New York City’s Parks have been underfunded and under-resourced for decades, with funding frequently being cut. Most cities commit between 1-4 percent of their city budget to parks. Do you support 1% for NYC Parks as Mayor Elect Adams has? And how will you ensure that parks funding isn’t cut in the future as we saw with devastating results during the pandemic?
Yes, absolutely, I support a 1% commitment in the budget for NYC Parks. During the FY21 budget, which was passed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, our City saw an $84 million cut to the Parks Department budget. That represented 14% of their operating budget, which absolutely devastated our parks. It led to 1,700 fewer maintenance and seasonal staff to help maintain our parks and playgrounds, and we saw the decline in the conditions of our green and open spaces. The budget cut also deeply impacted Parks Enforcement Patrol officers, Urban Park Rangers, the GreenThumb program, and more. That’s why in the FY22 budget, we restored the funding for the Parks Department to pre-pandemic levels, and brought back the crucial park workers who keep our parks safe, clean, and maintained.

As recent reports from the Center for an Urban Future have shown, the city's process for designing and building capital projects is badly broken. A new park bathroom can easily cost $3 million and recent library construction projects have cost more than $1,500 per square foot -- roughly triple the cost of building a Class A office building. As a result, NYC's limited capital dollars don't go nearly far enough to help meet the full range of infrastructure needs. As Speaker, what would you do to help reform this process, bring down costs, speed up timelines, and help deliver more vital social infrastructure projects for New Yorkers?
Reforming our design and construction process is key to ensuring that infrastructure projects are completed not just in a timely fashion, but also on budget. We saw that with the use of design-build, we were able to speed up the vendor selection process without sacrificing the end product. We must build off of this new way of doing business, but also open up new doors of opportunity for Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) firms that are qualified and can get the job done efficiently and effectively.
Secondly, the City Council must exercise its oversight role to ensure that city agencies are operating at their maximum capacity and ability. We often hear from residents and organizations that they are frustrated by the red-tape and delays in crucial infrastructure projects that have tremendous benefit for the entire community. In my opinion, it’s key that we dig deeper into why these delays exist, and hold accountable those who are responsible for moving these projects along.

Parks are often cut when the city is struggling financially, as we saw during the height of the pandemic in 2020, we lost critical parks funding when New Yorkers needed open spaces the most. What can the Council do to ensure parks will be funded through hard times and that they can receive consistent funding for staff and programs?
We have to protect the Parks budget from being slashed, even during hard fiscal times like we saw during the height of the pandemic. Parks are essential to every New Yorker, and that was reinforced even more during the pandemic. In future budgets, we must baseline funding for our parks and park workers moving forward. I am committed to championing our green spaces to ensure we don’t see a situation like we saw in past years.

NYC’s public realm (parks, plazas, waterfronts, streets, sidewalks) are all managed by different agencies often with different rules and priorities, rather than working as a connected network. Would you support the creation of a Director of the Public Realm?
Yes, we should create a centralized place in City government that can oversee and manage all of our City’s different public spaces. The pandemic has truly underscored the importance of our public parks, plazas, waterfronts, and streets. The responsibility to maintain these public spaces is far too dispersed, and it creates a system of confusion and lack of accountability. Consolidating this into one office or Director position is definitely a positive step forward to ensuring that we have all of our public spaces managed and maintained to the best of our ability.

During the pandemic, programs like Open Streets and Open Restaurants were innovations by necessity that extended a lifeline to communities across the city and literally thousands of small businesses. What is your vision for a successful, equitable and permanent iteration of these programs to support our city and recovery?
Open Streets and Open Restaurants saved so many of our small businesses at a time when the industry was really falling apart due to the pandemic. It also gave our residents a chance to enjoy their favorite open spaces safely. We should continue this program and tweak it to address outstanding concerns from neighbors and other stakeholders. This initiative has been a great boon for our City, and it came at the right time. But we should also tailor the program to meet the needs of every neighborhood, whether it’s in Queens, Brooklyn, or Staten Island. We shouldn’t have a one-size-fits-all Open Streets program because every neighborhood is different. I believe a successful and equitable Open Streets and Open Restaurants program will thrive moving forward in our City.

Transportation Alternatives’ 25x25 plan seeks to reclaim 25% of our street space for pedestrians by 2025. Do you support this proposal, and how can the council lead work to prioritize pedestrians, cyclists, buses, and pedestrian plazas over cars?
Transportation Alternatives’ 25x25 plan is certainly worth strong consideration and we will work to ensure that our City creates more space for pedestrians. Especially in the densest parts of our City, we need more space for pedestrians to get where they need to go, and to do so safely. I believe that with the proper community and stakeholder engagement, and taking into consideration neighborhood concerns, we can transform our streetscape to be safer and more equitable.

As we saw this summer during Hurricane Ida, our city remains vulnerable to flooding and the impacts of climate change. How would you make our streets more resilient, and put in place policies that help prevent flooding across the sewer system and into places with damaging consequences like our subway stations and basement homes?
We must invest in more green infrastructure as a method of making our City more resilient. Our parks and playgrounds can play a critical role in relieving some of the flooding that takes place now on our streets, and seep into basement homes and subway stations. Infrastructure like rain gardens are also essential to transform our streetscape, and it’s something we can invest in right now. Southeast Queens in particular has some of the oldest sewer infrastructure that needs to be upgraded, and it’s in places like these that we must see the most investment.

Parks are critical green infrastructure that helps to keep our city resilient in the face of extreme storms, heat, and other climate-induced disasters. As Speaker, how will you invest in parks and green space to help improve our city's resilience?
We have to continue to reimagine our parks and playgrounds into spaces that can contribute to resiliency. For example, earlier this month at PS 223Q in my district, we cut the ribbon on a new playground that was designed by the students and incorporated many green features with the help of the Department of Environmental Protection. That project, which was led by the Trust for Public Land and funded by New York Road Runners, required collaboration from all parties, but it was ultimately a great project for everyone involved. We need more partnerships like these to ensure that our parks and playgrounds, both big and small, became the public spaces that we need to not only provide fresh air and ample space, but also help fight back climate change. That starts with partnerships and investments, which I am committed to doing in the next City Council.

Parks and green spaces are often sparse in Environmental Justice neighborhoods, where rates of air pollution and extreme heat are already high. How can the NYC council work to prioritize equity in their work to support parks and green spaces? What are some initiatives you would like to champion?
Equity must be at the center of this work when it comes to combating environmental racism and injustice. For example, we see that fossil fuel infrastructure is often planned and placed within communities of color, leading to higher-than-average asthma rates and other adverse health impacts that have long-lasting impacts on the children of our community. And we know that climate change will – and has already – impacted coastal communities, which are often home to marginalized communities of color. To address this inequity, we have to invest deeply in parks and green spaces where these inequities exist. Programs like the Community Parks Initiative have proven successful, and we should work to ensure that we build on those successes. Secondly, we have to prioritize the voices of the marginalized who are living in Environmental Justice neighborhoods. In the next City Council, we will center their voices and concerns, and tackle the health and environmental issues that have affected them for far too long.

Lightning round questions:

What is your favorite park?
Baisley Park

What was the last park you visited?
Gateway Park 

When was the last time your rode a bicycle?
Last week

What’s the last open restaurant you went to?
Sangria

What’s your favorite open street?
Long Street in Jamaica & 120th Street in Richmond Hill

New York City’s Parks have been underfunded and under-resourced for decades, with funding frequently being cut. Most cities commit between 1-4 percent of their city budget to parks. Do you support 1% for NYC Parks as Mayor Elect Adams has? And how will you ensure that parks funding isn’t cut in the future as we saw with devastating results during the pandemic?
During the pandemic, we saw how necessary our parks and open spaces are to providing a better quality of life and connecting our neighbors to greenspace and our environment. We need commit to allocating more funding to Parks.
• The Bronx has the largest amount of parkland, but the least amount of parks employees and resources
• NYC has been stuck at less than 0.6% funding for Parks for decades
• We must commit to allocating 1% of the city budget for maintenance and operations would fund a year-round well-trained team of parks professionals rather than relying on seasonal staff that turns over each year, and ensure more robust green job opportunities.

As recent reports from the Center for an Urban Future have shown, the city's process for designing and building capital projects is badly broken. A new park bathroom can easily cost $3 million and recent library construction projects have cost more than $1,500 per square foot -- roughly triple the cost of building a Class A office building. As a result, NYC's limited capital dollars don't go nearly far enough to help meet the full range of infrastructure needs. As Speaker, what would you do to help reform this process, bring down costs, speed up timelines, and help deliver more vital social infrastructure projects for New Yorkers?
Yes, I do support 1% for NYC Parks. New York City’s parks and open spaces are critical infrastructure. Parks are places for joy but also essential resources for physical, mental, social, and ecological health. Reforms to New York’s capital process could save the city at least $800 million over five years.
• DDC is not yet getting the help it needs from OMB and other city agencies that play a significant role in the delays that plague the capital process.
• The low-bid requirement produces an underwhelming pool of contractors, leading to subpar performance and routine delays.
• The approval process for change orders still takes too long. The approval process for change orders still takes too long.
• Projects still suffer from inadequate project management.

Parks are often cut when the city is struggling financially, as we saw during the height of the pandemic in 2020, we lost critical parks funding when New Yorkers needed open spaces the most. What can the Council do to ensure parks will be funded through hard times and that they can receive consistent funding for staff and programs?
No answer.

NYC’s public realm (parks, plazas, waterfronts, streets, sidewalks) are all managed by different agencies often with different rules and priorities, rather than working as a connected network. Would you support the creation of a Director of the Public Realm?
Yes.

During the pandemic, programs like Open Streets and Open Restaurants were innovations by necessity that extended a lifeline to communities across the city and literally thousands of small businesses. What is your vision for a successful, equitable and permanent iteration of these programs to support our city and recovery?
Parks are infrastructure. As Speaker, I want to:
• Build new parks and playgrounds in under-resourced communities and neighborhoods that don’t have adequate access to parks
• I will invest in access and maintenance of natural areas and waterfronts
• And I will be focused on developing resiliency efforts for our coastal communities, who are most affected by the impact of climate change
• I’m committed to expanding greenspaces and solutions for areas that have less greenspace like expanding open streets and greenways

Transportation Alternatives’ 25x25 plan seeks to reclaim 25% of our street space for pedestrians by 2025. Do you support this proposal, and how can the council lead work to prioritize pedestrians, cyclists, buses, and pedestrian plazas over cars?
Yes, I support the proposal.
• Innovative green spaces can drive economic recovery—a recovery we need to start now.
• By investing in parks, we can leverage federal funding and create much-needed construction and maintenance jobs.
Procurement needs improvement:
• Build faster and cheaper by reforming the procurement process
• Give parks a flexible capital budget
We need to explore innovative proposals for public space.
• Our streets and sidewalks make up our largest public spaces.
• 75% of that space is devoted to driving and parking cars
• We need to consider the best use to serve the needs of all New Yorkers.
• Converting one-quarter of current car space into space for people, means every New Yorker could live within a quarter-mile of a protected bus lane, protected bike lane, and public green space

As we saw this summer during Hurricane Ida, our city remains vulnerable to flooding and the impacts of climate change. How would you make our streets more resilient, and put in place policies that help prevent flooding across the sewer system and into places with damaging consequences like our subway stations and basement homes?
We need to start to highlight the impact climate change is having on our fragile infrastructure like our sewer system and subways.
The RPA is building on Transportation Alternative’s 25x25 plan by “Re-Envisioning the Right of Way.”
• Not only would we gain a network of bike lanes, bus lanes, and public spaces.
• This would create solutions to control flooding in our streets and subways, amongst other climate forward initiatives like expanding biodiversity and reducing urban heat.

Parks are critical green infrastructure that helps to keep our city resilient in the face of extreme storms, heat, and other climate-induced disasters. As Speaker, how will you invest in parks and green space to help improve our city's resilience?
I will be focused on developing resiliency efforts for our coastal communities, who are most affected by the impact of climate change.
We need to focus on Integrating Community and Ecological Resilience around Tidal Wetlands. 
These wetlands play a critical role in:
• mitigating the effects of flooding
• filtering stormwater runoff before it reaches rivers and bays
• providing habitat for wildlife
• and nurturing seafood that helps our economy
Many of our Parks in Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx have wetlands and salt marshes that can bolster our climate resiliency.
• The RPA has long studied this for the tri-state area

Parks and green spaces are often sparse in Environmental Justice neighborhoods, where rates of air pollution and extreme heat are already high. How can the NYC council work to prioritize equity in their work to support parks and green spaces? What are some initiatives you would like to champion?
We need to ensure equitable access to parks and open space.
• Access to open space varies across the boroughs, and is also disproportionately affected in communities if color.
• We need to see this included through our affordable housing, transportation, and infrastructure.
Parks are infrastructure. As Speaker, I want to:
• Build new parks and playgrounds in under-resourced communities and neighborhoods that don’t have adequate access to parks.
• I will invest in access and maintenance of natural areas and waterfronts
• And I will be focused on developing resiliency efforts for our coastal communities, who are most affected by the impact of climate change
• I’m committed to expanding greenspaces and solutions for areas that have less greenspace.
Three steps to quickly reform public space:
• Creating 70 new parks across all 5 Boros will achieve 100% park access for all NYC residents.
• That means all NYC residents would live a 10-minute walk from a park. o Transforming all asphalt schoolyards to green community playgrounds.
• Closing the park equity gap in high-need, under-served neighborhoods.

Lightning round questions:

What is your favorite park?
St. Mary’s Park

What was the last park you visited?
Jefferson Park

When was the last time you rode a bicycle?
It has been awhile

What’s the last open restaurant you went to?
Bee Café in Queens on 39th Avenue

What’s your favorite open street?
Alexander Avenue-Bruckner Blvd-East 134th Street