Candidate Answers to JOLDC: Pierina Sanchez for City Council District 14

Candidate Name: Pierina Sanchez

Office Seeking Election for: City Council District 14

Explain, based on life experiences and accomplishments, why you believe you are best qualified to represent your district

My family emigrated from the Dominican Republic in search of a better life in the late 1970s and we found it here in the Bronx. I grew up watching my family grind, as taxi drivers, janitors, and street vendors – like my grandfather who sold oranges on a street corner into his 90s. I learned in our schools, played in our streets, and studied in our libraries. But one of my earliest memories is one of a fire in my Northwest Bronx apartment. This was my first experience of tenant harassment and displacement from our Northwest Bronx community by a landlord who did not want to make repairs or withstand complaints so decided to cashout on the insurance. Even 30 years later after being displaced from that apartment, my story is not unique and this example and others like it - experiences of abuse of power, being treated with less respect because English is a second language, or because of not having “connections," – have shaped who I am and how I approach the world. A lifetime of experiences rooted in this community informs my belief that those closest to the problems must be closest to the solutions; those being pushed out should be brought in; those intimidated should be empowered; and the voices being silenced must be heard. People deserve the right to share their own stories. This was my approach while directing constituent services for city council district 14 over two years; in the Obama White House where I was the only Spanish speaker in my department, and I launched the first ever Spanish correspondence process - making the White House more responsive to communities like ours; as the NY director at Regional Plan Association - where I secured seats on the NY Board of Directors for Community Voices Heard and New York Communities for Change; and when I was in City service, ensuring stakeholder groups such as NYCHA residents, and anti-homelessness and worker rights advocates were heard by the Mayor. When I walk around this community, I see my family - young women with children are my mother with my brothers and I. Union members are my aunt, who was a union member for 30 years with DC37. Street vendors on Fordham Road and 183rd are my grandfather and uncles. Though my family faced trials, this community raised me and made me who I am. I am an activist public servant, urban planner, organizer, and policy advisor, and I am uniquely positioned to build more coalitions and translate advocacy to systemic and redistributive policy changes. I bring the lived experience and professional know-how to drive systemic changes that will address the most difficult issues facing our community, my family. As we confront the health and financial impacts of COVID-19, especially in communities like mine, this type of vision, experience,

Please identify any openly LGBTQ candidate for public office you have previously or presently endorsed?

Throughout my career, I have collaborated with, supported and been supported by Ritchie Torres.

If applicable, what legislation directly affecting the LGBTQ community have you introduced or co-sponsored? (indicate accordingly)

N/A

What LGBTQ organizations have you been involved with, either on a volunteer basis or professionally?

I have been active in supporting LGBTQ youth organizations in my community like Princess Janea Place in the Bronx. I have directly supported Trinity Place Shelter as the Vice President on the Board of Trinity Lutheran Church of Manhattan, and through a monthly donation to support their work. Additionally, I also work to support LGBTQ organizations with which my partner collaborates like Hetrick-Martin Institute in New York and New Jersey.

Do you consider yourself a member of the LGBTQ community?

No, I am an ally.

Have you marched in Pride? Which marches and for approximately how many years?

Yes, I have marched in Pride in 3 different cities in the U.S. and Latin America over the last 5 years and have engaged in Pride marches since I came back to NYC after college. In addition to celebrating World Pride last year, I was proud to march in a Pride event in Trujillo, Peru where I was collaborating with a psychological care organization named PASEO. We called our group's participation “Un PASEO de Orgullo.” This was a small march, but one of the most meaningful Pride experiences I’ve had because Trujillo is a smaller, regional city of Peru, with a painful history of anti-queer violence. “Chucha con chucha eso es mi lucha!” “Pene con pene, que no se apenen!”

Have you employed openly LGBTQ individuals previously? Do you employ any currently?

I have had many LGBTQ colleagues, students, employees, and dance partners (as a professional salsa dancer) throughout my life. One of my first interns at Regional Plan Association is a queer person. Currently, I am proud to have a diverse group of queer volunteers participating in my campaign including lesbians of color, non-binary folx, and gay men from many different backgrounds.

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 been active in Black Lives Matter marches and activism in a more heightened way beginning in 2014 with the murder of Michael Brown, and traveled to Baltimore, Maryland after the murder of Freddie Gray. Anti-Black activism is at the core of who I am. This past summer during the uprising against White Supremacy in the U.S. I walked with signs displaying “Black Trans Lives Matter.” For me, this is something that is important in my Bronx community because in conversations of racial justice, trans, gender expansive, and other queer people are often erased and/or actively marginalized. I attended the Women’s March on Washington in January 2016, the day of Trump’s Inauguration, and support Women’s Marches as they occur here in NYC. Following the Trump Administration’s Muslim Ban, I also attended numerous actions in defense of Muslim and Immigrant New Yorkers. Within City Hall, I advocated to close Rikers and was vocal against policing practices that vastly disproportionately target my queer siblings of color, like stop-and-frisk policing. Most recently I have been vocally supporting ending the Walking While Trans Ban, encouraging my neighbors and fellow NYCers to contact their City Council members to support the resolution against the law and reach out to State legislators to pass the #WalkingWhileTrans ban. As part of my social justice lens that I take to policy making, I work to center and uplift the voices of those most marginalized in my community, particularly immigrant LGBTQ people of color. I will tirelessy fight for the protection, affirmation, and empowerment of my queer sibilings and neighbors when I represent my community in the Council.

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. As an Afro-Dominicana from humble roots, this would not be a new experience. The mass incarcerated are my family, friends, neighbors, literally and in community. As someone who has experienced firsthand the pain and trauma the carceral system causes families in our community, I will continue to engage in proactive outreach to our incarcerated neighbors and seek to reduce the criminal injustice systems and instead create pathways toward true rehabilitation.

Will you affirmatively seek to hire formerly incarcerated individuals?

Yes. Unfortunately, it is common that leaders in my community have been incarcerated before. One of my volunteers, an active community leader, has been arrested 19 times, mostly on drug possession charges. For me, an incarceration history simply reflects that someone has been targeted by the pervasively oppressive society that targets my community-- Black and Brown communities, queer communities, immigrant communities. The carceral state will never define my hiring decisions. When I am elected to City Council, I plan to hire the best available candidates for each position; individuals who reflect my values and my community. To do that, my search must extend to those who have been historically excluded from City Hall -- which includes formerly incarcerated individuals.

Describe your legislative and policy vision for combatting systemic racism

I know that a Council Member who takes an racial, economic and intersectional justice lens to all she does can drastically transform opportunity for the better for her constituents and other oppressed communities across the city. Systemic racism can -- and must -- be combatted from multiple angles: Addressing the staggering racial wealth gap that exists in New York City should be the top priority for the City Council, particularly given the disparate impacts on Black and Latinx communities that the economic crisis caused by COVID-19 has laid bare and exacerbated. The racial wealth gap must be addressed through direct wealth creation through homeownership programs and an economic democracy lens to economic development – forms of reparations. We should simultaneously work to eliminate the mechanisms that have historically been used to drain wealth from Black and Latinx communities – including working with our State allies to cease the unfair and predatory practices associated with debt collection – particularly medical debt – that have continued unabated through the COVID-19 crisis. Land use reform is arguably the area in which City Council can be most influential. I will advocate for a comprehensive citywide planning framework that centers racial and economic justice, that would create publicly accepted criteria and guidelines for where and how neighborhood investments should occur, and more broadly, that would enable the City to reach a shared vision with community level targets for its accomplishment (including more transparent fair share decisions!) I’m running to fight for NYC budget priorities that protect Black, Brown and Immigrant lives. One of the first ways in which is we can demonstrate those priorities is by dramatically reducing the police budget and reinvesting in communities most hurt by mass incarceration; by investing in our children (e.g. quality education for all that centers racial justice and healing) I support New York City fulfilling the promise of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity by increasing funding to public schools by $4 billion, most of which is owed to districts with high percentages of Black, Brown and low-income students. Those funds belong to Black and Brown students in New York City and we must uphold the ethos behind the lawsuit to ensure equitable funding.

Will you not seek, and refuse, the endorsement of Bill de Blasio?

I value the opportunity of having worked as a senior advisor inside City Hall, where I negotiated legislation, land use and budgets. I got to see one version of what works and what really does not.

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?

Christopher Columbus committed genocide. He was an enslaver and a murderer. His statue should be removed, and Columbus Circle should be renamed. The conversation about what should replace it must center the voices of the indigenous peoples on whose land our city was built.

Will you refuse contributions from real estate developers and all law enforcement unions or associations?

Yes - I have already done this. I am proud to be one of only 14 City Council candidates to have already received the maximum matching funds this early in the campaign, and we’ve done it without any contributions from for-profit real estate developers, landlords, corporate lobbyists, fossil fuel industry, or the NYPD.

Do you support reducing the budget of the NYPD and if so, by how much?

Yes. I support reinvesting as large a proportion of the NYPD budget toward the root causes of the cycle of violence -- inequality and lack of resources. The amount of reduction I support will depend on robust analysis of the budget, and will increase each year, as we rely more and more heavily on community-based approaches.

How would you have voted on the FY21 City Budget?

No.

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. A) The NYPD has absolutely no place in our schools. Police officers in schools only serve to further traumatize our children and extend the school to prison pipeline. We need to enhance our offerings for student mental well-being, provide additional training to teachers and provide more guidance counselors. Our work needs to uplift student mental health and provide frameworks that are oriented towards justice. One of the first steps in ending the “school-to-prison” pipeline is ending police presence in schools, and thereby putting a stop to a major direct conduit between the school disciplinary system and the criminal justice system. Furthermore, we must put an immediate end to all “zero-tolerance” policies in schools, which only lead to more suspensions for Black and Brown students. All schools should be given the support necessary to create an environment grounded in restorative justice, and not one that outsources discipline to the carceral state. B &C) Similarly, the deployment of the police - an institution that is based in force, and not in care - to respond to the most vulnerable members of our communities is a practice that must be ended immediately. Neither homelessness nor mental health struggles are crimes, and forcing citizens who are dealing with one or both to be treated like criminals is inhumane. D) Traffic enforcement should also be restored to the Department of Transit in conversation with those workers.

Should the NYPD Vice Squad be eliminated?

Credible allegations of false arrests and sexual misconduct, and a long history of racial disparity in arrests - this is the legacy of the NYPD Vice Squad. I echo the call of city and state lawmakers for an independent investigation.

Should Dermot Shea be fired immediately?

The problems of the NYPD are structural, and cannot be solved by individual personnel changes. That said, Dermot Shea has proven himself unfit for the job.

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?

As agents of public safety, police officers should model responsible behavior that protects the health and safety of our neighbors. Officers who repeatedly show they cannot be trusted to meet the bare minimum of public health recommendations cannot be trusted to keep our communities safe, and should be disciplined.

What reforms would you make to the Civilian Complaint Review Board? Would you support state legislation to make CCRB disciplinary determinations binding?

An empowered Civilian Complaint Review Board with firing and suspension power can contribute to holding police accountable. But the empowerment of this board must happen while we are simultaneously working towards the goal of reinvestment of the NYPD budget and moving beyond retributive justice to restorative and redistributive justice. The strength of law enforcement unions must be diminished.

What is your position on the plan to close Rikers and create four borough-based jails?

It was the correct decision to close Rikers, which has been a stain on our city for too long. While I believe we need some capacity to hold those who pose an immediate threat to the life and safety of others, the new-borough based jails system should be reconsidered with a lens toward a maximum healing and rehabilitation approach. As we close Rikers, we need to “compensate” for the decreased carceral capacity, not by building more jails, but by decriminalizing poverty, homelessness, and substance use, and investing in structures like transitional housing with supportive services, thereby dramatically reducing the need for jails.

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. My stance is fundamentally decarceral. We must reverse mass incarceration with a well-planned mass decarceration, which includes reviewing the sentences of older individuals who have served considerable sentences, ensuring robust supports for successful reentry, and supporting community-led restorative justice efforts.

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?

First, the 311 system needs to address accessibility concerns amplified by our members of our disability community. Next, 311 calls are ultimately dispatched to agencies, and we must ensure agencies are devoting adequate resources to respond to requests, and that 311 has appropriate accountability measures.

Do you support decriminalizing sex work? Will you pledge to oppose the Nordic model?

Yes, decriminalizing sex work acknowledges that people can engage in sex work by choice, circumstance, or coercion; addresses the compound effects that criminalization and police surviellance have on Black and Latinx womxn, especially trans womxn; and opens opportunities to housing, jobs, healthcare, and legal protections for those engaged in or previously engaged in sex work. The Nordic model is not workable - it is not possible to criminalize one part of the transaction without affecting the other, and what we have seen in other countries is that this approach leads to undue police surveillance of sex workers.

Do you oppose school screening, which exacerbates segregation? Which screens in your school district(s) will you advocate to abolish?

Yes, I oppose school screening. No single test is the best way to assess a child’s likelihood to excel in future environments. As someone who was not admitted into NYC’s specialized high schools, and yet went on to perform well in environments of higher education and professional settings, I understand firsthand these tests are not fair to students without access to specialized and prohibitively expensive test prep resources. Screens like these that work to compound racial and economic injustice must be uprooted from the admission process.

Describe what reforms you would make to the control of the NYC public school system.

Parents and the larger community need more agency in the public school system, so that schools can become more responsive to the children they serve. Community elected and controlled school boards can be a more democratic alternative that are better able to respond to the diverse learning styles and needs of our youth, and are better able to engage with families and the community to foster student success. Robust accountability measures should be put in place prior to any changes to ensure elected boards live up to their potential of being inclusive and responsive. I would advocate for expanding the power of Community Education Councils to play a stronger role in education, including coalescing parent voices in school diversity admissions pilots. I would restore the authority of School Leadership Teams to develop school based budgets that are community-informed. I would support the hiring of a DOE ombudsperson to investigate and settle parents complaints. Additionally, I would encourage Community Education Councils to expand who is considered or can play a role on them, including allowing for siblings, grandparents, and other caretakers to have the option to participate in these roles, when currently many of these other different family structures do not. I would advocate for an additional sense of checks and balances to ensure parents voices and feedback are heard. I would encourage and invest in programs and tools for DOE funding in parent family participation feedback, creating opportunities for language accessible school leadership teams to help ensure language justice for immigrant ESL families.

Do you support public funding of abortion?

Yes. Reproductive health care is an essential part of healthcare. I support the City providing reproductive health care as part of the basic menu of services at H+H Community Health Care Centers and Clinics and oppose any proposed limits to access such care. This includes access to abortion care, an affordable full range of contraceptive options, and high-quality maternal health care for all New Yorkers. We must redouble our efforts to combat disproportionately high rates of maternal mortality in Black and Brown communities. We can begin by making deeper investments in labor and delivery in our public hospitals to ensure the highest quality staffing and provide doulas who can support and advocate for laboring people to make the decisions best for themselves and their families. The NYC Council made a historic investment in abortion funding in the FY20 budget: I would advocate to expand and baseline these funds to ensure all New Yorkers can afford the care they need.

Do you support the creation of safe consumption sites? Would you support the use of NYC DOHMH authority to establish SCSs without NYSDOH authorization?

This country’s war on drugs has proven to be both stunningly ineffective and unspeakably cruel. This is why I support policies that promote the health and dignity of individuals and communities impacted by drug use and center harm reduction as the principal strategy. This includes implementing the NYC pilot for safe injection sites currently held up by New York State. Once learnings from the pilot have been developed, the pilot should be expanded to develop a citywide safe injection site program, allocated equitably across the City according to a fair share analysis, similar to how all services should be distributed.

Do you smoke or otherwise consume weed?

No, but I support those who do by supporting a reparations framework to the legalization of weed.

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. I supported my friend and former colleague Zellnor Myrie in his fight against Jesse Hamilton in 2018.

What will you do to support nightlife in NYC?

Nightlife is part of the rich cultural fabric of New York City, yet regulated by a complex web of regulation and different city agencies, from Buildings, to the NYPD, to Environmental protection. I would support by listening to owners and managers of such establishments, and ensuring the Office of Night Life helps to cut red tape, and effectively facilitates dialogue between communities and establishments. This would be a continuation of my work at RPA, where I supported the repeal of the cabaret law in 2017.

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 support the ability of restaurants, bar and club owners to sit on community boards. My community is underserved by food and beverage establishments.

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! I LOVE dancing, let’s get down!!!

Did you oppose the de Blasio/Cuomo proposal (and giveaways) for bringing Amazon’s HQ2 to Long Island City?

Yes. I was in City Hall while this proposal was being considered and I was vocal about my concerns. However, I would note that Amazon HQ2 would have benefitted from largely as-of-right incentives like ICAP and REAP that still require state action to change, and such changes should remain a priority.

What role do you believe the local member should play in the approval of development proposals before the Council?

While I believe that local members are often the most in-tune with the needs of the communities they represent, they should not have unilateral decision making power in development proposals.

Do you support legislation to prohibit discrimination against formerly incarcerated people in housing?

Yes. Formerly incarcerated people should have the same rights to safe and dignified housing as any other members of our community.

Do you oppose the removal of the nearly 300 homeless individuals from the Lucerne hotel due to pressure from some local residents?

Yes. Temporary shelter like the Lucerne is not a viable long-term solution to the city’s affordable housing crisis, but our neighbors who find themselves unhoused should not be shuttled between the Upper West Side and lower Manhattan as pawns in a legal battle. The City must do much more to ensure that homeless New Yorkers have a pathway to permanent housing. While we are in a right to shelter state, it is permanent housing solutions where we should invest our scarce resources. With help from the State and Federal governments, increasing the value and availability of our housing vouchers and combatting source of income discrimination (whereby landlords discriminate against households that would pay rent through a voucher) is the sort of structural change that would allow us to finally ensure every New Yorker has a home.

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

(1) Our immigrant neighbors are an essential part of the fabric of this city and should be allowed to vote in municipal elections. They earn their living here, pay taxes here, and send their children to schools here. They invest in and rely on the health and stability of our City and institutions and thus deserve a say in its stewardship. And yet, there are over one million residents in NYC who are legally barred from voting in municipal elections because of anti-immigrant policy. Indeed, the exclusion of immigrants is rooted in disenfranchisement as a form of marginalization to exclude immigrants, Black communities, women, and others from participating in U.S. democracy. Although NYC allowed noncitizen voting in local school board elections between 1968 and 2003, and other municipalities in the U.S. have adopted noncitizen voting, NYC government continues to disenfranchise its immigrant residents. This is particularly important for District 14 in the Bronx since we have some of the highest percentages of noncitizens of any NYC city council districts. There is no law that prevents my District 14 neighbors and noncitizens across the city with lawful presence from voting in local elections. Protecting the rights of these New Yorkers to vote would make this city more democratic and would live up to the city’s promise to be a leader in providing a voice and opportunity to immigrants. For these reasons I support enfranchising noncitizen immigrants in municipal elections and believe in fully defending all NYC residents’ right to vote. (2) According to the Bronx Defenders, 97% of detained immigrants without legal representation are unsuccessful in challenging their deportation, while on the other hand, legal counsel can improve the chance of winning a deportation case by as much as 1000%. As we continue to call ourselves a sanctuary city, the Council funded New York Immigrant Family Unity Project should continue to provide free, high-quality legal representation to every low-income immigrant facing deportation in the City of New York, as well as to detained New Yorkers facing deportation in the nearby immigration courts in New Jersey.. No one should ever be deprived of legal representation based on the offense for which they are accused or their ability to pay. The current exclusion of some immigrants from benefiting from City-funded legal representation must be reversed. (3) Immigrant New Yorkers undergird our city’s prosperity, yet they are excluded from social safety nets available at the state and federal levels. According to Make the Road, 90% of immigrant Black and Brown New Yorkers surveyed had reported job or income loss in their household. By April, only 5% had received unemployment insurance. 54% of NYC essential workers are immigrants. Excluded workers receive $0 in unemployment, pandemic unemployment, or federal stimulus cash. As of last week (Nov. 2nd), 1.2M excluded workers have been waiting for over 200 days for emergency relief funds to pay bills and feed their families. If the state and federal government do not step up, NYC should step in to ensure no NYC resident is left without these essential necessities.

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. Access to high quality healthcare is a human right, and should be provided to all - no matter their immigration status, income, age, gender, ability or sexual identity. Unfortunately, in this country, access to such healthcare has long been difficult for too many. This is particularly unjust because structural inequalities often mean that the most vulnerable Americans also suffer from poorer health. For example, Black Americans typically live five years less than White Americans. The City can take direct action to expand access to health care by expanding its existing public health infrastructure. As a council member, I will fight for: **Expansion of NYC Care health insurance so more of our neighbors can get the quality healthcare they need, and passage of the New York Health Act at the state level and Medicare for All at the federal level. **Expansion of our network of Health & Hospitals Community Health Care Centers and Clinics that provide the full range of reproductive care, mental health, dental, vision, and primary care. **Deeper investments in labor and delivery in our public hospitals to ensure the highest quality staffing. **A holistic approach to healthcare, through improving the social determinants of health.

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?

Top 3 issues you aim to address locally and legislatively

(1) HOUSING AS A HUMAN RIGHT: Mine is an anti-white supremacist, anti-intersectional oppression framework that observes the root cause of the housing crisis as deep inequality, caused by an ongoing history of greed via blocked access to wealth building opportunities for people of color in this country. To address, we must increase pathways to home ownership that allow for stable housing and build intergenerational wealth. In the immediate term, we must #CancelRent for those unable to pay, while helping small landlords to stabilize their properties, and we must address the underfunded state of NYCHA in ways that uplift the dignity and autonomy of NYCHA residents. Yet in the long term, housing created should be public- or community-owned and controlled. (2) ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY THROUGH ECONOMIC DEMOCRACY: In addition to supporting state colleagues in the effort to #FundExcludedWorkers and #TaxTheRich, I will fight for transformational investments in community economic empowerment including direct aid to keep our small businesses open, provide commercial lease assistance, and support the small business survival act; support good job creation through projects that receive city subsidy and strengthening labor unions; and provide seed funding for workers cooperatives. The work that produces this economic activity should be centered around our just transition that is lowering carbon emissions at every opportunity, and centering frontline workers. (3) HIGH QUALITY, HEALING-CENTERED AND STRENGTHS-BASED EDUCATION: As we push to radically re-envision safety in NYC, I will support the strong advocacy to remove police from schools, reinvest in healing-centered and strengths-based educational approaches, and make access to enrichment programs such as Beacon, COMPASS and SONYC universal. District 14 needs more community schools.

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?

LAND USE REFORM: While NYC’s land use process works better than most with respect to speed of the process, it fails in critical ways. The process is racist, economically discriminatory, and undemocratic. The substance of land use negotiations largely happens away from the public eye. And, with very few exceptions (when local council members have particularly inclusive approaches), communities are effectively shut out of the process. In 2017, I co-led a land use reform working group of over 40 community and land use organizations that convened to identify strategies for land use reform. Our report, “Inclusive City” laid out recommendations. The Inclusive City coalition has evolved into the Thriving Communities coalition. The recommendations we advocated for together included: **A comprehensive citywide planning framework that centers racial and economic justice would create publicly accepted criteria and guidelines for where and how rezonings should occur, and more broadly, it would enable the City to reach a shared vision with community level targets for its accomplishment (including more transparent fair share decisions!). **Strengthened community planning to enable more local stakeholders to have a say in the future of their neighborhoods and to strengthen the entities most likely to engage in neighborhood-level planning efforts, including community boards. **Reform community boards to be better resourced and more democratic. **Increase transparency in land use processes before and during formal procedures - transparently revising the analysis tools and formulas in environmental review would ensure stakeholders have the best information available to make land use decisions where environmental review is triggered and tracking to ensure adverse impacts are mitigated as promised would strengthen public trust.

Please explain your vision for the present powers of the office you are seeking and how you intend to exercise them?

Given the nature of our strong-Mayor city, I see the role of the City Council as an actual counterweight to the Mayor on issues of budget, land use and legislation. Intergenerational and intersectional oppression manifests in every facet of life in the 14th district of NYC, from housing, to education, to environmental injustice to the carceral state, and my vision to fight for systemic change will require voting against legislation, budgets and land use decisions that do not move the needle. I envision this work happening in robust consultation with community, labor and movement organizations.

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. Our campaign is people-powered and community-driven, and I will proudly accept the responsibility of being accountable to all members of my community. Being a movement candidate means working hand in hand with community members, leaders, and organizations to collectively develop policies and our approach. Being a movement candidate means continuing to carry the wisdom gained and lessons learned from partnering with organizations like Jim Owles, into elected office.

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?

I love love!