Gotham Gazette

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Opinion

A Flushing Tragedy Underscores Acute Affordable Housing Crisis


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A line for food in Flushing (photo: Emil Cohen/City Council)


Pedro Rodriguez posted a video to Facebook of a homeless man bent over and lifeless in his cardboard shelter made up of several boxes, with one serving as the shelter’s threshold where the elderly Asian man had neatly placed his shoes. Posted this past Saturday morning, Rodriguez’s video ended with Fire Department responders lifting the man’s torso and ascertaining he had died hours earlier. Rodriguez, who works at La Jornada, Flushing’s largest food pantry, noted a growing presence of homeless people on downtown Flushing’s Prince Street due to the coronavirus pandemic-induced economic and housing crises.

Just days earlier, the chair of the New York City Planning Commission, Marisa Lago, prefaced her vote to approve the highly controversial Special Flushing Waterfront District (SFWD) by congratulating the Queens Department of City Planning team and local property owners and developers for two decades of collaboration on a waterfront redevelopment proposal that will advance Flushing’s future and help the city recover.

On Monday, the New York City Council’s zoning subcommittee held a public hearing on the developers’ SFWD proposal to waive rules regulating building heights and waterfront access to permit the development of a 29-acre, mixed-use luxury residential and commercial enclave complete with a private street network.

The Special Flushing Waterfront District applicant, FRWA LLC, is comprised of three Chinese transnational developers – F & T Group, Young Nian LLC, and United Construction – and they argue their proposed 3 million square feet of new development will not lead to residential displacement because the waterfront is largely vacant. This view, however, fails to recognize the developers’ contributions to a speculative real estate market that threatens all forms of affordable housing in downtown Flushing.

A striking example is a modest, two-family residential property on Sanford Avenue that was pitched as a “prime investment opportunity” for condominium development and sold in May 2019 for $3.4 million.

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Private developers are loath to concede their projects facilitate (direct or indirect) displacement but it is especially egregious when city government planners and elected officials approve a massive, market-driven real estate development in Flushing (much less without a full environmental impact study and review) that will further jeopardize the neighborhood’s diminishing affordable housing stock, putting thousands of working-class residents at risk of homelessness.

There could be no more stark relief of the human toll of Flushing’s already acute affordable housing crisis than Rodriguez’s heartbreaking video. The Department of City Planning’s study of (pre-pandemic) downtown Flushing indicated a median household income of only $34,428. Last year, more than 84,000 applications were submitted to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development for a chance to secure one of the 231 affordable units in OneFlushing. Recognizing this severe housing shortage, the Municipal Art Society’s report, Much Ado About Flushing, recommended “(T)he entire SFWD should be mapped as an MIH area,” thus mandating the inclusion of significant affordable housing in any redevelopment plan.

The pandemic-induced surge of people in a quarter-mile long queue for a bag of groceries at La Jornada was covered extensively by the local media. Heeding the advice of City Council Member Peter Koo, a FRWA LLC representative reached out to La Jornada to donate turkeys for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, and to set up a GoFundMe page titled, “HELP FOOD PANTRY IN CRISIS LaJornada & SFWDistrict,” which has, as of November 10, raised $36,088 of a $50,000 goal.

As much as these donations are needed, charity is not a sufficient response to systemic inequality and risk of hunger and homelessness. Rodriguez noted in his video that he was documenting “the first homeless dead of the season.” Is it really necessary for more of Flushing’s vulnerable populations to die in order to underscore the tragedy of an acute affordable housing crisis?

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Tarry Hum is Professor and Chair of the Urban Studies Department, Queens College, City University of New York. On Twitter @TarryHum.

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Want to Fix NYCHA? Start in the Kitchen


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NYCHA CEO Greg Russ inspects a stove at Queensbridge Houses (Michael Appleton/Mayor’s Office)


NYCHA has a gas problem. 

Any public housing resident currently impacted by one of more than 50 New York City Housing Authority gas outages would surely agree. In Cypress Hills, they’ve been without gas for close to a year. That bodes poorly for the Astoria Houses, where residents will likely have to cook Thanksgiving meals on a single hot plate. 

We've seen across the city, including at a beleaguered co-op here in Astoria, how a natural gas leak can steal one’s ability to cook for weeks — if not months. This only makes sense when you consider the East Harlem and Lower East Side explosions in recent years. Natural gas is as dangerous as it is unhealthy. At NYCHA, however, an abundance of caution often transforms into extreme apathy. 

Public housing residents deserve a healthier environment, access to better nutrition, and reliable appliances. Clearly natural gas is the common denominator here, which is why addressing it should be the cornerstone of a Green New Deal for Public Housing. Electric stoves, which have improved substantially over recent years, might be a small solution that goes a long way to improving residents’ quality of life. 

Because right now the status quo in which NYCHA residents rely on natural gas cannot continue. Here at the Astoria Houses, a concentrated leak was detected at a 48-unit building on September 22 — at which point gas was shut down and continues to be out. NYCHA, in a quietly released report last month on how it can shrink its carbon footprint, admitted many of its natural gas pipes are original to their buildings and will take up to $143 million to replace leak-prone ones over the next three years. 

There are real-life ramifications for these outages. Residents have made it resoundingly clear that a NYCHA-issued hot plate is no replacement for four burners. Rampant outages last fall left tenants in as many as 40 properties without their stoves on Thanksgiving. Kimberly Elliot, an Astoria Houses resident impacted by the current outage, recently raised the good point that, if this keeps happening, why not switch to electric? 

As someone who’s dedicated their career to fighting asthma, I couldn’t agree more with that assessment. For more than a decade, doctors have cautioned parents of asthmatic children to ditch the gas stove. That’s because those little blue flames emit so many toxins like carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide that boiling a pot of pasta does a number on your respiratory system. Consider what that does to NYCHA residents, given asthma rates are traditionally higher in public housing. That’s at least certainly true in western Queens, where rates are driven up by public housing’s proximity to some of the state’s dirtiest fossil fuel power plants. 

Electric stoves have technologically improved in recent years to the point where they’re a viable alternative to natural gas ones. Induction cooktops use magnets to heat food arguably as quick as gas and don’t stay hot as long once you’re done cooking. Public health and climate experts agree that these are a big cure for our dependence on natural gas — more of which is now burned in the U.S. than coal. NYCHA admitted in its report last month that electric stoves have the potential to shrink carbon emissions from its 325-development portfolio. 

Of course, there is a valid concern that suddenly putting electric stoves in a bulk of NYCHA’s more than 170,000 units will only burden an already exhausted power grid. This is why a Green New Deal for NYCHA must also leverage the authority’s rooftops for solar power generation. New York City has already successfully put panels atop everything from schools to the Brooklyn Army Terminal. As we invest in NYCHA’s dangerously crumbling, mold-prone rooftops, there should be a City, State, and Federal partnerships to use them to generate renewable energy. 

A new federal partnership is incredibly necessary here, both in terms of investment and legislation. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who I’ve had the pleasure to represent the Astoria Houses with over the last seven years, has a fantastic bill before Congress right now that addresses this. If passed, it would guarantee solar generated on a NYCHA rooftop can power the building below. This is a common-sense measure that ensures a public benefit for residents, spurring our ability to electrify NYCHA.

As Thanksgiving quickly approaches, many residents who already struggle to get by face an uncertain meal plan. Let’s end this inhumane practice by freeing ourselves from the many dangers of natural gas. 

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Costa Constantinides represents Astoria in the New York City Council, where he chairs the Committee on Environmental Protection. On Twitter @Costa4NY.

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New York City Needs a Public Option for Employment


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Construction workers in New York City (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


As our city tries to address the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, we have a responsibility to ensure that no New Yorker falls through the cracks while others are on the road to recovery. Low-income, underserved communities have borne the brunt of the pandemic’s health and economic damage. For an inclusive recovery, city leadership must think both inclusively and creatively, and use the vast tools of city government in developing solutions especially focused on our most vulnerable neighbors.

To address high unemployment, New York City should implement a Public Option for Employment, capturing a population of New Yorkers who have historically been shut out from the private sector or stuck in low-wage jobs and placing them on a pathway towards a good job and long-term economic security.

A Public Option for Employment means, simply, that New York City will have a job for everyone who is ready, able, and willing to work when the private sector is not fulfilling our city’s economic needs. This was the underlying concept behind FDR’s New Deal, which was the lynchpin of lifting our nation out of the Great Depression almost a century ago. We have extensive work to do to improve our city, and we have people desperately in need of work. It only makes sense to connect people ready to work with jobs that need doing.

In the Bronx, particularly in neighborhoods of the 15th City Council District like West Farms and East Tremont, many of our residents work in low-wage occupations, and unemployment is as high as 30% in parts of these communities. New York City is on track to lose 500,000 to 600,000 jobs this year, with severe declines in front-facing industries — hotels and food services, administrative services, arts and entertainment, transportation, and retail. The Bronx has been hit the hardest due to the high concentration of workers employed in these job sectors. The coronavirus has disrupted careers and opportunities and forced many Bronxites out of work and into poverty. While losses are widespread, a recovery divide continues to grow between high-income neighborhoods and those that have suffered from generational poverty and disinvestment.

As we look to recover from covid’s devastation, a Public Option for Employment is a unique opportunity to rebuild our economy differently. We must create pathways for unemployed workers, particularly those stigmatized by race, gender identity, or former incarceration status. We must seize upon this moment to make sizable and overdue investments in our infrastructure. Investing in our people will grow the number of construction and engineering workers to fulfill our infrastructure needs, strengthen our storm resiliency, expand mass transit, fix public housing, and improve public utilities and broadband.

As we look at the vulnerabilities exposed by the pandemic, we can develop programs for health services, childcare, and eldercare. And we must look toward the future and consider our resilience through careers in sanitation, parks and recreation, and other projects designed to move toward a green, emission-free city. We have to ensure that we not only foster but also protect human capital. We must have an inspiring vision of what our city workforce can look like if we tap into the many talents that New Yorkers possess by helping them build skills for a new career path.

A Public Option for Employment is a bold strategy to reverse our shrinking workforce, address labor discrimination, combat low wages and reduced work hours, and bring more money into our communities to sustain our local businesses. We must invest in people to restore our collective humanity and elevate everyday New Yorkers out of poverty. A Public Option for Employment can begin as a part-time, work-based, learning apprenticeship program and lead into full-time positions. The apprenticeship portion should come with a guarantee of at least 25 hours a week and should pay no less than $18 an hour.

We know many industries need rapid growth, and much of that is reliant on New Yorkers who do the heavy lifting. For our industries to blossom, our economy to stabilize, and our communities to prosper, our focus has to be on job creation and job training. Any public employment option must include training programs, apprenticeship opportunities, and professional development. Labor unions must be brought to the table, and we must ensure that we provide all the best elements that unionized labor promotes, such as health care coverage, family leave options, and a secure pension. Unemployment offices and workforce development centers should become recruitment centers for a Public Option for Employment program.

You’re probably wondering how we can afford to make such an investment in our workforce in a time when federal dollars seem scarce and austerity looms over our city and state budgets. A program like a Public Option for Employment does not have to launch in one fell swoop. We can phase in implementation, starting by targeting neighborhoods with the highest unemployment rates, and improving our economy, public health, and city infrastructure.

The city’s budget office should immediately begin identifying $1 billion in savings across city agencies to fund the initial rollout of the program. We can look at cancelling the allocation of $11 billion to build four new borough-based jails and reinvest those savings. More importantly, we can and should push our state representatives to create new revenue by taxing the ultra-rich.

With a little political will we can implement big bold ideas that will change peoples lives in New York City. The psychological and social benefits that come with a job can have a transformative effect on the overall health of our city’s residents, both physical and mental, and even reduce poverty-related crime.

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Elisa Crespo is a candidate for City Council in the 15th City Council District in the Bronx. On Twitter @elisacresponyc.

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Queens Deserves Better Than a Development Plan That Benefits Too Few


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Flushing Waterfront development rendering


When faced with a crisis, whether 9-11 or Hurricane Sandy, New York has always rebuilt. The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic damage means that, now more than ever, we need to invest in our city. 

But that doesn’t mean that all development is created equal, or that all proposed projects should get a blank check under the guise of recovery. That is why we have a review process for developments seeking to benefit from city approvals – to weigh whose interests should be represented in deciding how to move forward.

The developers behind the plan for a new Special Flushing Waterfront District project, which is now before the City Council, have long claimed that their proposal to build up to 1,700 luxury housing units, over a million square feet of commercial space, and as many as 2,000 luxury hotel rooms will be good for Queens. Now they claim that their project will help Flushing bounce back from the economic consequences of the coronavirus. 

Nothing could be further from the truth. Our unions represent the building service and hospitality workers who would be most affected long-term by this project, and we know that as-is, it is not good for frontline workers, for Flushing residents, or for New York City. That is why we oppose the rezoning the developers seek, and why we hope that the City Council will deny the current project.

The pandemic and its economic effects have hit building service and hospitality hard. Thousands of essential workers in building services – cleaners, superintendents and security officers who are 32BJ SEIU members – have risked their health daily to protect the rest of us. And thousands of them have lost their jobs, with some still out of work. Over 80% of Hotel Trades Council (HTC) members are currently unemployed, relying on unemployment insurance, union benefits, and any cash reserves they have to get by. A significant percentage of those unemployed hotel workers live in Queens, and many of them are Flushing residents.  

Clearly New York needs more jobs. But real recovery and prosperity require creating jobs with prevailing wages and benefits, like our members have. Contrary to the developers’ assurances, the current version of the Special Flushing Waterfront District plan does not include any credible commitments to make the building service and hospitality jobs their project promises into good jobs that will sustain workers and families. Allowing a mega-project like this to advance without a meaningful guarantee that the working-class people who operate it every day will earn livable wages and be able to afford healthcare would be irresponsible, and a major disservice to New Yorkers.

This project also offers few meaningful benefits for Flushing residents who are struggling to afford housing. Of the residential units planned, as few as 75—roughly 4%—would be set aside for low-income people to rent. This is a drop in the bucket in a neighborhood where 76% of residents are renters, and where two-thirds of those renters are “rent burdened” – paying a too-large percentage of their income for rent.

Throughout the review process, the developers of the Special Flushing Waterfront District have said they will build a similarly sized development as-of-right if the rezoning fails. We reject the notion that this is a choice between bad options, and we encourage decision-makers to do the same. The developers have spent $1.7 million lobbying city government to approve the rezoning, so we know that it is valuable to them. The City Council should stand up for workers and Flushing residents and say no to the rezoning unless those residents will truly share in its gains.

Hit harder than most communities in the country by the COVID-19 pandemic, the last thing that Flushing needs are front-line jobs without standards that protect essential workers, or housing beyond the reach of the majority of people in the neighborhood. We are not against development. But bad development masquerading as recovery will only hurt us worse. Queens deserves better than the current Flushing rezoning plan, and so does our city.

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Kyle Bragg is the President of 32BJ SEIU and Rich Maroko is the President of New York Hotel & Motels Trades Council. On Twitter @kyle32bj@32BJSEIU and @NYHTC.

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Supreme Court Hearings Could Be the Beginning of the End of Your Healthcare


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Hospital emergency room (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


It has been a tumultuous week for all of us. The uncertainty about who will lead the country for the next four years has left America anxious, scared, and exhausted.

But with that question appearing settled, other threats remain. Starting Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case that will decide the fate of the Affordable Care Act.

The consequences could not be more dire. As a health-care professional, I see firsthand how important access to quality, affordable health-care is to Americans—especially our country’s most vulnerable.

The timing could also not be worse. Medicaid budgets are shrinking across the country as a pandemic ravages our communities and finances.

Should the ACA be repealed, millions of Americans will lose their healthcare overnight. Premiums will skyrocket. Protections for pre-existing conditions will disappear. The tens of millions who have benefited from the Affordable Care Act will suddenly find themselves scrambling for healthcare—and likely a more expensive version than what they currently have.

It did not have to be this way. The ACA allowed states to expand Medicaid, allowing more Americans access to the core health-care program that’s benefited our country for decades. It allowed young adults to stay on their parents’ health-care plans until the age of 26. It ensured that the one-third of Americans with pre-existing conditions – like diabetes and cancer – are not discriminated against when it comes to health insurance.

I know from both work and personal experience the importance of these aspects of the ACA. As someone who has lost a loved one who battled cystic fibrosis and passed away from pancreatic cancer, I know first-hand how important these protections are, and have dedicated myself to working in healthcare to ensure that I can save as many lives as possible.

Yet for four years, President Trump, his administration, and the Republican Party have done everything in their power to dismantle the ACA and see that millions of Americans either lose their healthcare altogether or pay a higher premium for the care they deserve. The failed attempt to repeal the ACA altogether was a blow to the GOP, but thanks to their changes to the individual mandate, they now have another chance at destroying a landmark health-care law that has proven for more than a decade how valuable it is to the American people.

There have been over 100,000 new COVID-19 cases every day over the past several days. More than 1,000 Americans are dying every single day. The fact that Americans have to even worry about their access to healthcare is not only disconcerting; it’s un-American. As a health-care worker I know first-hand that we take care of one another, and I have been risking my life to save the lives of others for months now.

Despite the efforts of my colleagues and me, we are nowhere near off the hook when it comes to protecting American lives amid this devastating pandemic. We need funding for our hospitals, funding for Medicaid, funding for PPE, and broader assistance from those leading the country. It’s not just my life that depends on it, or the patients I care for in hospital beds; it’s the lives of every New Yorker and every American that are at risk.

The stakes could not be higher. The Supreme Court will rule one way or another in the coming weeks; regardless, we must find solace in unity, and that means we cannot lose hope but must be spurred to action. Under the leadership of President Biden and Vice President Harris, we can not only preserve -- or reinstate if needed -- quality, affordable health-care our fellow citizens deserve, but strengthen the laws and insure even more Americans.

Every voice matters in this fight while we wait for a ruling from the highest court in the land. Call your local representatives, call your Congressional representative, call your U.S. senators. And most of all, call your family to tell them to make calls to remind our lawmakers that healthcare should be a human right, not a privilege.

Together, we can fight this virus, and keep America healthy into the future.

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Mary Maggio Fischer has worked at Flushing Hospital for 39 years and is a local political activist. She is a member of 1199 SEIU.

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Building Community and Local Civic Engagement in the Shadow of Presidential Politics


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Engaged New Yorkers (photo: Edwin J. Torres/Mayoral Photography Office)


We are in a critical moment. We’ve been seeing how the national political arena has impacted everyday life at a hyper-local level. But amid an ongoing dialogue on polling, voter engagement, and how the presidential election will shape our nation we continue to miss the mark on how elections affect municipalities. The broad strokes of national politics continue to exclude the significant local impact that an election of this magnitude can have.

As we look beyond this month and this election, in the wake of a pandemic that has yet to subside, we are just less than eight months out from a wave of local elections that can flip our democracy on its head. Too few seem concerned about expanding how we engage and inform voters -- but we must.

From one presidential election to the next, and three years of local and state elections, our democracy remains largely stagnant. We continue to invent ways to bring people to the table but fail to actualize these new systems with processes. We pushed student voter registration and now automatic registration, yet the civics curriculum in schools remains nonexistent. We voted for a citywide participatory budgeting process. Yet, it -- one of the only voting processes that encourages student and undocumented civic engagement and enables voting on actual initiatives that directly impact communities -- is not being implemented. Our judges remain invisible to the electorate, while many on the bench gain access to power through backroom deals brokered to control our courts and uphold the law, often to the detriment of our children and underserved neighbors. The Board of Elections continues misfiring every single election, every single year, yet its control by political parties goes unchanged. Poll sites misinformed, ballots unclear, voter purges, and New Yorkers too often left in the dark.

These are reasons local elections are essential. They determine where our tax dollars go, the policing of Black and brown neighbors, housing our seniors, maintaining our transit system, paving our roads -- they dictate the type of struggle we live.

We need leaders who understand how to engage communities of color that have lost faith in a system that falsely alludes to inclusivity and a democratic process. Through in-depth, intentional civic engagement that represents every person's best version in our communities, we can ensure people can be seen, heard, and understood more effectively. That is how more community members will become involved on the local level -- through community board meetings, PTAs, local organizing, and the electoral process. Involvement is how we change our communities' dynamics.

Local engagement in the electoral process can change the face of politics in 2021. After the 2017 election, we found other ways to improve the connection communities have to leadership and the democratic process. We have uncovered ways to uplift the community's voice and give our neighbors a seat at the table. We began building a bench of new leaders in the Bronx, which turned out to be massively beneficial. In the shadow of Trump's presidency, we have been dealt a terrible blow through the coronavirus pandemic. The Bronx was already suffering through unemployment, homelessness, and food insecurity before COVID-19; all have become exacerbated. We already lacked federal support, and many felt as though the Bronx was fated to fall further and further behind. Through the bench of new community leaders that we fostered, we can assemble and find ways to protect Bronxites and look after those most vulnerable. Over the past six months, I and several others stepped up by building a mutual aid network serving hundreds of neighbors weekly, filling the void of social services, providing healthy fresh food and groceries, baby essentials, PPE, and more.

We saw that communities could come together, serve each other, and work towards standard solutions. This model has been replicated across the city and validates the connection that our neighbors deserve. When community members are engaged they share and develop new ideas and invest in finding solutions and discourse to address their communities' issues. This participation influences elected officials and public policy, serves as a check on our government and unites people under a shared purpose; building trust, empathy, deep connections, and a community base.

As we just saw millions vote in the presidential election, we should be reminding them that there are more ways to create an impact. The engagement we feel now, the importance of our vote and this election, needs to be a familiar feeling. We have seen an energy and passion for bringing dignity into our politics. That means we should be fostering a vocal and involved electorate that also considers the local matters that impact us day-to-day. I can only hope that we continue, and am optimistic about the type of representation that would deliver for us if we maintain this engagement locally. Our vote is not only necessary every four years. Our impact can resonate much closer to home. We have to stay engaged and help bring others with us. Our democracy relies not only on our votes but on our voice; let's use it to keep ourselves and others involved, informed, and accountable.

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Amanda Farias is a candidate for City Council in the 18th City Council District in the Bronx. On Twitter @AmandaFariasNYC.

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More Youth-Police Partnership is Not NYPD Reform, It’s Dangerous


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The mayor and top NYPD officials at a community center (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


Over the last several weeks, the New York City Police Department convened and broadcasted eight “police reform and reinvention listening sessions” in response to Governor Cuomo’s June Executive Order 203 requiring local police agencies to develop a plan that “reinvents and modernizes police strategies.” These sessions were a sham.

Arriving on the heels of the Defund NYPD movement, the City is choosing what, when, and how to listen. The call to “Defund the NYPD,” for example, grew in the wake of an economic crisis as a way for community members to defend city agencies that exist to provide essential services to the people of New York, including wraparound health services, youth services, public education, and support for people experiencing homelessness. Facing mass public pressure of this sort, the NYPD in turn weaponized the budget justice messaging to paint the police as uniquely victimized. The false talking point that the NYPD was defunded by $1 billion was promulgated by Mayor de Blasio himself and circulated quickly, despite the facts, even those published by the Independent Budget Office, showing a modest $400 million reduction. Meanwhile, the New York City Department of Education’s budget we fought to protect was ultimately defunded by $700 million. Now, this week, the multimillion-dollar police academy welcomes 900 new officers as educators report remote class sizes above 50 students and we brace for a teacher shortage.

By nature of being led by the NYPD, the series of NYPD “listening sessions,” hastily announced and quickly concluded, focused on centering police needs rather than community needs – as demonstrated to us through platitudes made by department chiefs like, “Our ultimate goal is to police New York City the way New York City wants to be policed.” The sessions functioned to amplify police propaganda with little resistance, and to discredit the Defund the NYPD movement.

We believe this process is for the police, not for the people. To be for the people would mean ultimately divesting, demilitarizing, and shrinking the hold police have over young people and their communities. We remain committed to our demand of divesting resources from youth policing, and reallocating resources to the kind of work that helps redefine safety: healthcare, housing, education, youth jobs and noncoercive services.

After observing each of these sessions, we recognize these spaces as a mechanism to further grow the reach of policing into the lives of young people. By design, these meetings solicited support for more police-youth partnerships while ignoring the harmful role of policing in the lives of youth of color. With each meeting came more unchecked, cherry-picked testimony designed to grow the NYPD’s budget specifically to run youth programs – existing projects uplifted and praised included football leagues, days spent hiking, mentorship programs, and the like. Meanwhile, the fate of the Public Schools Athletic League (PSAL) and a barebones Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) budget are not afforded the same attention or platform. New York City cannot continue to outsource youth programs to the NYPD while the agencies established for this very purpose – and that do not carry the threat of police violence – are abandoned in the name of austerity.

There is a long history of inciting fear of Black and Latino children as a reason to expand police budgets. Commissioner Shea’s focus on “youth policing” harkens back to the racist, sinister, “super-predator” narrative of the 1980s and ‘90s. We see that legacy continue in the way that the Commissioner has made it his mission to encroach into the lives of New York City’s youth of color, including taking DNA of children without consent, launching a youth policing strategy that includes targeting young people who have been victims of harm, and entering their personal information into NYPD databases as through the gang database.

We condemn this “reinvention” process and this narrative that seeks to use fear to justify an increase in youth-police contact. Ultimately, this process avoids responding to the true demands of this current political moment, which include calls for meaningful investment in the community's ability to support young people, particularly in a time when the public is crying out about the Black lives that have been stolen, interrupted, and criminalized through policing. But we know that youth-police partnerships have historically (and presently) been used as part of a public relations arm of a violent institution. It is not a new phenomenon for the NYPD or any police agency to leverage young people in an attempt to counterbalance public outcry and negative press attention in the wake of widespread police delegitimization.

This process has been built around the goal of “reinventing” policing. Our goal has been and is to remove police from schools as a way to chip away at the institution of youth policing. The $451 million that New York City allocates for school policing each year is money not going toward school nurses, teachers, or counselors. As it stands, the Department of Education doesn’t adequately fund staffed school nurses so school cops take temperatures at the school doors. Educators, restorative justice practitioners, culturally competent mental health counselors, and student coordinators and peacekeepers have the tools to support young people and keep young people safe. Police, the vehicle for the criminalization of young people, are not to be “reinvented.”

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Ashley C. Sawyer is Senior Director of Campaigns and Charlotte Pope is Director of Policy at Girls for Gender Equity. On Twitter @GGENYC.

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Lives On The Line: The Critical Need to Preserve Funding for Domestic Violence Programs


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A domestic violence hotline (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the dangers facing domestic violence survivors.

Survivors are facing escalating violence, increased isolation, and economic insecurity. And there are new and formidable barriers to finding safety. Tragically, three domestic violence victims in New York City - Vanessa Pierre, Ai Min, and Jessica Mitcham - lost their lives at the hands of abusive partners in recent days.

At this critical time, the programs domestic violence survivors depend on for essential services are more important than ever. We know that the city and state are facing profound budget challenges. As a result, the nonprofits that respond to violence and support survivors are bracing for reductions in city and state funding of the contracts that support these vital services. 

I lead one of those nonprofits, Safe Horizon, the nation’s largest victim services agency. We support thousands of victims of domestic violence every year, and we are deeply concerned about what reductions in public funding would mean for our programs, our staff, and victims of domestic violence, especially when so much is at stake.

When most operations in New York City ground to a halt this spring, Safe Horizon’s domestic violence shelters remained open to ensure survivors and their families had a safe, supportive place in which to heal. Advocates at our 24-hour hotlines continued to respond around the clock to victims of violence and abuse who needed shelter, crisis intervention, or safety planning assistance. Attorneys at our Domestic Violence Law Project expertly navigated virtual court proceedings to obtain orders of protection for New Yorkers at risk of further violence. 

In short, Safe Horizon and the entire network of domestic violence service providers in New York City rose to the challenge and helped keep victims and their families safe.

But right now, organizations like Safe Horizon are facing a stark future. Even as access to shelter, legal services, and safety planning is more important than ever, the public funding that supports our work is at risk. 

I don’t want to mince words: Nonprofits like Safe Horizon save lives every day. Cuts to our budgets would leave countless victims of domestic violence and other crimes at risk of greater harm.

We urge our elected leaders to protect funding for organizations like Safe Horizon. We cannot afford to lose more lives to domestic violence, especially when we know that safety, security, and access to life-saving resources are possible when we invest in these programs.

***
Liz Roberts is Interim CEO of Safe Horizon, the nation’s largest victim’s services agency. Every year Safe Horizon helps 250,000 victims of violence, crime and abuse find safety, support, hope and connection. If you or someone you know is suffering from violence or abuse, call Safe Horizon’s 24/7 hotline at 1-800-621-HOPE.

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A Healthcare Worker’s Plea: No Matter Where You Live, Go Vote


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Frontline healthcare workers (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


Skipping family gatherings. Skipping necessary doctor’s appointments. Missing school. Missing time with friends. Losing jobs. And the deaths of loved ones. At this point, COVID-19 has affected every single American in one way or another.

As a frontline healthcare worker, I have seen firsthand the damage this pandemic has caused. While the death toll has surpassed 225,000 in the United States alone and hospitalizations begin to rise again, I have gone to work and risked my life to save the lives of others.

It did not have to be this way. And that’s why I’m urging everyone to join with me in voting for a change of leadership so we can begin to contain this devastating pandemic. No matter where you live or whether you’ve ever voted before, if you’re eligible to vote, please go out and make your voice heard for change.

President Trump and his administration – and most of us in the healthcare profession – knew in January that there was a serious virus already in the U.S. that had the potential to wreak havoc on our everyday lives. By March, we knew this was not the typical flu, but something that would spread at a much higher rate if we did not take the precautions necessary to mitigate its impact.

States began to close themselves because there was no official mandate from the federal government. President Trump repeatedly said the virus would go away quickly and easily. Meanwhile, hospital beds filled up and our access to personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks, gloves, and gowns began to disappear, thanks to a lack of planning by the federal government that put healthcare workers at even greater risk.

In past circumstances, we have relied on science to guide us through these difficult illnesses. Contact tracing, testing, and wearing a facemask are essential. Yet, despite plenty of warning and ample time to put these measures into place, our national leadership chose to limit these proactive measures, because as President Trump phrased it in a June 15 tweet, testing “makes us look bad.” That was several months into the pandemic. After having tested positive and being hospitalized himself, the president still mocks the use of masks and downplays the virus’ risk and toll.

We need to once again allow science to guide us. President Trump has failed to protect the American people through his actions, and there are hundreds of thousands of grieving families today, and more every day, because of his administration’s inaction.

There are also millions of Americans out of work, and many families are facing childcare crises and evictions. Healthcare workers like myself are working hard every day to simply keep victims of this pandemic alive, and there is no real end in sight as we enter the winter season where things are projected to get much worse.

Healthcare workers are not the only ones who have a say in the current state of affairs—everyone should be casting their vote. Even if you live in New York or another state where you may not think the electoral votes are in play, everyone’s votes matter and are shown in tallies of the final results.

Seeing firsthand the effects of this pandemic while our president not only does nothing, but in fact makes matters worse, is as much a call to action as possible. This year, more than ever, healthcare workers must let their voices be heard and cast a vote. And so must anyone who sees the wreckage that the virus has caused, made much worse by the president’s failed leadership.

COVID-19 has ruined the lives of far too many families, and led to too much heartbreak, frustration, anger, and fear. Just like wearing a facemask, do the responsible thing, and do your civic duty. A vote on Tuesday is a vote to end this pandemic.

***
Chandra Tameshwar is a Registered Nurse who has worked in Brooklyn for five years and is a member of 1199 SEIU.

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The Power of Immigrant New Yorkers and Our Allies Must Be Felt on Election Day


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A message to spur immigrant Americans to vote (photo: Spencer T Tucker/Mayor's Office)


As a proud Guyanese-American immigrant and a leader of New York’s immigrant community, I’m getting ready to cast my vote on Tuesday, November 3. The stakes could not be higher — for myself, and New York’s 4 million immigrants.

As a Co-Executive Director of NYIC Action, the political arm of the New York Immigration Coalition, I know what’s at stake for this election. Donald Trump won in 2016 on a hateful, racist platform of walls, bans, and raids — and he’s done everything he can to transform this platform into policy. Tearing families apart, cancelling the DACA program for Dreamers, ramping up raids to terrorize New Yorkers, slashing America’s historic refugee system to pieces. This is the devastation that Donald Trump has wrought on our essential workers and immigrant communities. The choice could not be clearer: we need to vote Donald Trump out immediately.

But this election allows us to do more than that. We can make a stand for immigrant New Yorkers by getting out the vote for candidates who value the contributions of immigrants to our diverse city and against politicians who cravenly echoed Trump’s racist agenda. The time is right now to get every eligible voter you know to the polls. We need New Yorkers to vote for the kind of future that allows every single one of us to thrive.

I came to this country as an undocumented ten-year old girl from Guyana. Growing up in Brooklyn, trying to fit in, voting was one of the furthest things from my mind. But when I started to think about college, I realized, as millions of other New Yorkers have, that undocumented people face real barriers to achieving our dreams. I couldn’t apply for financial aid, couldn’t work legally, and I couldn't vote. Being disenfranchised felt like I didn't have a voice, that I was less than a full member of the community I loved, and that I couldn’t do anything to change this broken immigration system.

But I became a citizen at 20 years of age, and I can still remember that day — November 2, 2004 — when I cast my first-ever vote for President of the United States. And every time since then that I’ve cast my ballot, I’m overcome with emotion, remembering just how I felt being able to vote for a presidential nominee who presented a vision of the America I wanted to see come to fruition. So I’m determined to exercise that right every single time that I can, and now more than ever.

And when I vote on Tuesday, I know my vote is going to feel that much more important, because of what’s at stake. As a proud resident of Sunset Park, I vote for my immigrant friends and neighbors — people who yearn for a different America that welcomes them, but are undocumented or green card holders and thus can’t vote.

In 2018, NYIC Action tapped into the growing power of the immigrant vote in New York to send candidates like Andrew Gounardes, who embraced immigrant New Yorkers, to Albany. That year saw the Democrats take over the state Senate for the first time in a decade and we saw real, meaningful changes as a result, including the New York Dream Act and Driver’s Licenses for All. In 2020, we must vote to build on this victory by sending Senator Gounardes and his fellow incumbent Democrats back to the Legislature, and by powering leaders like Samra Brouk, a daughter of immigrants, into the state Senate for the first time. But our community’s voices won’t only be heard in Albany.

We will ensure that Washington hears us as well by voting for the millions of New Yorkers who are "represented" by Trump acolytes in Congress such as Lee Zeldin and Elise Stefanik, who have sadly embraced his anti-immigrant attacks and can even be defeated themselves if everyone who believes all who live in New York and the United States deserve respect from their government and are eligible show up to vote.

I vote for my loved ones, including my relatives, some of whom are still undocumented. And I vote for myself, for that ten-year-old girl who once felt voiceless, but is now ready to use my voice for my community.

But neither I nor anyone else can do this alone. We New Yorkers need to make sure that all in our community, all eligible immigrant New Yorkers, are able to vote and can cast their ballot fairly. But we also need our allies, the descendants of immigrants from across the globe and those who believe that immigrants have helped build America over centuries, to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with us. We need all who haven’t voted yet to cast our ballots together on Tuesday, November 3 — to rebuke not only Donald Trump, but the Lee Zeldins and Elise Stefaniks of the world who would attack and demean immigrant New Yorkers like me once again. We must strip them of the power to use our government against us.

On Election Day, we can do more than cast out Donald Trump, we can truly make a statement for how important immigrants are to our great state and country.

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Rovika Rajkishun is the Interim Co-Executive Director of the New York Immigration Coalition. On Twitter @RovikaRajkishun.

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