While in public office/prior to this campaign, what have you accomplished in regard to advancing disability rights? This can include work towards accessible housing, transportation, employment, health care, education, and including people with disabilities in the political process?

• I have consistently voted to expand the City’s human rights law.

• I have worked with closely with disabled tenants of Stuyvesant town during my tenure on the City Council to ensure that elevators are wheelchair accessible, wheelchair ramps well distributed and well maintained, and parking slots for disabled residents exist in close proximity to residents’ homes.

• Transportation: I strongly support a fully accessible taxi fleet. I also support increasing allocations in the MTA capital plan for wheelchair accessible subway stations. The disabled community has been treated like second class citizens by the MTA for far too long.

• Education: I have held numerous hearings on the delivery of special education services in the New York City public schools. Not only did my committee find that special education students were not receiving the services their IEP’s mandated, their assessments were delayed due to bureaucratic ineffectiveness, and unresponsive administration.

What oversight have you performed regarding implementation of programs/legislation you have passed (in first term or in previous offices)?

Of the current Council, I have written and passed more bills that any City Council member. For every bill that has passed, I’ve held an oversight hearing to understand what the administration has done to implement it.
 

What implementation/strategy do you have for your future programs and legislation to help constituents with disabilities?

Working with constituents to get results in real time from city agencies that refuse to comply with accessibility regulations or are not open to reform and increased access.
 

Will you commit to only attend or sponsor events that are accessible to people with disabilities? NOTE: This includes: providing written materials in alternate formats for people with low vision; providing assistive listening systems for people who are hard-of-hearing; sign language interpreters for people who are deaf; as well as ensuring that locations are accessible (including bathroom facilities) to people who use mobility aids, like wheelchairs and walkers.

All Eva Moskowitz sponsored events are accessible to people with disabilities, but I cannot promise that I will not be required to attend an event at some point in the future that is not fully accessible.
 

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What personal and professional experience have you had with people with disabilities?

1. ...in your personal life?

   Both of my sons had speech and language delays.
    
   

2. ...in the workplace?

   I taught students with disabilities
   
   A colleague of mine on the City Council and a candidate in this race, Margarita Lopez, has a disabled staff member who works adjacent to my office. Although a small lesson, my staff are all personally attuned to the importance of an inclusive emergency plan that accounts for disabled access.
    
   

What special accommodations do you believe/think are needed in the workplace?

a. Strict compliance with city, state and federal law
b. Explicit incorporation of people with disabilities into any fire safety, emergency evacuation plan
 

How do you propose to implement your active involvement and/or availability to the disability community?

I have made myself available to the disability community and will continue to do so as Manhattan’s next Borough President.
 

1. Will there be a specific person in your office responsible to this community?

   Certainly.
    
   

2. Will have regular office agenda items and meetings on disabled community issues?

   Absolutely.
    
   

Do you/or will you, have an active Disability Advisory Committee? Explain its duties, responsibilities and powers.

I do not have one currently, but I would like to formalize outreach to the disability community once I am elected. There’s no reason that the disabled community should not play a central role in my administration.
 

How will you work closely with the disability community to assure passage of vitally needed legislation through the City Council? What is your strategy during your first term?

As Borough President I would still have the ability to introduce legislation of importance to the disabled community. I hope that members of the disabled community will work alongside with my office in the drafting and revision of all legislation.
 

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What is your position on the development of supported apartments/homes and retirement homes for the mentally disabled in your borough? Please also explain same for physically disabled. What strategies will you utilize?

Everyone deserves a livable home, where accessibility requirements are stringently met, and other services are within appropriate distance.
 

What is your position on extending the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE) to low-income, eligible persons with disabilities under the age of 62 on the same basis and income level (currently the income cap for seniors is $24,000, but for persons with disabilities it has been set at $17,000)?

The SCRIE income cap should be raised to include low income, eligible persons under 62.
 

How will you develop realistic income levels for individuals and couples with disabilities to avail themselves of the SCRIE provisions?

Like so many other income subsidies, SCRIE requirements do not reflect the demands of affordability. I would encourage HPD to look to the Women’s Center for Education and Career Advancement, which performs a yearly self sufficiency standard.
 

What alternative programs will you propose to allow persons with disabilities to stay in their own homes/apartments? (i.e. protection from rent increases or undue eviction (harassment) and make funds available to make appropriate accommodations in present living environment). Another example: perhaps a dedicated housing trust fund should be established for making those housing accommodations. If so, how would you fund same?

This fund simply has to be a priority in the City’s budget, and I will fight for that prioritization.
 

New York City is in the process of adopting a new building code. How would you advocate for the strongest possible access provisions?

1. Emergency evacuation for people with disabilities: what would you do to ensure that provisions are put in place to improve survival rates of people with disabilities in the event of fire, attack, blackout, or other emergency situation?

   i. Tenants of all buildings where disabled residents live and all places of work need instructions in the event of an emergency. HPD should provide this training.
    
   

2. What would you do to ensure that "Visitability" is enacted in New York City? Visitability is the movement towards establishing guidelines providing that newly constructed multi-family dwellings have basic accessible/adaptable features that permit friends and family with disabilities to visit, and for residents to "age in place," without having to move out when age and/or disability set in.

   Reform of the building code so that it allows for maximum access will be the best way to achieve this goal.
    
   

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Will you support, and what strategy will you utilize, to implement an expansion of affordable wheelchair accessible transportation in NYC, including taxis, livery service, express buses, airport shuttle service, more accessible subway stations, etc.?

The MTA capital plan needs to include funds for more elevators at subway stations.
 

1. Efforts to secure a 100% accessible fleet of medallion taxis have been hampered by opposition from Mayor Bloomberg and the taxi industry. Wheelchair accessible taxis are present in many cities as a result of strong support from local Mayors and City Councils. What would you do to assure that all New York City residents, commuters and tourists have access to an important form of public transportation, our medallion taxis and community car services?

   I would lobby the TLC to work with the Department of Transportation to secure funds and bring an accessible fleet to New Yorkers ASAP.
    
   

Access-A-Ride has denied rides to many eligible consumers; cause unnecessarily long trips, causing workers to be late for work and consequently be docked pay and even lose their jobs; routinely leave many consumers stranded at the curb, lying to their clients that a bus is coming and calling consumer a "no-show" when the bus has not shown. Consumers who complain are often subject to retaliation. What would you do to improve the quality of service for those who must use Access-A-Ride?

I would make driver records available on the Department of Transportation’s website.
 

Do you favor the construction of the Second Avenue Subway? If so, is this a priority?

I do favor construction of the Second Avenue subway, have for some time, and have urged the MTA to make it a priority in its next capital plan.
 

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The Local Civil Rights Restoration Act (Intro 22) seeks to protect the vigor and independence of the City’s Human Rights Law against the attacks of an increasingly conservative State and Federal Judiciary. Although there are 38 Council sponsors, 32 civil rights and allied organizations, in favor of this legislation, and three hearings have been held, Mayor Bloomberg continues to oppose the most central aspect of the bill, the need for City Human Rights Law not to be restricted as federal and state civil rights law gets cut back. Would you work to assure its passage? Please describe your strategy.

I am a sponsor of this legislation.
 

Under the Bloomberg Administration, the Corporation Council intervened on the side of the city of Sacramento when it sought to challenge the Americans with Disabilities Act regarding the requirement to maintain accessible sidewalks. Do you pledge to use your office to affirm or strengthen, rather than weaken, civil rights protections for persons with disabilities?

Yes, I do. The Americans with Disabilities Act must be complied with more, not less, strictly.
 

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Do you support making sign language interpreters available for Community Board meetings? If so, how would you fund this?

Yes.
 

Will you appoint disabled persons to local Community Boards?

Absolutely.
 

How many have you/or will you appoint to Community Board?

I have not yet appointed a disabled person to a community board.
 

Will you support the "requirement" and implement, a Disabled Committee on every Community Board?

Community Board committees should be determined by the Community board, not the Borough President. That said, there is a dire need for more disabled representation on community boards and at every level of government.
 

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Please Specify: Have you used (or will you use) your discretionary funds to support organizations serving persons with disabilities or service organizations seeking to make their programs accessible to persons with disabilities?

Yes.
 

If so, what percentage of your discretionary funds went to such organizations?

This is a critical need that requires funding. I will evaluate the Borough President’s budget with all constituencies that have funding needs.
 

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