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 fought Republican efforts to cut resources for the disability community. But more specifically, I have secured $1 million to purchase handicapped accessible livery cabs in New York City.
 

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

I am a member of the Judiciary and Transportation Committees, which have held hearings that touch on issues spanning from transportation for the handicapped to the ADA.
 

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

I will work hard to ensure that New York City is accessible to people with disabilities.
 

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.

Yes.
 

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

1. ...in your personal life?

   Congressman Jim Langevin (D-RI) is a personal friend.
    
   

2. ...in the workplace?

   It was meetings with advocates for the disability community that led me to fight to include $1 million for handicapped accessible livery cabs in this year’s budget.
    
   

3. ...what special accommodations do you believe/think are in use in the workplace?

   I have always worked to ensure that my offices are accessible to members of the disability community.
    
   

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

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

   I will ensure that my staff is as committed to the disability community’s priorities as I am.
    
   

2. Will have regular office agenda meetings on these issues?

   The disability communities concerns will be high on my agenda at every meeting.
    
   

Neither Mayor Bloomberg nor his predecessor have ever met with the leadership of disability community, although they have met with other communities. What would you do to have more direct contact with our community?

Yes.
 

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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)?

While I will not make budget decisions on a vacuum, I believe that New Yorkers with disabilities – like all New Yorkers – need help finding suitable housing. I commit to working hard to make affordable housing accessible in all five boroughs.
 

What have you done/accomplished in regard to extension of SCRIE or similar programs?

I have consistently fought the Bush administration’s efforts to cut funding for housing programs.

What alternative programs will you propose to allow persons with disabilities to stay in their own homes/apartments? Perhaps a dedicated housing trust fund should be established for persons with disabilities? Would you provide a data base of available accessible housing?

I have supported efforts to create a housing trust fund in Congress, and I will continue to support those efforts as mayor.
 

The City Human Rights Law currently permits civil penalties to be assessed against discriminators to vindicate the public interest, but these penalties are seldom if ever assessed against housing providers who have failed to make reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities. Will you commit to imposing such penalties so as to create a greater incentive for housing providers to comply with the law?

Yes.
 

New York City is in the process of adopting a new building code:

1. how would you advocate for the strongest possible access provisions?

   I will fight to ensure that members of the disability community are guaranteed access to as many building as is feasible.
    
   

2. 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 will fight to ensure that New York City is at the vanguard of efforts to guarantee that members of the disability community are able to escape in the case of an emergency.
    
   

3. What would you do to ensure that "Visitability" is enacted in New York City? Visitability = 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.

   New York City should be at the vanguard of efforts to ensure that members of the disability community have access to as much of the City as possible.
    
   

Will you develop new and renovated housing for people with disabilities?

Yes.
 

What efforts are you willing to commit to assuring that people with disabilities do not become homeless - are able to stay in their own apartments with adequate supports?

I will work hard to ensure that people with disabilities are not forced out of their apartments and houses.
 

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What is your position on efforts to elevate the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD) to a commissioner level agency? How would you ensure that city departments/agencies coordinate through MOPD?

The disability community has not had adequate access to the Mayor during the last four years. That will change when I am mayor.
 

What implementation/authority should MOPD have, and/or how would you ensure that MOPD have?

The door to my office will always be open for the director of the office, and others who have specific concerns that City Hall can address.
 

Since presumably "this" office is a Mayoral Office, how would you enforce and do oversight regarding the work of the office and be certain of the implementation and its efforts?

My staff will be directly accountable to me.
 

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Under Mayor Bloomberg, the City settled with the United Spinal Association and agreed to install curb cuts -- pedestrian ramps, on all corners which presently don’t have one. However, no provision has been made to repair or replace those current ones which are unsafe. How would you ensure that curb cuts—pedestrian ramps — are provided on or repaired on streets that need them? What would you establish as a timetable?

I am committed to ensuring universal access for pedestrians in the disability community.
 

What steps do you think NYC should take to encourage business owners to make their establishments more accessible?

Failing to accommodate members of the disability community should not be an option.
 

Do you believe that landmark buildings can be made accessible without losing their historical integrity?

Yes.
 

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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. 38 Council sponsors, 32 civil rights and allied organizations, and three hearings should be enough to get the job done, but the Mayor opposes 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?

I will work to ensure that conservative jurists do not infringe on the rights of the disability community and others who might be subject to discrimination.
 

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.
 

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In the Olmstead decision, the Supreme Court ruled that severely disabled persons have the right to live in the community in the "least restrictive environment," and not be warehoused in nursing homes. In spite of the fact that personal care services are often more cost effective, and severely disabled persons are often happier and live longer in their own homes, there continues to be a nursing home bias in government. What would you do to insure that consumers have the opportunity to remain in the community if they so desire?

I believe that government can provide better care at a better price by keeping people out of institutional settings.
 

The Consumer-Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP): Enables self-directing senior citizens and younger disabled persons (or their surrogates) receiving home care under Medicaid to recruit, hire, train, supervise and (if necessary) discharge their workers, with the home care agency servicing as a "fiscal conduit" to pay salaries, taxes and benefits based on information provided by the consumer and worker. Although CDPAP is a product of the disability rights movement, HRA no longer allows consumers to serve on the Boards of provider agencies and has encouraged agencies to move away from the "self-directing" model to the more traditional "medical" model. Currently only about 1,500 consumers and their surrogates are enrolled in CDPAP. Would you, as Mayor, seek to reverse that policy and strengthen and expand CDPAP? Please describe strategy and time frame for such policy change.

I would work hard to ensure that members of the disability community have as much control over the services they are provided as possible.
 

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Children with disabilities often attend schools with segregated placements, insufficient supports to function in a regular classroom, or travel in poorly maintained buses to attend schools far from their homes because their neighborhood school is inaccessible, cannot or will not provide an appropriate education. Months have passed before an Individual Education Plan (IEP) is developed or implemented. What will you specifically direct the Chancellor to do to assure that the policies of the Department of Education are more user friendly to children with disabilities and their parents? Provide time frame.

As soon as possible, I will work to restore the office at the Department of Education devoted to ensuring that students with special needs are given the resources required to provide them with a good education.
 

As a result of cutbacks in Federal funding, programs serving students with disabilities in the CUNY system are being eliminated, including the home-bound program at Queensborough Community College. These students often find that CUNY fails to provide mandated supports. What would you do as Mayor to assure that disabled students in the CUNY system have the required services to assure their academic success?

I will fight to ensure that members of the disability community have access to CUNY programs.
 

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