La Visión de Julie
Recuperación Económica Centrada en la Comunidad
Como nos enfrentamos la mayor amenaza económica a nuestra ciudad en un siglo, todos estamos sintiendo el peso de la inseguridad financiera. Julie se asegurará de que la recuperación económica se aliviar dificultades para nuestras empresas pequeñas y crear empleos locales. Como su representante de City Council, Julie se centrará en reconstruir y expandir nuestra economía local para que todos nuestros vecinos puedan participar en una justa recuperación.
Julie va a usar su 7 años de experiencia en gestión del cambio, estrategia de negocios, y emprendimiento para promover el alivio de la renta, mantener dinero local en Western Queens, digitalización de pequeñas empresas, apoyar negocios de propiedad de minorías y mujeres, y reducir cuotas y multas que hace daño a nuestras pequeñas empresas locales.
Vivienda para todos
Hoy en día, 1 de cada 4 neoyorquinos que no pueden pagar la renta durante los últimos meses. Debemos reimaginar la forma en que protegemos y construimos viviendas sostenibles que sean asequibles para todos nuestros vecinos
Julie fortalecerá los derechos de los inquilinos y asegurará reparaciones a tiempo, y mejor condiciones para residents de NYCHA. Julie luchará contra el acoso de los inquilinos y el desalojo. Ellos que no puedan pagar la renta no debería estar desalojado durante esta crisis. El alivio de la renta debe ser basado en los ingresos actuales de 2020 (en lugar de la declaración de impuestos de 2019, que está usado hoy).
Como representante de City Council, Julie luchará a disminuir el impuesto de la propiedad, para que los propietarios de mucho tiempo puedan continuar viviendo en su vecindario.
Como nos reconstruyamos la ciudad para ser más equitativo, Julie protegerá espacios públicos para el uso público. Ella construirá una programa de cooperativa que es accesible e inclusivo para todos. Para proteger nuestros vecindarios, Julie asegurará que la zonificación considere cuestiones medioambientales e la protección de nuestras costas y fabricantes pequeñas. La zonificación debe priorizar estas intereses más que las intereses de las bienes raíces y corporaciones.
Infraestructura Pública
As COVID-19 has confined many households in small spaces, individuals and families are seeking more public space to be outdoors. We must create more open public spaces where families can safely social distance, while still engaging with the diverse, vibrant culture of Queens.
As Councilmember, Julie will prioritize funding for youth athletic programs, invest in maintenance of our city parks, and expand the Open Streets program. Julie will fight to reverse the retroactive design principles the city takes for our neighborhood streets where DOT takes action to redesign our streets once a life is lost to a crash. Julie will ensure that we proactively design cross walks, intersections, bike lanes, side walks, and roads to be community and human-centered with safety in mind to prevent crashes and collisions.
Ayuda Mutua Local
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended our public school system, leaving an uncertain educational future for our students, parents, and teachers. Julie believes that in the modern age, parents and teachers should not have to choose between a high-quality education and their physical health. In particular, current remote learning tools are insufficient for students with disabilities, language accessibility issues, and special needs. In order to facilitate an engaging online learning experience for all, Julie will champion free broadband internet access, learning devices for all public school students and teachers, and remote learning tools that are accessible to all.
For working families, the cost of childcare in New York City is unaffordable. Many have to choose between working a shift, and caring for their child. Julie will fight to protect funding for Universal Pre-K, as well as fight for citywide, universal childcare.
We need to support teachers, ensure safe classrooms, healthy remote learning environments with additional well-rounded services (e.g. primary health, mental health, multi-lingual learning, ADA accessibility, special education programs), and reinvest in industry driven paths to success in the modern workplace. Julie will work with union leaders to expand union apprenticeship programs for essential jobs, invest in public adult education programs for proactive reskilling of the current workforce, and demand the resources and funding Western Queens schools are owed. For students pursuing higher education, Julie will fight on behalf of CUNY and its founding mission of providing a free, high quality, public education. As Council member, Julie will stand with CUNY students and faculty in lobbying the state legislature to close the Tuition Assistance Gap, and in the long term, fight to provide the funding necessary to eliminate the need for any tuition and fees for New York City students.
Ayuda Mutua Local
The coronavirus pandemic has placed a massive strain on our city’s already broken and unfair hospital system. Queens is the borough with the highest number of COVID-19 cases, and also, the fewest hospital beds by population. In the past five years, three public hospitals in Queens have been closed. While private hospitals in Manhattan provide state of the art care to their well-insured patients, public hospitals in Queens have had to scramble to find the beds and respirators needed to fight this pandemic. Julie believes that in a fair and just city, your zip code should not determine your quality of care.
Our city should allocate life-saving resources, treatments, and doctors to people based on need, not based on wealth. As a council member, Julie will fight to protect funding for public hospitals and maintain minimum staffing ratios to make it safer for healthcare workers and patients. She will also ensure funding and procurement of adequate PPE for all hospitals. Julie will also work to establish a co-governance model that includes healthcare workers and community leaders to weigh in on healthcare policy decisions regarding resource allocation, funding, pandemic and emergency contingency plans, and hospital closures.
With the city-wide unemployment rate at 16%, New Yorkers are losing their income and access to healthcare simultaneously. Julie will advocate for automatic enrollment in NYC Care health access programs for New Yorkers who qualify for unemployments benefits to ensure healthcare for all. Julie will also work to expand rapid testing centers, fund free COVID-19 tests, and fight against overcrowding and closures of public hospitals.
Ayuda Mutua Local
We need to completely reevaluate the role the police play in our city and how we spend taxpayer resources to promote public safety. New York City is facing a $9 billion budget deficit. We cannot continue to maintain a militarized police force that harasses black and brown New Yorkers, immigrant communities, delivery workers, street vendors, and people without housing. We must make real cuts to the NYPD in order to promote public safety and preserve essential services and jobs.
We must invest in proven strategies of crime prevention and crisis management rooted in care and empathy, not violence and brutality. Julie will:
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Invest in community anti-violence organizations that employ cure violence and restorative justice models, like 696 Build Queensbridge.
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Expand access to free, quality mental health care and create a new type of unarmed public safety professional to respond to mental health crises. Fund public health-based initiatives to combat addiction.
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Provide social services for those struggling to make ends meet. Expand youth employment programs.
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Create jobs and improve services in public housing, education, sanitation, transportation, libraries, parks, and healthcare—especially in neighborhoods that have been historically disinvested.
To pay for these public safety programs, Julie supports cutting an additional $1.3 billion next year from the NYPD budget by:
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Reducing overtime and invasive surveillance technology use, as well as eliminating procurements of military-grade weapons and equipment.
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Terminating abusive officers, cutting “modified duty,” and deducting settlement payments from the NYPD budget.
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Canceling new cadet classes, cadet training, and freezing all new hires. Return the headcount to 2014 levels, about a 5% reduction.
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Removing all officers from transit, schools, homeless outreach, and mental health crisis response.
Julie also strongly supports reducing the city’s prison population and closing Rikers Island, without the costly construction of any new jails. Mayor de Blasio’s current plan lacks specific benchmarks and policies to meaningfully reduce the prison population. Julie would put the city’s investment toward treatment, housing, public services, and community organizations proven to reduce crime and recidivism.
Ayuda Mutua Local
Over 1 million families in New York City lack the high speed internet they need to obtain government services, learn remotely, or look for a job. Half of these families access the internet exclusively though their phones or frustratingly slow dial-up connections; meanwhile the other half do not have internet access at all. As our libraries and coffee shops remain closed, using free wifi networks is no longer an option for those without internet service at home. The digital divide continues to grow, and these families are being denied access to services and opportunities that others take for granted.
Julie will draw on her experience from a career in technology to close the digital divide in NYC. To start, Julie will fight for increased funding to amplify programs such as Queensbridge Connected, so that all NYCHA residents have access to reliable, fast WiFi, as well as NYC Mesh, which is striving to provide internet access to underserved communities. Large internet service providers such as Verizon have been passing over low income neighborhoods in their installation of vital fiber optic internet infrastructure. They must be held accountable for relegating our neighbors to outdated dial-up connections, or no internet access at all.
All NYC residents deserve equal access to high speed, broadband internet access, and Julie will fight to provide free wifi for all. Wifi has become a matter of digital survival in a rapidly changing digital world. Affordability is at the heart of the issue, as broadband internet plans cost upwards of $70 per month. As Council member, Julie will introduce legislation to provide universal broadband internet citywide. Julie’s legislation would create a subsidy for the City to pay the bill for families who cannot afford high speed internet, and provide a tax credit for those who can. In the long term, Julie will advocate for the creation of a city-owned fiber optic internet infrastructure, to substantially bring down the cost of high-speed internet for all New Yorkers. To ensure digital equity for all, we must treat high speed internet as a utility, not a luxury.
Ayuda Mutua Local
Climate change is an imminent threat to the life and livelihood of New Yorkers. Julie will fight to make New York City carbon-neutral by 2030. That means big, systemic changes, including a rapid transition to wind and solar energy, smart grid infrastructure, and public ownership of our power supply.
As we no longer have the luxury of preventing a climate crisis, we now must respond to it in ways that achieve equity and justice. Julie will fight environmental racism by closing fossil-fuel powered ‘peaker’ plants that devastate the health of black and brown communities for profit. Plans for our next climate disaster should not only protect our coastlines from flooding, but we must also ensure reliable heating and cooling for all New Yorkers and create Community Resilience Centers to protect our most vulnerable neighbors.
Julie believes a Green New Deal for Housing is necessary to provide healthy and safe homes for all New Yorkers and meet our goal of carbon-neutrality. New York City needs to build new, green social housing and retrofit NYCHA with sustainable technologies that reduce energy costs and improve livability, accessibility, and equity. Julie will fight for reinvestment in NYC Zero Waste initiatives, so that by 2030, NYC will not send any waste to landfills. The city needs to invest in an organics recycling program and community compost sites so that composting is accessible to all New Yorkers. Instead of viewing these initiatives as a financial burden, the city should take this opportunity to create fulfilling, family-sustaining jobs for decades to come.
Ayuda Mutua Local
New York City’s art scene has made our city a hotbed for artists and performers from all cities and nations around the world. The prominence of our music, theater, live performers, and artists has drawn millions of tourists and new residents over the past century. However, in the aftermath of the COVID-19, our venues and artists alike are struggling to make ends meet. Julie has a four-point program to help protect local artists, venues, and community centers, and ensure that all artists have the opportunity to thrive in NYC.
Public Land for Public Art: Julie will prioritize the use of public land for community arts centers by eliminating zoning barriers that inhibit the construction of mixed use spaces for hybrid residential and artistic development, and by establishing a property tax credit for arts spaces that operate within a half mile of subsidized or public housing. Locally, Julie will partner with small businesses and community organizations to commission local artists within our neighborhoods to perform and provide artwork during summer Open Streets and other public spaces.
Recovery and Reopening: Julie will champion commercial rent relief for theaters, concert halls, and art galleries struggling to stay afloat during the pandemic and advocate for a “Safe Stage” pilot program that will allow venues and performance spaces to open alongside restaurants and retailers at a limited capacity. Julie will advocate for tax credits and other City subsidies for NYC’s performing arts venues and galleries to revitalize their prominence, which has historically generated tremendous revenue and cultural value for our City.
Education and Opportunity: Julie will protect funding for arts and after school programs in public schools and advocate to establish a Public School Portfolio Program that enables schools to opt out of standardized testing in the humanities and instead submit portfolios of student works within the written, visual, and performing arts. The importance of arts education in schools cannot be overstated, and so, Julie will increase funding for local artists, musicians, and performers to teach in our public schools, both remote and in-person.
Benefits and Collective Bargaining: Julie will offer fast track enrollment in NYC Care for artists and other gig workers and protect the right of performers, crew, and production staff to unionize.