Issues
Housing
- Keep housing affordable Preserve current public housing programs and subsidized housing. Increase and improve current programs. Ensure that affordable housing stays affordable.
- Foreclosure Prevention The 41st district has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the City along with a high rate of subprime home loans. Toughen the penalties for predatory lenders and promote home ownership classes. Implement new programming such as Land Banks to deal with the maintenance of foreclosed properties.
- Housing Code Violations The areas within the 41st district rank amongst the highest in the City for housing code violations. Provide Housing and Preservation Development with the resources to follow up on code violations. Increase penalties for Landlords who have constant home violations. Provide incentives to Landlords who are up to code and use energy efficient appliances.
- Strengthen the Rent Laws Lobby to bring back Home Rule. Laws to protect tenants need to be strengthened and enforced by the courts. Especially for rent controlled and rent stabilized units. Make sure that agencies such as the Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) have the resources to protect rent regulated tenants. Create and intensify penalties for Landlords in violation and who prey on tenants by harassing them out of their apartments.
Senior Citizens
- Brooklyn has the largest population of Senior Citizens in NYC Yet, the number of services for Senior Citizens continues to be decreased Over 25% of Senior Citizens 65 years of age and & older in Brooklyn live below the poverty line (Quick Facts, NYC Dept. of Aging)
- Increase in services for Senior Citizens is needed Unfortunately Senior Citizens tend to be pushed to the wayside, overlooked or forgotten altogether. New partnerships need to be created through existing programming to ensure that our Senior Citizens are being cared for in terms of healthcare, nutrition, housing, taxes and transportation
- Senior Education Teaching senior Citizens about, "Senior Predators," for example people who claim to be from a utility company and talk their way into Senior's homes and burglarize or those who claim to help but swindle them out their savings and home.
- Health Insurance assistance Helping Senior's understand their health insurance, especially when it comes to understanding Medicare and making sure Senior's have adequate health & prescription coverage.
Youth & Education
- Back to Basics As a former after-school program Director the staff and I found ourselves teaching students the homework instead of helping them complete it. I continue to hear this from parents and other caretakers. It is expressed that too much of the school day is being taken to prepare for standardized tests instead of teaching the basics of education.
- Keep Education off the cutting table/Invest in the future Sadly when it comes to budget cuts our children (& Senior Citizens) are always first on the list. Children are our most important resource. We must infuse schools with funding to provide for smaller classrooms, diverse curriculum, electives and after-school activities.
- Diverse Curriculum Arts, Cultural & Physical programming is needed to develop a well rounded student. Many students look forward to gym class, art, music and foreign language; which can be used as a hook to have them participate academically.
- Parental Involvement/Education Schools must welcome parent participation in education. Students will struggle if teachers do not establish a solid partnership with parents. Parents must make a decision in favor of their child's well-being and success in life and participate in their child's education.
Transportation
- Paying more doing with less The MTA is New York City's version of Ford, Chrysler and GM in Detroit. Middle and working class families continue to bear the burden and pay for the mismanagement of others. Brooklyn residents are being hit hard by the new service cuts the MTA is proposing.
- The MTA needs to have oversight For years the MTA has not been forthcoming with its financial records and in the past have been caught keeping separate books. The MTA have claimed to be operating in the red when they had a surplus of funds.
- Residents left without public transportation The MTA plans to cut major bus routes throughout Brooklyn such as the Fulton Street B25 bus line. The MTA has not thought about the City's disabled residents and parents travelling with young children and strollers who find it difficult to navigate the steps of the subways. There are no elevators at subway stations along the A or C line between Broadway Junction and Jay St. Borough Hall. It is bad enough the MTA is not in full compliance with the American with Disabilities Act and cutting routes such as the B25 does not ease this situation.
- New Solutions The MTA is going in the wrong direction and is in direct opposition to the Mayor's push to make New York City a green City. The subway system is crowded and with the increased use of mass transportation services need to be added, not cut. Also, new ways of transportation such as Rapid Bus Transit should be further explored.