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?

For two years, I directed a program for the New York Civil Rights Coalition called the Unlearning Stereotypes: Civil Rights and Race Relations Program, which was taught by volunteer lawyers in 42 public schools in every borough of New York City. This program was geared toward encouraging students to unlearn stereotypes of people of different backgrounds and abilities. There was an entire section of the curriculum that we developed based on unlearning stereotypes of people with disabilities. The program continues to this day.

I have also used my legal background to advance causes of civil rights, such as representing thirteen same-sex couples seeking marriage equality in the State of New York, and for fair funding of New York City public schools as part of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit. I have also litigated on behalf of the St. Louis Living Wage campaign to protect a living wage ordinance that was being challenged there.

In addition, I am a public member of the Community Board’s Transportation Committee and a firm advocate for wheelchair accessibility for taxis and the Second Avenue Subway line.
 

What oversight have you performed regarding implementation of programs/legislation you have passed (in first term or in previous offices)?

N/A. I have never served in office.
 

What implementation/strategy do you have for your future programs and legislation to help constituents with disabilities?

I will fight to help people with disabilities keep their housing at their current costs, and will also work tirelessly to advance disability rights in transportation, employment, health care, and education.
 

First, I will designate a member of my staff as the liaison to the disabled community. Second, I will co-sponsor legislation to require that the only new medallions issued for taxis are to those that are accessible, and will work with the disability community to develop a package of other supportive legislation. Third, I will have mobile office hours that will bring my office closer to the community – and will only do so in places that are accessible to the disabled. Finally, I will work with members of the disability community to develop appropriate legislation, and will bring key representatives into my decision making process before I take any public position.
 

Will you commit to only attend or sponsor events that are accessible to people with disabilities? NOTE: This includes providing written materials in alternate formats for people with low vision, providing assistive listening systems for people who are hard-of-hearing, and sign language interpreters for people who are deaf, as well as ensuring that locations are accessible to people who use mobility aids, like wheelchairs and walkers.

Yes.
 

What personal and professional experience have you had with people with disabilities?

1. ...in your personal life?

   No members of my family are physically disabled.
    
   

2. ...in the workplace?

   At my law firm, I worked very closely with an associate who was deaf. He could read lips, but could not hear conference calls. While he and I worked out a system together, it highlighted for me the importance of employers’ providing accommodations for people with disabilities.
    
   

What special accommodations do you believe/think are in use in the workplace?

Employers should hire the most talented people, regardless of their physical ability. We need to end discriminatory practices and notions of physical ability in the workforce. Employers need to make accommodations that are necessary to get the job done, and to bring and keep talented people with disabilities in the workplace. It is bad for the economy when talented people with disabilities are kept out of the workplace because of discrimination, whether or not it is intended. It is also important to consider the financial hardship on the disability community for not being welcomed into certain jobs. Employers need to make the accommodations that their employees need – and in making this a requirement, the first employers I would evaluate are those who have contracts with the City of New York.
 

How do you propose to implement your active involvement and/or availability to the disability community?

1. Will there be a specific person in your office responsible to this community?

   Yes.
    
   

2. Will have regular office agenda items and meetings on disabled community issues?

   Yes.
    
   

Do you/or will you, have an active Disability Advisory Committee? Explain its duties, responsibilities and powers.

Today, I informally consult with Council Member Margarita Lopez, State Committeewoman Sylvia Friedman and State Committeeman Micah Kellner. If elected, I will have an active Disability Advisory Committee, and would be proud to have them serve on such a committee. The responsibilities would be to bring new initiatives and legislation to my attention, as well to help me move an agenda for people with disabilities expeditiously through the Council.
 

How will you work closely with the disability community to assure passage of vitally needed legislation through the City Council? What is your strategy during your first term?

I will have constant contact and strategy sessions with the disability community to move the agenda on these issues. I will not need to be led – I will take the initiative and identify pressure points for advocates to hit in order to help me advance the agenda.
 

What is your position on the development of supported apartments/homes and retirement homes for the mentally disabled in your borough? Please also explain same for physically disabled. What strategies will you utilize?

I support the development of supported apartments/homes for mentally and physically disabled people, and believe that monies in the capital budget should be set aside for building such facilities. Recently in the City Council, for the first time ever, zoning was linked to permanent affordable housing. I will work with Council members to explore whether, through zoning, similar initiatives can be taken for apartments for people with physical and mental disabilities. I also will work locally with the community boards to accentuate their importance—by including in their Statements of Needs and their Capital Budget Priorities.
 

What is your position on extending the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE) to low-income, eligible persons with disabilities under the age of 62 on the same basis and income level (currently the income cap for seniors is $24,000, but for persons with disabilities it has been set at $17,000)?

I am in favor of extending the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption in this manner.
 

How will you develop realistic income levels for individuals and couples with disabilities to avail themselves of the SCRIE provisions?

I will work with the disability community, and community organizations – as well as all City agencies to develop the appropriate and realistic income levels.
 

What alternative programs will you propose to allow persons with disabilities to stay in their own homes/apartments? (i.e. protection from rent increases or undue eviction (harassment) and make funds available to make appropriate accommodations in present living environment). Another example: perhaps a dedicated housing trust fund should be established for making those housing accommodations. If so, how would you fund same?

First, the City needs to take control over its own rental rules. This means repealing the Urstadt Law – and I am prepared to organize tenants and raise money to defeat upstate Republican legislators who are hostile to New York City tenants. Only through New York City’s control over our own laws will we be able to effectively factor in the needs of people with disabilities. I have been a tenants leader in Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town, where I founded a tenants organization to bring new tenants into the fight against an electronic keycard system in that community, and have consistently advocated the repeal of Urstadt. Second, I think we need to crack down on abusive landlords who improperly seek to evict people on invidious discriminatory grounds, or simply because they live in rent stabilized apartments. Finally, I think we need to consider analogues to the Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs) for people with disabilities in making funding determinations.
 

New York City is in the process of adopting a new building code. How would you advocate for the strongest possible access provisions?

I will work with the disability community and the Mayor’s office to create the broadest and most comprehensive accessibility requirements for the new building code. The new building code should not recreate the problems that exist in older buildings.
 

1. Emergency evacuation for people with disabilities: what would you do to ensure that provisions are put in place to improve survival rates of people with disabilities in the event of fire, attack, blackout, or other emergency situation?

   In the wake of 9/11, it is essential that buildings are constructed in a way to improve survival rates of people with disabilities in emergency situations. I would work very closely with the disability community, the Mayoral administration, and colleagues in the City Council to achieve this goal.
    
   

2. What would you do to ensure that "Visitability" is enacted in New York City? Visitability is the movement towards establishing guidelines providing that newly constructed multi-family dwellings have basic accessible/adaptable features that permit friends and family with disabilities to visit, and for residents to "age in place," without having to move out when age and/or disability set in.

   I will work with the disabled community, the Department of Buildings and the real estate community to ensure that "Visitability" is enacted.
    
   

Will you support, and what strategy will you utilize, to implement an expansion of affordable wheelchair accessible transportation in NYC, including taxis, livery service, express buses, airport shuttle service, more accessible subway stations, etc.?

1. Efforts to secure a 100% accessible fleet of medallion taxis have been hampered by opposition from Mayor Bloomberg and the taxi industry. Wheelchair accessible taxis are present in many cities as a result of strong support from local Mayors and City Councils. What would you do to assure that all New York City residents, commuters and tourists have access to an important form of public transportation, our medallion taxis and community car services?

   New York City needs a fully accessible public transportation system for residents, commuters and tourists. As a member of the City Council, I will work with advocates and the MTA to ensure the most accessible transportation services. This includes taxis, livery service, express busses, shuttle services, and subway stations. It is simply inexcusable that every element of New York’s mass transit system is not 100% accessible.

   I also support legislation that limits new taxi medallions only to only those owners who have fully accessible taxis. We also need to take aggressive steps, including the allocation of budget dollars, to converting the current fleet to accessible taxis.
    
   

Access-A-Ride has denied rides to many eligible consumers; cause unnecessarily long trips, causing workers to be late for work and consequently be docked pay and even lose their jobs; routinely leave many consumers stranded at the curb, lying to their clients that a bus is coming and calling consumer a "no-show" when the bus has not shown. Consumers who complain are often subject to retaliation. What would you do to improve the quality of service for those who must use Access-A-Ride?

Access-A-Ride is not responsive to the people whom it purports to serve, and badly needs reform. I would engage in aggressive oversight over this MTA program. I would consider the possibility of turning Access-A-Ride over to another agency that could yield better results.
 

Do you favor the construction of the Second Avenue Subway? If so, is this a priority?

Yes, I favor the Second Avenue Subway line, and consider it to be the top transportation priority. It should be fully-built and run from 125th Street all the way down to Hanover Square. The Second Avenue line will not only provide relief to worn-down East Side straphangers and members of the disabled community, but it's also good for the health of New York's (and East Side's) economy. It bears noting that the East Side Access plan, providing a stop for Long Island Rail Road commuters on the East Side, will bring in to the East Side approximately 28,000 people per hour during rush hour. Half of those will travel to other destinations in Manhattan, mostly using the Lexington line, which is already overtaxed. The presence of this plan makes the Second Avenue Subway even more important.
 

The Local Civil Rights Restoration Act (Intro 22) seeks to protect the vigor and independence of the City’s Human Rights Law against the attacks of an increasingly conservative State and Federal Judiciary. Although there are 38 Council sponsors, 32 civil rights and allied organizations, in favor of this legislation, and three hearings have been held, Mayor Bloomberg continues to oppose the most central aspect of the bill, the need for City Human Rights Law not to be restricted as federal and state civil rights law gets cut back. Would you work to assure its passage? Please describe your strategy.

Yes. It is clear that we cannot leave civil rights protections up to the federal government under the current administration. I am a lawyer with a background in civil rights who turned down a job to work in the Voting Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice because of my unwillingness to work for then-Attorney General John Ashcroft. I have been fighting for civil rights initiatives for years – as part of the New York Civil Rights Coalition, then as a litigator on behalf of marriage equality for same-sex couples. Today, I serve on the Advisory Board of Directors of the New York Civil Rights Coalition. I also sought and received funding from an East Side religious organization to help rebuild African-American churches burned by arson. My civil rights background has been about fighting on behalf of causes that are just and right – and believe that our City’s Human Rights Law should not be restricted along with federal and state civil rights.
 

Under the Bloomberg Administration, the Corporation Council intervened on the side of the city of Sacramento when it sought to challenge the Americans with Disabilities Act regarding the requirement to maintain accessible sidewalks. Do you pledge to use your office to affirm or strengthen, rather than weaken, civil rights protections for persons with disabilities?

Yes, as I have in civil rights struggles throughout my career, I will work to strengthen civil rights protections for persons with disabilities.
 

Do you support making sign language interpreters available for Community Board meetings? If so, how would you fund this?

I support it, and I favor increased City funding for Community Boards for this purpose.
 

Will you appoint disabled persons to local Community Boards?

Yes.
 

How many have you/ or will you appoint to Community Board?

It is too difficult to make a prediction of how many people with disabilities I will appoint to the Community Board. However, I will be proud to appoint people with disabilities to the Community Board.
 

Will you support the "requirement" and implement, a Disabled Committee on every Community Board?

Yes.
 

Please Specify: Have you used (or will you use) your discretionary funds to support organizations serving persons with disabilities or service organizations seeking to make their programs accessible to persons with disabilities? If so, what percentage of your discretionary funds went to such organizations?

I will use discretionary funds to support organizations serving persons with disabilities.
 

Under Mayor Bloomberg, the City settled with the United Spinal Association and agreed to install curb cuts -- Pedestrian ramps, on all corners which presently don’t have one. However, no provision has been made to repair or replace those current ones which are unsafe. How would you ensure that curb cuts—pedestrian ramps—are provided on or repaired on streets that need them? What would you establish as a timetable?

All corners should have curb cuts, and the City needs to take an immediate inventory of the corners that are not properly equipped. This is true for both corners that need them, as well as those that have them but need them repaired. With the 311 system, this should be easy to measure, and I will support doing a City-wide count. However, in my own district, I will bring volunteers to survey the East Side street by street to ensure that curb-cuts are properly installed. As part of the budget process, I will support allocating money by Department of Transportation for new (and repaired) curb cuts in the District.
 

What steps do you think NYC should take to encourage business owners to make their establishments more accessible?

We need to educate business owners that accessibility is good for business. It is simply short-sighted to close out any New Yorkers – whether or not they do it intentionally -- from doing business. I would work with the Mayor’s office, Small Business Services, as well as the Economic Development Corporation to promote these goals. I would consider also creating short term tax breaks or other incentives to businesses to change their entrances or façades to make them accessible.
 

Do you believe that landmark buildings can be made accessible without losing their historical integrity?

Yes.
 

What is your position on efforts to elevate the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD) to a commissioner level agency or Commission on Disabilities to enable coordination of efforts of agencies? (A one stop shop for information and assistance.) How would you ensure that city departments/agencies coordinate through MOPD?

I support it. I agree with efforts to create a "one stop shop" for coordination of efforts of agencies. This is a critical oversight function of the Council – namely, to ensure that government is working effectively and is directly responsive to the needs of all New Yorkers.
 

What implementation/authority should MOPD have, and/or how would you ensure that MOPD?

The MOPD should have full agency authority, and I will work to ensure through the budget process that it has the appropriate resources to make it operational.
 

Since presumably "this" office is a Mayoral Office, how would you enforce and do oversight regarding the work of the office and be certain of the implementation and its efforts?

I would call hearings and ask the Commissioner to account for his/her actions. I am suited to do as a litigator, trained at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. I know how to craft interrogatories, take depositions, and cross examine witnesses, and would therefore be very well equipped to perform this oversight function.