Candidate Answers to JOLDC: Shekar Krishnan for City Council District 25
Candidate Name: Shekar Krishnan
Office Seeking Election for: New York City Council District 25
Campaign Website: https://voteshekar.com
Campaign Social Media Handles: @voteshekar
1. Do you consider yourself a member of the LGBTQ community?No, but I am proud to be an unwavering ally!
2. If you answered “yes” to the first question, do you believe members of hate groups should be permitted to join the City Council LGBTQIA+ caucus? Do you believe the Republican party is a hate group? If you answered yes to both questions, do you support ejecting Republicans from the caucus?
3. What work have you done on behalf of the LGBTQ community? This can include endorsing LGBTQ candidates, drafting or advocating for legislation directly benefiting the LGBTQ community, working with LGBTQ organizations, allocating funds to LGBTQ organizations, marching in Pride parades, attending rallies/protests/press conferences in support of LGBTQ issues, and/or employing openly LGBTQ individuals.
Jackson Heights is the birthplace of the LGBTQIA+ movement here in Queens. I am proud to have fought for the LGBTIQ+ community in every single way listed above and more. I’ve co-sponsored numerous pieces of legislation for the expansion of services, resources, and programs for the LGBTQIA+ community; advocated for and partnered with LGBTQIA+ organizations, especially here in Queens and those serving our immigrant communities; funded programming and worked closely with our LGBTQIA+ senior center here in Jackson Heights; and marched proudly in our Queens pride parades. Finally, as this year has shown, as one of the strongest supporters of Drag Story Hour here in New York City, I have joined my community in standing against homophobia and transphobia targeting our LGBTQIA+ neighbors and this wonderful programming that promotes joy, literacy, and inclusivity for our children. In the last 6 months, my district has been targeted 14 times – at our public libraries, to my office, and my home with my children–and each time we have shown that our community’s love and solidarity will drown out any hate.
4. Has Mayor Eric Adams met the needs of the LGBTQ community? Please include “yes” or “no” in your answer, and explain your answer.
No–Mayor Adams has appointed known anti-LGBTQ persons into positions of authority, has failed to address the suffering of LGBTQ+ individuals, especially trans people, in jails and shelters and those arriving here seeking asylum, and is now cutting critical services and agencies that serve our LGBTQIA+ community.
5. Would you demand that the Mayor re-institute its office of LGBTQ affairs, with its leader being a member of the LGBTQ community chosen in consultation with the City Council LGBTQIA+ Caucus?
6. Have you made requests to the Office of the Mayor to demand inclusion of LGBTQ community in city administration and on city boards? Can you give examples?
Yes, and I have also spoken out against his appointment of anti-LGBTQ individuals to such positions.
7. Do you support reparations for slavery?
Yes
8. Do you oppose all efforts to weaken bail reform?
Yes
9. Do you support closing Rikers Island? Do you support the administration’s plan to open borough-based jails?
Yes to closing Rikers, No to borough-based jails.
10. Do you support legislation outlawing solitary confinement in all jails and prisons, including city jails, and do you support Intro 549 (regarding solitary confinement)?
Yes
11. Will you publicly call on the governor to use her clemency power for the many incarcerated New Yorkers who can safely return home? Will you tweet out your support for this or issue a public statement? Would you be willing to be critical of a governor who does not exercise their power to grant clemencies and commutations to those worthy of release? Have you ever spoken out in such a way?
Yes on all
12. If elected, will you include in your office’s newsletter instructions for your constituents on how their loved ones can apply for clemency?
Yes
13. Do you commit to visiting constituents who are incarcerated in state prisons and city jails? When did you do so last?
Yes - most recently, I visited Orange County Jail and spoke personally with immigrants incarcerated there while interrogating jail officials. I have on several occasions cross examined the Department of Corrections commissioner and other DOC witnesses at Council hearings on their failure to address the utter humanitarian crisis at Rikers Island, including the continued use of solitary confinement, torture which must end.
14. Do you believe in the decriminalization of sex work? If so, do you support full decriminalization, including decriminalizing purchase and facilitation? Will you commit to opposing the Nordic model, which continues criminalizing purchase and facilitation while decriminalizing sale?
Yes
15. What proposals will you advocate for to protect immigrants and further New York as a “Sanctuary City”?
From being a staunch champion for Our City, Our Vote; a proud supporter for the Key to the City program in my district and across the city; fighting for many other services for our immigrant communities alongside organizations like Make the Road New York and NICE; and speaking out forcefully for our asylum seekers as a member of our Council’s Immigration Committee, as well as hosting an asylum seeker resource fair in my district, I will always advocate tirelessly for our immigrant communities. It’s central to my very identity. I am the proud son of immigrants from India and the first Indian American ever elected to the City Council in NYC’s history, so for me immigrant justice is a personal issue. Our communities here in Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, and Woodside are among the most densely diverse immigrant communities in the world, and their struggles are central to each and every platform in this campaign and the way I approach advocacy. In addition, as a bilingual Council Member (English/Spanish) who co-founded a housing legal services organization for immigrant communities, I firmly believe that linguistic and cultural accessibility -- both in campaigns and in government services -- is a central component of immigrant advocacy.
16. Did you support legislation, which passed, to allow non-citizen New Yorkers to vote? Do you support the appeal of the case in which the law was held unconstitutional?
17. Do you support the establishment of supervised drug consumption spaces in your district?
As a supporter of supervised injection facilities, I have visited them and seen firsthand how successful they can be when implemented with the right model, services, and resources. Assuming the same successful model of implementation and the appropriate supports from city government, I would consider it for my district.
18. Do you support ending qualified immunity for police and other law enforcement individuals?
Yes
19. Are you in favor of removing police from any of the following? a) Schools; b) Mental health response calls; c) Homeless outreach and social services; or d) Traffic enforcement.
Yes. Non-police interventions in all of these areas are vital and proven to be effective. These are crises of housing, health, and well-being, and they must be treated that way in order to truly help those in need.
20. Should law enforcement "Vice Squads" be eliminated?
Yes
21. Should the Gangs Database be abolished and do you / will you co-sponsor Intro 360 on the subject?
Yes because this database targets innocent people which makes it ineffective and counterproductive. The police department should focus on actual criminal activity, not arbitrarily profiling young people of color. We must utilize proven strategies that focus on crime prevention and due process.
22. Do you support the Progressive Caucus’s requirement that members support cutting funding to NYPD in favor of alternative safety infrastructure?
Yes
Yes, I have been a staunch and vocal supporter of this legislation.
I am a member of the Progressive Caucus and joined our Caucus’s statement of values. Everyone deserves to feel safe – walking our streets, riding our trains, and to feel safe from hate. We must invest far more in strategies to truly keep people safe before issues escalate to a point of crisis. This means engaging our youth in activities that keep them off the streets, such as expanding community centers, especially in districts like mine that do not have any, and afterschool programs. When it comes to the crises of homelessness, mental health, our schools, and traffic enforcement to name a few, we must invest in non-police interventions and social services that recognize the crises for what they are and address them with effective strategies that truly help those in serious need.
23. What concretely have you done to improve access to reproductive healthcare? If elected, what more will you do? Be specific.
I have always fought for reproductive justice in every way I can, including: co-sponsoring enacted legislation in the City Council to expand access to abortion and contraceptives as well as reproductive health care to all women and birthing people; fighting with my colleagues for the $1 million abortion access fund that we secured in the last budget; speaking out on issues of maternal mortality and the serious racial disparities associated with it; advocating for affordable doulas and midwives (as well as fighting alongside them for a fair contract at NYC hospitals); and expanding language accessibility for all of these services. Reproductive justice includes ensuring education and outreach and that services are widely and easily accessible in all communities, especially in low-income communities of color. I continue to advocate for reproductive justice in all its forms and will never back down.
24. Do you approve of Mayor Adams’ approach to sweeping homeless encampments?
No, and I’ve successfully advocated to stop such inhumane sweeps in my district and to ensure homeless individuals instead received the services they needed.
25. Do you commit to speaking with restaurant and nightlife industry representatives before taking a position on any policies that affect their businesses?
Yes
26. Do you commit to speaking personally with liquor license applicants and license holders before opposing any bid for a liquor license? Likewise for an applicant seeking your support?
Yes
27. In view of the fact that Ed Koch has been documented to have caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people with AIDS, and was blatantly racist, would you support a city bill to rename the former Queensboro Bridge? Do you authorize the use of your name for such a purpose?
Yes
28. Do you commit to removing the Christopher Columbus statue in Columbus Circle?
We must create a standard, structure, and framework to review and remove problematic public art work from our city, and this includes the Christoher Columbus statue, the removal of which I support. We must also advocate that the DOE revise its educational curriculum to teach the actual history of Christopher Columbus’s colonization and the immense, devastating, and lasting harm it caused to our indigenous communities.
29. Who did you support for Mayor in the 2021 Democratic primary? Did you make an endorsement in the general election?
As a candidate running for City Council, I did not endorse or support any mayoral candidate nor did I make an endorsement in the general election.
30. Are you currently a member of the Progressive Caucus? If you are not currently an incumbent, will you join if elected?
Yes
31. Do you believe the Progressive Caucus should have qualifications to ensure that its members are actually progressive? Please explain.
Yes, we must work to both solidify our messages, values, and goals in a cohesive way and also to build coalitions in order to achieve progressive change.
32. If you are a sitting Councilmember, name three votes you took in the City Council that differed from the position of the Speaker.
SLR 0008-2022 (NYPD pension); City Planning Commission appointment
33. The rules of the City Council often make it difficult to get a hearing and/or vote on bills of which the Speaker does not approve. Would you support, and introduce if necessary, legislation that could force the City Council to print, introduce, hold hearings on, and hold votes on legislation.
There already exists a mechanism to do exactly this, and it was used successfully to advance critical legislation in the Council to address stop and frisk and to pass paid sick leave. I would not want to change such a mechanism in a way that allows for harmful discourse or legislation to advance. We have seen Council Member Paladino use her platform to promote hate and bigotry when it comes to Drag Story Hour and our LGBTQIA+ community, and some protections are needed to avoid manipulation of rules to further promote hate.
34. Will you refuse money from individuals or Political Action Committees representing the real estate industry or law enforcement unions/associations?
Yes
35. Will you refuse and refund any contributions from executives at corporations who donated funds to any of Donald Trump’s campaigns?
Yes
36. With the continued boycott of Equinox fitness on the basis of owner Steve Ross’ support of Donald Trump and institution of “Don’t Say Gay” policies in his residential buildings, do you commit to opposing his application for a casino?
Yes
37. If you receive the Jim Owles endorsement, do you agree to identify the club on all literature and electronic materials where you list endorsements?
Yes