Candidate Answers to JOLDC: Inez E. Dickens for City Council District 9

Candidate Name: Inez E. Dickens

Office Seeking Election for: New York City Council District 9

Campaign Website: https://www.inezedickens.com/

Campaign Social Media Handles: Instagram: @dickensforny Twitter: @DickensforNY

1. Do you consider yourself a member of the LGBTQ community?

No, but I consider myself a supporter and an ally of the LGBTQIA+ community.

2. If you answered “yes” to the first question, do you believe members of hate groups should be permitted to join the City Council LGBTQIA+ caucus? Do you believe the Republican party is a hate group? If you answered yes to both questions, do you support ejecting Republicans from the caucus?

I can’t speak to that because I couldn’t be part of the Caucus.

3. What work have you done on behalf of the LGBTQ community? This can include endorsing LGBTQ candidates, drafting or advocating for legislation directly benefiting the LGBTQ community, working with LGBTQ organizations, allocating funds to LGBTQ organizations, marching in Pride parades, attending rallies/protests/press conferences in support of LGBTQ issues, and/or employing openly LGBTQ individuals.

I’m proud to say I was the first elected official to fund the Harlem Pride Organization which allowed them to sponsor their first Harlem Pride Month event in 2011 which attracted over 2500 hundred people. Today the Harlem Pride month events attract 21000 people. I subsequently also located and negotiated permanent storefront office space for Harlem Pride. I’m currently supporting the development of Homeward Central Harlem, a construction project to bring a $22 million LGBTQIA+-affirming supportive housing development to Harlem for formerly homeless young adults. Once complete, this will be a safe and supportive environment, offering residents counseling, community resources, and access to financial and health care benefits. As a council member, I will continue fighting for funding for similar programs. In 2013, I spoke out publicly and denounced the murder of Islan Nettles, a Trans woman killed in Harlem. Lastly, I was one of the few elected officials uptown to support Brad Hoylman for Manhattan Borough President.

4. Has Mayor Eric Adams met the needs of the LGBTQ community? Please include “yes” or “no” in your answer, and explain your answer.

Yes, while some of his appointments have problematic for the community, he was open to and did meet with the LGBTQIA+ community to hear them ouy. He was quick to fire Rev. Kathlyn Barrett-Layne from Panel for Educational Policy when her homophobic writings came to light. He publicly denounced Gov. Ron DeSantis’ “Don’t Say Gay” law and launched an advertising campaign inviting members of Florida’s LGBTQIA+ community to move to NYC. The Mayor has also made an historic investment of nearly $6.7 million to provide new and expanded services for the LGBTQIA+ community that have never been provided before. His track record is by no means perfect, but I think he will continue to try to do the right thing by the LGBTQIA+ community.

5. Would you demand that the Mayor re-institute its office of LGBTQ affairs, with its leader being a member of the LGBTQ community chosen in consultation with the City Council LGBTQIA+ Caucus?

Yes, I would be willing to support the re-institution of this office.

6. Have you made requests to the Office of the Mayor to demand inclusion of LGBTQ community in city administration and on city boards? Can you give examples?

I haven’t made any specific requests, but would be willing too.

7. Do you support reparations for slavery?

Yes, I do.

8. Do you oppose all efforts to weaken bail reform?

No, I supported bail reform. Bail reform was not enacted to make any community safer. It was about making an abusive system for black and brown people who have for years been consistently jailed for long periods of time without due process because they lacked sufficient resources to stay out of jail while awaiting trial. They had to stay incarcerated, sometimes for years waiting trial only to be found not guilty or it was initially about a very minor infraction in the first place.

9. Do you support closing Rikers Island? Do you support the administration’s plan to open borough-based jails?

I do not support the plan to close Rikers in its current form. I think the current plan is ill-conceived. The cost to build new prison buildings around the city would be prohibitive. It might make more sense to rehabilitate the existing facilities on the present Rikers Island. We might do it building by building. There is more usable space on Rikers Island than is currently used. This would also cut out having to battle the communities who are opposed to jail facilities in their neighborhoods. Additionally, it would also allow us to focus on the crises of violence and death occurring in our prisons right now as opposed to waiting for new facilities to be built.

10. Do you support legislation outlawing solitary confinement in all jails and prisons, including city jails, and do you support Intro 549 (regarding solitary confinement)?

I believe that the use of solitary confinement should be reformed, but in those cases where an inmate is clearly intent on being violent, instigating violence or is targeted for violence, Correction Officers should be able to separate them. This would help ensure the safety of the inmates themselves, staff and officers. I haven’t read Intro 549 so I cannot comment on it.

11. Will you publicly call on the governor to use her clemency power for the many incarcerated New Yorkers who can safely return home? Will you tweet out your support for this or issue a public statement? Would you be willing to be critical of a governor who does not exercise their power to grant clemencies and commutations to those worthy of release? Have you ever spoken out in such a way?

Not on a blanket basis. I’m willing to call for clemency, but on a case by case basis.

12. If elected, will you include in your office’s newsletter instructions for your constituents on how their loved ones can apply for clemency?

Yes, I will.

13. Do you commit to visiting constituents who are incarcerated in state prisons and city jails? When did you do so last? 

No. Unfortunately, my pre-existing medical conditions would not allow me to get clearance to enter any prison or jail.

14. Do you believe in the decriminalization of sex work? If so, do you support full decriminalization, including decriminalizing purchase and facilitation? Will you commit to opposing the Nordic model, which continues criminalizing purchase and facilitation while decriminalizing sale?

I would support decriminalization if there was appropriate regulation of the sex trade like any other industry.

15. What proposals will you advocate for to protect immigrants and further New York as a “Sanctuary City”?

Continuing the city’s practice of not conducting immigration enforcement.

16. Did you support legislation, which passed, to allow non-citizen New Yorkers to vote? Do you support the appeal of the case in which the law was held unconstitutional?

I do not. Our state constitution lays out the criteria for individuals to be eligible to vote and I abide by that.

17. Do you support the establishment of supervised drug consumption spaces in your district?

I already have such spaces in my community, and I do not support the establishment of any more due to oversaturation.

18. Do you support ending qualified immunity for police and other law enforcement individuals?

I would be willing to consider supporting that.

19. Are you in favor of removing police from any of the following? a) Schools; b) Mental health response calls; c) Homeless outreach and social services; or d) Traffic enforcement.

Yes, I think the police should be removed from all of these functions and put to better use. They can be replaced with civilians better trained to handle those functions.

20. Should law enforcement "Vice Squads" be eliminated?

I think that Vice Squads are outdated and can be disbanded.

21. Should the Gangs Database be abolished and do you / will you co-sponsor Intro 360 on the subject?

No and I will not. Gang activity in New York has reached its highest levels in recent memory. Gang activity in my community and many others, brings random violence, drug dealing and murder, not to mention human trafficking. At least one third of all shootings in NYC today are gang related. These are everyday occurrences when gangs are permitted to operate without enforcement. For a recent example, members of at least two gangs have been recently arrested and linked to over 40 drug facilitated robberies in the city, the most serious of which included the separate killing of two men who were targeted while patronizing Gay bars. I’m not supporting anything that undermines our ability to put a stop to this mayhem.

22. Do you support the Progressive Caucus’s requirement that members support cutting funding to NYPD in favor of alternative safety infrastructure?

No. At a time of heightened violence in my community and throughout the city, public safety is a major issue. I hear it from community residents everywhere I go. No one has adequately explained to me what “alternative safety infrastructure” means or how it would work.

23. What concretely have you done to improve access to reproductive healthcare? If elected, what more will you do? Be specific.

I've been a consistent and unwavering supporter of maintaining access to safe abortion services for NYS residents and for those coming from outside of New York. One of my top legislative priorities while in Albany has been protecting and expanding health care for residents of low- income communities. I've successfully gotten increased funding for health care institutions to cover indigent patients. These funds also offset costs for low-income and uninsured or underinsured patients seeking safe abortions.

24. Do you approve of Mayor Adams’ approach to sweeping homeless encampments?

While I respect the Mayor’s effort to attack this issue, I do have some concerns. First are we addressing this as an issue of mental health rather than simply law enforcement and does the city have the necessary infrastructure it needs for emergency medical response to homeless individuals who need help? Have we invested enough in the necessary resources?

25. Do you commit to speaking with restaurant and nightlife industry representatives before taking a position on any policies that affect their businesses?

Yes, as a champion of small businesses, I know how critically important restaurants and the nightlife industry are to New York’s economy.

26. Do you commit to speaking personally with liquor license applicants and license holders before opposing any bid for a liquor license? Likewise for an applicant seeking your support?

Yes, I do.

27. In view of the fact that Ed Koch has been documented to have caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people with AIDS, and was blatantly racist, would you support a city bill to rename the former Queensboro Bridge? Do you authorize the use of your name for such a purpose?

During his tenure in office, Ed Koch presided over a low point in race relations in NYC. He was abrasive in dealing with many groups, but he was especially arrogant and abrasive when dealing with Blacks saying that most of us were antisemitic and calling many of the individuals in the community advocating for or running social service programs as “poverty pimps” and “poverticians”. I, myself, participated in demonstrations against Koch when he closed Sydenham Hospital in Harlem leading to a net loss in health care in my community. I will certainly sign on to any legislation to remove his name from the bridge and will authorize the use of my name.

28. Do you commit to removing the Christopher Columbus statue in Columbus Circle?

Yes, I do.

29. Who did you support for Mayor in the 2021 Democratic primary? Did you make an endorsement in the general election?

I supported Eric Adams in both instances.

30. Are you currently a member of the Progressive Caucus? If you are not currently an incumbent, will you join if elected?

No on both counts.

31. Do you believe the Progressive Caucus should have qualifications to ensure that its members are actually progressive? Please explain.

As stated above, I do not plan to join the Caucus so I have no comment on what their qualifications should be.

32. If you are a sitting Councilmember, name three votes you took in the City Council that differed from the position of the Speaker.

I am not currently a sitting member of the Council.

33. The rules of the City Council often make it difficult to get a hearing and/or vote on bills of which the Speaker does not approve. Would you support, and introduce if necessary, legislation that could force the City Council to print, introduce, hold hearings on, and hold votes on legislation.

Having served in the Council previously, I know how important it is to have an orderly legislative process to get things done. Such legislation, in my opinion, would lead to a chaotic situation where not much would get done.

34. Will you refuse money from individuals or Political Action Committees representing the real estate industry or law enforcement unions/associations?

I’ve never accepted money from big developers or real estate interests, but I have and will accept support from small local Black real estate entrepreneurs like me. I’ve also never taken donations from the Police Benevolent Association or Sergeants Benevolent Association. When I first ran for the City Council in 2005, I accepted a contribution from the Detectives Endowment Association. But after my election, I took the position of not accepting such contributions or endorsements, not because I’m reflexively anti-police, but because the expectation is if you accept their support, you’re expected to always support their positions. I prefer having the independence to evaluate law enforcement issues based on the views and needs of my constituents. But I have and will accept support from the Corrections Officers because they are predominately made up of Black and Brown members, many of whom actually live in my community.

35. Will you refuse and refund any contributions from executives at corporations who donated funds to any of Donald Trump’s campaigns?

Yes.

36. With the continued boycott of Equinox fitness on the basis of owner Steve Ross’ support of Donald Trump and institution of “Don’t Say Gay” policies in his residential buildings, do you commit to opposing his application for a casino?

Yes

37. If you receive the Jim Owles’ endorsement, do you agree to identify the club on all literature and electronic materials where you list endorsements?

Yes, absolutely. I’ve done it in the past.