ISSUES

 Criminal Justice Reform

1. Now is the time to fight against a system that has created two forms of justice: One for the rich and one for the poor. Our people deserve a system that does not criminalize black and brown bodies because of the color of their skin and the money in their pockets.

Housing

2. Decent housing is a right, not a privilege. I say guaranteed housing for every New Yorker. No more homeless shelters. Give housing vouchers to families so that they remain together and build lives within our communities. The present system is no system at all. It’s cruel and violates basic principles of human decency. I will fight to make sure that everyone has a decent place to call home.

Transportation

3. The MTA says we have a public transportation system? More than 50 percent of the citizens on our communities depend on public transportation.  What we have in Southeast Queens and the Rockaways is a mess. We rely on buses. And the buses don’t connect our people to jobs. There are some things that can and should be done immediately.

Healthcare For All

4. Health care is not an economic issue. It is a moral issue. Our communities are deprived of basic medical care. We need more primary care doctors. We need more specialists, more access to quality care. We demand what every decent society in the world does for all its citizens: health care for all. Whether you’re working or not, people deserve available affordable quality care. No matter where they live.

Environmental Justice

5. Dirty factories, power plants, bus depots, airports, trash transfer plants are more often located in our neighborhoods, where enforcement of environmental laws are typically weak. That’s environmental racism. Understanding that we are a frontline, coastal community, our New Fight Together means taking a holistic approach that fights environmental racism head on by securing funding for coastal protection against Jamaica Bay, expanding our food sources, and fighting against systems that target our air quality.

Education

6. It’s time to close the achievement gap. The big promise was that Albany would make sure New York City schools received as much money annually as upstate schools. But it never happened. The bureaucrats made it impossible. I’m going to Albany, to the Assembly, to cut the red tape, to get that money to go to where it should go: Southeast Queens and the Rockaways.

Jobs & Black + Economic Development

7. This is absolutely unacceptable: we have in our district one of the world’s greatest economic growth engines, John F. Kennedy airport. Everyone is working there. Except us.