Candidate Answers to JOLDC: Sandy Nurse for City Council District 37

Candidate Name: Sandy Nurse

Office Seeking Election for: City Council District 37

Campaign Website: https://sandyforcouncil.com

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

I am running for City Council because my community is facing multiple crises and we lack adequate representation to fight for the solutions we so desperately need. The compounding crises of COVID-19, housing instability, racialized displacement, inequities in accessing clean healthy food, segregated public schools, and inequities in economic opportunities all call for proactive leadership in local government. I am running to fight for housing for all; for healthcare for every single person in this city; to ensure our youth are nurtured, protected and engaged; to fight for all people in New York have access to safe, dignified work with living wages; and that we have a livable future in the face of climate change.

Although I was originally encouraged to run, it has been clear to me for years that we need a representative that is not only fully committed to real transformative change, but is emphatically ready to fight for it. I am someone who has spent every day for over ten years working tirelessly in my district for positive social transformation. I have been fighting for solutions that are not band-aids, but that model the world we want to live in: creating jobs that lift up the most vulnerable, developing climate mitigation systems that help us deal with waste, successfully opening public space for community self governance and development, building neighborhood based alternative political institutions where movements can organize for power, and ensuring a sanctuary space for our immigrant neighbors. As a direct action trainer, I have spent a decade helping groups confront power and running actions in the streets calling for more democracy, more equality, more equity, and the end of capitalism and white supremacy.

The statistics of District 37 paint a grim picture: 1 in 6 young people in high school are homeless, we send them most people from NYC to prisons, we have some of the highest rates of people going to shelters because of domestic violence, we have some of the highest rates of home foreclosures, we top the chart for homes going into a tax lien sale, we have high rates of childhood asthma, we lack sufficient access to clean, health foods, and we have incredibly low voter participation.

However, my experience living and working in this community has been overwhelmingly hopeful, inspiring, and motivating. I came here as a very lost 24 year old; coming from a home with drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, and cops coming to our house all the time. This community is where I was able to heal, to build family and relationships that showed me the power of people working together. It is where I have learned what it means to have access to local democracy and where I have come to realize the power of an elected leader who values our work and the movements we are in.

My district has phenomenal youth programs, community-run green spaces that are providing food to residents, and a strengthening housing movement composed of small homeowners of color and tenants that won concrete wins in 2019. There is an incredible amount of positive work happening in my community and I am running to fight for those long term visions.

As Council Member, I will be a willing partner to movements and to working people and families because I come from a working class family. I was not handed a political legacy. I do not come from unearned, inherited wealth. I am not someone who has been angling to be a politician for years. I have worked hard to earn trust in my district because it has been life saving for me to be in community. I have been effective at building positive partnerships, alliances, and coalitions while being deeply transparent and accountable.

As we work to fight the spread of and recover from COVID, NYC is at a pivotal moment where tangible radical change feels closer than it ever has. Our movements are unapologetic and strong. We saw both an incredibly effective grassroots mobilization to get food and resources to our communities where the city and state failed, and we saw an uprising of thousands willing to risk their lives to demand justice for Black people. We need new leaders who understand this moment and are ready and prepared to turn this moment into legislative wins for working people and families who are living on the margins. We have a real chance to elect a large cohort of women of color who are leftists that can effectively transform the way this city is governed and we believe our campaign directly represents this opportunity. I believe my record and my approach to leadership meets this moment and reflects the new leadership we need.

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

I have been very supportive of Samy Nemir, District Leader in the 53rd District. I also support Tiffany Caban.

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

I have not been an elected official.

I plan to lean into the wisdom and strength of our coalition and co-govern with these groups. I am seeking support from the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club because your members have been fighting for the LGTBQ community and I want to be fighting alongside you all. My hope, is that we can begin a relationship where I can partner with you on legislation that positively affects the LGTBQ+ community.

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

I have partnered with Black Youth Project, which is an organization that has at its foundation a Queer, Black Feminist ideology. Beyond that, the organization that I founded, BK ROT, which is a youth green jobs program specifically hired young people of color and over the years hired many young folks who were coming of age and exploring their gender and sexuality.

Do you consider yourself a member of the LGBTQ community?

As an accomplice!

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

I marched in the Queer Liberation March this June.

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

Yes in the past and yes currently.

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 a direct action organizer where I work with movements to creatively and symbolically confront power. I have helped organize some of the largest political direct actions in New York City in the last seven years: Occupy Wall Street, Millions March, Flood Wall Street, and Occupy City Hall. I have supported dozens of groups to escalate their campaigns in seeking demands for the wide-ranging transformations we need.

I was a lead on an action shutting down a Trump event at a hotel in midtown. I helped young Indigenous youth raise a Tipi in the lobby of Hilary Clinton’s campaign headquarters in Brooklyn when she refused to make a statement on the Keystone pipeline. I was a lead organizer when BYP shut down the lobby of the building where the Police Benevolent Association’s office was.

I’m incredibly proud to have the opportunity to support people who feel powerless step into a space of feeling confident to speak to power. Through this work I’ve been so fortunate to grow a wider family and be supported by a growing community of people committed to positive social transformation.

Have you ever been arrested? If so please explain why and outcome of arrest.

Yes. I was arrested while leading a Baltimore Solidarity March in response to the killing of Freddie Gray. I was targeted as a march leader and arrested. The case was thrown out after we FOIL-ed for the video footage from TARU NYPD, where it revealed that I was simply marching, not inciting a riot.

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. I have formerly incarcerated individuals on our campaign now.

Describe your legislative and policy vision for combatting systemic racism

I was a leader during the spring 2020 mass action movement that demanded a $1 billion divestment from the NYPD and for those funds to be reallocated to public programs and services that build safety in a community. I believe this needs to happen in the June 2022 budget, with a deeper divestment target, and hopefully we have a coalition of progressive council members committed to making this happen.

These cuts should focus on reducing the activities of the NYPD such as removing NYPD police officers from schools. Additionally, I would fight for the restrictions called for by the Communities United for Police Reform coalition are: transfer traffic controllers to the Department of Transportation; limit the purchasing power for military grade equipment and surveillance technology; cut overtime; cut NYPD youth programs; significantly cut the number of NYPD Transit Officers; cut the PR budget significantly; and put the cost of NYPD misconduct settlements into the NYPD’s budget expenses.

My vision for the “criminal justice” system in NYC is for it to be completely upended and reimagined. I believe we must get to a place where prisons, torture, and isolation are not societal practices.

That said, I am in deep study about how other cities like Minneapolis are looking to approach reconstructing their community safety plans. However, I think there are immediate things the City Council should do, such as create public education and engagement opportunities on a handful of concrete proposals including creating a crisis response team for 911 calls related to mental health crises and eliminating the practice of having the NYPD deploy for all 911 calls.

The City Council needs to play a leading role in effectively ending the school to prison pipeline and needs to prioritize removing cops from schools. There is no reason cops should be in schools. School Safety Officers are under the purview of the NYPD, and thus represent one of the biggest police forces in the country. We know that Black and Latino students are more likely to be punished at higher and harsher rates than their white peers verbally and physically by police in schools. Disrupting the school to prison pipeline requires moving toward restorative justice and radical trust of our students - removing metal detectors and police are just starters.

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

I do not want Bill de Blasio's endorsement.

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?

It should go, as well as the small one in Brooklyn. We should replace it with something that is decided upon by the Indigenous tribes who have been displaced from the lands in New York City.

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

Yes, I have refused to take any money from real estate developers, law enforcement, LLCs, corporations, or corporate PACS.

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

How would you have voted on the FY21 City Budget?

No. The budget did not reflect the reality that in order to protect many critical programs every agency, including the NYPD would need to take a cut.

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.

All of the above.

Should the NYPD Vice Squad be eliminated?

Yes

Should Dermot Shea be fired immediately?

Yes

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?

Fined and put on probation for failing to ensure the safety of the public.

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

I support electing a CCRB, but without subpoena powers a Civilian Complaint Review Board is effectively useless. I support increasing the power of the CCRB to prosecute various forms of misconduct and determine disciplinary action.

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

I personally believe enough facilities exist to hold Felony Class A pre-trial persons not at Rikers and still shut down Rikers. Steep investments in facilities for drug rehabilitation, mental health support, and other social services should be met. We are already making significant advances with the end of cash bail. That said, I recognize the work done to pass the previous legislation and am committed to working in coalition and listening to formerly incarcerated individuals.

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?

I would advocate for more money for updated infrastructure and transparency on status of complaints in building up 311, and there has to be oversight to make sure the funds are used appropriately. Additionally, 311 should have a list of community organizations that people can call that serves as a resource and directory to groups dedicated to fighting for justice and assisting people.

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

Yes. The criminalization of sex work is a racial justice issue as those who are often arrested, detained, and charged are non-white sex workers. Often white sex workers have safe places to work indoors and in establishments that although are technically illegal, rarely face police harassment. We also rarely see those paying sex workers criminalized.

The bottom line is sex work is work. Decriminalizing sex work ensures Black, Brown, and our Trans siblings are allowed to work safely, without fear of police harassment and violence.

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

We know that a zipcode determines the quality of education and for non-white students it often means less access to a comprehensive education and extra curricular activities.

High school admissions currently prioritize students with wealth and access to elite elementary and middle schools. Student and family “exmissions” are prepared by lower schools, continuing a disparity in high schools among class and racial lines. Exmissions procedures are standard in lower schools with wealthy white parents, as they use their networks and access to fundraise for their schools, and prepare from a young age for the high school admissions process via testing and other application processes. To make steps toward equity in high school admissions, change needs to be made earlier, at the lower schools.

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

The powers of the Mayor and the Chancellor needs to be balanced with giving more power to parents and educators. We should be empowering our Community Education Councils to give direct input in some areas.

The City Council should have more oversight over city schools including being able to demand data reporting, more say in who the Mayor appoints as the Chancellor.

Do you support public funding of abortion?

Yes.

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

Yes

Do you smoke or otherwise consume weed?

I occasionally smoke marijuana.

Have you ever supported any of the members of the IDC? If so, who? What did you do to help defeat theIDC in 2018?

I have never supported an IDC member.

What will you do to support nightlife in NYC?

We need to change the tipped minimum wage law. Too many nightlife workers are overworked and underpaid and subject to abusive working conditions without proper wages, and in some increasingly common horror stories, wage theft occurs. I also think that we should continue with the outdoor dining and alcoholic beverage consumption services that have been implemented during this pandemic.

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

There absolutely has to be a constant open door between the people in power and the people who put them there. COVID-19 has showcased how very little communication the government has with its constituents, especially with small businesses being forced to close without being consulted or provided any help to sustain them when Executive Orders are issued by the Governor and Mayor De Blasio.

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?

Community Board 4 and 5 have a healthy mix of long time residents and folks who represent lots of industries and my goal will be to keep that healthy mix.

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 IslandCity?

Yes.

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

I do not support member deference in the approval of development proposals before the Council. Not every council member is willing to ensure organized labor, community groups, and long time residents are at the table in a positive way with regards to rezonings and developments.

As a council member, I will be working to build a coalition of labor unions, other electeds, and advocacy groups to demand that any development project meet the needs of the community.

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?

ICE needs to be abolished. In the meantime, non-cooperation with ICE should be mandated across public agencies and subcontractors. We must remove the US Citizenship, residency, or green card requirements for public housing, youth shelters, transitional housing, professional certifications, etc in order for undocumented individuals to have access to social services and employment without fear. We must remove obstacles to undocumented individuals seeking help from unsafe or violent domestic situtations. I plan to fight for voting rights of immigrants in municipal elections.

Immigrant rights is a racial justice issue as Black immigrants, particularly people from Haiti, are disproportionately in detention centers because they are targeted by police due to racial profiling. With the end of Stop & Frisk, “Broken Windows” policing, and cash bail reform, we will need to fight to protect these reforms from being rolled back by campaigns of misinformation in response to the recent increase in crime. Legislating a clear firewall between ICE and the NYPD is a start.

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

Paying for healthcare for every single person who lives in New York state is viable if there is political will to institute a set of taxes on the ultra wealthy - the 112 billionaires - who live in New York state. Using the council seat to amplify the need to pass the New York Health Act and advocate for Medicare for All at the Federal level.

At the City Council level I am committed to:

Increasing funding for our nearby safety net hospitals, Wyckoff and Woodhull Hospital.
Protecting and expanding NYC’s paid sick leave and paid time off for working people and families.
Expanding mental health facilities and services, including quality field-based and site based treatment and crisis intervention. Ending the 24 hour work day for home health aide workers
Protecting New York’s Essential Plan that guarantees health care to all New Yorkers
Supporting the Access Health Initiative to ensure the most vulnerable New Yorkers gain access to healthcare
Protecting the Managed Care Consumer Assistance Program (MCCAP) to support New Yorkers in navigating the complex health care system
Supporting the NYC Care Program, which improves access to services for immigrants within the public hospital system and for people and families without insurance

Who did you support for office in the following primaries or special elections: A) Mayor in 2013 B) PublicAdvocate in 2013 and 2019, C) President in 2016 and 2020 C) Governor and Attorney General in 2018?

I voted for Bernie in the primary and Biden in the general of 2020.

Top 3 issues you aim to address locally and legislatively

COVID-19 recovery will be my top priority for District 37 throughout my campaign. For the last ten months we have been supporting our community with food distribution twice a week. We are supporting over 2000 families every week with a supply of food and we know we are not reaching everyone. We are also serving as a basic source for information on housing resources, mental health services, and more. District 37 does not have representation at this moment and will not for the rest of 2020. The burden of supporting our district through the compounding crisis of COVID and the economic shutdown has been on our community. While we are working hard to continue responding to the crisis, New York City needs a sweeping set of COVID recovery policies that drastically expands access to health, support to workers excluded from public assistance, extends the eviction moratorium for the rest of 2020 and that presents a clear plan for safe education and child care.

While the recovery effort is not something I will directly have an opportunity to vote on or shape, I will be fighting for many issues that will be urgent during the campaigning season, but may have solutions presented by the time we get to the end of the 2021 election season.

Having stated the COVID-19 impacts on our community, my biggest priority remains ending the housing crisis for all New Yorkers. Our entire housing platform is listed in our living policy doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tXYAgYqUhyr6PbLhxTnpy5unuWQZqnAlCEpYWb8ppZM/edit

District 37 has the highest rate of youth who are homeless and not a single youth shelter. We have some of the highest rates of women and children going into local shelters due to domestic violence. My top priority is to support these vulnerable members of our community by working to secure more dignified and supportive housing for our district. We need housing solutions that are respected within the community, not just beds in a facility, but specialized staff like mental health practitioners and restorative justice experts who can adequately support individuals and families through a vulnerable time in their life.

I spent 2013-2019 directly supporting young Black and People of Color in their extreme housing instability. From escorting them to the Sunset Park and Harlem youth shelters to going to their family apartments in the middle of the night to move them out of an abusive house, I have seen up close how devastating the housing crisis is on our community. My focus on supportive housing comes from growing up in a home with domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse, and from leaving at 16. I know what it’s like to have a battered mother not have a place to go. I know what it’s like to be a teenager needing to get out. It’s why I worked hard to be the person I needed as a teenager for young people in my community. It’s why I am dedicated to creating safe spaces for those in need to find stability as they heal from trauma and rebuild for their next steps.

We also need to ensure our Seniors are cared for by making sure as many Seniors as possible are enrolled in supportive programs that can help with rent, home repairs required for their mobility, and that residential buildings are dignified. This in particular is a focus area for me as I met many Seniors on the doors and while phone banking who were alone, who were scared, and who needed a lot of support, but were not receiving any public benefits.

Second, I am fully committed to ending mass incarceration and immigration detention in New York City, ensuring Rikers actually closes, and diverting an over bloated law enforcement budget into social and mental health services that builds communities.

What we saw during one of the most challenging times in the lives of many New Yorkers was a national uprising with hundreds of thousands of people in the streets of NYC over the course of a month, and the momentum is still going. While the pandemic kept going, we saw that thousands were willing to risk their lives to defend the lives of Black people. Thanks to the unapologetic leadership of the Movement for Black Lives, we were able to turn a mass movement in NYC into a hard fought and strategic fight to Defund the NYPD by $1 billion in order to reinvest that money into life saving, high quality public services that make our communities safe. I was proud to have helped orchestrate 3 major actions to put pressure on the City Council to meet this demand. Although we were not successful in making the $1 billion cut happen, I am fully inspired that so many New Yorkers are now fully understanding the message that we are over-investing in the carceral state and not investing at the minimum level required to create safe communities.

To that end, I am fully prepared to do lots of political education throughout my campaign to discuss what true public safety looks like. We spent lots of time having these conversations on the doors and we know the concerns many of our constituents share: gun violence and youth who are vulnerable to violence. In particular as we go through a protracted economic recession, the calls from my district for resources for youth, for protecting families, for tenants, and for health services must be met.

Ending mass incarceration is something I have been working on for many years in partnership with many movements. As a direct action trainer, I have organized actions at the office of the Police Benevolent Association, have coordinated actions nationally to shut down immigration detention facilities, and have worked to create concrete alternatives for young People of Color.

Our detailed platform on ending mass incarceration is fully listed in this living document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tXYAgYqUhyr6PbLhxTnpy5unuWQZqnAlCEpYWb8ppZM/edit

Lastly, the COVID-19 shutdown and economic recession has changed the way our economy works, how people “work”, and demands us to define what the future worker will be doing. Promoting resilient local economic development in our community will be a top priority for me. I will be fighting for more workforce development programs that are training new workers and re-skilling workers who are stuck in industries that are destroying our planet.

I have spent the last decade in the environmental justice movement led by frontline communities. In my mid-twenties I worked at the United Nations World Food Programme, where I worked on post-disaster food relief and learned the direct links between resilient local food systems and markets and mitigating climate change. I was inspired by the global movement for a Just Transition, which demanded we center the cash-poor communities and workers as we imagine a new economy that does not extract from communities, but replenishes and nurtures them. After leaving the UN, I started BK ROT, a local composting service that currently serves over 250 households and employs around ten young people of color full time, year round at $15-16 per hour. I was a lead on the Flood Wall Street action that shut down Broadway the day after the People’s Climate March, and have worked with countless groups locally and nationally on taking their campaigns to the streets.

My experiences of both taking action through rallies and marches and building new economic models around waste, waste workers, food production, and small businesses, is why I am deeply committed to proving that a Green New Deal can take root in District 37. Our community has manufacturing spaces, an impressive and expanding urban agriculture sector, a budding land trust movement, and many union trade workers. I believe, with dedicated financial investments, strong programs, and a robust community visioning process, we can chart out pockets for the incubation of cooperatives and social enterprises that serve hyper local industries.

More broadly, I will fight for commercial rent stabilization to support our small businesses, fight for funding to support worker cooperatives and workforce development programs in new sustainable industries. I am very excited to work to get a Public Bank to New York.

Mayor de Blasio has indicated his intent to call a third Charter Revision Commission, what additionalreforms would you support to 1) the budget process, 2) the land use process, and 3) the powers andduties of municipal offices?

The Mayor has too much control over the budget process. We need to create more checks and balances so that negotiating the budget forces the Mayor to the table in a genuine way.

The NYPD must be mandated to provide full transparency in their budget.

I support the calls for a comprehensive planning process to develop an overall framework for how NYC is going to develop and be rezoned.

I think we need to completely redo the NYPD and create a Department of Community Safety that focuses on crisis prevention and anti-violence activities and programs.

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

The biggest role of the City Council is to be a check and balance to the Mayor, to pass city budgets, to decide on land use, and to legislate. As a City Council Member with an incoming class of what I believe will be a majority of leftist progressive members, I see my role as agitating for more transformational policy and to push forward proposals that were not politically possible in previous years. Working with movements and community members to create space for people to explore these ideas and understand the impact they can have on our lives is a big part of what I see myself doing. Though the Public Advocate and the Comptroller often do these same activities they do not have the power to vote on bills (though the PA can introduce legislation). The unique power Council Members have is bridging the role of activist, agitator, organizer, and legislator - something none of the other city positions has the power to do.

Specifically, the City Council does a couple key things that with a leftist progressive majority can create a more just city. Creating a just budget is a primary role council members should prioritize. We saw this play out during the spring of 2020 where an uprising and mass action movement honed in on demanding divestment from the carceral state and deep investments in community programs and public services that build safety in a community. What this most recent city budget fight demonstrated to me was the difference of having a coalition in the City Council committed to movements and making those hard votes. It also showed that our movements need to do more political education and engagement at the district level to build understanding and consensus around issues like community safety.

Another major role the City Council plays that is consequential is deciding on land use. This is felt strongly in the East NY portion of my district, which underwent a rezoning. The resulting large luxury developments are being constructed quickly and increasing pressure on homeowners and tenants. Bushwick is also in a stalled rezoning fight and the person who fills this seat will have to vote on the rezoning. A cohort of progressive members could end this piecemeal approach to rezonings and push for a comprehensive city plan that assesses the potential for racialized displacement and how our industrial zones can be protected. Beyond working in the district, I see my role as building relationships and coalitions among lawmakers at the city, state, and federal level to advocate for a full suite of policies that are supplemental to each other and have clear connections between the levels of government agencies.

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?

I do not believe a single representative can bring about radical change. My approach to leadership is always through collaboration and partnership. I love doing things with many people, building those relationships, and investing time in understanding what matters to people. I am an organizer. My orientation is always to create more space and opportunities for partnerships and this passion is very visible in my local work. The LGBTQ+ community is and will be welcome at the table to fight for our collective liberation.

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?

Currently, our campaign is successfully rebuilding the progressive coalition we built earlier this spring during the Special Election, which now includes 6 elected officials and 11 member led organizations, with more announcements coming shortly. We have hit the ground running with a field operation that builds on the 7,000 connections we made this year with voters. We have been engaged in a 4 month listening and policy planning strategy that included: 5 weeks of on the ground canvassing and surveying community members, phone banking twice a week, and now hosting a 3 part digital workshop series where we are inviting anyone to come in and look at our policy positions. We are in a 4 person race making it unlikely that anyone will get 50% of the vote and Ranked Choice Voting will come into play. Our goal is to win with 10,000 votes. Lastly, we are focused on finishing our total fundraising goal before the end of the year so we can fully focus on campaigning in 2021. We also plan to focus heavily on digital organizing and mail this year starting in December and throughout the 2021 cycle.

questionnaireJim Owles Liberal Democratic ClubJanuary 8, 2021nyc 2021, group 3