Issues

Public Safety & Justice

Alex is the grandson of an NYPD officer. He has built software for the DOJ to help them solve violent crimes here in NYC, and Alex has worked with previous Manhattan District Attorneys Robert Morgenthau and Cyrus Vance. If you want someone who takes public safety seriously and knows the system inside and out, Alex is your candidate.

Alex has the strongest public safety plan, which is why he was named a Moms Demand Action Gun Sense Candidate and is the only candidate endorsed by a community-based safety advocacy organization: New Yorkers for Safer Streets.

Alex believes everyone deserves to be safe. That requires fully funding public safety, including traditional public safety resources along with investments in mental health services, social work, after school programs, and broader anti-poverty initiatives.

Audit MTA security cameras to ensure they are working
Modernize court systems so that prosecutors, judges, and public defenders can better assess individual cases
Increase funding for courts, prosecutors, and public defenders to ensure every New Yorker gets their right to a speedy trial
Break the iron pipeline of guns coming into New York from other states
Support the enforcement of “ghost gun” legislation passed last year to crack down on untraceable guns
Fund mental health services, homelessness outreach, social work, and other alternative interventions where appropriate
Pass the Elder Parole Act, guaranteeing that incarcerated elderly people have parole hearings to determine if they are no longer a risk to society. Most will stay behind bars, but for every person released, the state would save between $100,000 and $240,000 per year that could be used for measures that keep us safe.

Publi Safety & Justice

Housing

Housing is prohibitively expensive for many New Yorkers. Everyone has a basic right to housing, but thousands of our neighbors are either living on the street or at risk of eviction. The State legislature must work to increase housing options and ensure that increasing the quality of life for New Yorkers stands at the center of our housing policy.

Encourage new housing near suburban transit hubs to reduce pressure on NYC home prices (and traffic!)
Legalize and fund safety upgrades for accessory dwelling units (like basements or garages) to increase the housing supply
Create rental assistance vouchers for low-income New Yorkers and those experiencing homelessness
Ensure tenants are protected from arbitrary evictions
Increase budget for the Housing Our Neighbors with Dignity Act (HONDA), which funds the purchase and retrofitting of distressed commercial properties to create housing
Get vacant rental apartments back on the market by allowing necessary improvements (e.g. lead abatement, environmental upgrades, replacement of appliances, etc.) to be written off of property taxes

Photo by Charles Parker from Pexels

Housing

Environment & Utility Bills

The effects of climate change are already reaching our shores. New York needs to adopt immediate steps to fortify our climate resilience to prevent displacement. We must also protect our natural and green spaces, ensuring a beautiful and biodiverse New York for the next generation. And if we do this right, investing in renewable energy should lower utility bills.

Allow ConEdison and other regulated utilities to produce renewable energy in New York (they are currently banned by regulation)
Invest in the New York Power Authority — New York’s state-owned utility — to increase its renewable energy percentage from 70% to 100% and expand capacity
Fund weatherization and retrofitting of buildings to create jobs and save energy
Pass the Fossil Fuel Subsidy Elimination Act to eliminate over $330 million in exemptions currently going to the fossil fuel industry
Cap increases in electricity rates for any power generated from fossil fuels
Expand the New York State Clean Heat rebate to reduce emissions from HVAC
Pass the Environmental Bond Act (on the ballot in November) to bring over $4 billion in resources to our environmental efforts
Invest in the MTA, the lifeblood of NYC and one of our best secret weapons against climate change. Install modern signals (CBTC) to increase service along the 4/5/6 lines.
Prevent decommissioned fossil fuel plants from being restarted for any reason, including crypto mining

Environment & Utility Bills

Effective Government & Technology

We can’t solve 21st century problems with 20th (or 19th) century technology. Alex will be the only elected Democrat in Albany with a degree in computer science or with a career in government tech. While he doesn't think every legislator should have that background, he thinks one person in Albany should know how tech works. Alex will work to fix our technological infrastructure to make government work better for all New Yorkers.

Have New York State do New Yorkers' taxes (read Alex's op-ed)
Create a one-stop-shop for all NYS benefits — New Yorkers should only have to go to one place to get what they need from the government
Expand internet access: 40% of New York City residents are currently missing broadband at home, mobile data, or both
Pass a consumer privacy law like California’s CCPA to protect New Yorkers
Make OMNY support reduced-fare MetroCard discounts
Ensure the state government gets a good deal when buying software by testing existing, cheaper software before paying exorbitant fees to develop custom technology
Invest in cybersecurity: Require state agencies and contractors to use DMARC, phishing campaign assessments, regular software updates, and two factor authentication

Alex in 1996

Effective Govt & Technology

Education & Child Care

Born and raised on the east side, Alex is the only candidate that went to school in the district (he attended PS6, then Wagner and Hunter High School). As we enter a period of economic and social recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, our children and families must be at the forefront of our policy. Many kids are experiencing the devastating effects of isolation from their peers and educational disruption. Our working parents are also balancing the needs of their families as they navigate transitioning from at-home work back into office. Alex will work to ensure the needs of our kids and families are prioritized in our legislature.

Ensure that NYS meets its commitments to students and funds the additional $3 billion it owes to NYC public schools within the next two years
Support Gifted and Talented programs in NYC
Invest in updated ventilations systems to keep our students and teachers safe and healthy
Establish funds for under 3 child care statewide
Make CUNY tuition-free

Education & Child Care

Economic Recovery & Small Businesses

New York City is lagging behind the country’s overall economic recovery, with an unemployment rate much higher than the national average. Vacant storefronts seem to be growing instead of shrinking. We need Albany to be focused on how to grow back our economy stronger than before. As the only candidate with extensive experience managing private sector businesses, Alex knows what it takes to get New York back on track.

Increase funding for the Small Business Recovery Grant Program to keep mom-and-pop stores open
Streamline red-tape for businesses, including letting them edit plans live and collaboratively with government regulators, instead of requiring them to wait months for follow-up visits
Reduce vacant storefronts by reforming “minimum rent” clauses in commercial mortgages that effectively ban owners from lowering rent during downturns
End the exclusion of minority and women-owned start-ups from small business contracting; minority and women-led start-ups receive less than 3% each of venture capital funds

Economic Recovery & Small Business

Pandemic Preparedness

Covid-19 has brought tragedy to the US on a scale unimaginable to most: 1 million lives lost. Conservative estimates of the economic impact put it at $16 trillion dollars. Congress is not taking the steps necessary to ensure we keep people safe from this pandemic and prevent the next one. But New Yorkers lived through the worst of the pandemic and we will lead in preventing and preparing for any future ones.

Begin a pandemic preparedness whole-of-government initiative, modeled after NYSTEM, the program New York State created in 2007 to step in when the federal government canceled stem cell research
Directly fund research into the most promising technologies for fighting pandemics, including metagenomic sequencing, multiplex assays, mRNA vaccine development, pan-coronavirus & pan-influenza vaccines, and better therapeutics. New York State’s government already directly funds $277 million in R&D, which is more than any other state and 42% of the state-led research in the entire country.
Invest in retrofitting and upgrading building ventilation in schools, hospitals, airports, and public transit hubs, reducing indoor spread and creating good local jobs
Invite providers in the tri-state area to join SHIN-NY (the secure statewide health data network that 100% of NY hospitals use to provide patient care) protecting NYC residents that get care across the river and building a larger regional network to help spot health trends quicker
Invest in our world-leading labs and require that all NY gene synthesis providers screen their customers to International Gene Synthesis Consortium standards, preventing labs from shipping dangerous gene sequences to nefarious actors
Ensure the NY State government and hospitals are well stocked with PPE to protect our essential workers
Deploy early detection systems in ports of entry and wastewater to be able to react to new pathogens or variants sooner

Pandemic Preparedness

Animal Rights

In NYC, we love our pets! Yet New York State laws affect animals in many ways far beyond NYC’s borders: we have hunting, farming, and rodeos. Alex believes that we can do far more to protect animals from cruelty and inhumane treatment.

Redirect the $250 million in subsidies NYS gives horse racing every year, and use those funds for education
Repurpose the $60 million in subsidies provided to dairy farming to support plant-based farming
Ban wildlife killing contests that exist for sport and instead fund wildlife rescue and rehabilitation
Prohibit cruel rodeo practices like electric shocks and sharpened spurs

Animal Rights

Reproductive Rights

Reproductive rights are personal to Alex: His great-grandmother died because abortion was illegal. She had three children already (including Alex’s grandmother, who was seven years old) and knew she couldn’t have another one. She paid for an illegal abortion. When the procedure went wrong and she started bleeding out, she was too afraid of the law to go to the hospital. Alex knows viscerally that we need to protect this vital health care for New Yorkers and those who will come from other states.

Enshrine the right to an abortion in the New York State Constitution
Enact the Reproductive Freedom and Equity Act to provide resources for reproductive health care
Establish New York as a safe haven for providers of reproductive health care. Already, 9% of abortions in New York are for people from out of state, and that number will rise substantially now that Roe is overturned: New York is the nearest provider of such care for 190,000 to 280,000 more people.
Protect New York providers from out-of-state lawsuits for providing abortions: ban the governor from extraditing New York providers to other states, ban law enforcement from cooperating with out-of-state abortion lawsuits, and ban NY courts from issuing subpoenas tied to out-of-state lawsuits

Reproductive Rights

Bike, Car, Pedestrian, and Street Safety

New York State controls much of the regulation around New York City streets, and right now we are failing to keep anyone safe. Traffic fatalities rose by over one third in early 2022. We need to take a number of steps to make everyone safer.

Limit e-bike motors to those that cannot go above 20 MPH. New York City currently allows more powerful e-bikes than most of the rest of the country, including the rest of New York State and other bike-friendly states like California. We need to prevent the most powerful bikes (class 3 e-bikes) from being in bike lanes.
Crack down on ATVs, dirt bikes, and loud vehicles by installing traffic cameras triggered by decibel-reading microphones. For vehicles without license plates, allow law enforcement to pull them over and issue tickets (currently they are largely prevented from pulling over moving unlicensed vehicles).
Provide state funding to municipalities that undertake projects to redesign streets and intersections to increase safety
Allow NYC to control red light cameras and speeding cameras and to operate them 24/7. Until this year operating the cameras during off-hours was banned, making speeding effectively legal overnight and on weekends. NYC should have full control of these systems instead of begging Albany for permission.
Enforce existing laws when any vehicle (including bikes) goes the wrong way, runs a red light, or otherwise creates a dangerous situation

Bike, Car, Pedestrian, and Street Safety