Candidate for U.S. House of Representatives - New York 10th Congressional District in 2020 New York General Election.
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Get StartedEndangers our citizens as this new reform will not hold suspects or even require them to post bail for the following: Promoting or possessing child pornography, failing to register as a Sex Offender, second-degree manslaughter, third degree assault, criminally negligent homicide, aggravated vehicular assault and making terrorist threats. Common-sense dictates that the law-abiding citizen should have rights and protection too. Learn more
While all of us are opposed to violent jails, the answer is not to move the jails into residential areas. If the goal is to give inmates more humane care to help them reenter society, then those dollars would be better spent on new larger jails with better oversight, conflict mediation training for the staff, rehabilitation and vocational skills, updated mental health facilities, drug and alcoholic treatment, and the space to exercise situated on an island that is over 413 acres. Learn more
Between ridiculous fines, burdensome business regulations, high rents and/or property taxes, small businesses are suffering. The commercial property tax deserves its own paragraph but for brevity I will address it here. We are one of the highest taxed cities in the country and the property tax is being used as a major source of revenue funding. We are the only municipality in New York that does not have a property tax cap. Although this is a local issue, I will be addressing it. Learn more
Our education system needs improvement, but instead of pulling everyone down, let's create more opportunities via gifted and talented programs in the middle schools. Learn more
We need more Federal money to strengthen our math, computer programming, and science departments. As jobs requiring technical skills are becoming the norm, rather than the exception, we must support our youth in this changing workplace. Learn more
Ensure that all students receive mandated services. This is required by Federal Law and at present, is still not fully being met. Learn more
We need more technical high schools for students who want to become--for example--electricians, plumbers, mechanics, or computer technicians. These students need education and job training in order to prepare them for the licensing requirements that some jobs require. Not every student wants a 4-year liberal arts college education, and we need to make sure that every student in our district is well equipped and prepared for the 21st century where automation will displace many service jobs in the next decade. Learn more
The Liberal view is that being homeless is a right to be protected and that we should eliminate the stigma and educate the public. Under de Blasio it is illegal to arrest the homeless and the police officers have not received enough training to enact Kendra’s Law. The problem is that New York State has slashed its psychiatric bed count in a movement known as Deinstitutionalization, which reduced the State costs of caring for the mentally ill but moved this problem to the local levels. We now have in the 10th Congressional the majority of NYC homeless living in a chaotic state of disrepair. In all of NYC, year’s end for 2018, the total capacity for the 5 boroughs was only that of 3,506 beds for the mentally ill per the New York City Department of Homeless Services. Learn more
Compassionately help the Homeless to move off the streets to affordable housing, drug and alcoholic treatment centers, safer and cleaner homeless shelters with required spaces set aside for those with dogs and cats, and psychiatric hospitalization for those who suffer from schizophrenia and bipolar episodes. Learn more
Work immediately with HUD for special emergency measures to increase the budget for the homeless in providing urgently needed support for shelters, housing and mental health services. Learn more
Residents in Brooklyn and Manhattan need true affordable housing and we should demand that HUD promote projects that deliver such housing for our hundreds of thousands of residents and their families. Learn more
Building in New York, and promoting growth in our city, should not come at the steep cost of preventing working class families from living in and engaging with our community. We must find the intersection between promoting positive and uplifting development for our community while balancing the negative externalities of increased prices and general unaffordability. Most saliently, we must combat homelessness and defend those in danger of being marginalized in such a way within their own communities and homes. Learn more
Decades of under funding our infrastructure, increased building by developers and a population that keeps growing has taken a toll on our city and pushed it to the breaking point. Blackouts, brownouts, flooding in the subways and streets, subway software glitches, water main breaks, manholes blowing up, uneven cracking streets, and bridges in disrepair are the result of years of neglect. Learn more
To take it a step further, cracked streets are a hazard to our seniors. Tripping/falling on city streets often leads to a hospital stay and then rehab. For those with elderly relatives, they know a broken arm/hip is a downward path for their loved one. While some work has been taken on our infrastructure, there is much more to be done on a larger scale with a sense of urgency needed. NYC needs to be allocated the correct allotment of Federal dollars as the city is not just used by its residents. Learn more
Eliminate the $10,000 Cap on SALT Taxes that hurt New Yorkers and erode property value. Jerry Nadler opposes Trump at every step, but has done surprisingly very little to offset the steep burden that New Yorkers face on the tax front. Peter King has led the way with a bipartisan bill to phase out the cap on the SALT Tax, and Cathy plans to make sure it comes to fruition. Learn more
Cathy Bernstein is promoting a yearly ten percent (10%) Federal Rent Tax Deduction for families making under $100,000 adjusted gross income in the current tax year to help with the ever-increasing cost of living in the city. Learn more
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