504 Democratic Club: Questionnaires (Candidate for City Council Isaac Sasson's 2009 response)

Candidate Name: Isaac Sasson

Council District: 20

Contact Person: Gary Tilzer

If there is a Campaign office, is it wheelchair accessible? Yes.

Campaign Address: 140-22 Beech Avenue, Suite 1A, Flushing, NY 11355
Phone: 347-732-4930
Fax: 347-732-4903
Email: electsasson @ gmail.com
Website: www.isaacsasson.com

Endorsements: Democratic Club of Flushing

Action Shows Commitment!
1. While in public office/prior to this campaign, what have you accomplished in regard to advancing disability rights? This can include work towards accessible housing, transportation, employment, health care, education, and including people with disabilities in the political process?
  
  As a scientist and a cancer researcher, I have devoted my life to helping people in need cope with and overcome their medical, physical, and emotional hardships. While I have not worked directly on disabilities issues before, I have seen personally the great challenges that people with disabilities face and I consider it an essential human rights concern that our government finally bring an end to the inequitable treatment of people with disabilities.
2. Will you commit to only attend / sponsor events that are accessible to people with disabilities (PWDs including providing written materials in alternate formats, providing assistive listening systems, and sign language interpreters as well as ensuring that locations are physically accessible)?
  
  Yes.
General Questions
1. What personal and professional experience have you had with people with disabilities in your personal life and in the workplace?
  
  When I ran for City Council in 2003, I was fortunate to have two people with disabilities volunteer their time to work on my campaign. I say "fortunate" because these volunteers were not just among my most devoted supporters, but they inspired the rest of my team with their exemplary hard work.
2. What type of jobs would you be willing to hire and to provide reasonable accommodation (e.g. flex or part time) for staff members with disabilities?
  
  I would strongly consider people with disabilities for any position on my staff they were qualified to perform. Once they were hired, I would not hesitate to make any accommodations necessary to ensure those staff members thrived in my office.
3. How will you work closely with the disability community to assure passage of vitally needed legislation through the City Council? What will be your strategy?
  
  I will propose or co-sponsor any resolution that will make our City more accessible and equitable for people with disabilities. I will be outspoken in arguing for the passage of these resolutions and I will use the media as a bully pulpit to compel my colleagues to do the right thing or risk public exposure for their unethical stance in opposition to our just fight.
Housing
1. What is your position on the development of supported apartments/homes and retirement homes for the persons with mental and/or physical disabilities in your district?
  
  I am not opposed to developing supported homes and apartments in my district, but I would prefer that people with disabilities are fully integrated into our community, rather than segregated into certain areas.
2. What is your position on making DRIE (Disabled Rent Increase Exemption) and SCRIE (Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption) programs income eligibility comparable? (At present a individual senior or household income eligibility is $28,000. While the income for a younger disabled individual is capped at $19,284 and $27,780 for a household?)
  
  I would definitely support making the income eligibility requirements for SCRIE and DRIE equitable.
3. Visitability sets guidelines to ensure newly constructed multi-family dwellings have basic accessible/adaptable features to permit people with disabilities can visit, and for residents to "age in place," without having to move out when age and/or disability set in. Do you support incorporating the concept of "visitability" in the Building Code?
  
  Yes.
Transportation
1. Will you support an expansion of affordable wheelchair accessible transportation in NYC, including taxis, livery service, express buses, and shuttles, more accessible subway stations, etc.?
  
  Definitely. It is high time the City and the MTA treat people with disabilities with dignity. Our public transportation system is grossly unfair, particularly for people with disabilities who live in the outer boroughs. Making our subway system and taxi fleet more accessible has to be our first priority, but we need to expand accessibility across the board.
2. Efforts to secure a 100% accessible fleet of medallion taxis have been hampered by opposition from Mayor Bloomberg and the taxi industry. The current emphasis is on creating a 100% "green" fleet. What would you do to assure that taxis and community car service vehicles are both "green" and universally designed for wheelchair access?
  
  I think the Mayor and the City Council missed a great opportunity to simultaneously make our taxi fleet both 100% accessible and eco-friendly. But that doesn't mean we have to keep repeating the same mistakes in the future. If I am elected, I will introduce legislation to insist that all new taxi cabs are accessible.
3. Access-A-Ride (AAR) users experience unnecessarily long trips, causing workers to be late for work, have their pay docked and possibly losing their jobs. AAR leaves consumers stranded, lies that a vehicle is coming and penalized riders as a "no-show" when the vehicle never arrived. Riders who complain report they are subject to retaliation. What would you do to improve the quality of AAR? Would you support the issuance of a "smart card" so that Access-A-Ride users can use accessible cabs/livery service at a reduced cost and receive better service? Would you support the issuance of a "smart card" so that Access-A-Ride users can use accessible cabs/livery service at a reduced cost and receive better service?
  
  The City needs to operate Access-A-Ride with the same level of quality we expect from all our other forms of public transportation. That means having properly trained operators who are courteous and knowledgeable, prompt and professional service, and easy Metrocard access. I would also support the issuance of a "smart card", if we couldn't tweak the Metrocard to work for this purpose.
Civil Rights

Do you pledge to use your office to affirm or strengthen, rather than weaken, civil rights protections for persons with disabilities?

Yes.
Community Board
1. Do you support requiring all Community Board meeting and function be accessible, including requiring sign language interpreters and large print format material?
  
  Yes. I served 10 years on Community Board 7 Q, where we had available sign language interpreters. The meeting room is wheelchair accessible.
2. How many people with disabilities have/will you appoint to your local Community Board(s)?
  
  Typically, council members recommend appointment of about half of the people appointed to the community boards, and the Borough President the other half. I will certainly advise the Borough President to give fair consideration to any people with disabilities who want to contribute their time and expertise to this essential community service.
3. Will you support the "requirement" and implement, a Disabled Committee on every Community Board?
  
  Yes.
Discretionary Funds

Will you use your discretionary funds to support organizations serving people with disabilities or service organizations seeking to make their programs accessible to people with disabilities?

Yes.
Accessibility
1. Under Mayor Bloomberg, the City settled with the United Spinal Association and agreed to install pedestrian ramps, on all corners which presently don't have one. However, no provision was made to repair and/or replace existing ones which are unsafe. How would you ensure that pedestrian ramps are provided or repaired? What would you establish as a timetable?
  
  The Department of Transportation needs to be held accountable for repairing and replacing pedestrian ramps in a timely fashion. The Council needs to study what is a reasonable time to expect the DOT to comply with citizen requests and complaints regarding pedestrian ramps and then pass a resolution mandating that the DOT get the job done within that timeframe.
2. What steps do you think NYC should take to encourage business owners to make their establishments more accessible?
  
  We need to offer business owners economic incentives to make their businesses more accessible.
3. How would you ensure that emergency evacuation for PWDs provisions are put in place to improve survival rates of PWDs in the event of fire, attack, blackout, or other emergency situation?
  
  As a member of Community Board 7, I volunteered to get training, and was certified, as a CERT (Community Emergency Response Team). We need to instruct the Office of Emergency Management to come up with a set of protocols to evacuate people with disabilities and clearly mark these procedures in every building in the City to which they apply.
Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD)
1. Mayor Bloomberg elevated the Director of the (MOPD) to a Commissioner without any increase in budget or responsibilities. How would you ensure that city departments/agencies coordinate through MOPD?
  
  I would insist that the Mayor make more than just a token gesture to address the needs and concerns of people with disabilities. Empowering the Commissioner in the long run will likely require a change to the City Charter, but we can get a head start by sitting down the Commissioners of all of the City's departments together and clearly defining how the MOPD's authority overlaps with their agencies.
2. How do you believe the City Council should enforce and do oversight regarding the work of the office and be certain of the implementation and its efforts?
  
  Right now, the City Council groups together mental health, mental retardation, alcoholism, drug abuse and disability services all into one committee. It is ineffective - not to mention insulting - to group all of these important areas under one single umbrella, as if they were all the same. We need to have a Council committee that deals exclusively with disability issues that is charged with studying our City's initiatives to see if they work and holding the City accountable when they don't.

Date: June 2, 2009

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