New York  City 2023 Elections

2023 New York City Council Candidate Endorsement Questionnaire

• Candidate Name:*

  
  
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  Important Deadline Information: Please make sure to submit this questionnaire no later than February 1st, 2023, as we’ll be scheduling screenings for February and March. If you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to contact Deputy Political Director Megan Wylie at mwylie@nycdistrictcouncil.org.
• Committee Name:*
• Committee Address:*
• District:*
• Candidate Email:*
• Candidate Cell:*
• Campaign Contact:*
• Campaign Contact Email:*
• Campaign Cell:*
• Facebook Page:
• Twitter Handle:
• Instagram:
• Union Membership (if applicable):
• 1. Please describe how you stood with the District Council of Carpenters in the past.*
• 2. Additionally –if applicable—please describe a situation in which you disagreed with the District Council of Carpenters and explain why.*
• 3. Council members have extraordinary influence in the city's ULURP process. For years, developers promised to create good jobs as they built "affordable housing". All too often, neither happened. A 2022 study by UC Berkeley showed that 41% of all construction workers in New York are on some form of government assistance compared to 33% of all New York workers. Construction workers are also three times more likely (24%) as all New York workers (7%) to lack health insurance. These statistics do not include undocumented workers who face much higher rates of exploitation. This Council has started to change that dynamic by insisting on labor protections for their constituents working on any future construction sites. Faced with the chance their rezonings might be denied, developers changed their tune and miraculously found money to pay their workers area standards and wages. If faced with a ULURP in your district, can you commit to insisting that Carpenter work in any large developments will be union or have area standards and wages so that all workers have basic protections?*
• 4. Often, during the rezoning process, Council Members rely on the elected representative who represents the project to determine their vote. Do you support this process of member deference, and if so, in what situations would you make an exception?*
• 5. For Zoning and Land Use Committee Members Only: Please provide examples where you strongly advocated for the interests of your constituents who are union carpenters in specific rezonings that have come through your committee?*
• 6. Despite Labor Law 220 requiring prevailing wage on public works, many projects with City funding are exempt from providing proper wages to workers. Do you support expanding legislation to mandate prevailing wage on any development that receives public funding?*
• 7. Currently, the Campaign Finance Board considers member-to-member communications about elections to be an in-kind monetary contribution, which limits the ability for unions to interact and organize their members. It is also an unconstitutional restriction of free speech. Do you support eliminating this unconstitutional restriction?*
• 8. Local law 196, which went into effect in 2021, requires 40 hours of safety training for construction workers on most public and private projects. Despite this, the Department of Buildings has not been able to properly enforce these requirements due to a lack of inspectors. Will you commit to provide the funding, inspectors, and oversight to enforce this law?*
• 9. What union endorsements have you received?*
• 10. What other endorsements have you received?*