Representing Manhattan’s 4th Metropolis Council District within the metropolis’s legislature since 2018, term-limited Keith Powers is looking for larger workplace this election cycle with a run for Manhattan Borough President, leaving his seat broad–open for a cohort of candidates.
Six hopefuls are on the poll vying for Powers’ open Metropolis Council seat, which covers components of Manhattan’s east facet from Stuyvesant City to the Higher East Facet, within the June 24 Democratic Major.
Right here’s a take a look at the candidates hoping to clinch the Democratic nomination forward of November’s common election:
Vanessa Aronson
Photograph courtesy of Aronson marketing campaign
Vanessa Aronson is a former public faculty trainer and U.S. International Service Officer, making her second try and signify District 4 with a marketing campaign platform centered round authorities ethics, local weather motion, and protections for marginalized communities.
The previous Lexington Democratic Membership President helps banning marketing campaign contributions from people and firms doing enterprise with the town and requires shifting lobbying oversight to the Conflicts of Curiosity Board. She additionally proposes reforms to extend transparency in discretionary funding and enhance the town’s election infrastructure.
“At the UN, I negotiated multi-million dollar agreements that provided food assistance to 795 million people – delivering real results during a public crisis. In our own backyard, I grew the membership of the Lexington Democratic Club by 400% and revitalized this local institution during my time as president,” Aronson stated.
“Life in our city shouldn’t be this hard. We have an affordability and housing crisis, mental health and public safety concerns, and rampant inaccessibility across the city. New Yorkers pay taxes every year and never see real investment in their communities. Trust in government continues to crater while city services degrade. But it doesn’t have to stay this way, ” she continued.”
On public security, Aronson helps increasing providers for victims of hate crimes, establishing a 24-hour hate crimes hotline, and growing coaching for judges and prosecutors. She additionally backs funding for neighborhood organizations that help hate crime victims and LGBTQ+ residents.
Aronson’s local weather agenda requires full implementation of Native Regulation 97, the town’s landmark emissions discount mandate, in addition to the creation of an Workplace of Local weather Resiliency. She has proposed investments in inexperienced jobs, elevated tree cover, and higher protections for communities vulnerable to excessive warmth and flooding.
Religion Bondy
Photograph courtesy of Bondy marketing campaign
Lawyer Religion Bondy, a lifelong New Yorker and training legal professional, is operating for Metropolis Council on a platform targeted on high quality of life, public security, and training. She is the president of the Samuel J. Tilden Democratic Membership and has held management roles on neighborhood associations, native PTAs, and the neighborhood board.
Bondy lives in East Midtown along with her husband and two daughters. A graduate of Binghamton College and Cardozo Faculty of Regulation, she says her upbringing in a household of union educators and directors formed her roots in public service.
“Faith is committed to delivering the quality of life District 4 residents expect and deserve. As a public school parent, she will fight for streamlined admissions, the best schools, and affordable childcare,” Bondy’s marketing campaign stated in a press release. “With deep community roots, she will advocate for affordable housing so young adults and families can build their lives here and seniors can age in place.”
Her platform consists of increasing public faculty entry and enrichment applications, growing funding for sanitation and rat mitigation, and enhancing parks and inexperienced areas by “ensuring that the Parks Department is fully staffed.” She helps reasonably priced housing insurance policies geared toward serving to households stay within the district and seniors age in place.
Bondy has known as for better sources for native police precincts, extra foot patrols, and stronger neighborhood policing. She has additionally pledged to fight hate crimes, significantly antisemitism, enhance psychological well being providers, and crack down on moped and e-bike abuses.
Virginia Maloney
Photograph courtesy of Maloney marketing campaign
Meta venture supervisor and former public-sector advisor Virginia Maloney, the daughter of former Rep. Carolyn Maloney, is moving into public life to “make New York more accountable, affordable, and accessible” and to hopefully fill the identical Metropolis Council seat her mom held between 1982 and 1993.
She additionally beforehand labored as a venture supervisor for the quasi-governmental metropolis’s Financial Improvement Company. Now, she is operating on a platform that emphasizes reforming authorities operations to be extra clear, environment friendly, and tech-forward. She requires elevated oversight of metropolis businesses, stronger cybersecurity, and expanded accessibility for folks with disabilities.
On public security, Maloney helps elevated sources for police and hearth departments, improved neighborhood policing, and measures to scale back pedestrian fatalities and retail theft. She additionally backs infrastructure modifications to control e-bikes and crack down on unlawful license plates.
Maloney’s platform consists of tackling New York’s housing affordability disaster by preserving current reasonably priced housing and balancing improvement with neighborhood character. She helps growing funding for parks and says she’s going to prioritize acquiring extra capital and working funding for upkeep and applications in parks, significantly on the East River Esplanade.
If elected, she had promised to develop well being care entry and inpatient look after folks with extreme psychological sickness, whereas preventing to cease the closure of Beth Israel Hospital. On training, she stated she’s going to develop Pre-Ok, STEM applications, and psychological well being sources in faculties. She additionally desires to develop transit entry, significantly ADA compliance in subway stations, and safe funding for the Second Ave. Subway growth.
Rachel Storch
Photograph courtesy of Storch marketing campaign
A former three-term Missouri state consultant, Rachel Storch returned to her hometown on the East Facet of Manhattan to boost her 4 youngsters 15 years in the past.
Since returning to New York, she has held management roles on the 92nd St. Y and the Fifth Ave. Synagogue and is now operating a marketing campaign targeted on public security, affordability, training, and quality-of-life points.
“Today, Rachel is running for the City Council; she has the experience necessary to make New York City a more affordable, safer, and cleaner place for everyone,” her marketing campaign stated in a press release.
On her platform, Storch says she helps a “fully funded and accountable” police division, with an emphasis on crime prevention and psychological well being providers. She has additionally vowed to name for better enforcement towards reckless e-bike use and unlawful hashish storefronts, and pledged to confront antisemitism and different hate crimes
On housing, Storch backs the preservation of rent-stabilized and Mitchell-Lama models and says she’s going to help insurance policies that develop reasonably priced housing and homeownership alternatives.
A former authorized assist legal professional and AmeriCorps VISTA, she says she will likely be a pro-choice voice on the Council, advocating for ladies’s well being care entry. Storch plans to scale back crimson tape for small companies, help the creation of a Small Enterprise Ombudsman, and again regulatory reforms to assist eating places and native companies open, develop, and function extra simply.
Benjamin Wetzler
Photograph courtesy of Wetzler marketing campaign
Benjamin Wetzler, a lifelong Higher East Sider and present Stuyvesant City resident, is a housing coverage analyst with New York State Houses and Neighborhood Renewal and a former Democratic District Chief.
He says his platform targeted on long-term planning and data-driven options to housing affordability, public security, and quality-of-life points.
“I am running for Council now to reduce the cost of living, help all New Yorkers find an affordable home, make New York safer, and improve our public spaces using innovative and data-driven policies,” Wetlzer stated. “Making this happen will require proactive, long-term thinking, which has been in short supply in city government here in NYC. I have the experience, the vision, and the drive needed to improve our city and make it work for everyone.”
On the problem of housing, Wetzler helps constructing extra reasonably priced housing via a revived Mitchell-Lama-style program for middle-income homeownership, office-to-residential conversions, and reforms to constructing codes to allow mid-rise, family-friendly housing. He backs tenant protections, full funding for Proper to Counsel, and expanded help for seniors ageing in place.
On public security, Wetzler proposes focused NYPD presence in crime hotspots like East 14th and 86th Streets, stronger enforcement of hate crimes by offering metropolis help for safety at non secular establishments, and harder guidelines on unlawful e-bike use and resale of stolen items. He additionally advocates increasing psychological well being providers and long-term care beds.
His quality-of-life agenda consists of repealing the 8 p.m. trash set-out rule, growing sanitation providers, implementing site visitors legal guidelines extra successfully, and finishing initiatives just like the East River Greenway. In training, he helps increasing classroom house, defending particular training, and putting in laptop labs in each native faculty.Luke Florczak
Luke Florczak, a former U.S. Marine musician and present monetary advisor, has launched a marketing campaign centered on public security, reasonably priced housing, training fairness, and veteran illustration.
“Having served honorably in the United States Marine Corps, Luke knows what it means to represent something bigger than oneself. He hopes to be a voice for the almost quarter million veterans that lack a proper voice in the city council and the thousands of New Yorkers who he’s had the privilege to call neighbor for the last several years,” Florczak’s marketing campaign stated in a press release. “The issues faced by veterans living in the city are not theirs alone; Public Safety, Homelessness, Affordable Housing options, and better access to health services are just a few issues every New Yorker deals with in some way. By tackling these issues in our community, Luke hopes to also effect change for veterans in the city.”
Florczak advocates increasing reasonably priced housing choices via improvements in building, together with ‘industrial 3D printing’ and environmentally responsive designs, and helps lifting zoning restrictions just like the 12 FAR cap. He desires to strengthen current affordability applications and scale back homelessness, significantly amongst veterans.
On public security, Florczak requires improved enforcement of e-bike rules, higher communication between communities and regulation enforcement, and better transparency from precincts and sheriffs concerning unlawful hashish shops.
For training fairness, he says he’ll advocate for elevated funding in public faculties, reform of the SHSAT admissions course of, and stronger collaboration with lecturers’ unions. He additionally opposes insurance policies that restrict entry to top-performing faculties primarily based solely on geography.
