, leaving both neighborhoods and workers without the safety, structure, or support they need.

We need to treat this like any profession—with clear rules, real protections, and proper infrastructure. That means creating designated bike hubs where delivery workers can securely park and charge their bikes, access bathrooms, and take breaks without overcrowding sidewalks or residential blocks. I’d like to see the City expand models like the 11th Street hub, working in partnership with delivery platforms to make these sites standard, not the exception.

This is about safety, but also about dignity and fairness for the people doing the work. Regulating the industry, improving infrastructure, and addressing working conditions all need to go hand-in-hand.

Please see the video I wrote and recorded today for more on my plan: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKM6oLktI6S/?igsh=MWgweWcycGhxMDB4ZA==

I tried to be helpful and supportive of our community and people coming to our community with food and clothing distributions and fighting with the Mayor’s office. I do wish some of the outcomes would have been different, but me and my team worked on this issue almost every day during the height of the crisis.

I think it's long overdue for the delivery apps to take care of their workers. Delivery apps are running a $1 billion industry, so perhaps they need to reconsider their business model to treat their gig workers better. It is not the City's responsibility.

I plan to introduce legislation that delivery app companies have to rent storefronts where delivery workers can rest and go to the bathroom. Finding adequate staging for the many many bicycles is going to be difficult.

Absolutely—and I deeply agree: the current structure of the gig economy is exploitative by design, pushing all risk onto workers who are often recent immigrants trying to survive and support families. 

For over a year I’ve been pressuring DOT to allocate curb space for bike corrals, and they have continued to push back the timeline, now to June 2. On 11th street in particular, the city has failed us here. 

The City Council can and must step up. One of the most urgent steps we can take is to create a public network of delivery worker hubs—safe, heated, and sheltered rest stations in every neighborhood, especially in high-delivery zones like the East Village and Lower Manhattan. These hubs should offer charging stations for e-bikes, clean bathrooms, secure bike parking, and access to know-your-rights materials and organizing resources. This is common sense and would alleviate residents’ concerns and create better conditions for workers. A handful of pilot models exist already, but we need to scale them citywide with dedicated public funding and in partnership with libraries, DOT, BIDs, and trusted community-based organizations. 

We need to put the pressure on the app companies to step it up too. Delivery apps have built massive profits on the backs of workers while evading any real responsibility. I would fight to expand the Delivery Worker Bill of Rights, ensure robust enforcement, ban tip theft, require transparent wage disclosures, and create a per-order fee on apps like Uber Eats and DoorDash to fund infrastructure and rest stations. On the design front, the city must stop treating delivery workers as a nuisance and instead build for them. 

Finally, we should be investing in worker-owned alternatives. I would champion city support for cooperatively owned delivery platforms, giving workers the power to control their labor and share in the profits they create. We’ve subsidized private tech companies long enough—it’s time to build a city that uplifts and protects those who actually make it work**. I have the record advocating for solutions on this issue, and if elected to the City Council, will continue to step up and push forward necessary changes.**

Thank you for raising these critical issues. As a public school graduate and advocate for educational equity, I believe our school system should be built on the promise that every child—regardless of zip code, language spoken at home, disability status, or income—has access to a truly excellent education. Here’s where I stand:

Standardized tests have long been used as a blunt instrument to sort and rank students, often reinforcing racial and economic inequities rather than addressing them. I support significantly reducing the weight of standardized testing in admissions, teacher evaluation, and student promotion. We need more holistic, culturally responsive assessments that reflect critical thinking and creativity—not just test prep.

The SHSAT is a single-test gatekeeper that has produced glaring racial disparities in admissions. I believe it should be replaced with a multi-metric admissions process that includes grades, attendance, interviews, and other contextual factors. No other elite public school system in the country relies on a single test the way NYC does—and it’s time we modernize. I am a graduate of a gifted and talented program, and would have benefitted enormously from attending schools which reflected my own identity. We need to shift toward universal enrichment models in every elementary school, while ensuring any citywide advanced coursework is equitably accessible through clear multi-pronged measures.

The DOE has a crisis on its hands when it comes to special education, particularly with Linda McMahon’s efforts to gut federal obligations. Chronic delays in evaluations, service gaps, and non-compliance with IEP mandates are failing thousands of students with disabilities. As Councilmember, I will push for real accountability and tracking systems for IEP compliance, fund more school-based therapists, social workers, and special educators, and especially support parent navigators and legal support for families denied services

Yes, the DOE’s budget is massive—but the problem isn’t size, it’s misallocation. Too much goes to bureaucracy, consultants, and bloated central offices—not enough to classrooms, teachers, and student support. The Council has an important oversight role that I will take seriously.

We need fighters in the City Council with the political drive to make these critical reforms a reality. I am committed to this vision and am dedicated to delivering for our students, teachers, and families.

I share your concerns—especially about the unacceptable gaps in support for students with IEPs. Every child in New York City deserves a high-quality education that meets their needs, without having to fight the system or go into debt just to access their rights.

The fact that so many families have to sue or wait years for reimbursement because the DOE fails to deliver services isn't right. Declining enrollment is a symptom of a deeper problem: families are losing faith in the system. To restore that trust, we need to raise standards for every student, not just maintain privilege for a few. That means real inclusion, fair admissions, and making sure our public schools are places where all kids—especially those historically left behind—can thrive.

Being in the limelight is out of my comfort zone.

This work is deeply personal to me. I’ve been the person who helps our neighbors navigate their housing court cases, organizes community cleanups, stays late at community board meetings to ensure everyone's voices are heard, and brings groceries to our elders after a storm. I’ve never done any of this work because I wanted recognition.

It’s not about the title, fanfare, or convenience. I’m running because I have experienced the failures of government. I've lived paycheck to paycheck. I've gone without health insurance. I want to prevent that from continuing to happen.

This community is my home. I understand the deep cultural, political, and social legacies of our neighborhoods. I know that with my experience, my leadership, and my dedication, that I am the best person to serve our district.

I am a fan of Council member Rivera supporting of the arts in our district, especially the East Village.

I would however distribute the massive amounts of money differently, for example 5 million went to a single theater / group. It seems we could fund a lot of groups with that level of money.

I would have voted Nay on the City of Yes.

To expand on what I wrote in an earlier post in regard to my testimony against the City of Yes:

Many of the council members who voted against the City of Yes, Housing Opportunities cited that the plan was a “one size fits all” approach that does not consider the unique needs of different neighborhoods. The council members also expressed skepticism that the NY State $5 billion given by Gov. Hochul was “Monopoly money” because the money was not budgeted or appropriated by the NY State Legislature during the budget negotiating season. Council Member Chris Marte argued “the proposal primarily benefits developers rather than addressing the needs of average New Yorkers.” 

I agree with Chris. Rezonings are used to increase revenue for the City and increase the value of the property for the property owner. Over 700,000 New Yorkers have left NYC since COVID and we as a city lost a Congressional district. WE have an AFFORDABILITY crisis. People are leaving in part because house mortgages out of the city have been cheaper in comparison to rent in the city, especially Council District 2.  I have advocated for tiered income housing: low-income housing, fixed income housing, affordable home ownership opportunities and Mitchell-Lama -like housing rather than focusing solely on rental properties. Residents want long-term housing stability.

In addition, I called on council members to make community gardens permanent. The mayor and the City Council must stop pitting green space against housing, starting with Elizabeth Street Garden. We can rest assured our CD2 Community Gardens are being studied by developers right now.

I also called for council members to vote no on accessory dwelling units. Living in a flood zone, in a building that took on water up to the first floor doorknobs, I witnessed all of my neighbors in ground floor apartments lose everything during Superstorm Sandy in 2012. I was pleased that City Council voted for no to accessory dwelling units to be built in flood plains. If only we could have gotten a flood wall instead of losing small forest worth of trees.

In regard to the parking mandates, I recommended that City Council commission a report analyzing the area where parking mandates were removed for new construction, such as in Manhattan below 96th Street.

Finally I believe if city land is used for housing, the housing should be 100% affordable housing. There are too many ways to work around these pittance of percentages we are supposedly getting.

In Council District 2 luxury high rises are being built all over the district. Village Preservation just released a report that SoHo NoHo Rezoning has resulted in a loss of affordable housing rather promised affordable housing.  NYCHA developments are voting for and against RAD/PACT, so NYCHA residents are deciding for themselves whether or not they want to allow developers to build in their open space. 

Alphabet City has the highest concentration of community gardens, which are presented zoned as empty lots. SO I have stepped up and said that I will introduce legislation to zone community gardens as community land trusts, so all community gardens across the city are protected and preserved as community land trusts. 

In CD2 it is imperative to renovate existing buildings to un-warehouse low-income and rent stabilized apartments because that’s our greatest and most immediate need and supply.  (over 61,000 rent stabilized apartments were being kept off the market / were vacant in 2021.)

I am sorry that is happening. If you email my office I can try to help with DOB, but Keith’s office is most likely to help since he is in the council. That is one reason I am running to help work on local concerns like yours.

The new capital plan approved this year in Albany has increased funds for new accessible stations. Mta will make proposals and we can then push for ones in our community.

I am a member of East River Park Action, and I have staunchly advocated for the community-led plan for a less destructive (and less expensive) flood protection plan, than what we are getting. I testified at government public hearings in 2019 that the current plan is robbing tens of thousands of neighborhood children of exercising and playing in East River Park. I also advocated for the FDR to be covered. I have been raising the alarm about the pedestrian bridges being redesigned as bike ramps. I support banning eBikes in parks (Int 0060-2024) because eBikes will use the East River Park Greenway as a thorough fare.

The other candidates should chime in here because they all stood by Council member Rivera. They never stood with me and my neighbors at a single protest.