Candidate Name: Yetta Kurland
Council District: 3
Contact Person: Kate Frawley
If there is a Campaign office, is it wheelchair accessible? Yes.
Campaign Address: 451 West Street (between Bank and Bethune Streets), New York, NY 10014
Phone: 646-435-9800
Fax:
Address:
Email: yetta @ yettakurland.com
Website: www.yettakurland.com
Endorsements: New York Blade, GO Magazine, The New York League of Humane Voters, HollaBackNYC, Danny Meyer, President of the NYC Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, Jeanine Garofalo & Nellie McKay
Action Shows Commitment!
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 civil rights attorney, I have worked for many years to hold employers accountable for discrimination of individuals with disabilities under the FMLA and ADA. Some victories include a major settlement for an individual who was mistreated in a City hospital and a suit again a major airline for failure to reasonably accommodate and ultimately wrongfully termination of an employee based on their disability. I have also worked as a community organizer to bring awareness around disability issues which includes working with elected officials and community based organizations, attending rallies, letter writing and other organizing to increase accessibility for public transportation and other important issues. I look forward to the opportunity to continue this work as a member of the New York City Council.
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)?
I understand on a profound level the importance of inclusion and the chilling effect of exclusion. At the beginning of my campaign I made a commitment to only have events that were accessible. I have worked hard to do this and will continue to always strive for this. I am proud to say my campaign headquarters are wheelchair accessible. I will also continue to seek the counsel and feedback from the 504 Democrats and other groups in these efforts and if there were an event which has been purposefully or negligently exclusionary or inaccessible I would stand as an ally in solidarity with my 504 brothers and sisters and seek to gain access the same way they would.
General Questions
What personal and professional experience have you had with people with disabilities in your personal life and in the workplace?
I run two businesses both of which I worked to make sure are wheelchair accessible. One struggle in this was to insist that our landlord gave us wheelchair accessible bathrooms, which we were able to achieve after much negotiation. I have also had situations where employees had health challenges and have always work to reasonably accommodate them. I also have many friends, colleagues, allies and supporters who have disabilities.
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?
Absolutely, unequivocally any job. I look at a person's qualifications and make a determination based on that.
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?
First, I will continue to make it a priority, asking the difficult and often overlooked question in all my work with my colleagues in City Hall; how does this effect those who are disabled. I will also continue to seek feedback and direction from organizations like the 504 Democratic Club. Another skill that I offer is my ability to coalition build and draw parallels between other marginalized communities and find common interest. In terms of actual efforts I will work to strengthen enforcement, and utilize resources like the Comptrollers office to create better oversight and awareness around these issues. I will also reach out to grassroots and community based organizations and listen to what they have to say and be involved with their work and involve them in my work at City Hall.
Housing
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 think it is very important and I support them.
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 support making these two programs comparable and also capped at an amount that comports with the reality of today's cost of living.
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, I support this and think it is an imperative. I also think it is imperative to consider disability issues in planning naturally occurring retirement communities.
Transportation
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.?
Yes. In specific, I will not pit environmental issues against accessibility and make sure BOTH are included in updating our taxis not one or the other. I will also work to improve oversight and quality in the Access-A-Ride program.
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?
See above. These are not issues that should be opposing each other and it is a false dichotomy meant to slow down both efforts.
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?
I would support a smart card. In terms of addressing the serious problems in Access-A-Ride, this is in fact one specific project I would ask the Comptroller's office to get involved with, and would also engage the office of the Public Advocate. I would also seek input from the community and create a mechanism for better oversight and administration.
Civil Rights
Do you pledge to use your office to affirm or strengthen, rather than weaken, civil rights protections for persons with disabilities?
Absolutely. It is a great motivator for my run for City Council and as a civil rights attorney, and someone who also comes from a community who does not have all its civil rights, it is fundamental to my work.
Community Board
Do you support requiring all Community Board meeting and function be accessible, including requiring sign language interpreters and large print format material?
Absolutely.
How many people with disabilities have/will you appoint to your local Community Board(s)?
As many as we can actively find who are interested and qualified. I will seek out qualified individuals who are disabled for these positions.
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
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?
My district is notoriously bad with pedestrian ramps. It is my personal goal to make this a first priority when I am in office and I will ensure that budgeting for this is part of the basic upkeep of our streets and sidewalks.
What steps do you think NYC should take to encourage business owners to make their establishments more accessible?
It would be very helpful for small business owners to be given tax incentives to update their shops to be wheelchair accessible. I think it would also be helpful to have town hall meetings and forums for small business owners and folks form the disability community to come up with other community based initiatives and incentives. I would work to facilitate this.
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?
Catastrophes throughout the country have given us a wake up call about emergency evacuation. I do not think the City currently has an appropriate evacuation plan and I would work with the New York City Office of Emergency Management to make sure that disabled individuals were properly prioritized in this. There is an evacuation plan for businesses, there should be one for individuals who face special hardship in these situations such as those who are disabled. This includes the evacuation process as well as accommodations in whatever shelters or facilities these individuals end up.
Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD)
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 will work hard in City Council to ensure that the disabled community is properly represented including proper funding and oversight and execution of the MOPD. I will work to build coalitions with other groups to help ensure that the Mayor's office properly funds and supports the MOPD and will work with community groups and members of the disability community to find creative responses to these problems.
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?
The City Council has oversight over City agencies and I would use this oversight and work with my colleagues to ensure proper functioning of these agencies.
Date: May 30, 2009