Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Aleda Gagarin

Aleda Gagarin

  • Health Care Needs and a New Jail Loom Large in Queens City Council Race

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    Council Member Karen Koslowitz (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    Queens’ Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, Rego Park, and Richmond Hill neighborhoods are losing their City Council member, Karen Koslowitz, who has served five terms over two stints but is again term-limited from seeking reelection. The District 29 race to succeed Koslowitz is flooded with nine Democrats running in this month’s primary, eight of whom are well-funded and offer substantial platforms. 

    The district, whose residents are 47.1% White, 27.7% Asian, 18.2% Hispanic, and 3.5%

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  • Rightsizing the Police Budget will Enable a Safer, Healthier and More Equitable City

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    NYPD (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayoral Photo Office)


    On April 26, Mayor de Blasio presented his executive budget plan for the city’s next fiscal year, FY22, which begins July 1. In it, he included slight increases to the NYPD’s budget. This comes on the heels of the largest civil rights movement in a generation demanding reinvestments and the heartbreaking murders of Adam Toledo and Daunte Wright. If I were in the City

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  • New York Needs a City Plan! ‘Planning Together’ Misses the Mark

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    New Yorkers participating (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayoral Photo Office)


    On February 23, public hearings began for City Council Speaker Corey Johnson’s “Planning Together” legislation, which would institute a process for creating a comprehensive plan for New York City. I fully support city planning, but believe Planning Together’s top-down approach needs fundamental change. 

    New York City is virtually the only major city in this country that does not have a comprehensive city plan. Instead, we rely on a piecemeal approach to zoning

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