Candidate Name: Linda B. Rosenthal
Candidate for Assembly District: 67 (Manhattan)
Contact Person: Lindsey Allison
Campaign Address: 321 West 89th Street, New York, NY 10024
Phone: (706) 255-7469
Fax: (646) 304-2862
Email: lallison9@gmail.com
Website: rosenthalforassembly.com
If there is a Campaign office(s), is it wheelchair accessible?
I do not currently have an official campaign office. My District Office is handicapped accessible.
How have you incorporated people with disabilities into your campaign?
I have not yet activated my campaign operations for this cycle but in the past, I have sought to ensure persons with disabilities were able to take part in any and all aspects of my campaign operations.
If you are an incumbent,
Is your present office/work place accessible to people with disabilities? If not, what have you done to rectify the inaccessibility?
Yes, my office is accessible to persons with disabilities.
What oversight have you performed regarding implementation of programs/legislation passed previously?
I speak regularly with advocates and persons with disabilities to understand how programs and initiatives are being implemented. If necessary, I address any violations or lax implementation directly with federal, state, or local agencies.
What personal and professional experience have you had with people with disabilities in your personal life and in the workplace?
I have worked to assist people with disabilities, physical or psychiatric, and I have always fought against discrimination, including that against persons with disabilities. I know first hand from friends who are disabled how hard life can be when barriers exist, and when government needs to be forced to do its job to eliminate them. Examples include: cases where Access-a-Ride failed constituents, inability of disabled constituents to leave their building because of lack of ramps and helping PWDs get government benefits.
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 am willing to provide reasonable accommodation for any position on my staff, including flex or part time methods.
While in public office and/or 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?
I was successful in passing legislation in the Assembly (A.6671-B) that provides that all blind and visually impaired patients, when being discharged from health care facilities, be provided with an audio recording of the discharge plan. Additionally, in my professional experience, I have been successful in helping ensure adequate funding for the 72nd Street subway station rehabilitation, which made the station handicapped accessible. As an Assemblymember, I was pleased to secure the appropriate state approval for the recently opened 96th Street station on Broadway. The new station has an elevator and is now handicapped accessible, thus creating a corridor along the West Side for persons with disabilities to access the subway. I have also worked closely with advocates for persons with developmental disabilities continue funding of OMRDD programs. Further, I am an advocate for including accessible units in any new affordable housing development. I believe the Assembly should give credits or make funds available to developers who pledge to create housing that is both and affordable and supportive/accessible for persons with disabilities.
Will you commit to only attend and/or sponsor events that are accessible to people with disabilities including providing written materials in alternate formats, providing assistive listening systems, and sign language interpreters, as well as ensuring that locations are accessible to people who use mobility aids, like wheelchairs and walkers?
Yes, I have and continue to sponsor events that are totally accessible and will work to ensure organizors of any event I participate have made every effort to provide accommodations for persons with disabilities.
Do you pledge to use your office to affirm or strengthen, rather than weaken, civil rights protections to persons with disabilities?
Yes, I will continue to fight for civil rights protections for persons with disabilities in my capacity as Assemblymember.
How do you propose your active involvement/availability to the disability community?
Will there be a specific person in your office responsible to this community?
Yes, my Chief of Staff will be responsible for assisting constituents and advocacy organizations that support the needs of the disability community.
Will have regular office agenda meetings on these issues?
Given my current legislation to assist persons with disabilities in hospitals, and my involvement in creating universally accessible public transportation options on the West Side, along with my advocacy for affordable, accessible housing, my office will regularly track and monitor these issues.
What would you do to have direct contact with our community?
I will communicate regularly through e-newsletters and printed newsletters, conduct meetings with leading advocates in the community to hear their feedback on proposed legislation and ideas for new bills, and I will continue to provide informational programs and meetings at ADA accessible venues on how to best access resources and government benefits.
How will you work closely with the disability community to assure passage of vitally needed legislation? What will be your strategy?
Continuing to improve accessibility for all New Yorkers is crucial whether we are talking about mass transit or reasonable accommodations in the workplace. The solutions to the issues we face can best be obtained from the people who have firsthand knowledge of the struggles persons with disabilities face everyday. I will continue building coalitions of housing, transportation, and health care advocates to join forces on important initiatives like the suite of bills recently passed in the Assembly that benefits the disabled community. In my discussions with my colleagues in the Assembly and Senate about important legislation, I will use the information gained from my conversations and meetings with the disabled community to win support for this legislative agenda. I will speak directly with committee chairs and the Speaker to ensure bills relating to assisting the disabled community receive a fair chance in the legislative process. Additionally, I feel it is important to work in tandem with the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities and the State Division of Human Rights to ensure that New York City continues to advance the agenda when it comes to accessibility issues.
How would you change the laws of New York State to protect the rights of its citizens with disabilities?
I am currently a co-sponsor of several bills that have cleared the Assembly and recently passed the Senate. Specifically, A.10676 clarifies the scope of protections against discrimination on the basis of disability in services provided by public entities, A.6489 caps fares for paratransit transportation, and A.10946 requires polling places to be accessible for persons with disabilities, and A.3954B establishes the Metropolitan Transportation Riders Council for Persons with Disabilities. This is of course, in addition to the bill I passed previously this session (A.6671-B) mentioned above.
While the State is focused on reducing the costs of Medicaid and other programs, persons with disabilities need to continue to have access to the services and supports they need and choose.
Would you oppose proposals which would negatively affect eligibility, benefits, coverage, and/or access to services for Medicaid beneficiaries and eliminate the systemic bias that leads to unwanted placement in nursing homes and other institutions?
Yes.
Would you seek to promote comprehensive long term care reform that will not reduce coverage or access to services?
Yes.
Would you increase rental/housing subsidies to participants in the new Nursing Facility Transition and Diversion Medicaid waiver program?
Yes.
Would you expand Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage program (EPIC) to provide the same level of eligibility and coverage to persons with disabilities under age 65?
Yes, I would support the extension of EPIC. Advocates for people with disabilities must continue to fight to include PWDs under this program.
Will you support moving funds from nursing homes to moving patients out of nursing homes and back into the community?
Yes.
We are in the midst of a housing crisis. Accessible, affordable housing is in short supply. People with disabilities are being priced out of the market. Do you support the creation of a housing trust fund for persons with disabilities?
Yes, I support any program that will increase the affordable housing stock for persons with disabilities.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires housing developers to set aside a certain percentage of accessible units for persons with disabilities when federal funds are used for construction. Do you favor incorporating these provisions into State law so that the Department of Housing and Community Renewal can be empowered to enforce these provisions?
Yes, I support any measure that will provide the State with a formalized mechanism to enforce provisions relating to affordable and accessible units for persons with disabilities.
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 New York State Building Code?
Yes.
At present: SCRIE (Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption) Household income cap is $29,000. DRIE (Disabled Rent Increase Exemption) is $19,284/single and $27,780/2 or more. What is your position on increasing DRIE income eligibility to match SCRIE?
I support raising the DRIE income eligibility to match SCRIE.
While localities have acquired voting machines that attempt to meet the accessibility standards of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), many poling places in New York State remain inaccessible to persons with disabilities. Do you favor the elimination of provisions in Section 4-104 (1-a) of the New York State Election Law allowing waiver of polling place accessibility standards?
Yes.
Despite Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, students with disabilities face problems when pursuing higher education. These statutes do not specify how students should request accommodations or assistance in asserting their rights under the law. Will you support a fully funded office of disability services on each SUNY and CUNY campus to assist students with disabilities in securing accommodations?
Yes, I support this proposal.
How do you propose dealing with school districts that deny civil rights to disabled students even after the Sate Division of Civil Rights affirms the student's rights such as to use a service animal?
I will work with the City Department of Education as well as the State Education Department to ensure that students with disabilities are treated with respect and given the tools they need to thrive. I will also support any legislation that reaffirms the civil rights of these students and forces state and local agencies to adhere to protections already enumerated in federal, state, and local laws.
Do you support legislation requiring car services, and shuttle services to purchase wheelchair accessible vehicles or otherwise ensure that they have the capacity to serve persons with disabilities?
Yes.
Will you or do you support Assembly Member Kellner's proposed bill requiring New York City to transition to a 100% accessible taxi fleet?
Yes.
Persons with disabilities have historically been under-represented within the Democratic Party leadership. According to the 2000 census, persons with disabilities comprised 20.6% of New York State residents and 23.1% of those 18 years and older. Previously, we were told that only those groups included in the Voting Rights Act were included in the goals and timetables for delegate selection. Yet the lesbian and gay communities were included for the first time at the 2000 convention and again at the 2004 and 2010 conventions. Would you support a campaign to set a goal that 10% of the total New York State Delegation to the 2012 Democratic National Convention be comprised of persons with disabilities.
Yes.