ASSEMBLYMEMBER Winter 2019 Yuh-Line Niou REPORTS TO YOU

Dear Neighbor, As we close out 2019, I want to provide end of year updates to you. As your Assemblymember, I fight every day for the basic rights and diverse needs of our community. With so much happening and real change coming from Albany, I want to give you some updates! It’s an honor to represent lower , and I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished this year. In response to plans for the proposed Manhattan Detention Center and Two Bridges Project, we submitted public testimonies and formal statements that outlined the concerns we shared on the effects projects will have on our neighborhood. Our community has made it clear that we want real community-based planning that focuses on engaging us at every step and addressing the severe impacts our community experiences from massive projects. In addition, I, along with other Manhattan legislators, hosted a public forum to discuss the proposed plan for . I spoke on the need for quality resources for our aging community and listened to community members who voiced concerns regarding the lack of nursing home beds, lack of HIV/AIDS specific care, and the lack of transparency during the closing of Rivington House. I will continue to fight to pass my bill, the Rivington Act, which promotes community transparency and stability for nursing home facilities like Rivington House. As you might have seen, I have been an outspoken champion for the Child Victims Act which brings justice to survivors of childhood sexual abuse. This law amends our statutes adding five additional years for criminal charges to be brought and pushes the statute of limitations to permit civil actions to be brought up until the victim is 55. The law also includes a one year look-back window which began on August 14th for adult survivors, who under previous law, were unable to seek civil action. I have enclosed an infographic regarding the timeline for the Child Victims Act. Many victims are still facing barriers to pursuing justice against their alleged abusers. In the upcoming session, we must fight to pass legislation to extend the look-back period for survivors and establish a child victims’ foundation fund which provides resources to help survivors throughout the legal process. As we approach the upcoming legislative session, I encourage you to reach out to our office and RSVP for our annual community budget and legislative town hall on January 25th, 2020. Please let me know your concerns and priorities so we can fight for them together in Albany. A flyer for the town hall is enclosed in this report. To be even more accessible to you, we continue to hold mobile district offices where we help constituents apply for and navigate government services and listen to your concerns. I hope to see you around the neighborhood!

Sincerely,

Yuh-Line Niou Assemblymember, 65th District

District Office: 64 Fulton Street, Room 302, , NY 10038 • 212-312-1420 • [email protected] Albany Office: Room 818, Legislative Office Building, Albany, NY 12248 • 518-455-3640 Pushing for Permanent Deeply Affordable Housing and An End to Homelessness

In response to the four murders of homeless community members in Chinatown, I organized a vigil, spoke at multiple rallies, and co-wrote an OpEd on the changes that need to be made to our system to ensure that every New Yorker has a home. Homelessness has continually grown in New York and it is clear that we lack a holis- tic system to address this issue. With growing housing costs and increases to cost of living, any of us could become homeless overnight. We need to build a model rooted in providing permanent and deeply affordable housing in ad- dition to direct prevention services that seek to end homelessness and poverty. In the meantime, Reading a story at a Halloween story-time we must work towards supporting our homeless event at Library population and minimizing the risk of violence. We need to work together – as a city and state – to create a model that focuses on compassionate and effective efforts that ends endless cycles of poverty, violence, and homelessness. Parallel to that, we need to create a comprehensive plan that prevents homelessness and poverty before it even starts. This includes investing in a sys- tem that offers stability through initiatives like permanently, deeply affordable housing, sup- portive housing, or direct outreach services that fill the gaps in our system.

NYCHA Funding Released The $450 million in NYCHA funding that we approved in 2017 and 2018 in the state budget has been released to NYCHA. This funding is long overdue. As a member of the Housing Committee and an Assemblymember whose district is one-third public housing, I have been fighting tirelessly to address the failing infrastructure and horrible conditions in our NYCHA buildings. In 2017, 2018, and 2019, I led efforts in the state legislature to request and fight for funding for our public housing system. When the legislature secured these funds, it was to address the immediate, dire problems that our NYCHA residents faced. But, our residents had to wait years before the funding was released and endured horrendous conditions throughout the entire time. These repairs needed to happen years ago and the failure to address these problems now means that the conditions have only worsened. Our families deserve better. Our community leaders and tenant leaders have expressed that resident needs have not been met and that the com- munity’s voice has not been heard. This is unacceptable. We need to fully fund NYCHA’s capital needs and work towards cost-effective projects that focus on engaging our residents and putting their needs first. Campaign Finance Reform The only people legislators should be accountable to is our constituents and the people of New York. I have been fighting for public financing of campaigns because it is a real, viable system that can fight back against corruption and send a message to our constitu- ents that their voices matter. It empowers the communities that we should be represent- ing in Albany. It encourages individuals to participate in elections through small-dollar donations. It helps level the playing field and provides people of color and women the opportunity to fairly fund campaigns and win. A strong public financing system restores trust in our democracy and helps elect the best representative to office, not whoever happens to be the most well-connected to special interests. I co-wrote an op-ed, led a letter from legislators, and testified in support of a public financing program which must include at least a 6-to-1 match on small donations for both primary and general elections, an independent enforcement unit and lower contribution limits. I will continue to fight for a public financing system that advances the interests of New Yorkers in the upcoming session.

250 Water Street Brownfield Project Update and Townhall

I joined stakeholders from our com- munity to discuss the 250 Water Street Brownfield Cleanup Project. I listened to community concerns and heard from speakers about the risks at the site. Pre- viously, I led letters and community engagement to extend the public com- ment period for the draft investigation work plan to December 2nd, 2019. In response to community concerns, I led a second letter to extend the public comment period again. After consider- able engagement, the DEC has agreed to extend the public comment period. The new public comment period is now January 16th, 2020. 250 Water Street is a unique site. It is directly next to two elementary schools filled with young students, a major housing development with many seniors, and inside of the Seaport Historic District which attracts thousands of visitors each year. I have been committed to fighting alongside the community since the very begin- ning of this project and will continue to ensure that we have a fair, transparent process that prioritizes community en- gagement.

Borough Based Jails and Update Recently, the City voted yes to build four new borough based jails in an effort to close down Rikers Island. As you know, I have been vocally opposed to the borough based jail system from the very beginning and formally testified multiple times against the plans. I was the first elected official in our community to come out against the City’s borough based plans, to convene public meetings for our community, and to ask for a real plan that focuses on our community concerns and decarceration. In the legislature, I fought to pass landmark criminal justice reforms, like bail reform, speedy trial, and discovery reform which are designed to get New York off its addiction to mass in- carceration and to drastically reduce the use of pretrial detention while keeping New Yorkers safe. These reforms provide a historic opportunity to close Rikers Island and end mass incarceration in New York. By building new multi-billion dollar jails without any binding legal guarantee to close Rikers Island, the city is squandering this opportunity. New York should be at the forefront of criminal justice reform, and with $9 billion set aside for the borough based jails, I believe we can look to progressive efforts that truly make a difference such as permanent deeply affordable housing, social services, better training for corrections officers, mental health and preventative services instead of building new jails. Legislation and Press Conference on Mandatory Surcharges and Fines

I spoke at a press conference this month to discuss the find- ings from City Comptroller Scott Stringer on mandatory surcharges and fines. Due to mandatory surcharges and fees, incarcerated individuals are at risk to end up in a mod- ern-day debtor’s prison and are unable to break the cycle of unaffordable fees and expenses. The wages that incarcer- ated individuals earn in prison are taken from the commis- sary accounts which leaves individuals unable to afford ba- sic hygiene products or phone calls to loved ones. Getting 32BJ Rally for Con Ed rid of mandatory surcharges is a vital step in addressing the Prevailing Wages issues that exist in our flawed criminal justice system. Along with community advocates, I organized a rally to fight for the rights of Con Ed employees. Con Ed often uses subcontracted employees that earn only minimum wage with no benefits. This past session, I sponsored and passed legislation that requires all jobs at privately owned, monopoly granted utility companies, like Con Ed, to provide prevailing wage jobs with benefits and wages. Speaking on the anniversary of Sandy and the need for resiliency efforts in lower Manhattan.

New York State Assembly • Albany, New York 12248 PRSRT STD. U.S. POSTAGE PAID Albany, New York Permit No. 75

Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou REPORTS TO YOU

Winter 2019

Henry Street Settlement House and Neighborhood Center Ribbon Cutting I attended the ribbon cutting for the Dale Jones Burch Neighborhood Center at Settlement. As a supporter of the Settlement House Initiative, I fought to secure millions in state funding for settlement houses statewide. Settlement houses are integral to our community and offer a breadth of services including employment programs, children’s and afterschool programs, language and literacy education, legal counseling, senior services, and health and home care.