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Lessons from the Frontlines of Successful Movement Building in 2022


A labor rally (photo: Kevin P. Coughlin/Office of the Governor)


Throughout the pandemic, our nation’s essential workers risked their lives and that of their families to fuel our economy and keep us safe. Yet, as they did so, they received inadequate pay and were often left out of the process of crafting policies supposedly intended to protect them. All the while, , and executive compensation skyrocket. It’s no wonder record numbers of workers are rising up, taking action, and demanding change. 

Every day we are inspired by stories of working people using organized bargaining power to establish true economic democracy. What we’ve witnessed from millions of workers is a recognition that if they want to achieve a better path, they can create change through collective actions and demand a seat at the table. No longer must they passively wait on politicians to change the laws or craft the perfect strategies. People are organizing, speaking out on their shared experiences and struggles, and despite the odds, winning basic protections and benefits in the workplace all across America in 2022, from Amazon to Starbucks to REI and The New York Times.

It is especially gratifying to see a whole new generation of women and workers of color and others for whom the COVID-19 era has been disproportionately painful leading the way. Undoubtedly, Black, Latino, and other workers of color bring a novel perspective to building worker power and what labor organizing could look like in the future. They’re also suggesting ways to evolve collective bargaining to match the needs of modern people — not only changing their wages and working conditions but also addressing discrimination and improving the health of our democracy. 

For far too long, America’s labor movement and workers’ rights have fallen victim to relentless attacks and successful divide-and-conquer strategies from corporations, right-wing politicians, and other powerful institutions, including the media, which have largely concealed what was happening. The result has been extreme income inequality, with Americans working longer hours than ever before in unsafe conditions and feeling little social mobility.

It’s no wonder working people are angry — they’re tired of waiting for a better future that may never arrive, especially after sacrificing so much during the pandemic over the past two years. Also noteworthy is that workers’ increased activism and high-profile victories come amid record-low unemployment and public support for labor unions, reaching 68%, the highest level in more than five decades. Not that any of this translates to corporations – like Amazon, Starbucks, Target, Google, and Apple – suddenly respecting workers’ rights to organize, negotiating in good faith, and improving working conditions. 

For as long as we can remember, institutions have trained working people and communities of color, in particular, to think we have no future to believe in, so why even try. The recently leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion on abortion rights offers a glimpse into the future that our opposition has in store. Overturning Roe v. Wade would be the most egregious assault on women’s rights and equality, access to health care, and right to privacy in modern history – erasing decades of economic gains. Such a ruling would be especially devastating for poor and working-class women, a disproportionate number of whom are Black, Latino, and Asian.

This is not what democracy looks like.

After being bombarded for so long with so much bad news, it’s a wonder any of us get out of bed in the morning. But action is the oxygen that fuels social movements, and we descend from those who knew that “only when it’s dark enough can you see the stars.”

Amazon Labor Union leaders Chris Smalls, Michelle Valentin Nieves, and Angelika Maldonado didn’t just give up amid arrests and the onslaught of attacks from the company. They organized a union and won. Jennifer Bates, Isaiah Thomas,  and other bullied Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama – whose activism and bravery inspired so many others to take action – didn’t give up after the company undermined democracy in their union election. They came back and won more votes in a race that remains “too close to call.” The women leading the drive to successfully unionize Starbucks across the country (at 40 stores and counting) didn’t give up, and neither will we.

We urge elected officials and anyone else hand-wringing about the upcoming elections to follow workers’ lead, mobilizing like never before to protect our sacred freedoms up and down the ballot. Instead of succumbing to fear of a world where right-wing extremists control Congress and every statehouse and governorship in America, let’s put our energy toward creating a future where our democracy can thrive.

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Erica Smiley is Executive Director of Jobs With Justice. Micaela Fernandez Allen is Director of U.S. Advocacy, Open Society Foundation. On Twitter @SmileyJWJ and @MJFernandez2.

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Alarming Workforce Shortage Facing Youth Mental Health Care Workers


NYC Youth (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


Many industries are struggling with their workforce since the pandemic, and the children’s mental health workforce is no different. Capacity and workforce retention have always been a challenge in the human services field, with providers expected to do more with less and families facing increasingly longer backlogs and wait times for appointments.  

Statistics show that 1 in 6 U.S. youth experience a mental health condition each year, but only half get treatment. In addition, 59.6% of youth with major depression do not receive any treatment. In the Bronx, where our organization does much of its work, the three top diagnoses for program participants ages 8 to 17 are attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depressive disorder, and disruptive/oppositional disorder. These three make up over 60% of the overall primary diagnoses for those youth in the borough.   

At Astor Services for Children & Families, over 50% of Bronx program participants identify as Hispanic. This means that besides the need for enhanced salaries to retain and attract competent staff, we also need to provide culturally and linguistically sensitive services.    

Agencies like ours are working miracles to recruit and retain talented employees but are having a tough time competing with city agencies like the Department of Education and for-profit competitors (some even located outside NY), that in some cases can offer twice the salary and benefits. Remote employment, COVID-19 health concerns and other unprecedented back-to-work factors are further complicating matters of employee retention and satisfaction. Astor and local agencies cannot compete at this level. 

To turn around this current trend in underemployment, public investments must be made. We also need to allow employers sustainable reimbursement rates to be able to compete with larger entities and providers.

Expanding funding and reimbursements for outpatient and school-based health clinics will enable us to reach more clients and families and allow us to partner with and integrate mental health within school buildings through a hybrid format (both in-person and tele-health) as needed by clients and staff. We must increase the rates for residential treatment facilities and raise tuition rates for non-public schools that serve children with disabilities to create parity within the industry and across sectors. 

Considering the underserved and underrepresented populations that we provide services to, Astor is seeking to expand and reinvest in its bilingual Spanish workforce that will enable the organization to hire Spanish-speaking clinicians and non-clinical staff, but also to provide the right professional development opportunities to our current staff so that we can create an internal language bank to provide the best service and support possible.  

I remain optimistic that with public awareness, we can secure increased funding to continue to further develop a multicultural mental health workforce that will provide the vital services for our most vulnerable children and families. It should be everyone’s imperative. 

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Yvette Bairan is CEO of Astor Services for Children & Families a nonprofit organization that provides children’s mental health services, child welfare services and early childhood development services in the Bronx and Hudson Valley, New York. On Twitter @AstorServices.

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It’s Time to Deliver Our Neighborhoods from Illegal Commercial Truck Parking


 

Illegal truck parking in Queens (photo: Daniel Sparrow, Council Member Linda Lee's office)


No matter where you look in Eastern Queens, it seems like there’s a commercial truck illegally parked. Whether it’s along a highway or in a quiet residential neighborhood, these four-ton vehicles are hard to miss. Now, it seems like this long-standing problem is reaching a crisis level citywide. Fines and enforcement alone won’t solve this problem -- we need a comprehensive solution that involves government agencies, elected officials, and the private sector to solve this problem for the long-term.

Around 90% of the goods shipped within New York City are carried by truck. Nearly 9 million New Yorkers rely on these trucks and their drivers for our food, medicine, building materials, and just about everything else that makes our daily life possible. On top of servicing New Yorkers’ needs, trucks also support JFK and LaGuardia airports, two of the busiest in the country and both located in Queens, as well as the Port of New York and New Jersey, the third busiest in the country.

As a result, trucks transport approximately 890,000 tons of freight within New York City each day, with many trucks requiring a berth in which to park each night. That number is expected to grow by nearly 70% by 2045, a trend driven by the rise of e-commerce and home delivery that has only increased during the pandemic.

While trucking across New York City has increased dramatically and will only continue to do so for the foreseeable future, the infrastructure to support these fleets has not kept pace. Currently, there are only two commercial truck parking lots in Queens, at JFK and in Long Island City, both of which are usually at capacity and maintain waitlists for truckers looking for a spot to park. Despite the expected continued rise in commercial trucking in the city, there are no current plans to create new space to park these trucks.

It’s also important to note that truckers have little choice about when to park. Federal regulations limit the number of hours a trucker can drive per day, and they must pull off the road when they hit their hours. Mandatory rests can come in the middle of a shift, or just before reaching the drop-off or pickup point at one of the shipping hubs across the city. As a result, without adequate parking facilities in which to rest, drivers are forced to pull to the side of the road to park overnight, resulting in illegal parking in residential neighborhoods.

The result is a hazard to our neighborhoods, a problem Queens residents are familiar with. Illegal truck parking is more than just an eyesore -- by limiting residential street and highway space, it increases congestion, in turn causing longer travel times, more pollution, and more accidents. Parked trucks contribute to littering and illegal dumping and impair visibility for drivers and pedestrians at intersections. The same neighborhoods where trucks often park lack adequate transportation options and therefore residents primarily use cars to get around. Working-class families in Queens rely on street parking to get to school and work, but often those spots are taken up by trucks parked illegally.

As much as New Yorkers rely on trucks for our daily lives, we’ve also collectively decided that this type of behavior is unacceptable. The New York City Department of Transportation posts “no overnight parking” signs in areas with frequent illegal truck parking, but this limits parking available to neighborhood residents. While the NYPD tickets and cites illegally parked trucks, truckers without anywhere else to park treat these tickets as the cost of doing business.

Senator Leroy Comrie and Assembly Members Clyde Vanel and Alicia Hyndman have authored bills in the New York State Legislature to stiffen penalties for trucks left unattended, and we call for passage of legislation to combat this issue by the end of the state’s legislative session next month.

But this legislation alone won’t fully address the issue until we can offer truckers somewhere else to park besides our neighborhoods. Without that parking, shippers will continue to treat these fines as the cost of doing business, and ultimately pass those costs along to consumers. At a time when inflation is being keenly felt by ordinary New Yorkers, we can’t pretend that an enforcement-only approach doesn’t come with costs.

We cannot approach this problem piecemeal, we need sustainable solutions that address the root cause of the illegal parking problem: the constrained supply of commercial parking. Government and the private sector must work together to develop space that will allow truckers a safe and reliable place to pull over when they have met their maximum hours without causing havoc in residential neighborhoods.

The city Department of Transportation’s Freight Mobility Unit must take the lead in identifying the most commonly used corridors for freight trucks across the city and potential nearby lots that can be used for parking. The city’s Economic Development Corporation can lease city-owned land to a private or not-for-profit entity to develop commercial lots and manage them on behalf of the city. These steps will not only get the trucks off our neighborhood streets, but also generate revenue for the city.

We must also pass state legislation (S3258 and S3259) to raise the fines on illegally parked commercial trucks to provide a real deterrent against continued bad behavior, not the current slap on the wrist that is being ignored. The NYPD must commit to robust enforcement and ticketing, including towing these trucks when necessary to penalize repeat offenders.

The private sector also stands to benefit. For instance, numerous big-box retailers across the city should consider renting out their massive parking lots that sit empty and unused after their stores close each night. Trucking companies would jump at the opportunity to pay for these spots, providing a much-needed shot in the arm to an important economic sector that has struggled greatly in recent years.

The economic trends are clear -- commercial trucks are only going to proliferate across the city in the coming years. Rather than fight against the same drivers and companies that facilitate our daily lives, we must work with them to create the infrastructure they need to avoid negatively impacting our communities.

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City Council Members Linda Lee and Nantasha Williams co-chair the Queens Delegation of the New York City Council, representing Districts 23 and 27 respectively. Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers chairs the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and serves as the Majority Whip to the Council. On Twitter @CMLindaLee & @CMNantashaW & @CMBrooksPowers.

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Winning the Public Health Recovery from Covid


Mayor Adams visits health care workers (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


In its battle against COVID-19, New York City, even under a notably disorganized mayor, arrived at an impressive level of health organization. As may be recalled, Mayor de Blasio switched the lead role in the covid fight to Health + Hospitals, the city’s public hospital system, from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), which retained major responsibilities but not its usual lead position in epidemics. It is to the credit of both agencies that, under this forced and rather resented bureaucratic marriage, they managed to develop a level of cooperation that saw the city, for one thing, consistently attain the highest COVID-19 testing rate of any large U.S. city.

 But, beyond that, something else happened. For the first time, the city funded an extensive network of community organizations coordinated in a singular mission — fighting a horrible infectious epidemic. Outreach workers and health educators from these organizations were constantly in the streets when almost no one else would be, promoting COVID-19 testing, prevention, masks, proper quarantine, and, of course, vaccination.

 The community-based organizations (CBOs) also formed a Community Advisory Board providing constant insight to refine city covid programming. Today in New York City, which had the nation’s highest COVID-19 death rate in the first surge, 87% of adults have received at least one vaccination shot, with 78% fully vaccinated, the highest rate of any big U.S. city.

 It is time to use this unprecedented health infrastructure to immediately address our other health crises, especially diabetes and the chronic diseases that fuel both COVID-19 and the city’s disturbing levels of preventable ill health.

 New York City is very, very sick.

Between chronic disease, uncountable cases of long covid, and the increasing evidence that those who had covid are at elevated risk for diabetes, the city faces staggering levels of illness. To forestall this disaster, New York must widely assure that thousands of people in neighborhoods overwhelmed by chronic diseases directly learn chronic disease prevention and self-care. With its COVID-19 infrastructure, the city absolutely already has the necessary vehicle to move forward. The neighborhoods and the Black, Latino, and low-income populations most devastated by COVID-19 are, tragically, the neighborhoods also most devastated by chronic disease.

 Yet, the city seems to be letting its COVID-19 infrastructure collapse. Instead of starting to deliver proven health-building services, the first group of some 35 CBOs that the city partnered with to fight covid will be defunded by the city in a few months. In losing these CBOs, the city loses their neighborhood staffs of community health workers, outreach teams, and peer educators — people uniquely able to engage very distressed communities in trying to rebuild health.

For an example of the kind of effective health education these groups could provide, consider the following. A few years ago, with special federal funding, Health People instituted a four-week training course to prepare local Bronx people with diabetes and pre-diabetes to deliver the Diabetes Self-Management Program (DSMP). This six-session course reduces blood sugar -- immediately reducing vulnerability to the worst covid outcomes -- as well as overall complications, and the high rates of co-morbid depression seen in diabetes. It also slashes emergency room visits by 40% or more -- an extraordinary benefit.

The peer educators fanned out to dozens of community sites -- churches, homeless shelters, mental health programs, public housing -- and enrolled almost 2,000 Medicaid recipients with Type 2 diabetes in the DSMP. This was evidently the largest community mobilization for diabetes self-management ever to occur in the United States. And it was defunded just as covid struck and preyed upon those with underlying chronic conditions.

By contrast to its impressive fight against covid, the city has long failed to make any credible effort to control chronic disease. In a city that had a staggering 356% increase in diabetes deaths in the first covid surge, DOHMH doesn’t now -- and never has -- supported a single DSMP group where those with Type 2 diabetes could learn better self-management.

And it’s not just specific diseases. For example, with that same now-ended federal funding, Public Health Solutions worked with NYC Health + Hospitals to form community networks that included 275 diverse community-based partners, which helped 16,000 H+H patients, mainly those just discharged, linking them to vital services -- such as programs to provide nutritious food. This generated approximately $1.4 million in health-care savings through the improved well-being even of very sick people.

If DOHMH and H+H don’t use their large shares of the city’s billions in federal emergency funds to support and coordinate the many health-building services that the CBOs who worked on covid can so clearly provide, New York will have largely won the fight against COVID-19 only to totally and tragically lose the recovery.

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Chris Norwood is Executive Director of Health People. Lisa David is President of Public Health Solutions. On Twitter @HealthPeopleOrg & @wearephsny.

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The Question Isn’t Whether Antonio Delgado is Latino, It’s Whether He’ll Stand Up For Our Community


Antonio Delgado (photo: Mike Groll/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)


The recent appointment of new Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado was marred by a debate about his ethnicity – specifically, whether he is Latino. 

The debate about Mr. Delgado’s ethnicity misses the point. The question that Latino New Yorkers should be asking is not whether he is Latino. As his opponent in the June primary and a Latina myself, if that’s how he identifies himself, I’ll take him at his word.

The more important question is: will he stand up for Latino New Yorkers in office? Sadly, on that question, his record is mixed.

As a member of Congress, Delgado has repeatedly been on the wrong side of key issues affecting Latino and immigrant communities.

Let’s start with immigration. In 2019, when the Trump administration was terrorizing immigrant communities across the country, Rep. Delgado sided with Trump and Congressional Republicans to dramatically increase funding for the same Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that were tearing children from their parents’ arms at the border and terrorizing immigrants nationwide. Shockingly, the bill also allocated funds to the Pentagon to support troops that Trump sent to the southern border.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus called the bill “a betrayal of our American values,” and 102 Democrats, including New York Reps. Velazquez, Espaillat, and Ocasio-Cortez, voted no. Many other Latino leaders like me also expressed vocal opposition. Delgado voted yes.

On other key Congressional fights for Latino communities, Delgado was completely absent. Latinos all too often lack access to affordable, quality health care–in fact, we are three times as likely to be uninsured as our white counterparts. We thus stand to gain enormously from a universal health care system. But Delgado refused to co-sponsor Medicare for All legislation.

Latino communities are also often at the front lines of the climate crisis, and we need bold solutions to transition to a clean and renewable energy economy, create jobs, and ensure a just transition. But Delgado refused to co-sponsor the Green New Deal.

His record has also been weak on other issues specific to New York’s Latino communities. Earlier this year, Delgado penned a letter to the Governor opposing giving farmworkers access to overtime pay after 40 hours of work. These workers are largely Latino immigrants and have done back-breaking work before and during the pandemic. They deserve the same wages and protections as anyone else. 

Meanwhile, while he was writing his own letter to prevent these essential workers from getting overtime pay, he was refusing to sign on to a letter signed by 11 of his congressional colleagues to expand tenant protections and prevent evictions without good cause across the state. Ensuring these protections is a crucial issue for Latino and immigrant tenants who pay enormous rent burdens, often for substandard housing, and have been decimated by displacement from their homes.

All of these positions are worrying enough on their own. But they’re made worse by the fact that Delgado has joined a ticket with Governor Hochul, who herself has a history of anti-immigrant positions. The Governor first rose to prominence as a county clerk demagoguing against immigrants and opposing the restoration of access to drivers’ licenses to undocumented immigrants as county clerk. She didn’t just oppose the measure – she threatened to have undocumented immigrant applicants arrested and put at risk of deportation.  

While Hochul eventually changed her position as lieutenant governor, just this year she led the effort to callously exclude undocumented immigrant children from the expansion of access to childcare in the state budget, while opposing replenishing a fund for excluded workers and blocking legislative efforts to pass Coverage for All, which would have ensured health coverage to low-income New Yorkers regardless of immigration status.

Particularly with a Governor who has proven apathetic at best, and hostile at worst, to the needs of Latino and immigrant New Yorkers, we need a Lieutenant Governor who will be an independent voice of accountability. When the Governor is proving unresponsive to the needs of Latino New Yorkers, we need a Lieutenant Governor who will stand up to her and secure better outcomes, instead of providing cover from policies that continue to exclude our communities. Mr. Delgado’s record leaves little grounds for optimism. 

What does give me hope is that Latino and immigrant New Yorkers are organizing all over the state, and partnering with visionary legislators to win historic victories, like the $2.1 billion Excluded Workers Fund they won last year. Our communities deserve better and will continue to demand better. Our eyes are on the prize of a more just society, not representation in name only. 

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Ana María Archila is a Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor of New York. On Twitter @anamariaforny.

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Judicial Selection is Crucial at Every Level


Courtroom (photo: Governor's Office)


As early as primary school, we are taught about the United States Constitution’s system of checks and balances, and that the judicial branch was created to temper the actions of the executive and legislative branches of government. We learn about the importance of an independent judiciary, but beyond that, the vast majority of us don't think about the role and function of judges unless we find ourselves involved in a court case. We need to be more keenly aware, nationally and at home, of the tremendous power the judiciary and judicial selection have in most facets of our everyday lives.

With the leak of the draft majority decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization written by Justice Samuel Alito, the Supreme Court is suddenly under intense public scrutiny. Dobbs is only the latest development that highlights the immense repercussions of a partisan Supreme Court, and the dire consequences of elections. In Alito’s view, the right to an abortion is not “deeply rooted” in our nation’s history. He writes for the majority that, “Until the latter part of the 20th century, such a right was entirely unknown in American law.”

Perhaps that’s true, but it’s disingenuous and reverses the women’s rights revolution that began in the mid-nineteenth century with the fight for the right to vote. Fifty-three years after the constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote, in Roe, the Supreme Court recognized women’s bodily autonomy — a relatively compact timeline for the enshrinement in law of the rights of a marginalized population. It also proves how potent “deeply rooted” constitutional liberties are when applied to all. The draft majority in Dobbs discards the court’s procedural norms by flouting abortion jurisprudence and the principles of stare decisis. Roe is settled law for 50 years — an independent, non-partisan judiciary would heed precedent. The leaked decision is a wholesale (not even incremental) rejection of precedent.

Here in our home state of New York, the judiciary’s recent decision that this year’s primary elections would be bifurcated and held on two separate dates due to challenges to the redistricting process is also being treated with skepticism.

Primaries for Congressional and New York State Senate offices will be held in August and primaries for all judicial and other offices will be held in June. There is some irony in the fact that despite this irregular electoral schedule being brought about by the judiciary, highly impactful judicial races were by and large left out of the primary date discussions and legal battles, which focused primarily on races for Governor, Congress, State Senate, and State Assembly. The primary bifurcation raises serious questions about what impact the Court’s decision will have on voter turnout, which is already often below 20% during primaries.  

Putting aside whether the judges were correct in bifurcating the New York primary, the public’s immediate mistrust of the process has larger implications. For example, the fact that the public generally doesn't understand the process by which people become judges does not engender deference and trust in the judiciary. Recently, while petitioning over five weeks for signatures to get on the June Democratic primary ballot for Surrogate's Court judge, many people skeptically asked me why there’s rarely a choice in judicial candidates when they vote.

Part of the problem is that judicial candidates get on the ballot through a process that is little known and poorly understood by most people, even voters who are otherwise quite well-informed. 

Judicial candidates for Surrogate's Court like myself need signatures (4,000) from registered Democrats to appear on the primary ballot. Surrogate’s Court, also known as probate court, oversees wills and estates, as well as the appointment of fiduciaries, guardianships, and adoptions. Judicial candidates for Civil Court positions also need signatures (1,500) to appear on the primary ballot.   

For Supreme Court judges, the Constitution of the State of New York created an alternate method to the petitioning process. In place of a primary election, "judicial delegates" (an elected position), vote at a judicial nominating convention for the Democratic Party candidates who will appear on the general election ballot.  

Both the Democratic primary winners and the “nominated” Supreme Court candidates generally aren’t challenged by other party candidates in the general election and that’s why there’s rarely more than one “choice” on the printed ballot. 

Voters need more information about how people become judges and about the candidates themselves. Exacerbating the perceived lack of choice and imposed apathy, even during a contested primary, voters don’t know where to find information about judicial candidates. The New York State Bar Association and The New York State Board of Elections should collaborate on means and methods of disseminating information to the general public about judicial candidates well in advance of elections.

As things stand now, the impression some have about how people become judges in New York is that it's largely dependent on who you know and how much money you have to finance your candidacy. That's not good enough. We need a judiciary that represents our entire expansive mosaic. 

Now more than ever, we must guard against the appearance of backroom deals and patronage in the judiciary and promote impartiality. Lawyers, judges, legal, civic, and community groups all have a role to play in demystifying the judicial electoral and appointment processes and in advocating for the necessary reforms to restore people’s faith in the judiciary‘s independence and, by extension, the rule of law.  

As Roe illustrates, voter participation lies at the very heart of constitutional progress and the full realization of our deeply rooted rights.

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Elba Rose Galvan is a Surrogate's Court Referee in King's County and candidate for Manhattan Surrogate. She served under Surrogate Margarita Lopes Torrez, and currently serves under Surrogate Rosemarie Montalbano, both considered reformers of the court.

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For the Sake of Voter Turnout and Trust, New York Must Merge the Primaries


Voters at the polls (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)


Due to the ongoing challenges to New York's redistricting maps approved by Democratic lawmakers earlier this year, New York voters may be required to vote in two separate primary elections this year, one in June and another in August.

Issues with the new Congressional and State Senate district maps have thrown our upcoming party primaries into disarray and could run the risk of reducing voter turnout statewide. To preserve voter turnout and spare confusion, the Legislature should vote to merge and hold all primaries on August 23.

A state judge set August 23 as primary day for the U.S. House and State Senate party primary elections after the New York Court of Appeals rejected the newly-drawn districts for those chambers as unconstitutional. Primaries for statewide offices like Governor and Lieutenant Governor and for State Assembly remain set for June 28. This is a potentially costly and confusing development for voters and must be addressed rapidly.

In 2018, New York State ended its two primary system, where voters used to vote in federal primaries in June and state primaries in September. New York’s divided primaries caused the state to spend many millions of dollars more while suppressing voter interest. The federal government requested the change to a single primary to provide enough time for military and overseas voters to get absentee ballots for the general election.

Holding a separate primary is costly, given the logistics of running a statewide election. According to the New York State Board of Elections, statewide primaries will cost as much as $30 million, covering ballots, election day materials, inspector pay, poll site rentals, moving costs for voting machines, staff, and mailings. Some lawmakers have called for additional funding for local elections boards to help pay for the two separate votes, which would include not only the two primary days, but the mandatory early voting periods ahead of each.

Consolidating the 2022 primary elections would minimize the impact of the Court’s ruling on voters, candidates, and election officials and provide some stability to the current election cycle. Changing the political calendar requires swift legislative action due to legal deadlines and administrative constraints.

Not voting to consolidate the primaries is wasteful, expensive, and only leads to confusion and lower voter turnout. Historically, the two separate dates caused some hesitancy in voters’ minds about when to vote. While the August date is not ideal given the likelihood of summer vacations, it has been established by the court, and cannot be moved. The June primary can be shifted, and for the sake of all voters, should be.

To reduce voter confusion and maximize turnout, the Legislature should refer to historical precedent and vote to merge the elections for this year, unifying the primaries in August. This would provide the summer to prepare absentee ballots and give some time for a lot of voter outreach and education.

The Legislature should prioritize legislation that unifies the primaries for this cycle in the next few days, providing ample opportunity for voter engagement and familiarity to ensure a sizable turnout at the polls. We must reduce confusion and rebuild trust among voters who may feel disenfranchised, confused, or upset about how redistricting has gone and the issues with the shifting primaries. Elected leaders should provide one date that guarantees New Yorkers will vote in all races on the ballot this year where there are primaries.

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Christian Amato is an organizer and Democratic candidate for State Senate in New York’s 36th District. On Twitter @amatoforny.

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We’re Assembly Members, Healthcare Experts, Women of Color, Mothers, and Fed Up: It’s Time to Pass the New York Health Act


"Healthcare is a right" (photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)


The fact is, New York’s profit-driven health-care system continues to fail marginalized communities like those we represent in the State Legislature. As a matter of racial and gender justice, we must finally pass single-payer health care this state legislative session.

Before we were elected to office, we each worked in or around New York’s health-care system – Assemblymember Reyes as an oncology nurse, Assemblymember Forrest as a maternal-child health nurse, and Assemblymember González-Rojas as a reproductive healthcare advocate.

Through our work and our own lived experiences as Afro-Latina, Black, and Latina women, we’ve seen firsthand how our health-care system reproduces racial and gender inequities in our beloved New York.

Our city and state are now more than two years into a pandemic that has disproportionately affected the Black, Latino, immigrant, and low-income communities we represent and brought our already broken health-care system to its knees. As representatives of districts in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens, we have a mandate to fight for the health and wellbeing of the constituents who elected us, and we know that what’s good for them is also good for millions of other New Yorkers. It’s time that we and our colleagues in the Legislature pass, and the Governor signs, the New York Health Act. 

It’s been nearly 31 years since our colleague in the Assembly, Richard Gottfried, first introduced the New York Health Act. Yes, you read that correctly – 31 years. The bill has had several iterations since then, but its core tenets remain the same: the New York Health Act would “create a universal single-payer health plan – New York Health – to provide comprehensive health coverage for all New Yorkers.”

The New York Health Plan would replace existing private insurance plans for every single worker and resident and include all benefits covered by Medicare, Medicaid, Child Health Plus, and those mandated by the Affordable Care Act. With universal single-payer, New Yorkers would no longer have to rely on family members or employers, pay exorbitant monthly premiums, or forgo coverage altogether. While the plan would require the state to impose two new progressively graduated taxes, research shows that New Yorkers would still pay significantly less overall for health care under the New York Health Act than they do now. 

Decoupling health insurance coverage from employment and reducing health-care costs would have dramatic positive impacts on the Black, Latino, immigrant, women, and low-income New Yorkers we represent. We know that over the last two years, Black and Latino people have experienced higher rates of unemployment for longer periods. According to a 2021 Community Service Society of New York report, 22% percent of low-income New Yorkers who lost employment income since the first wave of COVID-19 also lost health insurance coverage. Among that 22%, over half were Latino.

We know that women and marginalized genders have disproportionately left the workforce altogether to provide childcare for their families where the state has failed to do so, losing employer coverage as a result. Undocumented New Yorkers still don’t have access to Medicaid, as Coverage for All was excluded in our recent state budget. Lack of coverage, inadequate coverage, gaps in coverage, and health-care costs are some of the greatest barriers to accessing care for communities of color. The New York Health Act would all but remove those barriers.  

In addition to reducing costs for vulnerable families and ensuring every New Yorker can access comprehensive health care no matter their circumstance or status, the New York Health Act would help improve the quality of care New Yorkers receive overall. By reducing costs and leveling the coverage playing field, our safety net hospitals would no longer be overburdened by New Yorkers who have nowhere else to go. Safety net hospitals in each one of our districts, which all serve predominantly Black and Latino members of our communities, were at the frontline of the pandemic. They’re also the most under-resourced, thanks to years of inequitable distribution of Medicaid funding.

Our profit-driven healthcare system has pushed New York’s entire hospital system and the providers who work within it, to the brink. Without adequate funding, data show that hospital quality of care declines. This has had devastating consequences, not only for the Black New Yorkers who were twice as likely to be hospitalized with the recent Omicron variant than their white counterparts, but for all the birthing people in our communities who rely on hospitals for pregnancy and postpartum care. In the last two years, at least three Black women, one from each of the boroughs we represent, have died from preventable causes during hospital childbirth or shortly thereafter.

Single-payer, universal health care would give the nurses, midwives, home-care workers, and other health-care providers power to bargain for fairer wages and safer working conditions, and allow providers to focus on patient care, not costs. It would also allow us to define what comprehensive coverage looks like and expand the scope of reproductive and LGBTQ health care, both of which are under attack across the country.

The New York Health Act has already passed the Assembly four times. We finally have majority support for the bill in both houses of the Legislature after years of advocacy and securing a Democratic majority in the State Senate. This is the year to get it done.

We’re sick and tired of having had to work with a fractured Legislature and an uncooperative Executive that stopped us from delivering reform for years while our constituents suffered. We’re sick and tired of all the talk about leading on progressive causes without real progressive action. We’re sick and tired of trying to tinker around the edges to reform a health-care system that is fundamentally unjust and perpetuates the same gender and racial inequities we were elected to address. We’re fed up. We need the New York Health Act now. 

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Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas is the first Latina Assemblymember to represent Assembly District 34, which encompasses sections of Woodside, Jackson Heights, East Elmhurst, and Corona, Queens. Before running for office, she served as Executive Director of the National Latina Institute of Reproductive Health, where she fought for policies to expand access to reproductive and sexual healthcare for Latina/x communities, including in New York. 

Assemblymember Karines Reyes, R.N., represents the 87th Assembly District in the Bronx, which includes the neighborhoods of Castle Hill, Parkchester, Van Nest, and West Farms. She serves as a per diem registered nurse in oncology at Montefiore Medical Center. In 2020, she notably returned to nursing during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Assemblymember Phara Souffrant Forrest, R.N., represents the 57th Assembly District, which consists of the neighborhoods of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill as well as parts of Bed-Stuy, Prospect Heights and Crown Heights. Prior to her election, she worked as a maternal health nurse and organized tenants in the neighborhoods she now represents.

On Twitter @votejgr, @KarinesReyes87, and @phara4assembly.

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To Protect Older New Yorkers, Leaders Must Expand Proven Solutions to End Traffic Violence


Crossing the street safely (photo: Clay LeConey)


99-year-old Holocaust survivor Jack Mikulincer was killed crossing the street in his wheelchair by an SUV driver in Brooklyn.

88-year-old Thomas Soong was killed just one block from his home in Queens at an intersection the city knew to be dangerous.

76-year-old Lola Blair was killed by a dump truck driver in the Bronx while crossing the street.

These are not statistics, but our neighbors and family members. 

New York City’s pedestrian- and transportation-rich cityscape has long made it a welcoming home for seniors to age in place. From walking to the corner store to visiting family by bus or subway, the city invites older residents to stay engaged with their neighbors and neighborhoods. 

However, as we grow older, that invitation grows more dangerous. As New York City faces four years of increasing traffic violence, older New Yorkers have been disproportionately affected by car crashes, dying at a rate 60% higher than their share of the population.

In fact, one in three New York voters age 65 or over has been injured in a traffic crash, and two in three know someone who has been injured or killed, according to polling from Siena College.  

However, getting older does not have to mean a death sentence on our roadways or home detention for fear of crossing the street. Over the decades, New York City has developed proven tools to prevent this public health crisis and protect our most vulnerable. Initiatives like daylighting, sidewalk widening, and pedestrian safety islands led to a 17% decline in senior pedestrian fatalities. Mayor Eric Adams recently committed $904 million to the NYC Streets Plan to scale these and other proven safety measures across the five boroughs.

As our leaders in the city take bold steps to keep older New Yorkers safe, so, too, must our leaders in Albany. Right now, state lawmakers are deciding our ability to expand life-saving safety measures such as automated traffic enforcement and lower speed limits. 

We know what works. When New York City lowered its speed limit from 30 to 25 MPH, traffic fatalities fell by more than 22% and pedestrian fatalities fell by more than 25%. 

When New York City expanded its red-light camera program, t-bone crashes causing injuries fell as much as 58% at red-light camera locations.

And when New York City installed speed safety cameras in school zones, we saw a 55% drop in traffic fatalities and a 72% drop in speeding.

What’s more, automated traffic enforcement and lower speed limits are supported by an overwhelming majority of older New York voters: 81% favor adding more speed safety and 86% support the red-light cameras.

We call on our lawmakers in Albany to lift the limits on life-saving automated enforcement programs, permitting the City of New York to protect people from speeding every hour of every day in every school zone. We also need them to pass Sammy’s Law to allow lower speed limits across the five boroughs.

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Beth Finkel is State Director of AARP New York. Danny Harris is Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives. On Twitter @BethNY & @AARPNY & @DannyHarris_TA & @TransAlt.

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New York Deserves the Future Promised by 30x30


Precious New York (photo: Carl Heilman/Governor's Office)


Warmer spring weather ushers in reminders of the natural beauty we have in New York, from the vibrant blooms of the dogwood and magnolia trees to the return of migratory birds singing. People swarm back to our local parks where picnic baskets and roller skates make a long-awaited resurgence. The Hudson River teems to life with the reappearance of kayakers who can be spotted from way above by hikers in the Catskills.

We enjoy some of the most marvelous landscapes the United States has to offer, and we must do more to protect them. We cannot afford to take our natural beauty for granted. 

Legislation recently passed in the State Assembly and currently pending in the State Senate would establish a goal for New York to conserve 30% of our land and water by 2030 to preserve the state’s natural wonders and ensure every generation can enjoy and benefit from our water, woods, and wildlife. Sponsored by Assemblymember Pat Fahy and Senator Todd Kaminsky, New York’s 30 by 30 legislation mirrors the goals of the federal “America the Beautiful” initiative to conserve at least 30% of our nation’s land and water by 2030, a goal developed by scientists alarmed by the rapid loss of plants and animals happening around the world.

If passed by the State Senate and signed into law by the Governor, this important measure would direct the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and other state agencies to create a conservation plan to protect biodiversity and avoid the worst effects of global warming. The plan will prioritize conservation and restoration projects in disadvantaged communities, honor Tribal sovereignty, and preserve critical habitats and migratory corridors for wildlife.

The world is at a pivotal point, as we face dual crises from rapid habitat loss and climate change. The Nature Conservancy remains strongly committed to supporting legislation that protects people and wildlife for generations to come. The passage of 30 by 30 will be a momentous win for New York and will help address many pressing threats not only to our famous scenic landscapes, but to the health of our communities. A statewide goal would reinvigorate collaborative efforts to conserve the lakes and bays where we swim and fish; the farms that grow our food; the forests and wetlands that provide wildlife habitat; the sources of our clean drinking water; and the places New Yorkers rely on for jobs, adventure, and solace. 

The Nature Conservancy is proud of the hard work and extensive collaboration that went into advancing a 30 by 30 goal for New York State. We’re excited to see it passed in the Senate and signed by Governor Hochul and look forward to collaborating further to help the state achieve this critical goal. 

New Yorkers often set an example for how to usher in a better future. Last month, the New York Legislature and Governor prioritized environmental investments in the state budget including the $4.2 million Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Bond Act that will go before voters this fall and a $400 million Environmental Protection Fund. This November, we all need to flip our ballots and vote yes to pass the Bond Act, a once-in-a-generation opportunity to protect clean drinking water, create jobs, reduce pollution, and build parks. 

We applaud our state leaders for recognizing the importance of conserving the natural resources we all depend on and look forward to celebrating the enactment of 30 by 30 legislation. Let’s continue to build on this momentum by supporting the Bond Act to protect clean water, create jobs, and improve quality of life in communities throughout New York.

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Jessica Ottney Mahar is New York Policy and Strategy Director at The Nature Conservancy. On Twitter @jessicaottney & @nature_org.

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