Candidate Answers to JOLDC: John Choe for City Council District 20
Candidate Name: John Choe
Office Seeking Election for: City Council District 20
Explain, based on life experiences and accomplishments, why you believe you are best qualified to represent your district
I am a community organizer, fighting for social justice, economic opportunity and equality to ensure working families and small business owners have a voice and a stake in the future of our City and Nation. I am an immigrant from Korea and an immigrant rights activist, building coalitions of solidarity and mutual respect to protect neighbors, workers, and members of other faiths and genders from bigotry and abuse. I am a proud union member, mobilizing fellow adjunct professors to stop disastrous cuts to CUNY, public schools, hospitals, and other critical City services while law enforcement budgets continue to bloom unchecked and fellow New Yorkers languish in jails, prisons, and detention centers. I have deep roots and an extensive base in the Flushing area: --Started organizing here more than two decades ago, in 1996, after then-Councilwoman Julia Harrison told the NY Times that Asian American immigrants “were more like colonizers” and part of “an invasion, not an assimilation.” I mobilized our community to protest and then organized a campaign to make John Liu the first Asian American elected official in New York. --Worked with Council Member John Liu to enact the first language access bill, led efforts to fight police brutality and racism on the airwaves, and Idrafted reports on community development and gender wage gaps when working for Comptroller John Liu. --Served on Queens CB7 for the last four years. Founded and served as Executive Director, Greater Flushing Chamber of Commerce for seven years --Founded and Directed One Flushing, 3 years. --Been active member of Flushing Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends for 10 years; served as Clerk and led its Social Justice Committee --Founded and led Flushing Interfaith Council for 8 years --Been a member of Interfaith United NYC for 1 year --Served on Linden Towers Co-Op Board for 10 years --Founded and volunteered actively in Flushing CSA for 10 years --Been a member of PSC/CUNY for 2 Years I have broad expertise in public policy and government operations: --Director of Policy for City Comptroller John Liu --Legislative Director and Chief of Staff for Council Member John Liu --Revson Fellowship at Columbia University, Community Fellow at the Open Society Institute and Coro Fellowship at the Coro NY Leadership Center --Director of Operations, NYC Department of Finance.Adjudications Division. --Senior Analyst, NYC Department of Finance Audit & Enforcement Division; --Research Associate, Rent Guidelines Board --Assistant Program Officer, Corporation for Supportive Housing --Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the University of Chicago
Please identify any openly LGBTQ candidate for public office you have previously or presently endorsed?
I have supported the elections of Jimmy Van Bramer and Danny Dromm, Council Members in neighboring districts in Queens. I had worked with both for many years before they became both elected officials: with Van Bramer when he was external affairs director at the Queens Public Library and with Dromm when he was a District Leader in Jackson Heights and formed the New Visions Democratic Club, which I joined as a voting member.
If applicable, what legislation directly affecting the LGBTQ community have you introduced or co-sponsored? (indicate accordingly)
I have not been in a position to introduce or co-sponsor legislation myself, but when I worked with Council Member John Liu, I advocated for his support for LGBTQ rights, including the successful campaigns for marriage equality and adoption rights in New York.I worked with Danny Dromm when he was a District Leader in Jackson Heights and formed the New Visions Democratic Club, which I joined as a voting member.
What LGBTQ organizations have you been involved with, either on a volunteer basis or professionally?
I worked with Danny Dromm when he was a District Leader in Jackson Heights and formed the New Visions Democratic Club, which I joined as a voting member.
Do you consider yourself a member of the LGBTQ community?
I consider myself an ally of the LGBTQ community.nity
Have you marched in Pride? Which marches and for approximately how many years?
Yes, I have marched in both the Queens Pride March and the NYC Pride March.
Have you employed openly LGBTQ individuals previously? Do you employ any currently?
When I was Policy Director for City Comptroller John Liu, I supervised Alan Fleishman in my policy shop. Alan was a longtime Brooklyn LGBTQ activist and former district leader for the 52nd Assembly District who passed away in August 2019. Alan played a mean game of Words with Friends.
What press conferences, demonstrations, rallies and protests in support of LGBT issues, pro-choice legislation, criminal justice issues and the Resist Trump Movement have you attended?
I have led and participated in many news conferences, demonstrations, rallies and protests in support of LGBT issues, pro-choice legislation, criminal justice issues and the Resist Trump Movement. Last June, I organized a “Black Lives Matter” rally at the Flushing Library immediately after the murder of George Floyd and spoke at a counter-demonstration against a “Blue Lives Matter” rally in downtown Flushing, Queens.
Have you ever been arrested? If so please explain why and outcome of arrest.
No.
Do you commit to visiting constituents who are incarcerated in state prisons and city jails?
Yes.
Will you affirmatively seek to hire formerly incarcerated individuals?
Yes.
Describe your legislative and policy vision for combatting systemic racism
When I graduated from college in the 1990s, I volunteered with CAAAV (the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence) and worked with African-American and Latinx organizations to hold police accountable for acts of brutality and racism against people of color, whether they were immigrants or US-born. In the decades since, I have participated in solidarity campaigns to protest police violence against Abner Louima, Yong Xin Huang, and Amadou Diallo back in the day. More recently, I have organized Black Lives Matter rallies on the steps of the Flushing Library after the murders of Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. As described above, I first became involved in the Flushing community in 1996 to protest then-Council Member Julia Harrison’s racist statements. In 2011, I continued advocating for immigrants’ rights as the founder of One Flushing and then, as executive director of the Greater Flushing Chamber of Commerce, seeking to unite immigrant residents and small business owners around common interests, including the need for better schools, more affordable housing and economic opportunities. I also sought to mobilize and build solidarity within our diverse community as a Board Member of the Flushing Interfaith Council. As a result of these efforts, the Flushing community received $1.5 million in funds in 2017 to advance district marketing, placemaking, and economic support through the Neighborhood 360 Program at the NYC Department of Small Business Services. In 2017, I was shocked when Community Board 7 voted against a zoning variance that would allow construction of a community health clinic designed to serve an additional 40,000 low-income New Yorkers, mostly undocumented immigrants, who have no access to affordable healthcare. CB7, which is controlled by a majority-white group of long-term appointees in one of the nation’s most diverse communities, refused to concede that most of those served by the clinic cannot afford cars and thus would not need the parking spaces that the zoning code requires; this prompted my effort to build a successful citywide coalition to to enact term limits and increase diversity and representation on community boards, which was approved by more than two million votes in 2018. As the next Council Member representing District 20, I will continue campaigning for good governance reforms and equal access to all New Yorkers, including immigrants, people of color and low-income households. In particular, I will expand the City’s language access mandate and hold the government accountable for implementing it. I will also sponsor legislation to restore voting rights for immigrants in New York City municipal elections. “No taxation without representation” is one of the foundations of American society and NYC must, once again, allow all its taxpayers to vote in municipal elections.
Will you not seek, and refuse, the endorsement of Bill de Blasio?
I will not seek the endorsement of Bill de Blasio.o.
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 and sponsor a bill to rename the former Queensboro Bridge?
Yes.
What is your position on removing the Christopher Columbus statue in Columbus Circle and if so, what should replace it?
I support removing the statue. It is a symbol of colonialism, genocide and slavery. The statue should be replaced with a local NY hero, such as Shirley Chisholm, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, or Marsha P. Johnson.
Will you refuse contributions from real estate developers and all law enforcement unions or associations?
Yes.
Do you support reducing the budget of the NYPD and if so, by how much?
Yes. The projected cuts to the NYPD budget in FY 2021 should have gone much further. The bulk of the FY21 NYPD cuts came from promised reductions in overtime pay ($354 million); the cancellation of the July 2021 Police Academy Class ($81 million), and the transfer of School Safety, Crossing Guards, and Homeless Units from the NYPD to other City agencies. These reductions only scratched the surface and, in the case of overtime pay, may never materialize in actual reductions in taxpayer funds to the NYPD. As a City Council Member, I would advocate eliminating the NYPD units responsible for Vice, Intelligence & Counterterrorism, Political Surveillance (subject to Handschu Authority), transferring out the Transit & Transportation Unit to DOT and the Housing Bureau to NYCHA, and integrating the cost of taxpayer payments as a result of police misconduct lawsuits into the NYPD budget. If we included the cost of resolving lawsuits against the City for police misconduct in the last five years, the NYPD would have had to absorb more than $300 million in its own budget (instead of the general fund, thus incentivizing better internal management and accountability). I would also call for reducing the funding to the Department of Corrections (jails) as well as disbanding the NYC Economic Development Corporation and transferring their responsibilities to SBS (small business services) and DCAS (City property management).
How would you have voted on the FY21 City Budget?
I would have voted against it, for the reasons described above.
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, all of them.
Should the NYPD Vice Squad be eliminated?
Yes.
Should Dermot Shea be fired immediately?
Yes. His management of the NYPD has been a disgrace, especially during its violent suppression of peaceful Black Lives Matter protests.
Should the NYPD Commissioner require confirmation by the City Council?
Yes.
How would you recommend police officers be penalized for refusing to wear masks in public while on duty, in defiance of city and state rules?
At a minimum, police officers must pay the $1000 fine that all New Yorkers are subject to if they do not wear masks in public. I would also support more stringent disciplinary actions for police officers who violate City and State law, especially during a pandemic.
What reforms would you make to the Civilian Complaint Review Board? Would you support state legislation to make CCRB disciplinary determinations binding?
Yes. Our appointed CCRB investigates and rules on only about one-third of all cases, and the Police Commissioner is free to overrule its decisions, and often does. We must expand the powers of the CCRB to independently investigate and sanction police officers outside the NYPD chain of command.
What is your position on the plan to close Rikers and create four borough-based jails?
I support closing Rikers as part of my vision for Safer Communities, which would prioritize public health, new schools, expanded social services, and economic opportunity. Instead of creating new borough-based jails. We should establish alternative sentencing models like the Harlem Justice Center, which offers programs and services focused on stable housing, neighborhood safety, re-entry services, addressing trauma, and engaging the next generation through youth programming.
Will you advocate for the Governor to review sentences of incarcerated individuals over the age 55 who have served in excess of 15 years to determine if they warrant release?
Yes.
It’s common knowledge that New York City’s 311 system is not adequately responsive to the public’s concerns. How would you alter the 311 system to combat these problems?
NYC’s 311 system has the potential to radically reshape the City government’s relationship with New Yorkers. The current system overlays a technological fix onto a byzantine bureaucracy that often fails to respond to the 2.5 million complaints provided by those who live and work here. What we need to do is rethink the agency system itself from a user (resident) perspective: Does it really take three agencies to replace a tree stump on a City sidewalk (often delaying the process until the correct agency is found)? Or, would it make sense to use 311 to consolidate and/or design new agencies (i.e., a Department of Public Infrastructure) to fix issues like sidewalk trees based on the volume of complaints? And, then use 311 to create agency performance metrics and hold Commissioners accountable for their ability to meet these metrics every year?
Do you support decriminalizing sex work? Will you pledge to oppose the Nordic model?
Yes. This has become a major issue in Flushing, where many immigrant sex workers are subjected to extensive police abuse--and one died when fleeing an officer who had abused her. I was one of the first leaders in District 20 to speak out for decriminalizing sex work.
Do you oppose school screening, which exacerbates segregation? Which screens in your school district(s) will you advocate to abolish?
I support making permanent the City’s recent pandemic-related decision to suspend academic merit-based screening for its selective middle schools and high schools. Along with more equitable funding formulas, this step would help address the deeply-ingrained racial segregation within our school system. However, there is still a role for diagnostic screening for students with asynchronous learning issues to ensure they receive appropriate pedagogical resources, including Individualized Education Programs (IEP).
Describe what reforms you would make to the control of the NYC public school system.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed many of the basic problems with the current version of Mayoral Control. Mass confusion over school re-openings, safety protocols, and lack of planning around remote learning all point to problems in school governance, stakeholder engagement, resource distribution and accountability. I support “Municipal Control,” which would make the NYC Department of Education similar to other City agencies subject to City law. I am also open to an elected school board (instead of an appointed Panel for Education Policy) to bring DOE into line with other jurisdictions. If PEP remains appointed, the Mayor should not have a supermajority of appointees; more authority should devolve to local CECs over school closings and co-locations, and an independent Ombudsperson or Inspector General should be appointed to ensure greater transparency and accountability.
Do you support public funding of abortion?
Yes.
Do you support the creation of safe consumption sites? Would you support the use of NYC DOHMH authority to establish SCSs without NYSDOH authorization?
Yes. Safe consumption sites have been crucial to preventing the spread of AIDS and other infectious diseases, and to preventing overdoses. This is a life-and-death matter for substance users and their sexual partners.
Do you smoke or otherwise consume weed?
Yes
Have you ever supported any of the members of the IDC? If so, who? What did you do to help defeat the IDC in 2018?
No
What will you do to support nightlife in NYC?
As the next Council Member to represent District 20, I will support the expansion of the Office of Nightlife, which was established in September 2017 with legislation sponsored by Council Member Rafael Espinal to provide New Yorkers a space in our government to promote safe spaces and social justice in our nightlife culture, protect grassroots cultural spaces, cut through red tape and bureaucracy, ensure fair and proportionate enforcement, and advance the quality of life for all New Yorkers.
Do you commit to speak with restaurant and nightlife industry representatives before taking a position on any policies that affect their businesses?
Yes.
Will you work to place restaurant, bar and club owners on community boards? Will you commit to not appointing or reappointing community board members who are hostile to food and beverage estalishments?
Yes, I will work to place restaurant, bar, and club owners on community boards; I know many of them well, from my work at the Chamber. I will also commit to not appointing or reappointing community board members who are hostile to food and beverage establishments. Separately, I think community boards devote far too much time to licensing restaurants and bars. While the issue should be handled fairly, it should not dominate board business, leaving little time for other issues, as it does now.
Now that the cabaret law was repealed do you support amending the zoning resolution to allow patrons to dance at more venues and eliminate the restrictions against dancing?
Yes.
Did you oppose the de Blasio/Cuomo proposal (and giveaways) for bringing Amazon’s HQ2 to Long Island City?
Yes.
What role do you believe the local member should play in the approval of development proposals before the Council?
Council Members should have the pre-eminent role in shepherding development proposals in the districts they represent before the City Council. However, member deference should not blind the City Council to development projects with major defects. In the case of the Special Flushing Waterfront District (SFWD), many Council Members raised a number of important concerns and questions about this project, including the fact that the NYC Planning Department allowed developers to bypass City and State requirements for a comprehensive environmental (EIS) review. This project should have been sent back to the drawing board and not allowed to proceed.
Do you support legislation to prohibit discrimination against formerly incarcerated people in housing?
Yes.
Do you oppose the removal of the nearly 300 homeless individuals from the Lucerne hotel due to pressure from some local residents?
Yes.
What proposals will you advocate for to protect immigrants and further New York as a Sanctuary City?
While advocating for improved language access to all City services and programs, I would: ---Advocate for making New York a more effective Sanctuary City by banning cooperation with ICE and removing ICE agents from government facilities, including police stations, jails, and local courts. ---Fight to beef up the NYC Human Rights Commission, the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), and the NYC Civilian Complaint Review Board to strengthen immigrant rights and ensure proper protections for immigrant workers and their families, including those who are undocumented. ---Champion more business assistance resources to help the newest New Yorkers become minority and women-owned business enterprises (MWBE) become certified and to give them access to procurement opportunities in City government.
Do you support a single-payer universal health care system? Please elaborate on what policy and legislative steps the City can take to expand access and affordability.
Yes! Healthcare is a human right. We need to ensure universal access regardless of income or documented status. That means: ---Fully funding the NYC Health & Hospitals Corporation at the City level ---Expanding the NYC Care program that provides access to free healthcare services at NYC Health + Hospitals locations citywide; it is currently available to all New Yorkers who do not qualify for or cannot afford health insurance. ---Working with my colleagues in Albany to enact the New York Health Act [A.5248a, S.3577a], which will provide comprehensive, universal health coverage for every New Yorker through a single-payer system.
Who did you support for office in the following primaries or special elections: A) Mayor in 2013 B) Public Advocate in 2013 and 2019, C) President in 2016 and 2020 C) Governor and Attorney General in 2018?
I supported: ---John Liu in the 2013 Mayoral Primary, ---Letitia James in the 2013 Public Advocate Primary Election, ---Jumaane Williams in the 2019 Public Advocate Primary Election ---Bernie Sanders in both the 2016 and 2020 Presidential Primary elections ---Cynthia Nixon in the 2016 Gubernatorial Primary, and ---Zephyr Teachout in the 2018 Attorney General Primary Election.
Top 3 issues you aim to address locally and legislatively
---Housing as a Human Right → Affordable Housing / Land Use Reform ---Policing / Criminal Justice Reform → Safer Communities ---Public Transportation → Economic Opportunity
Mayor de Blasio has indicated his intent to call a third Charter Revision Commission, what additional reforms would you support to 1) the budget process, 2) the land use process, and 3) the powers and duties of municipal offices?
I would focus my efforts on reforming the land use process.
Please explain your vision for the present powers of the office you are seeking and how you intend to exercise them?
I envision my campaign as a platform to uplift the work of grassroots activists, expand political education and community engagement, and ultimately become a catalyst for real solutions to the problems facing workers, immigrants, and people of color who constitute the majority of CD20. Now is the time to start planning our post-COVID future and ensure strong, visionary, experienced leadership is in place to address the inequalities and injustices that have been exposed during the pandemic. I will do this by building a multi-ethnic coalition that demands a new social contract and economic system. I am confident, with your help, I can achieve this goal. If elected, my campaign will bring its vision and community agreements to the office of the 20th District of the New York City Council. As in my campaign, my office will prioritize hiring of bilingual staff who reflect the diversity of District 20 and who have a commitment to supporting our community and advancing the progressive platform I was elected on. As a firm supporter of labor rights, I will welcome the unionization of City Council staff, including those who work in my office. My district office will be a hub of civic participation, education and mutual aid, open every day so constituents can voice their concerns and get involved in the community. It will also be a resource hub where constituents can learn how they can obtain services and how they can become involved in the community. Constituents should know about ongoing policies and legislation that the Council will be voting on, not be blindsided by proposals without any community input. My office will therefore produce regular newsletters in several languages that let constituents who subscribe to them learn about legislation that I will be voting on or I am working on. I will also host regular town halls (virtual and/or in-person, once the pandemic has ended) to give constituents a voice on these and other issues. Additionally, I will continue to mobilize the community in support of local mutual aid networks centered around food pantries like La Jornada, which currently feeds 10,000 people every week.
Do you commit to working with Jim Owles during your campaign and while in office? What role can the club and the progressive LGBT community play in holding you accountable?
Yes! I would love to work with the Jim Owles Democratic Club to develop my political platform as a candidate. Once elected, I would love to meet regularly with the Club and the broader progressive community to get input on legislative proposals, and feedback on legislative and service work accomplished.
If you receive the endorsement, do you agree to identify the club on all literature and electronic materials where you list endorsements?
Yes.
What additional information would you like Jim Owles to consider when we are making our endorsement decisions?