My Accomplishments Since Taking Office
- Passed congestion pricing to create a dedicated funding stream for public transit and committed to fight for exemptions for low income residents in the congestion zone and all New Yorkers with a disability placard.
- Supported Select Bus Service expansions on the M14a and M14d routes while maintaining local access for seniors and people with disabilities
- Fought for and won elevators in subway stations for people with disabilities, the elderly, and people with small children with 70 new stations with elevators coming online in the next 5 years.
- Won the elimination of the half-fare student MetroCard and provision of full-fare cards to all students who formerly received half-fare cards
- Pushed New York City Department of Transportation to study the creation of new bike lanes in the Lower East Side
- Co-authored and passed the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act: the strongest tenant protections in decades
- Held forums on bail reform, legalization of marijuana, race and segregation in our public school system, tenants rights, census, improving conditions in NYCHA
- Helped secure hundreds of thousands of dollars in state funding for public schools in the district
- Passed legislation to end the racist and classist cash bail system
- Led dozens of classes on civics for middle schoolers, high schoolers, college students, law students, and adults
- Passed legislation to expand early voting for New Yorkers and co-sponsored legislation allowing public schools to opt-out of acting as an early voting site
- Supported the creation of a public matching system for state level elected offices and fought for lower contribution limits
- Passed legislation in the Assembly to require the State Liquor Authority to consider formal communications from a community board and a proprietor’s record of safely managing other establishments before issuing a liquor license
- Co-sponsored and passed bold legislation to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions in the state
My Plan for the Next Term
Disability Rights
- Work to pass my legislation requiring state agencies, the legislature, the court system, and state contractors to develop plans to increase the number of people with disabilities in their workforces
- Increase the number of accessible subway stations
- Fight for $15 million in funding for services for college students with disabilities
Housing
- Create a dedicated source of revenue for NYCHA capital repairs and fight for funding in the budget
- Stem the loss of affordable Mitchell-Lama units
- Ensure that cooperative models of affordable homeownership like housing development fund corporations remain affordable for generations to come
Education
- Fight to extend student MetroCard hours so students don’t have to pay to go to evening extracurricular activities
- Generate a dedicated funding stream for public higher education
- Prioritize state funds to develop a program to provide a full fare MetroCard to CUNY students
Environment
- Expand the use of electric vehicles by kickstarting the installation of publicly available charging stations across the state
- Promote a statewide composting program
- Reduce reliance on single use plastics
Criminal Justice Reform
- End felony disenfranchisement and establish a system for New Yorkers to vote while incarcerated
- End torture in the form of solitary confinement by passing the The HALT Solitary Confinement Act and seek justice for elders in prison by fighting for parole reform
- Legalize marijuana in a way that addresses the racist and classist impacts of the War on Drugs by reinvesting revenue from taxation into overpoliced communities
- Provide free phone calls to family members of incarcerated people
- Enable incarcerated people to work towards rehabilitation and re-entry by expanding college in prison programs
