Press Room

"The budget framework that the mayor put forward today was encouraging — it seems to indicate broad agreement on some of the most urgent issues facing our city and in need of funding. There are points of disagreement on some specific approaches and allocations, there always are, and I will continue to highlight them. At the same, this proposal would make substantial investments toward many of the programs and initiatives our city desperately needs and that my office and I have long fought for.

"Public safety — not simply law enforcement but all it encompasses, including housing, healthcare, education, and economic justice — is clearly a priority in this budget, as well as for my office and for my colleagues in the City Council. I’m excited that many of the strategies and systems I’ve long advocated for are receiving the funds and focus they need. Additional funding for non-police responses to mental health crises, and for the community-based solutions to combat gun violence, are critical and welcome investments, and must be followed with a clear plan to better structuralize these systems and save lives. Substantially increasing youth services, both in school and over the summer through SYEP, is essential to not only meeting this moment for our city but for strengthening its future. I’m hopeful that as budget negotiations continue, as more details become known and clear, we can secure the resources needed to renew New York, building on strategies we know work and rejecting those that have failed New Yorkers for far too long.

"Much of what I heard from the mayor today was indicative of who I’ve worked with and the work we’ve done together to advance our city over the last decade in office. Over the next two months I look forward to working with the administration and the Council to finalize the budget — partnering where we agree, pushing where we differ, and prioritizing justice, equity, and investment in progressive solutions to the challenges our city faces."

"In 2019 we passed a resolution calling on NYCHA to add marijuana possession to its list of ‘overlooked offenses’ and stop using low level offenses as grounds for eviction. Three years later, even as the state has finally legalized marijuana, NYCHA’s antiquated and illogical prohibition is still in place.

"This ban is inherently inequitable – people in whiter, wealthier communities are able to openly use recreational marijuana at home, while NYCHA residents – often lower income New Yorkers of more color – could lose their homes for doing the same. While the city, state, and federal government fail to adequately support and protect NYCHA tenants from mold, pests, and other hazards, their focus should be on enforcing basic building codes, rather than harmful, outdated policies."

"As someone who benefited from the gifted and talented program in its original, pre-Bloomberg construction, I know the value of accelerated and enriched education. Adding more seats, more access, more opportunity is an improvement that will extend these benefits to more students. At the same time, it is also an expansion of a program that is inherently inequitable. Even when I was enrolled, the gifted and talented program had deep inequities, which have only become more pronounced in the decades since.”

“The most effective path forward is through a schoolwide enrichment model, integrating subject-specific accelerated programming, and the students receiving it, into mixed level classrooms rather than separating children onto different tracks as toddlers. The best way to ensure each of our children has the best education is to remove harmful barriers in the classroom and the social, racial, and economic inequities they represent and perpetuate."

"This budget was reached after a historic delay, and for billionaires and Bills owners, it was well worth the wait. When the governor unveiled her preliminary budget proposal, I was concerned that it relied on temporary federal investment and short-term projects, rather than the sustained revenue and long-term programs that New Yorkers need. While this budget includes some key priority initiatives, thanks to dedicated advocates and leaders, last-minute additions to the process by the governor have consumed both immense resources and valuable focus, preventing some of these programs from going far enough. Not only does the final budget exclude any revenue raising measures from the wealthiest New Yorkers, which creates the potential for even positive initiatives to be cut in out-years, it includes a massive giveaway to a Buffalo billionaire to build a new stadium.

"The budget also weakens the criminal justice reforms of 2019 – which the governor admits and the data reinforces are not the cause of the recent rise in crime. Pulling back from progress, conceding to loud, fearmongering voices, is a move away from justice and toward criminalizing lower income New Yorkers of more color.

"I want to commend and thank the advocates and elected leaders who pushed for progressive causes in this budget, and there are several positive investments won – it’s critically important to acknowledge victories won after months and years of organizing and advocacy. Aid to schools at all levels, including for mental healthcare, is a critical investment. A full restoration of TAP funding will help make education more accessible, and additional accessible ERAP funding will help some New Yorkers stay in their homes while the governor inexplicably refuses to pass Good Cause. Residential owner assistance will help people to stabilize through pandemic recovery, although not nearly enough is included, and legalizing to-go cocktails will provide an important revenue source for small businesses still struggling. 

"It’s equally critical to acknowledge areas where the investment was important but insufficient to meet the need or the moment. The state’s investment in gun violence prevention is welcome, but falls far short of the needed resources to strengthen true public safety. Expanding healthcare coverage for undocumented seniors is a significant step, but leaves many New Yorkers without critical coverage. Similarly, undocumented youth are excluded from the state’s investments in childcare – while the funding for childcare represents major progress for working families, it is not truly universal if many immigrant families are left out. Additionally, in the state’s care economy, advocates fought for and secured a raise that is both important in acknowledging that a home care crisis exists, and is inadequate in addressing that crisis – is it not the fair pay workers demanded and deserved.

"Finally, as important as what’s in the budget is what’s been left out. 421-a and its potential replacements which are the same in all but name and number, were rightly rejected from this deal, and we will continue to make sure that these gifts to developers with no real return are not a part of New York’s affordable housing plan. Unfortunately, any real progress on affordable housing such as the voucher program have also been left out – as was the utility relief so many desperately need. Excluded workers are excluded in this budget, as are popular, urgent reforms like the Clean Slate Act. While some significant increases were made in climate funding, the overall shortfall in investment and the suspension of the gas tax will ultimately create significant environmental harm, while regressively failing to provide substantial support or relief for New Yorkers most in need. 

"In proposing her budget in January, the governor invoked the New Deal – but the deal that was reached in this year’s budget feels old, following the same patterns as past administrations and falling short in key areas. Both through the city budget and the remainder of the state legislative session, we must work to address critical gaps and invest in the New Yorkers this budget leaves behind."

"Congratulations to Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson on her confirmation and historic ascension to the Supreme Court. The history she makes today will be followed and compounded by the decisions she will craft, as her voice helps to define the direction of our country for decades to come.

"This moment will reverberate across our country as young women, and especially young Black women like my two daughters, see the first Black woman on the Supreme Court and feel the importance of her place in history as well as the impact of her place on the bench. Her record of achievement and her resolve in the face of attacks each speak to the powerful, critical role she will play as an eminently qualified and deeply thoughtful addition to the Court.

"While today we celebrate her confirmation, Justice Jackson’s hearings served as another reminder that Black women are held to different and ever-changing standards in our country. The country watched - Black women watched - as Republican senators unleashed their anger, resentment, and bitterness over Justice Kavanaugh’s hearings on Justice Jackson, attempted to malign her unblemished record with outright lies, and ultimately voted against her.

"In spite of this, Justice Jackson was confirmed on the Senate floor on a bipartisan basis, with 53 senators voting to confirm the first Black woman to the Supreme Court – and in the wake of her trailblazing leadership, I hope that what represents a historic first today becomes the norm in the future. With critical issues coming before the Court, and a mandate to move our nation forward, I am eager to see Justice Jackson’s work to, in her own words, make ‘equal justice under the law a reality, not just an ideal.’"

"This victory marks a momentous occasion in the history of the worker justice movement and in the lives of the Amazon workers at JFK8, who have today won recognition as a union in their ongoing effort to secure better workplace protections, higher wages, and true job security.

"In the face of the aggressive, expensive, union-busting effort that Amazon has engaged in, I’m inspired by the workers who refused to be intimidated. Who continued to organize, to vote, to demand what they deserve. I’m honored to have spoken with them, stood with them, and today, to celebrate with them.

"Throughout the decades we have seen workers facing terrible injustices, and we have seen the tactics employed by corporations to maintain the status quo. But we have also seen, again and again, that workers, united, will prevail.

"The opportunity to unionize, to organize, to build worker power is essential. I hope that the results of today’s election on Staten Island, and the victories that this first-in-the-nation union will fight to secure in the coming months, serve as a message and as a model for working people across the city, state, and country about the power and possibility of organizing for worker justice."