All About
- Member of the City Council's Education Committee.
- Helped secure space for a new school, P.S. 151, to be reopened after an eight-year closure.
- Has been a leader in calling for greater planning by the Department of Education to relieve overcrowding and to eliminate kindergarten waitlists.
- Allocated $550,000 for the creation of a first-of-its kind rooftop eco-center at P.S. 6.
- Allocated funds for a new library at Wagner Middle School, and led volunteer efforts to fill the shelves with books.
- Successfully advocated for changes to the City's Gifted & Talented testing policy.
- Spearheaded a $4.5 billion bid to purchase Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village on behalf of tenants to preserve affordability for middle-class residents.
- Authored the landmark Tenant Protection Act to give tenants new legal rights to fight back against harassment by landlords.
- Fought to protect rent-stabilization and rent control.
- Launched a free tenant hotline to help residents defend themselves from faulty legal claims and to understand their rights.
- Presided over the creation of approximately 15,000 units of new housing as Chair of the Planning Subcommittee.
- Authored legislation to protect tenants from incorrect information in"tenant screening reports."
- Authored legislation to give notice to tenants in buildings that are undergoing foreclosure.
- Authored the New York City Energy Code to improve energy efficiency in buildings, which are the source of 80 percent of the city's greenhouse gas emissions.
- Co-sponsor of all of the bills constituting the "Greater Greener Buildings Plan" announced on Earth Day 2009.
- Fought for the creation of Solar Empowerment Zones to increase the use of alternative energy.
- Supports funding for mass transit, and incentives to move people out of cars and onto buses and subways.
- Sponsor of legislation to require building access for bicycles, as well as parking spaces in garages.
- Sponsored and passed bill to require ultra low sulfur diesel fuel in diesel-powered generators used in films and street fairs
- Sponsored legislation to encourage electronics recycling.
- Fought to prohibit drilling for natural gas within the boundaries of the watershed of the New York City drinking water supply.
- Received a 100% rating on the New York League of Conservation's environmental policy scorecard.
- Appointed co-Chair of the City Council's Infrastructure Task Force and Member of the Transportation Committee
- Succeeded in winning reimbursement of power costs for local businesses affected by the Con Ed steam pipe explosion.
- Supports construction of the Second Avenue Subway, and launched the Shop 2nd Avenue campaign to support local businesses affected by the construction.
- Fighting for the implementation of Bus Rapid Transit service on First and Second Avenues.
- Supporting the creation of a container port in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, to keep New York City's ports active and competitive.
- Led the redevelopment of the former Con Edison Waterside site on First Avenue to allow for a vibrant, mixed use community with five acres of public open space, a new East Side school, affordable housing, and a performing arts space.
- Secured commitments for the creation of a waterfront park on the East River.
- Authored legislation to require safety precautions at suspended construction sites.
- Fought for the protection of the budget of New York City's 59 community boards.
- Supported Borough President Scott Stringer's reforms to professionalize and reform community boards.
- Helped pass the Clinic Access Bill to protect choice.
- Supports City Council programming that targets domestic violence and provides community-focused legal, health and empowerment services to women.
- Believes that pharmacies should fill valid and legal prescriptions for all legal contraceptives.
- Member of the City Council's Public Safety Committee
- Sponsored and passed legislation to require posting of bicycle safety rules at businesses that engage in bike deliveries
- Sponsored legislation to toughen gun control laws by creating a gun offender registry, and preventing theft of firearms from licensed firearms dealers.
- Sponsored legislation to ban firearms, rifles, or shotguns that are colored so as to appear to be toy guns.
- Authored and passed a law to create long-overdue transparency in the inspections of rooftop water tanks.
- Authored and passed a law to stagger mandatory building facade inspections, which will help government agencies function more efficiently, and reduce expenses for co-op shareholders.
- Authored a law to color-coat building standpipes, so that they are not inadvertently cut during demolitions (as happened in DeutscheBank fire).
- As co-Chair of Council's Rules Reform Task Force, authored rule changes to make Council operations more democratic.
- Authored policies to make the City budget more open and transparent.
- Passed legislation that strengthened campaign finance regulations.
- Sponsored laws to restrict "pay to play" practices.
- Voted against proposal to extend the terms of elected officials without a referendum.
- Supports changes to Board of Elections rules to allow for same day registration and no-fault absentee voting.
- Authored the Livery Cab Passenger Bill of Rights to ensure safe and professional level of service for passengers of for-hire vehicles.
- Authored the New York City Fair Debt Collection Act to shield consumers from abusive and illegal debt collection practices.
- Supports same-sex marriage.
- Sponsored legislation to grant all rights of spousal partnership to domestic partnerships.
- Authored legislation to require disclosure of the working condition of foreign manufacturers of goods used in New York City.
- Sponsored resolution calling for City and State pension funds to divest from corporations doing business with the Sudan.
- Sponsored legislation to require installation of fire sprinklers in establishments or facilities that provide services for animals.
- Sponsored legislation to prohibit excessive restraint of animals.
- Supported incentives for the East River Science Park, a bioscience facility that will help grow the biotech industry in New York and will diversify our local economy.
- Connected former Wall Street workers with new emerging New York businesses.
- Called for consistent funding for the development and improvement of our City's infrastructure.
- Authored legislation included in the green buildings legislative package, which will create 19,000 construction jobs.
- Developed the first-ever City Council constituent service website.
- Full-time Council Member, who is known to show up in the neighborhood when a problem develops, and stay until it gets fixed.
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