Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Kathryn Garcia

Kathryn Garcia

  • Democratic Mayoral Candidates Offer Ideas on Workforce Development and Jobs

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    Workplace dynamics are changing (photo: Philip Kamrass/Governor's Office)


    Three Democratic candidates for mayor of New York City spoke at a forum Wednesday evening about their visions for restoring and enhancing the city's workforce going into the pandemic recovery.

    Eric Adams, Shaun Donovan, and Kathryn Garcia -- all considered among the top eight leading candidates in the competitive primary race and all veterans of New York City government -- discussed how they would harness the city's resources to create quality jobs in the hour-long forum,

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  • The Money Race in the Democratic Mayoral Primary: March Filing Key for Matching Funds

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    (l-r) Maya Wiley, Andrew Yang, Kathryn Garcia, Shaun Donovan, & Dianne Morales all appear on track for matching funds


    The top tier of candidates in this year’s Democratic primary for New York City mayor continues coming into focus through a variety of metrics, including the latest campaign finance filings, which help indicate which candidates have gained traction with voters and will have the financial means to compete ahead of the June vote. In the heavily Democratic city, the party’s primary winner is the odds-on-favorite to become the city’s next

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  • At Televised Debate, Democratic Mayoral Candidates Outline Housing, Homelessness Plans

    Gotham Gazette:

    (top: Shaun Donovan, Kathryn Garcia, Andrew Yang, Ray McGuire; bottom: Eric Adams, Dianne Morales, Maya Wiley, Scott Stringer)


    Eight leading Democratic candidates in the race for mayor appeared in the first televised mayoral forum of the 2021 race to share their policy proposals for tackling housing and homelessness in New York City. The discussion had a particular focus on the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, which has added a new layer of concern regarding homelessness, evictions, rent and mortgage debt, housing segregation, affordable and

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  • Democratic Mayoral Candidates Stake Out Education Policy Positions

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    Pandemic education (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    Leading Democratic candidates for mayor have appeared at several recent forums to outline their priorities on education and the possibility of running the country’s largest school system, as well as their strategies for achieving those aims. Discussion at the various forums, hosted by a number of diverse groups, was often focused on how the mayoral hopefuls would shape equitable and inclusive educational policy for New York City students, especially amid the fallout of the coronavirus

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  • Democratic Mayoral Candidates Talk Tenants and Housing

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    Housing (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    Nine leading candidates vying for the Democratic nomination to be New York City’s next mayor appeared at a recent virtual forum to offer their stances on issues critical to tenants. Two-thirds of New Yorkers are renters, which means the forum provided candidates a crucial opportunity to impress a large and important group of voters with their policy ideas to solve the city’s housing problems, especially amid a pandemic that has exacerbated existing inequities.

    At the February 27 forum

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  • How New York City Can Truly Turn the Tide on Homelessness

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    Housing underway (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    We as a city spend $3 billion annually on shelters -- including renting hotel rooms -- that fail to provide the services New Yorkers experiencing homelessness need. 

    These band-aid solutions don’t work. They’ve never worked. Before COVID-19, more than half of New Yorkers were paying more than 30% of their income on

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  • Democratic Mayoral Candidates Discuss Poverty, Education and Economic Mobility

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    (l-r) Shaun Donovan, Kathryn Garcia, Ray McGuire, Scott Stringer, Maya Wiley


    Robin Hood, a philanthropic organization dedicated to fighting poverty in New York, held a virtual forum on Thursday afternoon with five leading Democratic candidates for mayor. The discussion was centered on poverty and economic mobility and featured a combination of standard campaign talking points, ideas attuned to the themes at hand, and some sharper exchanges between candidates than often occur at the countless forums, in part due to the

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  • What's The [Data] Point? $5.3 Billion, Mayoral Candidates Discuss the City Fiscal Crisis

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    What's The [Data] Point? Episode 102 -- $5.3 Billion, Mayoral Candidates Discuss the City Fiscal Crisis [You can download What's The [Data] Point? wherever you get your podcasts, including on iTunes]

    cbc mayoral forum$5.3 billion is the current estimate of the budget gap the next Mayor will have to close in her/his first year. Ben Max and CBC President Andrew Rein introduce listeners to

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  • Democratic Mayoral Candidates Offer Ideas for Solving City's Budget Crisis

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    Mayor de Blasio at a budget presentation (photo: Benjamin Kanter/Mayor's Office)


    New York City is facing its worst fiscal crisis in decades, brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, with billions in lost tax revenue and large projected budget gaps in the years ahead. It’s a crisis that the next mayor, likely the winner of the Democratic primary this June, will inherit. At a mayoral forum on Wednesday, eight of the top contenders vying for the Democratic nomination offered their solutions to the city’s budget woes, pitching ideas to fix city

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  • Kathryn Garcia Continues Fleshing Out Mayoral Campaign Platform with Housing, Transit and Food Plans

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    Kathryn Garcia (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    In recent weeks and months, former New York City Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia has further filled out her campaign platform as she runs for mayor, releasing plans for administering the COVID-19 vaccine and working with the federal government, building and maintaining housing, and improving the city’s transit and public spaces. Garcia, who has never run for elected office before but is a veteran of city government in several roles with major responsibilities, is running on her experience as a manager

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  • Democratic Mayoral Candidates Discuss the Future of the Bronx

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    5 of the 7 mayoral candidates who appeared at the BronxTalk forum with host Gary Axelbank


    Seven candidates vying for the Democratic nomination to become New York City’s next mayor appeared at a virtual TV forum to discuss their visions for revitalizing the Bronx, the borough hardest hit by COVID-19 and its economic impact and which already faced many deep challenges before the pandemic.

    The forum was co-hosted by the Bronx Democratic County Committee and BronxTalk, a public affairs TV program on BronxNet, and moderated by BronxTalk host Gary

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  • Democratic Mayoral Candidates Offer Ideas for Addressing Food Insecurity

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    Free food giveaways (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)


    Nine candidates vying for the Democratic nomination to become the next mayor of New York City gathered Tuesday morning in a virtual forum to discuss their visions for the city's food policy and serving the roughly 2 million New Yorkers who are food insecure.

    At the "Town Hall on the Future of Food in New York City" -- hosted by Hunter College in partnership with City Harvest, CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute, Food Bank for NYC, Hunger Free America, and other organizations, and moderated by

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  • Democratic Mayoral Candidates Offer Albany Agendas, Strategies for Accomplishing Them

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    The Governor & Legislative leaders (photo: Darren McGee/Governor's Office)


    Eight of the top Democratic mayoral candidates appeared at a virtual forum on Monday to outline their legislative and budget priorities at the state level, and their strategies for achieving those goals. To varying degrees, they laid out tactics for partnering with, even opposing, Governor Andrew Cuomo and corralling the state Legislature to their side. But there were clear differences among the candidates, informed by their own background and experiences,

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  • WATCH: Democratic Mayoral Candidates Outline Their Albany Agendas

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     l-r (top): Kathryn Garcia, Scott Stringer, Maya Wiley, Carlos Menchaca; bottom: Shaun Donovan, Dianne Morales, Loree Sutton, Eric Adams


    Eight leading Democratic mayoral candidates appeared in two sessions at the "Albany Agenda" forum hosted by Empire State Indivisible and moderated by Gotham Gazette editor Ben Max. The candidates — Kathryn Garcia, Scott Stringer, Maya Wiley, Carlos Menchaca, Shaun Donovan, Eric Adams, Dianne Morales, and Loree Sutton — discussed their state policy agendas and how they would navigate the processes, politics, and

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  • WATCH: 30 Minutes with the Candidates for New York City Mayor

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    The race for City Hall is on (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


    With all of city government on the ballot, 2021 is an immensely important election year in New York City. New York voters will elect a new Mayor, and many other new officeholders for citywide, borough-wide, and City Council positions. In partnership with Manhattan Neighborhood Network, Gotham Gazette is producing "Decision NYC with Ben Max," a series of in-depth 30-minute

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  • Several Points of Conflict and Differentiation at Brooklyn Democrats' Mayoral Candidate Debate

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    Top: Shaun Donovan, Kathryn Garcia, Andrew Yang, Ray McGuire; Bottom: Eric Adams, Loree Sutton, Maya Wiley, Scott Stringer


    Eight leading Democratic candidates for New York City mayor participated in what was billed as the first debate of the primary, hosted Sunday evening by the Kings County Democratic Committee and moderated by NY1 anchor Errol Louis.

    The hour-long debate moved quickly and covered a lot of ground, while also featuring rare bouts of direct interaction between candidates, some of it quite pointed, as a

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  • Democratic Mayoral Candidates Discuss Addressing City’s Health Care Gaps After Covid

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    Top (l-r): Carlos Menchaca, Dianne Morales, Scott Stringer, Loree Sutton, Maya Wiley,
    Bottom (l-r): Eric Adams, Shaun Donovan, Kathryn Garcia, Ray McGuire, Andrew Yang


    Eleven Democratic candidates for mayor appeared at a virtual forum on Tuesday focused on how they would shape health policy to be more equitable in New York City, especially amidst and in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, which has brought the city’s health care infrastructure under considerable strain and has had a starkly unequal racial impact. The pandemic has thrust the issues of

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  • Decision NYC: Kathryn Garcia Discusses Her Run for Mayor

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    Kathryn Garcia testifies at the City Council (photo: John McCarten)


    Kathryn Garcia, a Democrat running for Mayor in the 2021 election, joined MNN's "Decision NYC with Ben Max" for an in-depth discussion of her candidacy for the city's top job. This interview is part of a series produced by Manhattan Neighborhood Network. Watch:

  • The Money Race in the Mayoral Primary: January Filing Sets the Stage for 2021

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    l-r: (top) Eric Adams, Shaun Donovan, Kathryn Garcia, Carlos Menchaca, Zach Iscol (bottom) Dianne Morales, Scott Stringer, Loree Sutton, Maya Wiley, Ray McGuire


    With under six months until the 2021 primary elections, candidates running for mayor filed their January campaign finance disclosures. The disclosures were due on Friday, covering the last six months of fundraising and spending activity. For a number of candidates, it was their first filing.

    There are well over a dozen candidates running in the Democratic primary, the winner of which will likely be the next mayor because of the

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  • Democratic Mayoral Hopefuls Pitch Upper Manhattan Club

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    (l-r) top: Maya Wiley, Scott Stringer, Eric Adams, Kathryn Garcia, Carlos Menchaca

    bottom: Dianne Morales, Loree Sutton, Ray McGuire, Shaun Donovan


    Nine Demcocratic candidates for mayor of New York City appeared one-by-one Thursday night at an online forum hosted by the Uptown Community Democrats. The moderator of the forum was Kyle Ishmael, a club leader who also serves as both Executive Director of the Manhattan Democratic Party and Executive Director of the New York State Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian Legislative Caucus.

    The

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  • Kathryn Garcia Talks Trash

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    Kathryn Garcia (photo via the Department of Sanitation)


    This could be the election that flips an old maxim on its head: we may soon find out that there are many different Democratic ways to pick up the trash.

    While garbage probably won’t be among the top issues most voters care about when electing the next mayor of New York City, what better opportunity for a real conversation about how the city handles its trash and recycling than having the recently-departed sanitation commissioner among the candidates vying for the city’s top job.

    Kathryn

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  • With Focus on Climate, Kathryn Garcia Offers Initial Mayoral Campaign Platform Also Touching on Housing, Transit, and Policing

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    Kathryn Garcia (photo: Ed Reed/Mayor's Office)


    Kathryn Garcia is running for mayor chiefly on her city government experience, but she’s also pitching voters on her ideas for the future, and where the two merge: the notion that she has the right plans and can execute them. The city sanitation commissioner for six years until she stepped down to run for mayor, Garcia has also been interim chair of the city’s public housing authority, NYCHA, the covid emergency “food czar,” and in other roles under Mayor Bill de Blasio, whom she has sharply criticized early on in her

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  • Our 2020 Conversations with the 2021 Candidates for Mayor

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    l-r: (top) Eric Adams, Shaun Donovan, Kathryn Garcia, Carlos Menchaca, Zach Iscol (bottom) Dianne Morales, Scott Stringer, Loree Sutton, Maya Wiley, Ray McGuire


    New Yorkers will elect a new Mayor in 2021 and a large and growing field of candidates is forming in the race to replace term-limited Bill de Blasio, a Democrat.

    Most of the action through 2020 has been in the Democratic primary, which will take place in June and is very likely to annoint the next Mayor given the party's overhwhelming voter registration advantage in the city (though New York City is

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  • Four Women Running for Mayor Pitch Candidacies to ‘Amplify Her’

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    Four women running for Mayor (photo: @AmplifyHerNYC)


    There’s never been a woman elected Mayor of New York City and four of the candidates attempting to change that fact through next year’s election met for a forum Tuesday night hosted by Amplify Her, an organization dedicated to electing more women to office in New York City.

    Former New York City Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia, nonprofit executive Dianne Morales, former city Veterans Affairs Commissioner Loree Sutton, and Maya Wiley, a civil rights attorney and former counsel to Mayor Bill de

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  • Democratic Mayoral Candidates Offer Ideas on Housing, Homelessness and NYCHA

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    (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


    Eight mayoral candidates participated in a recent forum focused on public and private housing, and homelessness. The December 5 event, which was part of the 15th annual West Side Tenants' Conference, featured Brooklyn City Council Member Carlos Menchaca, former nonprofit executive Dianne Morales, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, entrepreneur Joycelyn Taylor, former city Sanitation

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