Shaping the Future of New York City
Many have described June 22nd as the most consequential mayoral and city council election in generations, because as The City pointed out recently,
“All 51 seats in the New York City’s legislative body have an election this year and, thanks to term limits, 35 of those are open and up for grabs. All but two remaining incumbents have primary challengers.” From The City
As the city recovers from the pandemic and continues to deal with massive housing, education and economic inequities, the next mayor and city council will have their hands full in making decisions and priorities that could help address these important issues.
Over the past few months, many of our Trellis Crew have been involved mayoral and city council candidate town halls and forums. Below is
Some of what they have been learning and
How we can be more informed, engaged and prepared in preparing to vote for the folks who will represent New Yorkers.
Three of our crew participated in a youth led mayoral candidate forum…
“There were 5 mayoral candidates and each had some very wonderful ideas. One candidate said that she would like to get rid of the SAT test. This one test holds so much power in students future when it really shouldn’t. Why are we letting a test that most students barely pass determine their future. Mayoral candidate, Andrew Yang, felt otherwise and while he didn’t give much of an explanation, he said that the test is important and helps guide us and our future. To test this, every mayoral candidate was given a SAT question and had 2 minutes to answer it. No one got the answer right. If the SAT is so important and guides our future, how come none of the candidates were able to answer the question correctly? There were also talks about stopping the militarization of schools which includes security guards and metal detectors. The city is normalizing militarizing schools and it doesn’t it make it comfortable for students. Metal detectors are understandable because you never know what can happen but in most schools they overdue it and it doesn’t make the school area comfortable for most. Getting rid of school safety agents makes sense to an extent because in most schools most of the time they just sit in one spot all day. They’re not really keeping anything safe by doing so. If they do decide to keep school safety then they should replace them with actual guards. This would make it a little uncomfortable but at least we know that we’re safe in the school space.”
“This forum was an informative meeting that included many of our mayor candidates. The conversation touched on and elaborated upon many diverse topics that may have been centered around the many faults in our district school systems as well as providing more benefits for youth. The faults established in our school systems are what jeopardizes many of the equal experiences for the young students that attend schools in their own districts. By reviewing the many faults and deficiencies provided by the way our current schools are set up, we can summarize many suggestions that people have that can improve the way schools are made and provided to the many youth of our age.
First, the main goal that is discussed between the mayor candidates for today is to provide the right set of rules and regulations, as well as the proper resources that can possibly benefit many students in different ways. For instance, one of the youth candidates, Dianne Morales had explained that suspensions in schools are a ”beginning of school to prison pipelines”. She believes that they need to remove anything that’s main purpose is to remove many students from academic infrastructures. Also, it was even elaborated by candidate Maya Wiley, that schools should instead focus on developing resources that can help bring about the support students need such as student support teams and trauma care centers for certain situations that break out in order to provide the proper help instead of using forms of exclusion and punishments to solve problems in schools. Not only that, but in this meeting, they have even came to a consensus on developing more and more SYEP (summer youth employment program) opportunities for many youth that live in very highly populated gun violence environments as well as for every individual teen who yearns for summer employment. This is beneficial to many of us teens especially during this point of time while dealing with an actual pandemic since many teens will not be occupied with something to do in their free time.
Lastly in the meeting, the mayor candidates had even expanded on how they are trying to make the lives of teens and other youths less strenuous/burdensome since it works the mind of many teens while not providing enough benefits for each of them. This stand on the topic was noted through many of the candidates looking forward to trying to remove state test/regents, provide more opportunities for all youth seeking summer employment, and even put an end to NYC high school exclusive admission screens. Hence, this youth led movement which included many mayor candidates had helped allow brainstorming of many useful suggestions that can help to bring benefits and better treatment as well as opportunities to many struggling teens in the distant future.”
“During this meeting we talked with people who are mayoral candidates. We talked to them about the problems going on in our community. We had people ask them questions. We had people such as Andrew Yang and other important figures there. The first question that they asked was about screenings in schools. They said how high school screens were just the tip of the iceberg and how additional screens such as GPA and state test score have a discriminatory effect on admission. They ask what they would do about it. Candidate Scott Stringer answered and said that he will eliminate the screenings at high schools and will try to pass a legislation to get that to happen.
Another question the youth asked was about how black high school students have access to far fewer sports and extracurricular opportunities then white students and how would you plan to equal access to sports and other activities. Another candidate, Maya Wiley answer this question. She said that she will work with students’ families and schools in the communities that don’t have extracurricular activities. She said that one of the mistakes that they usually make is when they Look system wide instead of starting where the actual problems are. When Andrew Yang came they began to ask him questions. One of the youth asked how come Black history hasn’t been talked about a lot in schools and what he will do to prevent this. Andrew Yang said that they already teach students about black history and then he starts talking about something totally different. They got mad at him because he kept on avoiding the question and not saying the right answer. ”
A central issue for many of our students (as many of them living in public housing) is what these candidates will do to fix and improve NYCHA [New York City Housing Authority, which is home to more than 500,000 NYC residents) Two of our crew attended a specific meeting to hear what the candidates commitments to NYCHA residents
“ As I joined the meeting, I began to think about our current mayor and what I would want from our next mayor candidate. Candidate Aaron Foldenauer was talking as I joined and I gravitated towards him, because of the connection he made with housing and the school system. His goal was to sue private landlords since minority communities were being exploited by organizations and affordable developments. Foldenauer went on to say that schools in minority communities are set up for failure since students living in public housing are less likely to pass or succeed due to failing schools. He also suggests that the economy reopen and have a concise and effective blueprint to RAD (Rental Assistance Demonstration) so that public housing isn’t in shambles. Another candidate that raised my attention was Maya Wiley, being that she used to live in NYCHA. She continues to talk about how NYCHA delays every reconstruction and that people she knows personally living in NYCHA are living in horrible conditions. As she was speaking, I thought about Warren Houses not being NYCHA anymore, they are now Progressive, and since then so many improvements have happened. I’m talking security, new elevators, new bathrooms, kitchen, doors, hallways, and the list goes on. This is essential because my grandmother lives in 195 Hoyt, and since December she has had absolutely no gas. She is unable to use the oven or stove and was given a stove top which is completely unacceptable. The mayor candidate needs to be knowledgeable and willing to create solutions to these ongoing problems we face within the years to come. ”
“[Recently] I went to the NYC mayoral debate/ NYCHA reform meeting. A lot of the candidates running for mayor made some really valid points that I agree with. For too many years, NYCHA hasn’t been doing what they need to do. It’s to the point where it’s becoming a very frustrating place to be at because residents don’t feel like they’re being taken of the way that they need to be take care of. For example, a resident can put in a home order and they won’t hear from housing for months. By the time they actually attend to the home order, it’s either gotten worse or the situation is already handled. Also if they do come a do the job the contractors are doing a subpar job and not completing the work to the best of their ability. Then leaving residents to put in another home order and wait another x amount of months for the job to be done. When in reality the residents shouldn’t have to do this because the job should be done right the first time and not have to be done again. This has been going on for way too long and its time that NYCHA be held responsible. NYCHA used to have a system where residents would get new appliances and their apartment would be checked on yearly. This is something that we need to bring back so residents feel better in their own homes. There should be no reason why residents feel ignored in their place of comfort. NYCHA needs to step up, take responsibility for their actions, and start showing some change.”
Our mission with the Trellis Crew is to help students become increasingly aware, engaged and active in their communities, helping them see the issues more fully and that their perspectives matter and are necessary fo the future good of our communities. Your SUPPORT provides stipends for these students to attend and then report on these issues
What Can We Do?
Understand how to vote - For the first time in NYC, there is rank choice voting which will make for a more equitable and fair election. Not sure what rank choice voting is, WATCH THIS
Study the candidates - The City has provided this powerful tool to help rank the candidates around a series of questions and categories
Vote - Early voting is open and election day is June 22nd - Find out how and where to vote HERE