Voter Guide for the Waterfront Survey of Candidates for New York City Office September 2017 About Us The Waterfront Alliance is a coalition of more than 950 organizations working together to protect, transform, and revitalize our harbor and waterfront.

This document was prepared by Waterfront Alliance with layout template provided by Decker Design.

Image: Ian Douglas Voter Guide for the Waterfront Survey of Candidates for New York City Office September 2017 4 Introduction 7 Candidates for Citywide Office Mayor 7 Sal Albanese 8 Bill de Blasio 11 Nicole Malliotakis 12 Abbey-Laurel Smith Public Advocate 14 Letitia James Comptroller 15 Scott Stringer 16 Candidates for Borough President Brooklyn 16 Eric Adams Manhattan 19 Gale Brewer 20 Candidates for City Council 1 Margaret Chin 21 9 Pierre Gooding 39 31 Donovan Richards 51 Christopher Marte 22 Tyson-Lord Gray 40 32 Michael G. Scala 52 2 Ronnie Cho 23 10 Ydanis Rodriguez 41 Carlina Rivera 24 Mary Silver 25 35 Scott Hutchins 53 Jorge Vazquez 26 12 Karée-Lyn Gordon 42 37 Rafael L. Espinal, Jr. 54 4 Vanessa Aronson 27 13 Mark Gjonaj 43 Rachel Honig 28 Marjorie Velázquez 44 Jeffrey Mailman 29 38 Sara M. Gonzalez 55 Marti Speranza 30 Carlos Menchaca 56 Rebecca Harary 31 17 Patrick Delices 45 41 Henry Butler 57 18 William Russel Moore 46 5 Patrick Bobilin 33 Ben Kallos 34 43 Kevin Peter Carroll 58 Paul Vallone 47 Vincent Chirico 59 19 Khader El-Yateem 60 6 Helen Rosenthal 35 Liam McCabe 61 Mel Wymore 36 20 Peter Koo 48 John Quaglione 62

7 Mark Levine 37 22 Costa Constantinides 49 47 Mark Treyger 63

8 Robert J. Rodriguez 38 27 I. Daneek Miller 50 49 Debi Rose 65 INTRODUCTION

New York is a city of water, with our waterways to act to protect our city for future generations. serving as a vital resource for commerce, It is incumbent upon our City’s next leaders transportation, education, and recreation. to invest their time and resources to make our Millions of people who inhabit our island waterways strong, healthy, and open for all. metropolis are rediscovering our maritime roots and celebrating our shared waters. In 2017, New Yorkers head to the polls to choose our leaders for the next four years. We Much progress has been made in recent years have again collected position statements from toward expanding use and access. These candidates for public office on five critical waters once teemed with ships, bringing policy questions affecting the waterfront. passengers and products from around the world. New York now claims the third largest We delivered a candidate brief, Blueprint for commercial port in the country. With NYC Our Blueways, outlining a five-point agenda Ferry bringing waterborne transit to new for New York’s waterways, to more than 200 neighborhoods across the city, the nation’s candidates That agenda, and corresponding largest fleet of urban ferries is still growing. candidate survey, called on those who seek public office to work toward a harbor that is: Thanks to progress spurred by the Clean Water Act, many of New York’s waterways • STRONG : Protected from the increasing are healthy enough for recreational use, threat of climate change, including with more people boating, fishing, and coastal flooding and sea level rise. swimming. Networks of stewardship groups • HEALTHY: Safe for recreational use, and concerned citizens have contributed meeting the Clean Water Act standards of to improving our urban habitat through “fishable and swimmable.” restoration initiatives and water testing. • OPEN: Equitable access for use and enjoyment across all communities, and But there is still a long way to go to ensure that welcoming to multiple types of vessels. the waterways continue to be an economic • WORKING : Productive gateway for Left to right: Paddling in Soundview, engine and environmental resource for all. international and regional commerce, Bronx with Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice; flooding in Bayswater, They are also a powerful reminder that we live providing good-paying jobs and Queens; decommissioned aircraft among nature, and share the benefits the environmental benefits. carrier Baylander at West Harlem Piers; riprap shoreline in Long Island waters provide and the risks they pose. The • MANAGED : Efficient oversight of diverse City, Queens. threat of sea level rise and more frequent and activities, integrating regulatory functions more powerful coastal storms require all of us with long-term planning and public use.

4 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 INTRODUCTION (continued)

Blueprint for Our Blueways Agenda

OBJECTIVES RECOMMENDATIONS

STRONG Protected from the • Adopt a regional, multi-city approach to coastal resilience increasing threat of climate • Commit to social equity when planning for resilience change, including coastal flooding and sea level rise • Commit to 80x50, significantly reducing our carbon footprint

HEALTHY Safe for recreational use • Improve oversight of CSO remediation processes to reduce discharge and habitat restoration, • Prioritize green infrastructure (GI) for improved stormwater capture meeting the Clean Water Act standards of “fishable • Improve ambient water quality testing and swimmable” • Prioritize green infrastructure and incentives for stormwater capture

OPEN Accessible for use and • Expand on-water opportunities citywide enjoyment across all • Improve regulatory clarity for on-water access communities, and welcoming to multiple types • Improve processes for maritime cultural operators of vessels • Expand capacity for ferry service and plan for expansion

WORKING Productive gateway for • Preserve and protect existing maritime uses international and regional • Improve access to and awareness of maritime careers commerce, providing good-paying jobs and • Support maintenance dredging, our “hidden infrastructure” environmental benefits • Support future growth industries

MANAGED Efficient oversight • Strengthen Waterfront Management Advisory Board (WMAB) of diverse activities, • Develop comprehensive financing plan for waterfront maintenance integrating regulatory functions with long-term • Review waterfront permitting process planning and public use

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 5 INTRODUCTION (continued)

QUESTIONS POSED TO THE CANDIDATES Candidates were asked to answer the following questions in an open-ended format, with the option to provide as much detail as possible Our Process and Methods STRONG The effects of climate change pose a serious risk to NYC, especially its coastlines. Building resilience to these threats is urgent and should be a For the second consecutive election cycle, we priority. Five Years removed from Hurricane Sandy slow, painful, and costly rebuilding continues as does the reminder of our city’s vulnerability to have asked all candidates running for public the impacts of climate change. More than 400,000 New Yorkers have a office in New York City in 2017 to put their 50% chance of a major flood in their homes by 2060, with almost half of those at risk facing economic and social vulnerability. There is no silver commitment to the future of our waterfront on bullet in preparing for the impact of climate change, but rather a variety the record. What do our next leaders have to of strategies that must be taken to ensure we are protecting our city, now and into the future. say about growing maritime jobs, expanding How do you plan to work to hold the city accountable access to our waterways, and restoring our to its climate change goals, including mitigation and harbor? adaptation, and ensure our region receives its fair share of funding from federal and state partners? We contacted all candidates for Mayor, Public HEALTHY A clean and healthy harbor is the best way to reconnect New York to our Advocate, Comptroller, Borough President, water. Over the past several years substantial progress has been made in improving the health of our water, but so much work remains. Tens of and City Council with five questions related billion gallons of raw sewage continue to flow into our water annually. With to the most pressing waterfront policy issues the absence of a federal ally in the EPA, New York needs to lead at a local and regional level the effort to clean our waterways. facing New York. Responses from more than What strategies will you pursue to help improve 50 candidates for citywide office, Borough water quality and the health of our waterways, President, and City Council have been including reducing sewage outfall and meeting green compiled on the pages that follow, forming infrastructure targets? our 2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront. OPEN More and more New Yorkers are interested in getting not only to the water’s edge, but onto and into the water: from paddling and sailing, This guide is intended to help the public to fishing and oyster monitoring. Despite its 520 miles of coastline, New York City remains largely unwelcoming to active use by people better understand the candidates’ positions and vessels, limiting opportunities for communities to enjoy and utilize on issues related to the future of New York’s their waterways. Access to the water is unevenly distributed, with more than half of all of New York’s waterfront districts restricted from using waterfront and its capacity to support good the waterways. Counting recreational boat launches, historic boat jobs, equitable access, and resilience in the programming, ferry landings, tour and charter locations, and marinas, there’s just one place to board or launch a boat for every four miles of our face of a changing climate. city’s coastline. How will you work to improve equitable access to use All responses to the candidate survey are of the waterways, from education to recreation to transportation, and other public uses? reproduced in full, with the candidates listed in alphabetical order by last name and sorted WORKING The Port of New York and New Jersey is our region’s gateway to by party affiliation. Candidates not included international commerce, but port facilities and maritime support industries are underappreciated and tucked away from public view. They in this guide did not respond to the survey. remain a linchpin of the regional economy and critically important to the Races not listed had no respondents environmental health of the region, supporting more than 300,000 jobs and diverting millions of annual truck trips. We must preserve and protect existing maritime uses and improve access to and awareness of careers in Waterfront Alliance does not endorse, support, this critical industry. or oppose particular candidates for public What strategies will you pursue to protect and strengthen our maritime industry, and prioritize job- office, and a candidate’s fitness for office intensive uses on the waterfront? should be judged on a variety of qualifications that go beyond their responses to the MANAGED New York City’s 520 miles of waterfront and waterways serve many functions—parks and recreation, jobs and economic opportunity, questions contained in this guide. commercial and recreational transportation, and much more—and boast a complex network of City, state, and federal agencies overseeing their use and maintenance. We are emerging from a period of significant We hope that our partners and all New transformation, with a 21st century waterfront with new demands to Yorkers will find this information useful as integrate multiple water-dependent uses. We need governance to match. they mark their ballots, and we urge all to help How will you work to improve governance models for the waterfront to ensure equitable public access, retain keep the pressure on our leaders to uphold maritime industrial activity, restore our natural habitats, the commitments they make to protect and and protect coastal populations from climate-related restore our waterways. threats?

6 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 Candidates for Citywide Office Mayor

SAL ALBANESE (D)

STRONG By establishing benchmarks for protecting our shoreline and reducing fossil fuel emissions. How do you plan to work to New York City has set a target of reducing emissions by 80% by 2050. I believe we need to hold the city accountable be more aggressive. For example we should phase out diesel fuel Sanitation trucks as soon to its climate change goals, as possible and purchase natural gas vehicles. As Mayor you have to have relationships with including mitigation and your State and Federal partners to ensure fair funding. adaptation, and ensure our region receives its fair share of funding from federal and state partners?

HEALTHY I will ensure that zoning and development policies take into account infrastructure issues What strategies will you such as reducing sewage outfall. No building will go on without taking into account sewage pursue to help improve water outflow and its impact on our waterways. quality and the health of our waterways, including reducing sewage outfall and meeting green infrastructure targets?

OPEN NYC waterways will be accessible to all our citizens. As Mayor I will promote educational How will you work to improve programs that will expose all our children to the great recreational opportunities our equitable access to use waterways offer, including boating, fishing, etc of the waterways, from education to recreation to transportation, and other public uses?

WORKING My economic development agency will include experts from the maritime industry so we can What strategies will you expand job opportunities along the waterfront. pursue to protect and strengthen our maritime industry, and prioritize job-intensive uses on the waterfront?

MANAGED I would propose a separate agency in our government that would focus on waterfront issues. How will you work to improve None exists in city government, therefore all the above issues don't receive the focus needed governance models for the to address them. waterfront?

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 7 Mayor of the City of New York (continued)

BILL DE BLASIO (D)

STRONG Climate change represents an existential threat to all of humanity. New York City – as one of How do you plan to work to the largest cities in the world – has the opportunity and responsibility to have a meaningful hold the city accountable impact in this fight on a global scale, especially when the White House and President Trump to its climate change goals, continue to fail this country on this issue. While the spirit and core values of New York City including mitigation and compels us to lead the fight, it also drives as much for our own survival; with 520-miles of adaptation, and ensure our coastline and rising sea levels, significant portions of New York City will be underwater by region receives its fair share 2100 unless we change. In 2015, I announced our roadmap for inclusive and sustainable of funding from federal and growth: One New York: The Plan for a Strong and Just City. The plan was built in response to state partners? the most challenges we face: population growth, aging infrastructure, increasing inequality and climate change. It was the first resilience strategy released by any city in partnership with 100 Resilient Cities, pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation. The OneNYC plan has committed the City to major greenhouse gas emission reductions and resiliency measures. This includes an overarching commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050 and achieve the benchmarks set forth in the Paris Agreement, as well as specific actions we are taking as a city to New York City to reduce emissions from buildings (heat and hot water), transportation, our electricity grid and waste. Most importantly, the plan requires the City to be accountable, track those goals annually and report to the public our progress. The most recent report can be found here. As of 2017, here’s the toplines on the progress we’ve made around sustainability and climate change since launching OneNYC: • Annual greenhouse gas emissions are down 14% • Over 100 megawatts of renewable solar energy have been installed • The City is approaching 1,000 electric vehicles in use by its agencies • Over one million New Yorkers are served by organics collection • The City has secured a ground-breaking commitment to redraw our flood maps to better account for current and future flood risk, saving New Yorkers millions of dollars and better preparing our coastal communities for the future • The City’s over $20 billion resiliency program continues to meet major project milestones, including completion of the Sea Gate t-groins and groundbreakings for resiliency investments at several NYCHA campuses OneNYC and the City’s ability to quantify its success and create momentum towards achieving the 2015 defined goals positions New York City in the best possible light for continuing to secure funding from state and federal partners. We will also continue to build on our successes in securing private, foundation and other NGOs dollars to help us to make New York City stronger than ever.

8 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 Mayor of the City of New York (continued)

HEALTHY The post WWII development boom New York City experienced outpaced the extension of the What strategies will you city’s sewer system, which negatively contributed to the cleanliness of our waterways and pursue to help improve water created chronic flooding issues in Queens. As part of OneNYC, the New York City Department quality and the health of of Environmental Protection (NYDEP) launched and is currently delivering on a $1.5 billion our waterways, including green infrastructure program to improve the quality of the harbor and prevent combined reducing sewage outfall and sewer overflows which includes investments in rain gardens, porous pavement (allows meeting green infrastructure captured stormwater to be naturally absorbed into the ground versus into sewer grates) and targets? green streets that slow, filter and cleanse stormwater runoff. Through this program, DEP has designed or constructed more than 3,800 green infrastructure assets citywide, while partnering with other agencies and public organizations to add green infrastructure at schools, parks, and public housing across the city. As of April 2017, 11 sites on publicly owned property were constructed, seven are in construction and more than 200 are under consideration. DEP also developed a grant program for private property owners and partners with the New York Restoration Project and the Trust for Public Land to add green infrastructure to community gardens and playgrounds. Through DEP’s partnership with the Trust for Public Land, DEP has contributed nearly $2 million for transformative upgrades of nine schoolyards, with dozens more projects either in design or construction. Additionally, in 2016, we partnered with the Billion Oyster Project to begin installing 50,000 oysters in Jamaica Bay—the largest single installation of breeding oysters in New York City. Oysters are widely recognized as a key component of a healthy marine ecosystem because they filter pollutants from the water, help to protect wetlands and shoreline from erosion and storm surge, and provide habitat for communities of fish and other aquatic organisms. While New York Harbor was once blanketed by oysters, they became functionally extinct decades ago. The City also continues to expand its award-winning Bluebelt program, which optimizes natural drainage corridors such as streams and ponds to help control and filter stormwater. Currently, construction is underway for a $48 million expansion of the Staten Island Bluebelt, which includes eight Best Management Practices throughout four watersheds. One of these, the Sweet Brook Bluebelt, won a prestigious Silver Award from the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure this year. In addition, DEP expects to break ground on four new Bluebelt projects this year, totaling $80 million. These investments, combined with significant upgrades to wastewater treatment plants and other efforts to reduce combined sewer overflows, will continue to make New York Harbor the cleanest it has been in more than a century.

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 9 Mayor of the City of New York (continued)

OPEN OneNYC explicitly seeks to address the disparate environmental conditions that have How will you work to improve historically resulted in diminished health outcomes, economic opportunities, and quality- equitable access to use of-life in some of our city’s neighborhoods. Access to the waterfronts sits at the intersection of the waterways, from of many of these overlapping issues: access to parks and open spaces, improving our education to recreation to transportation infrastructure, protecting our shorelines from future flooding concerns transportation, and other and more. The creation of NYC Ferry is one way we’ve increased access to the waterfront. public uses? The ferry service connects Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx to provide critical transportation links for areas currently underserved by transit. The ferry connects these neighborhoods and people to job centers, tech hubs and schools in and around New York City. The ferry has already served more than 1.5 million New Yorkers since launching May 1 - a full month earlier than anticipated - and already has four lines in operation including the Astoria line that launched just last week. In the Bronx, the City recently announced a 1.4 acre waterfront site for Parkland in Co-op City, one of the most unique and diverse communities in New York City. The new park will serve 45,000 residents in and around the area. This high-quality community park will improve health, strengthen communities and create much-needed waterfront access. The future park sits on the Hutchinson River adjacent to Co-op City, and just south of Co-op City Field, a NYC Parks site serving local little league teams. Riverbay Corporation is donating the land and will partner with NYC Parks to maintain and operate the future park, which will serve about 45,000 residents in and around Co-op City. The new waterfront park will provide sweeping views of Pelham Bay Park, the largest park in New York City. The City will invest in waterfront paths and other recreational amenities based on the outcomes of a community engagement process. In addition to offering recreational amenities, the park will provide a destination for cyclists using the recently completed on-street Co-Op City Boulevard bicycle route to take in an expansive, 350-foot-long view across the Hutchinson River to the Pelham Bay Wildlife Refuge. In Queens, the City is increasing waterfront access is through the Resilient Edgemere Community Planning Initiative. After decades of disinvestment, the Edgemere neighborhood in the Eastern Rockaways experienced significant damage from Hurricane Sandy. The Resilient Edgemere Community Planning Initiative, launched in October 2015, is a joint effort of City, State, and Federal agencies, community organizations, elected officials, and residents to align Sandy recovery investments in Edgemere with a comprehensive community plan. To ensure a broad, inclusive, and transparent process, the City hosted four community workshops and mailed a community feedback form to all households in Edgemere. Through this collaborative process, the City and the community identified four priorities to drive the plan: protecting the neighborhood from flooding, creating resilient housing while preserving the low-density feel of the neighborhood, improving streets and transportation and increasing neighborhood amenities. The Resilient Edgemere initiative will provide a model for other coastal communities facing similar threats. In Brooklyn, we negotiated and secured the final 11 acres from Citi Storage Warehouse needed to complete Bushwick Inlet Park, a waterfront park that spans diverse and underserved neighborhoods in Greenpoint and Williamsburg. The deal ended a more than decade dispute over the land and allows the full development of the park to move forward. Late last year, the City also funded and broke ground on Pier 3, a five-acre East River pier set to open in Spring 2018. Pier 3 will feature a sweeping lawn, a “play labyrinth” for kids to explore and an event space. The labyrinth will include landscaped hedges and utilizes salvaged industrial materials from the waterfront. Increasing access to waterfronts has been and will continue to be a focus of my administration. Our waterfronts create greater equity, provide healthy spaces to promote physical activity, protect us from flooding and storm damage and help underserved communities tap into greater opportunity and transportation access.

10 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 Mayor of the City of New York (continued)

WORKING Since taking office, job creation has been an essential part of our work, and the City has been What strategies will you looking to underutilized or abandoned waterfront areas as places that can drive this growth. pursue to protect and In 2014, the City committed to spend $100 million to transform the Brooklyn Army Terminal strengthen our maritime into 500,000 square feet of usable and affordable space for manufacturing companies. We industry, and prioritize also committed to a $140 million investment to renovate the Brooklyn Navy Yard, significantly job-intensive uses on the expanding a project proposed by the previous administration and doubling the projected waterfront? number of jobs tied to the project. The project will upgrade all aspects of the one-million square foot building to convert underutilized warehouse space into open spaces for active manufacturing and technology-based businesses. When completed, Building 77 alone will increase employment at the Navy Yard by more than 40 percent and will expand the placement and training facilities at the Navy Yard’s Employment Center in Building 92. The Employment Center has helped more than 600 New Yorkers find jobs. 70 percent of those applicants are Brooklynites, 24 percent are from immediately surrounding communities, 21 percent are public housing residents, 11 percent are formerly incarcerated and 10 percent veterans (on average). In Sunset Park, the City made a $136 million commitment to Bush Terminal to create a garment manufacturing and entertainment production hub. This hub will support 1,500 permanent jobs, as well as 800 construction jobs. Earlier this year, I committed to creating 100,000 good-paying jobs, including 40,000 by 2021. I believe the waterfront is one of the most crucial ways to meeting that promise for all New Yorkers.

MANAGED Our waterfront makes New York City one of the most special places to live in the world. In How will you work to improve some ways, our reliance on and respect for the 520 miles of our coastline has been long governance models for the established, and in other ways, we are just beginning to realize its opportunity and potential. waterfront? But I believe the plan we have put forth in OneNYC – alluded to many times in my answers above – has truly found a path forward to reinvigorate access and economic development in a sustainable way that also addresses climate change. Beaches and parks will enhance the quality of life for all New Yorkers while also serving to protect us from flooding and storm damage. Reimagined industrial sites will support the maritime industry while creating important manufacturing and high-tech job hubs and amenities for the community. Ferries will help us to get to and from all of these rediscovered places in a fraction of the time.

NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS (R)

STRONG As a state assembly member who represents one of the districts most heavily devastated How do you plan to work to by Hurricane Sandy, I understand that climate change is real and know firsthand the hold the city accountable importance of mitigation and resiliency projects. I worked with my colleagues to secure the to its climate change goals, state portion of funding for Staten Island's East Shore Seawall and authored a law to prohibit including mitigation and redevelopment in communities where destroyed structures were torn down. This property adaptation, and ensure our can only now be used as parkland, wetlands, or for mitigation projects. region receives its fair share of funding from federal and state partners?

HEALTHY As a legislator I voted to require all schools to test their water supply for lead, supported a What strategies will you moratorium on horizontal fracking, and I've supported blue belt expansion in my district, pursue to help improve water which is something I would seek to expand throughout the city of New York. Additionally quality and the health of I have personally distributed rain barrels in partnership with DEP, which allows property our waterways, including owners to collect rainwater for personal use rather than allowing drainage into our sewer reducing sewage outfall and system. Lastly I have voted for legislation providing incentives for alternative sources of meeting green infrastructure energy. targets?

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 11 Mayor of the City of New York (continued)

OPEN We are a city surrounded by waterways and many waterfronts are underutilized. We need to How will you work to improve do more to provide more accessibility and recreation for citizens of this city. In my district, equitable access to use I have sponsored yoga on the beach and brought bike rentals to the beach. Additionally I of the waterways, from would like to see more kayaking and paddle-boarding vendors around our city. It is critical education to recreation to that we also utilize our waterways for transportation and to reduce congestion on our roads transportation, and other by expanding the New York City ferry system. public uses?

WORKING As Mayor I will pursue all avenues to strengthen our maritime industry while protecting the What strategies will you beauty and environmental quality of our waterways. I have been at the forefront in the fight pursue to protect and to keep tolls low and I successfully sued the Port Authority to force the agency to publicly strengthen our maritime release its economic impact study relating to tolls. This was important in the fight for fair industry, and prioritize tolling for Staten Island residents as well as employees of New York Container Terminal job-intensive uses on the because the price of tolls directly effects the port's business and consequently hundreds of waterfront? jobs.

MANAGED I am someone who loves nature, the environment, our public beaches, and waterfront. I How will you work to improve have lectured at schools to teach students about littering, conducted community cleanups, governance models for the created recreational opportunities for my constituents, and lastly, I have fought for waterfront? mitigation and resiliency efforts for my shoreline community.

ABBEY LAUREL-SMITH (Pilgrims)

STRONG Water problem(s) in New York City is one of those areas where the vision of the last century How do you plan to work to comes up short. And this is because New York City is a non-agricultural area. To address hold the city accountable this oversight, I'll have to ignore certain policy constraints and the habit of having to wait for to its climate change goals, federal funds. Go local, start up something for New Yorkers and hopefully neighboring states including mitigation and and the feds will meet me half way through. Meaning, I will set up a water stabilization and adaptation, and ensure our flood control act, aka "coastal protection as needed." Aim: prevent the severity of Sandy hook region receives its fair share from happening again. Will create a department out of three existing departments to back of funding from federal and actualize the views of this act. state partners? On the coastal engineering front, this act and these departments will not focus on flood and climate change alone, no. They will also be made to consider the city's heritage - by focusing on the city's unique landscape, and our responsibility to primary goals like making coastal defenses work, control coastal degeneration (due to growing population, climate change and use) and address the growing water need of an urban settlement like New York city. There are a few other things to do. Nonetheless, with all these in place, I am sure the federal government will meet me if and when I start setting up a deep water (driven) energy system for the city.

HEALTHY Manage water as if it is more than an asset. And I could only do this by improving on our What strategies will you state of the art water distribution system. Better water quantification process and maybe pursue to help improve water leasing agreement will be drawn up to meet the needs of likely pollutants and those in the quality and the health of business of recycling to meet green targets. our waterways, including reducing sewage outfall and meeting green infrastructure targets?

12 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 Mayor of the City of New York (continued)

OPEN Improve on marine education and the importance of water ways and coastal defenses - to How will you work to improve trade and to settlements like ours in city schools. Encourage more small businesses to set equitable access to use up shop on our riversides. Renovate our piers all over the city. Build enclosed and inserted of the waterways, from swimming pools in certain areas. Create a robust marine police department and make education to recreation to service in this department mandatory to high school graduates. Bring small boat builders transportation, and other back to low income areas of the city. public uses?

WORKING Diversify. And this could only be done by addressing the fact that even if old industries and What strategies will you old ways of doing things are on their way out, we still need to keep servicing the markets pursue to protect and on this side of the ocean. I would use the demands of the new to focus on issues. I would strengthen our maritime improve on working conditions of those engaged in the maritime services industry today industry, and prioritize without jeopardizing continuity of business and without jacking up cost. Commuting job-intensive uses on the between work place and home is another issue faced by most port workers, I will address this waterfront? through public and affordable housing projects. Because of the demand of the new, better classification and grouping of goods will be needed for transport and faster delivery. Improving transport by air, mini ports and train is one way of reducing reliance on trucks, road usage and quality of air in and around the city. Setting up specialized marine and maritime trade schools is another way of improving career choice and meeting the ever changing needs of those who work in the industry.

MANAGED Reduce administrative footprint between the city and other agencies. Where vertical, I'll make How will you work to improve horizontal. Set up a faster, effective network of governance, with clear job description and governance models for the well designated procedures of carrying out expected/seasonal duties and maintenance. waterfront? Multiple water dependent uses could only be effective with clear outline and proper security and structure in place. This, I will address through proper coastal management, defense and natural heritage options. Match the management structure to fit the maritime need of the area by engaging water fallowing where needed. Water leasing if it's ever needed. Reduce tension between urban (residential) use and urban industrial need by recognizing the need to manage our waterfront and waterways as a unique asset that should be tailored to meet the need of this millennium.

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 13 Public Advocate

LETITIA JAMES (D)

STRONG I support the Mayors target of reducing city greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by How do you plan to work to 2050. As the Public Advocate, I will continue to monitor the city's progress in meeting its hold the city accountable goals. I will also continue the push to divest city pension funds from the fossil fuels industry. to its climate change goals, Moving forward, the city must fully fund the Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency. including mitigation and The city must move quickly to protect low lying areas from storm surges and other flooding adaptation, and ensure our events. The city must work with state and federal partners to fund mitigation and adaptation region receives its fair share measures for Lower Manhattan. of funding from federal and state partners?

HEALTHY I think the city needs to act more forcefully to reduce CSO events. I have toured Flushing What strategies will you Creek with clean water advocates Riverkeeper and do not support the city's plan to chlorinate pursue to help improve water CSO pitfalls rather than mitigate and abate them. Green infrastructure is an important, cost quality and the health of effective strategy to manage storm water. I want to see more green roofs in the city and our waterways, including would support programs that would incentivize property owners to install them. I think that reducing sewage outfall and more must be done with large asphalt commercial parking lots to catch storm water. meeting green infrastructure targets?

OPEN I applaud the city's recent acquisition of the last parcel for Bushwick Inlet Park. I support How will you work to improve using city funds for projects like the 132nd street Pier in the South Bronx to improve public equitable access to use access to the waterfront. I support improvements to bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure of the waterways, from to allow east access to waterfront spaces. Ferry service has proven to be a success. I want education to recreation to to work with the mayor to improve the service and make it more convenient for more New transportation, and other Yorkers. public uses?

WORKING I will work to protect maritime industries by supporting the preservation of industrial zoning What strategies will you where it already exists. I support the mayors efforts to reactivate city owned industrial sites pursue to protect and like Bush Terminal in Brooklyn. I wish to support workforce development programs that strengthen our maritime would train New Yorkers for jobs in the industry. I support increasing the use of rail barges for industry, and prioritize the transport of cargo across New York Harbor. The Port Authority must be held accountable job-intensive uses on the to ensure that the appropriate investments are made in port infrastructure. waterfront?

MANAGED Given that the issues facing waterfront management span numerous city agencies, the How will you work to improve city should create a single office or desk within the deputy mayor's office that will handle governance models for the waterfront affairs. The city must also work with federal and state partners to simplify the waterfront? permitting process for waterfront construction. A new city program should be developed to get private property owners to maintain and repair bulkheads."

14 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 Comptroller

SCOTT STRINGER (D)

STRONG Ringed by over 500 miles of coastline, New York City faces an existential threat from rising How do you plan to work to tides and more intense storms. Doing our part to address climate change and protect hold the city accountable our communities from the effects of global sea rise is essential to ensuring that our City to its climate change goals, perseveres in the 21st century. including mitigation and As Comptroller, I have pushed for increased and expedited resiliency spending. In 2015, I adaptation, and ensure our issued a report quantifying the economic case for investment in coastal resiliency. According region receives its fair share to my analysis, over $129 billion in property now lies within New York City’s 100-year of funding from federal and floodplain. Given what is at stake, I have urged the City to accelerate the construction of large state partners? scale resiliency projects to safeguard homes, businesses, and communities before the next hurricane hits. By fortifying and enhancing the City’s shoreline, we can both protect against more frequent and intense storms and transform the waterfront of local communities. New York has the opportunity—borne of the tragedy brought on by Superstorm Sandy—to serve as a model for urban development of climate resilience and adaptation. We must take a coordinated, regional approach to this challenge, while also working with communities to determine how best to match resiliency efforts to their unique needs.

HEALTHY I am an ardent proponent of green infrastructure. To date, New York City has largely failed What strategies will you to build out a robust network of porous pavement, bioswales, green/blue roofs, and water pursue to help improve water retention measures which would stem CSOs and runoff. Given the threat New York faces quality and the health of from more frequent and intense rainfall brought on by climate change, we must act to our waterways, including retool our streets and sewer network. My office has collaborated with the Department of reducing sewage outfall and Environmental Protection to use data sourcing from sewer overflow claims to help design meeting green infrastructure future sewer systems with additional capacity to meet the expected effects of climate targets? change. In response to the urgent need for investment in our City’s infrastructure, I have proposed launching a New York City Green Bonds Program — providing what could be the largest municipal vehicle in the nation to fund environmentally-friendly projects, such as green infrastructure, throughout the five boroughs. Green bonds could highlight the work New York City is doing to adapt to climate change and could catalyze a market for socially conscious investors to put their money into projects that prepare the City for the 21st century.

OPEN By connecting more New Yorkers to their shoreline we can improve transit options, create How will you work to improve new public spaces, and provide access to some of the most beautiful portions of the City’s equitable access to use landscape. Rather than retreating from our coasts as seas begin the rise, we must build of the waterways, from resilient shorelines that balance community spaces with flood resistant fortifications. My education to recreation to proposal for an East River Blueway served as a blueprint for how community engagement transportation, and other and innovative design can create a vibrant and secure waterfront. Developed in consultation public uses? with community advocates, architects, public officials, and the Waterfront Alliance, the Blueway plan called for the creation of new wetland habitats, eco-dock facilities, a boat launch, storm water retention tanks, and a raised ‘greenway’ flood barrier. Portions of the Blueway have been incorporated into ongoing lower Manhattan resiliency plans, and I have pushed the City to develop similar plans for each of New York’s waterfront neighborhoods.

WORKING Preserving commercial shipping and water-based recreation along New York’s shoreline What strategies will you anchors us to our past as one of the world’s most important ports and provides opportunities pursue to protect and for future economic development and job-creation. New York Harbor should welcome all strengthen our maritime kinds of maritime activity, from container ships to cruise ships. I support investments in our industry, and prioritize regional maritime assets, including the investments made to modernize the South Brooklyn job-intensive uses on the Marine Terminal. I look forward to working with the Waterfront Alliance to explore new ways waterfront? of promoting a diverse and vibrant maritime economy.

MANAGED I have long supported the creation of a dedicated point of contact within City government How will you work to improve for maritime related issues. Existing bodies, like the Waterfront Management Advisory governance models for the board, have not been invested with the resources necessary to build a thriving, resilient, waterfront? accessible, and sustainable shorefront. By developing a citywide waterways plan and making the waterfront permitting process more efficient, the City can lend a hand to the many waterfront stakeholders committed to enhancing our shoreline.

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 15 Candidates for Borough President Brooklyn

ERIC L. ADAMS (D)

STRONG One of the first actions I took during my first term as borough president was the creation my How do you plan to work to Renewable and Sustainable Energy Taskforce (ReSET). ReSET has met on a quarterly basis hold the city accountable since I began my tenure, leading efforts on improving energy efficiency literacy, connecting to its climate change goals, residents to green rebates and incentives, and serving as a focal point for organizing for including mitigation and advocates for microgrids, solar power, and other alternative energy sources. This taskforce adaptation, and ensure our serves as an indicator of my commitment to a green agenda, ranging from advocating region receives its fair share for sustainable transportation options to green design in buildings that come before me of funding from federal and during the Uniform Land Use Review Process (ULURP). I will continue to use this platform state partners? to watchdog city agencies to make certain we are on track to meet the goals of the Mayor's 80x50 OneNYC plan, and ensure that we are connecting all residents with the energy efficiency and green infrastructure resources to which they are entitled. I have also worked closely in partnership with the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative to serve as the fiscal conduit for much needed state funds to develop stormwater design guidelines for the waterfront as well as conduct feasibility studies for how the greenway can serve as a flood barrier and transportation resiliency tool in Red Hook, to hopefully be incorporated in the Red Hook Integrated Flood Protection Plan, and Sunset Park. This latter work will continue into my second term as we look to implement the Initiative's vision to build out the Columbia Waterfront Park which will incorporate stormwater and flooding infrastructure. In 2015, I convened a waterfront resiliency working group in partnership with Council Member Mark Treyger to better track recovery fund disbursal and resiliency infrastructure creation in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. This working group ultimately prompted the Mayor's Office of Recovery and Resiliency to release real time maps tracking funds in late 2015. These maps serve as information portals to residents but can also be used as advocacy tools to ensure that the federal and state government are maintaining their commitment to the city's recovery and strengthening our infrastructure to protect our communities from future storms. I released a report in May 2016 on the importance of sustainability coordinators in schools calling on the New York City Department of Education (DOE) to fully fund these integral roles as a way to educate our young people about sustainability and reduce our school’s carbon footprint. I am committed to advancing a progressive environmental platform and will continue to build on my first term’s successes, as well as learn from our effort’s lessons, as we continue to build a safe borough to raise healthy children and families. My vision includes, but is not limited to, the creation of pollinator gardens in all schools in the borough, fully-funded sustainability coordinators in our schools, and hundreds of more units of affordable housing in green, Passive House design, buildings.

HEALTHY As Brooklyn Borough President I led efforts among all borough presidents to call attention What strategies will you to need for increased transparency at the New York City Department of Education regarding pursue to help improve water lead in water at schools across the city. I called on the DOE to more proactively communicate quality and the health of with parents and guardians about the threat level of lead in water in schools as well as our waterways, including expedite work to remove affected pipes. reducing sewage outfall and To help address the issues of combined sewer overflows (CSOs) and reduce stormwater meeting green infrastructure runoff, I launched an “Adopt-a-Storm-Basin” pilot program in partnership with the New York targets? City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). This pilot program in five communities across Brooklyn intended to reduce the overflow of storm basins during heavy rainfall. In addition, in partnership with the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative, I served as the fiscal conduit for the creation of green stormwater management plan and design guidelines that are now being deployed in select areas along Brooklyn’s waterfront. To protect our historic water infrastructure, I also supported efforts to designate the Ridgewood Reservoir as a state historic district protecting water in and around the reservoir. If given a second term, I am looking to expand the ""Adopt-a-Storm-Basin"" pilot program as well as identify ways to further support green infrastructure stormwater management to prevent CSOs, including through further allocating capital funds to implement the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative's comprehensive stormwater management plan.

16 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 Brooklyn Borough President (continued)

OPEN While I have been a champion for Mayor de Blasio’s “Five Borough Ferry Plan”, I continued How will you work to improve to urge the mayor to be more aggressive in expanding the ferry plan, particularly to Coney equitable access to use Island and Canarsie. I have encouraged the Administration to think strategically about of the waterways, from terminal location and ensure that the ferry terminals are true multi-modal centers that allow education to recreation to for the seamless connection of users from other forms of transportation, namely bus/subway transportation, and other riders, cyclists, and pedestrians. public uses? During my first term I have provided millions of dollars in funding to Brooklyn Bridge Park and Bushwick Inlet Park in order to help reconnect New Yorkers to the waterfront through recreation. The latter funding allocation helped New York City fulfill a long promised expansion of the popular park along the Brooklyn waterfront. To build upon this effort to reconnect residents to the waterfront through recreation, as part of New York State's 2017 Regional Economic Development Corporation Consolidated Funding Application (REDC/CFA), I submitted an application for a planning grant to be used for a feasibility study for + Pool. Successful siting of this swimming infrastructure as well as innovative technology will make Brooklyn's waterfront even more attractive for recreation. In addition, a centerpiece effort of my administration has been to make the Coney Island waterfront a year-round destination. During my first year in office, I created the inaugural New Year's Eve celebration along Coney Island's iconic boardwalk and parachute, a celebration that has grown in popularity every year during my tenure as borough president. In my second term, I will continue to look to use my capital budget to foster greater connectivity to Brooklyn's waterfront as well as continue to advocate for the expansion of ferry service to Coney Island and Canarsie. In addition, I will continue to work with the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative to expand the Greenway in Brooklyn as well as groups providing waterfront programming like Row New York and Red Hook Boaters to ensure sustainable operations for their in demand services.

WORKING I have been a champion of the working waterfront as well, particularly the Red Hook What strategies will you Container Terminal, as a way to protect green jobs and ensure that we are doing everything pursue to protect and we can to shift freight to more sustainable methods like barge and train. I have worked with strengthen our maritime my colleagues in government, as well as advocates like the Waterfront Alliance, to shine a industry, and prioritize light on the threat to the Red Hook Container Terminal caused by real estate pressure and job-intensive uses on the threats of divestment from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and New York City. waterfront? In collaboration with the Waterfront Alliance, I have convened two roundtables on the working waterfront to not only highlight the aforementioned threats, but to also develop a white paper outlining strategies to ensure that the working waterfront is not only protected, but has a ready and willing workforce to take the waterfront jobs of the future. I have allocated millions of dollars in capital funding to support science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, with a particular emphasis on maritime industry as part of my South Brooklyn Engineering Pipeline program. This funding included $250,000 for the further creation of the Kingsborough Community College marina. It is imperative that we create a cradle-to-career pipeline with an ultimate goal of connecting our elementary, middle, and high schools to schools of higher learning like KCC and the Merchant Marine Academy to ensure that as our waterfront jobs grow, local residents can fill those jobs. In addition, I have also been supportive of investment in Brooklyn's marine highways and have called for additional resources to this important designation. Finally, I have, and will continue to be supportive of our manufacturing industries located along our waterfront at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and Industry City, among others. These industrial hubs are creating the technologies of the future and I believe we must do more to protect those industries, not only from real estate pressures, but also the increasing threat of climate change by investing in stormwater and flood protection infrastructure.

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 17 Brooklyn Borough President (continued)

MANAGED As in everything in New York City, the waterfront has numerous competing interests How will you work to improve for limited resources. And because the waterfront is finite at 520 miles, the problem of governance models for the competing interests is exacerbated. While New York City has developed a comprehensive waterfront? waterfront plan, plans are only as good as their implementation. This is why further coordination and governance to manage competing demands along the waterfront is necessary. I am supportive of the Waterfront Alliance's call for the creation of a Mayor's Office of the Waterfont with sufficient funding tied to support the effort to manage demand for recreation, industry, and environmental protection. As part of this coordination, we should be tapping into our burgeoning ""smart city"" innovators based throughout New York City. Utilizing smarter technologies to improve asset management of the waterfront's infrastructure and manage the uses of waterfront property can be a 21st century solution to an age-old challenge. In addition, we must continue to advocate for increased and coordinated funding effort from the federal, state, and city government to ensure that the waterfront is able to weather future storms related to climate change in order for industry and residents alike to feel comfortable locating businesses and amenities in close proximity to the waterfront.

18 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 Manhattan

GALE BREWER (D)

STRONG The number one way my office can continue to ensure that any new developments within the How do you plan to work to borough are designed as carbon efficient as possible to reduce our overall carbon footprint. hold the city accountable My office’s role in the land use process allows me to ensure that these issues are taken into to its climate change goals, account in every new development in the borough so that as a city we can meet our climate including mitigation and change goals. I have also advocated successfully for the NYCERS pension board to conduct adaptation, and ensure our a Climate Change Risk Assessment for all NYCERS investment assets, meaning that we are region receives its fair share making sure no NYC pension resources are contributing to actions that would worsen global of funding from federal and climate change. state partners?

HEALTHY One way my office has worked to improve the health of our waterways is to increase our What strategies will you green infrastructure, including urban gardens and farms. My office has given over $5 million pursue to help improve water in capital grants to expand urban agriculture in Manhattan. These farms, gardens and quality and the health of greenspaces act as catchment areas and limit the runoff on our streets which ends up in our our waterways, including sewers and then in our water ways. I will continue to advocate for more innovative ways to reducing sewage outfall and prevent our already overtaxed sewer system from being further pushed beyond its capacity. meeting green infrastructure targets?

OPEN My office and I work with communities to find new opportunities for our waterfront. This How will you work to improve includes ensuring any rezoning of a neighborhood includes community access to the equitable access to use waterfront when available as well as working with community boards and community of the waterways, from organizations to find new opportunities where there is already waterfront access. Through education to recreation to capital grants from my office I have funded new docks at Governor’s Island and renovations transportation, and other on the East River Blueway to ensure that all communities along the Eastside have enhanced public uses? access to the waterfront.

WORKING I have fought for years to ensure that the maritime industries are not forced out of What strategies will you Manhattan by redevelopment and rising rents. New waterfront developments must take pursue to protect and into account existing businesses. I have worked with the Mayor’s office to ensure new ferry strengthen our maritime service will not disrupt the South Street Seaport Museum operations and will continue to industry, and prioritize be vigilant that any new development or program that uses the waterfront will protect the job-intensive uses on the current jobs and business already operating there. waterfront?

MANAGED The Borough President’s office has some clearly defined roles, including the appointment How will you work to improve of Community Boards, but also I use my position to bring together the community and city governance models for the officials to work collaboratively. In the land use arena, we have worked to make sure that the waterfront? goals of the Waterfront Alliance are front and center. My office has also operated as a hub for information and networking, making sure that community needs are identified and met by decision makers. I am committed to improving communication and consultation between communities and the City to better prepare New York City’s resilience in the face of climate related threats, and continue investing in infrastructure and services that will help to create a vibrant waterfront city.

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 19 Candidates for City Council

From the Atlantic Ocean to the Bronx to identify your district, and see where the River, New York’s waterways abut 37 of candidates running to represent you on the New York City’s 51 City Council districts, City Council stand on the issues facing our or nearly 75 percent. Use the map below waterfront and waterways.

Image: New York City Council

20 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 District 1 (Lower Manhattan)

MARGARET CHIN (D)

STRONG In 2016, I introduced and passed a resolution calling on the U.S. Department of Housing How do you plan to work to and Urban Development to support New York City’s application for the National Disaster hold the city accountable Resilience Competition. As a result, New York City received $176 million to ensure greater to its climate change goals, resilience along the East River waterfront area. Furthermore, the city provided $100 million to including mitigation and protect the tip of lower Manhattan and Lower West Side neighborhoods from future storms. adaptation, and ensure our During my advocacy for this funding, I garnered support from Members of Congress as well region receives its fair share as elected officials from the State Legislature. I will continue this type of partnership, working of funding from federal and with state and federal officials as well as the local community boards, to hold city agencies state partners? accountable to our goals to protect our communities from future storms.

HEALTHY We must ensure more oversight over the New York City harbor in order to maintain the What strategies will you standards in the Clean Water Act. This means that we must continue to find creative pursue to help improve water solutions to reduce the combined sewage overflow that negatively impacts our waterways. quality and the health of Furthermore, we must continue to increase the frequency of ambient water tests to our waterways, including accurately understand the health of our harbors. reducing sewage outfall and meeting green infrastructure targets?

OPEN The key to improving equitable access of the waterways is affordability. Many working How will you work to improve families living in transportation “deserts” need alternative modes of transportation that is equitable access to use comparable to MTA subways and buses. That is why I successfully advocated for all public of the waterways, from New York City ferries to match the fare of a subway ride. Furthermore, District 1 has some of education to recreation to the best piers and waterfront spaces in the City. However, those piers must be more than an transportation, and other economic engine. Our waterfront infrastructure is a community asset that should be used for public uses? the benefit of all. By funding nonprofits and other community-based organizations to utilize the piers, we can keep these educational programs affordable and relevant to the needs of our residents.

WORKING I will continue to advocate for public funding for programs that educate New Yorkers about What strategies will you the maritime industry. As Council Member, I advocated for and allocated more than $2.5 pursue to protect and million to ensure that South Street Seaport Museum’s historic Ambrose lightship and strengthen our maritime the clipper ship Wavertree can continue to engage residents of all ages, and hopefully industry, and prioritize engender interest in a career in the maritime industry. I have also continued to support job-intensive uses on the Urban Assembly’s Harbor School, which provides technical training to students in a waterfront? unique waterfront environment and gives young people the skills they need to get jobs in the maritime industry. If re-elected, I will continue to ensure this level of support for organizations in District 1 that provide programming similar to the Seaport Museum and the Harbor School.

MANAGED As a member of the Committee on Recovery and Resiliency, I will only support a candidate for How will you work to improve City Council Speaker who elects to keep Recovery and Resiliency as a standing committee. governance models for the Furthermore, I will work with my colleagues to strengthen the Water Management Advisory waterfront? Board by advocating for consistent quarterly meetings and the inclusion of environmental advocates within the WMAB.

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 21 City Council District 1 (continued)

CHRISTOPHER MARTE (D)

STRONG Without the support of the national government, the City must step up and prioritize climate How do you plan to work to change resiliency before another Hurricane Sandy hits. Just as there is no single solution, hold the city accountable there will be no single advocate that will be able to mitigate the effects of climate change to its climate change goals, on the City. However I intend to build coalitions with community leaders, environmental including mitigation and activists, engineering experts, and to bring every voice at the table so that we have a multi- adaptation, and ensure our faceted and cross-industry approach to our City's most pressing issue. region receives its fair share of funding from federal and state partners?

HEALTHY I support improving the oversight of CSO remediation processes because the levels of What strategies will you sewage that go into our waters is unacceptable. This is another instance where the lack pursue to help improve water of a quick-fix solution has led to a persisting problem that does not have hope of being quality and the health of addressed. I will be the unifying factor to focus attention on prioritizing green infrastructure, our waterways, including investing in green technology, and making sure that both my District and the City meet reducing sewage outfall and higher standards. meeting green infrastructure targets?

OPEN As the co-founder of the first Residential Green committee in a NYCHA residency in Lower How will you work to improve Manhattan, I have a track record of helping others become more environmentally active. We equitable access to use need to restructure our shorelines to better fit the needs of our residents and visitors. I will of the waterways, from advocate for the research needed to better resolve these issues. education to recreation to transportation, and other public uses?

WORKING Greener jobs and a greater awareness of how the shoreline can be used for modern purposes What strategies will you is integral. I will advocate against the overdevelopment of the waterfront because of the pursue to protect and displacement it will cause for low-income current residents and for the jobs that could strengthen our maritime be pushed out. Investing in green jobs, and in jobs that help the City work better with its industry, and prioritize environment, will be an important step for the City to take as we lose support from the federal job-intensive uses on the government. waterfront?

MANAGED We need to utilize technology to increase the access to information about the waterfront not How will you work to improve just for City agencies and contractors, but the general public. I will use my City Council office governance models for the to promote events calendars, job fairs, performances, and environmental projects, so that waterfront? the community, no matter how far inland they live, understand the opportunities available to them on the waterfront. I will also be a proactive voice in hastening and increasing the repair the District still needs because of Hurricane Sandy, and implementing scientifically based and community based solutions to ensure the next storm does not catch us off guard.

22 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 District 2 (Lower East Side, East Village, Kips Bay)

RONNIE CHO (D)

STRONG District 2 was heavily hit by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The devastation showed why we need to How do you plan to work to evaluate what new measures we can bring to protect ourselves against future Superstorms hold the city accountable by engineering better storm barriers to retrofitting buildings to become more green and to its climate change goals, more resilient. including mitigation and It’s time to work with the Department of Buildings, Department of Environmental Protection, adaptation, and ensure our and Department of City Planning to do major 21st century upgrades to every building from region receives its fair share moving power generators above flood levels to exploring the possibility of solar panels on of funding from federal and major buildings. And while negotiating for additional environmental protection funds will be state partners? difficult in the Trump era, we need state and federal partners to contribute to better resiliency upgrades especially to NYCHA and Section 8 buildings which are federal, state and city operated and were heavily impacted during Hurricane Sandy.

HEALTHY New York City creates millions of tons of waste each day. While the city has come up with What strategies will you some technology and infrastructure to combat their trash and solid waste output, we can pursue to help improve water continue to lessen our environmental impact. I applaud Mayor Bloomberg’s commitment quality and the health of and Mayor De Blasio’s continuation in creating solid waste treatment into as much our waterways, including reusable material as possible. But we need to do more to properly maintain our wastewater reducing sewage outfall and management systems. I will work closely with restaurants and households (especially large meeting green infrastructure buildings) to ensure the proper disposal of used oil and grease as well as recycling materials targets? that can become block debris in our city sewers. We need community centers, parks, and street corners to have better recycling disposable sites and commit with local nonprofit partners to throw away materials that can easily be reused like clothing. Not only do we have to do a better job finding ways to recycle, but we must make it easier for every neighbor to recycle so that large pieces of recyclable material stops ending up in our sewers and our waterways.

OPEN Our district is directly next to the East River and as a supporter of the East River Coastal How will you work to improve Resiliency project, residents would have more access to waterfront views from the East River equitable access to use Park and the “Dryline” for recreational activity. We can even use the Dryline and other access of the waterways, from points to create science and environmental studies programs for our school children in education to recreation to the district and in the city.Additionally, it’s no surprise that New York has one of the largest transportation, and other transportation systems in the world, which puts us at the forefront of an environmentally public uses? friendly plan. One of the most useful but innovative solutions for transportation has been the upgraded ferry system. I intend to increase ferry transportation across the East River and I am committed to seeing more affordable, green, and alternative routes of transportation for all New Yorkers. With the closing of the L train in the coming years, I am committing to making sure we implement a transportation solution that increases accessibility, safety, reliability and sustainability..

WORKING My job as councilman is to bring government closer to the people and to make it a force of What strategies will you good in people’s lives. There are many excellent programs in place but the status quo isn’t pursue to protect and effectively marketing these resources or opportunities to our community. Maritime industries strengthen our maritime and green collar jobs would create an economic boom for my constituents and middle class industry, and prioritize families all over the city and I am committed to encouraging the development and growth job-intensive uses on the of maritime and sustainable companies and jobs. My office will be committed to finding waterfront? constituents who are excited about protecting our harbors and the environment, educate the uninitiated and proactively invite more people to be part of the process so that everyone has an opportunity to play a role in a cleaner, better utilized water district for all New Yorkers.

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 23 City Council District 2 (continued)

MANAGED It’s been five years since Hurricane Sandy desecrated New York's shorelines, including ours How will you work to improve along District 2 from 1st Avenue to Avenue D, the city has to face the imminent threat of governance models for the rising sea levels and superstorms. Since the storm, several different recovery initiatives have waterfront? been implemented in flood-prone neighborhoods. While the city still contemplates a larger response, there have already been plans to invest billions for storm barriers and protection like the East River Coastal Resiliency project. I have to give credit to the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery and to the many different organizations dedicated to continuing to help the communities affected by the storm.

As New York faces increased risks of climate change, ensuring that neighborhoods are prepared and safe is vital for the resiliency of the entire city. Mayor de Blasio has already initiated plans to strengthen our neighborhoods in the event of a superstorm as early as last month by a creating task force designed to improved readiness and resiliency. This is a great opportunity to improve the coordination among government entities, faith based organizations, and nonprofits in the neighborhoods affected by the storm. We need to continue this focus on resiliency in the event of another major storm, and the progress we’ve made already has been monumental both in the Mayor’s and the Governor’s office.

CARLINA RIVERA (D)

STRONG In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, we New Yorkers can only be reminded of the devastation How do you plan to work to brought to our shores by Superstorm Sandy. Having been involved in relief efforts, I was hold the city accountable determined to engage in recovery and rebuilding projects. to its climate change goals, including mitigation and I was part of relief efforts and then a working group that was active in developing resiliency adaptation, and ensure our efforts along the East River – now known as the East Side Coastal Resiliency project. Part of region receives its fair share our job was to secure funding, so I am very aware of how precious and finite those sources of funding from federal and can be. Ultimately, we were successful in lobbying for hundreds of millions dollars for this state partners? stretch of waterfront. Though much of the project remains in the design stage, we have made strides to shore up this part of Manhattan’s riverfront.

But we must do more to protect our entire, vulnerable shoreline. I have created relationships with state and federal partners over several years of community organizing, and I will continue to work those partnerships to ensure our city is getting more adequate funding to combat some of the inevitable effects of climate change. And as Councilwoman, will work to help us convert to more sustainable energy and construction practices hyper-locally to city- wide to reduce our carbon footprint.

HEALTHY I support continued redesign of the East River waterfront, a green and social infrastructure What strategies will you project that must be done with long-term thinking and our waterway in mind. Our most pursue to help improve water vulnerable communities, mostly residing in public housing, saw sewage backup and a storm quality and the health of surge that left evidence of a dire need to improve our infrastructure. our waterways, including reducing sewage outfall and We must also ensure the city and state pursue strong efforts in reducing sewage runoff into meeting green infrastructure our waterways and fund stormwater recapture solutions. This investment in our future is a targets? great investment in green jobs and our economy. Along with these improvements, we must ensure adequate water testing with the highest health standards available as a guide and have these considerations as part of community-based planning initiatives going forward.

OPEN After years of neglect, our waterfront presents one of the most promising locations for How will you work to improve open space and recreation. There has been marked improvement in providing access to the equitable access to use waterfront, but we can do more. There should be additional access points to reduce travel of the waterways, from and better coordination travel to allow for more maritime operators and recreational users education to recreation to in our waterfront parks. Promoting on-water activities and expanding services that use our transportation, and other harbor will be a great practical and beneficial amenity to a district like mine where residents public uses? continue to ask for improvements to programming and existing transportation options. A key part of expanding access would be to have nearby communities involved in the conversation to ensure we are serving all local stakeholders.

24 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 City Council District 2 (continued)

WORKING Our ports are vital parts of our cities' infrastructure, economy and productivity. I would What strategies will you support efforts by the City and both New York State and New Jersey partners to ensure our pursue to protect and facilities are capable to accommodate 21st Century shipping capacity. I would also seek strengthen our maritime to work with Federal partners to gain access to funding for improvements that benefit our industry, and prioritize international competitiveness in this respect and bring economic opportunity locally that job-intensive uses on the also keeps the integrity of the harbor as a priority. waterfront?

MANAGED There should be a permanent, central point of regulatory oversight and management of our How will you work to improve waterfront as a standalone office. It would help better coordinate paperwork and uses with governance models for the other oversight agencies that have purview over waterfront activities. I also agree that the waterfront? Waterfront Management Advisory Board should be a more regular fixture to ensure agencies, community stakeholders, and those affected have a seat at the table when discussing and improving models for our waterfront. I have experience in activating waterfront spaces to ensure community-use, as well as a background in putting people and our environment over profit. I am excited to work with you to do this as the next Councilmember for District 2 in Lower Manhattan.

MARY SILVER (D)

STRONG We have no other option but to protect our city from climate change and rising sea levels. How do you plan to work to Hurricane Sandy was our wake up call, as is Hurricane Harvey in Houston. These problems hold the city accountable will only get worse. It is in the interest of our environment, our economy, and our country to to its climate change goals, accept science based solutions and protect our City for generations to come. including mitigation and adaptation, and ensure our region receives its fair share of funding from federal and state partners?

HEALTHY We need to improve our infrastucture when it comes to storm water management and waste What strategies will you management. We are currently pumping too much pollution into our waterways, and it is pursue to help improve water affecting our health and quality of life. I would support funding for capital improvements to quality and the health of our waste management systems and retrofitting buildings to meet our energy and waste our waterways, including needs. reducing sewage outfall and meeting green infrastructure targets?

OPEN Manhattan is an island, yet too many neighborhoods do not have access to the waterfront How will you work to improve for recreation and transportation. I was glad to see the Mayor expand ferry access for equitable access to use underserved neighborhoods. We can do more, including funding the transformation of of the waterways, from waterfront properties owned by the City for public use. education to recreation to transportation, and other public uses?

WORKING We need to preserve and protect New York City's historic maritime industry against the What strategies will you forces of real estate development that threaten so many working families here in New York. pursue to protect and We need a diverse and resilient economy to survive in the 21st century, and that includes strengthen our maritime industrial jobs on the waterfront. industry, and prioritize job-intensive uses on the waterfront?

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 25 City Council District 2 (continued)

MANAGED As the next City Council Member, I would support creating a centralized body to track, How will you work to improve research, and manage development and use of the waterfront. We need a sophisticated 21st governance models for the century approach to these problems, instead of the current haphazard approach that leaves waterfront? us vulnerable to land speculation from real estate developers and limited waterfront access.

JORGE VAZQUEZ (D)

STRONG I firmly believe that the traditional, reactive, stance the City has taken in the past is How do you plan to work to unacceptable and needs advocacy on the floor to change. Superstorm Sandy was a perfect hold the city accountable example, we were simply unprepared, and now we are facing the consequences of our to its climate change goals, policies. The L-Train shutdown is a MASSIVE infrastructure hit, and is going to require including mitigation and exceptional accommodation. Climate policy must be proactive. We need to start getting adaptation, and ensure our serious about building a sea wall, and reevaluating zoning requirements in our most region receives its fair share vulnerable flood zones. Moreover, I believe, interestingly enough, that food waste policies of funding from federal and could be a great mitigatory push against global warming. I'm talking about completely state partners? packaged, acceptable to eat, food, that is being wasted and eventually decomposes adding greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. By working with organizations to minimize food waste and disseminate the wasted food, we have the opportunity to make social welfare changes in addition to minimizing our carbon footprint.

HEALTHY To be frank, as the problem has escalated, I have no clear solution to the issue. But once What strategies will you again, proactive measures can be taken. We can be working more closely as an elected pursue to help improve water official with the Department of Sanitation and the project teams assigned to reviewing these quality and the health of tasks. We need to speak with EXPERTS, and then I will (and can, with my background) assure our waterways, including that the legislation created is passable and clear. We've always been 2 steps behind in our reducing sewage outfall and ecological policy- this will change from a point of advocacy when I am in office. meeting green infrastructure targets?

OPEN I think we can address this from a public health perspective, passing legislation geared How will you work to improve towards educating and mitigating obesity, especially in our youth. Childhood diabetes is on equitable access to use the rise, and the push of ad campaigns showing opportunities along the waterways would of the waterways, from drastically drive traffic to the open areas. As for increasing equitable access, I believe this education to recreation to will once again rely on relentless lobbying, and perhaps even by getting developers to pay transportation, and other their dues through adding communal activity spaces or sanitation programs into the terms public uses? of their construction contracts negotiated with the City. These are innovative approaches I believe no other candidate has broached or would be willing to lobby for.

WORKING Education and awareness! The very fact that the populous doesn't know how important the What strategies will you industry is shows failure on the part of our previous leadership team. I am the small business pursue to protect and candidate in this election, there is no question about that. I have the intense drive due to the strengthen our maritime benefit small businesses have done for myself and my neighborhood, and I believe the death industry, and prioritize of these industries is imminent without the passage of the SBJSA. Moreover, simply more job-intensive uses on the advertising on the part of the City, and even incorporation into summer youth programs to waterfront? promote jobs for children during summer vacation, would be a good lead-in to encourage the industry survives not only this generation but the next as well.

MANAGED These massive capital projects are going to require the proper, vetted, project teams to How will you work to improve succeed while minimizing budgetary impacts in other sectors. This efficiency is going to governance models for the require a public figure willing to sit down and meticulously detail these efforts with civil waterfront? engineers, and anticipate future problems before having to react to them in an extremely "crisis-mode", economically inefficient, reactive way. This all goes back to who influences the fundraising of my campaign: I will never take money from those whose interests diametrically oppose those of the community. I will owe no favors. I haven't accepted money from special interest groups thus far, and I intend to keep it that way if I campaign my way into future official positions.

26 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 District 4 (East Midtown, Upper East Side)

VANESSA ARONSON (D)

STRONG As I write this, we are seeing the devastation in Houston caused by an infrastructure not How do you plan to work to prepared to face the strength of Superstorm Harvey. I find it shocking and scary to know that hold the city accountable within the next few decades, there is a 50% chance we will see a major flood where 400,000 to its climate change goals, people live now in New York City. We are not ready. But we shouldn’t be scared, we should including mitigation and be prepared. I do agree that New York City cannot address its flood risks alone and that we adaptation, and ensure our need a proactive, forward-looking plan to prepare us for the next century require us to look region receives its fair share farther into the future. I agree with the Waterfront Alliance’s call for a comprehensive capital of funding from federal and strategy to dramatically reduce the region’s flood risk through 2100. As the City Council state partners? Member representing District 4, I will work to build a coalition of elected officials at all levels of the government to advocate for the funding, planning, and execution of this strategy. We must get to work completing the East Side Coastal Resiliency Plan. I have written a memo specifically on this topic and the potential problems with the current proposal, which can be found on my website at www.vanessataronson.com/18_Solutions.

The economic argument to holding the City accountable to its climate change goals is compelling. NYC’s Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency (SIRR) , formed by Mayor Bloomberg in December of 2012 wrote a report report indicating that if no action is taken, a storm comparable to Sandy in 2050 would cause an estimated $90 billion of damage, compared to a relatively lower $19 billion in damages after Superstorm Sandy. It is imperative that the City commit to social equity when making any and all of its resiliency plans. In current planning, low-income communities and communities of color face higher risks from climate change. This is unacceptable. Furthermore, I think New York City and its residents need to take responsibility for the myriad ways we are contributing to climate change. First, we have a solid waste problem. We are recycling and composting at embarrassingly low rates and our garbage is not only filling up landfills, but also adding CO2 emissions as we spend billions of dollars to ship it out of NYC, sometimes across the world to Asia. Second, as New York grapples with its transportation crisis, I believe we really need to look into cleaner, greener transit options. Trucks, buses, and vehicles stuck in traffic emit unnecessary greenhouse gases that can be prevented by incentivizing residents to use public transit or bicycles, but the City and State must ensure public transportation options and bicycling in NYC are safe, reliable and accessible.

HEALTHY It is disgusting to realize that 17 billion tons of raw sewage were dumped into the waterways What strategies will you in 2015, and that is considered a low estimate. To mitigate this, we need to audit current pursue to help improve water sewer outfalls throughout the city to see which ones are the worst culprits during storms. quality and the health of To this end, we must improve oversight of combined sewer overflow processes to reduce our waterways, including discharge. NYC’s sewer and stormwater infrastructure is aging and we must decommission reducing sewage outfall and and replace any sewers that are not functioning properly. In aid our over-burdened sewers, meeting green infrastructure storm runoff can also be processed through the use of new community green space, using targets? engineered systems with soils, stones, and vegetation to collect water. We must also improve ambient water quality testing to ensure we are taking consistent, accurate data to guide this mitigation effort.

OPEN For my District, an issue of importance is the completion of the East River Greenway. The How will you work to improve section of the East River waterway, from 38th Street to 60th Street, isn’t set to be completed equitable access to use until 2024, and past projects of this nature have taken much longer than expected. In April of of the waterways, from this year, the City committed $100 million in funding toward the completion of this section of education to recreation to the greenway, but we need to hold the City accountable to their commitment. transportation, and other public uses? Finally, I will advocate to expand on-water opportunities citywide so that public has as much access to the waterfront as possible. I admire the City of Chicago for ensuring that it’s entire lakefront is public and accessible to everyone. Additionally, as a former NYC public school Science teacher, I will promote more experiential learning opportunities to interact with our waterways. I will also advocate for a single set of of criteria for decision-makers to determine whether conditions are safe for water use, so that it is easier to determine where and when people can swim, wade, or boat, and the default doesn't have to be restriction.

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 27 City Council District 4 (continued)

WORKING It is important that we protect and strengthen our maritime industries because they support What strategies will you hundreds of thousands of our jobs and bring in billions of dollars to our region. First, we pursue to protect and must preserve and protect existing maritime uses. This includes preserving the Red Hook strengthen our maritime Container Terminal and continuing to revitalize the New York Container Terminal. I also industry, and prioritize support reforming the bridge tolling policy as it puts our New York based maritime operators job-intensive uses on the at a disadvantage. I do share the Waterfront Alliances’ sentiment that we need to keep an waterfront? even playing field among the region's major container ports. It is also important that we improve and expand the Brooklyn waterfront system as well as complete the reactivation of the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal as its one of the city’s main connections to the national rail network. We also need to improve and diversify the management of dredged materials. I agree with the Waterfront Alliance that we should work with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Port Authority of NY and NJ, and the US Army Corps of Engineers to find better and long term solutions for dredged materials. One solution for dredged materials is for them to be used at constructions sites as they can be used as caps for brownfields.

MANAGED I believe the way to improve the governance model for the waterfront to ensure equitable How will you work to improve public access, retain maritime industrial activity, restore our natural habitats, and protect governance models for the coastal populations from climate-related threats is to create a central entity which will lead, waterfront? track, manage, and coordinate action items that are currently outlined in the New York City Comprehensive Waterfront Plan instead of having it scattered across public agencies.

RACHEL HONIG (D)

STRONG I will apply continuous pressure on City Council and the Mayor’s office to allocate and How do you plan to work to spend the HUD-awarded $335 million (Rebuild by Design Competition) and the $176 million hold the city accountable (National Disaster Resilience Competition) before the rapidly approaching expenditure to its climate change goals, deadlines, after which, the funds revert back to HUD. In addition I will continue to push for including mitigation and proactive disaster readiness measures such as, among other items, (a) the city’s Raised adaptation, and ensure our Shorelines project (b) additional protective construction on the Eastside Waterway, (c) region receives its fair share emergency procedure and evacuation instruction for constituents, and (d) construction of of funding from federal and additional temporary emergency shelters for storm-displaced residents. My loss of a home in state partners? Hurricane Sandy galvanized my commitment to the foregoing -- natural disaster and climate change became and remain very real for me. I will work tirelessly to make sure no one in this city has to endure what I did.

HEALTHY To counter the distressing rollback of Federal protections I would work to maintain the What strategies will you highest levels of protection at the local level. Mindful of budgetary issues and constraints, pursue to help improve water I support efforts to upgrade existing infrastructure and to invest in green infrastructure quality and the health of wherever possible. I also believe that public-private partnerships (e.g., joint-ventures) provide our waterways, including an effective model for managing green infrastructure investment. reducing sewage outfall and meeting green infrastructure targets?

OPEN New York City features 525 miles of coastline -- we should make full use of it whenever How will you work to improve possible. By way of example, I support the East River Greenway project. Public walkways equitable access to use and parks along the East River will benefit all New Yorkers, especially those who might not of the waterways, from otherwise have adequate access to the waterways. I also believe that providing New Yorkers education to recreation to with more ways to engage with our waterways will enhance their relationships with New transportation, and other York’s natural environment and cultivate a desire to care for and protect it. I come from a public uses? marketing background so I recognize and appreciate the importance of public education campaigns. I would rely on my marketing and other tools available to me to promote both our waterways and a culture of caring for and protecting them. Additionally, I sail in our own New York harbor, and I advocate strongly for continued shoreline, as well as IN water recreational opportunities. While Battery Park’s charter maintains the use of the harbor for community sailing, the loss of North Cove for significant public recreational access was a travesty - I will advocate for continued and equitable access of our waterways for our youth and residents..

28 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 City Council District 4 (continued)

WORKING New York City should be a forward-looking leader in future growth industries. As such I What strategies will you support climate friendly energy, including offshore wind energy generation. We need to pursue to protect and prepare our city to take part in this new industry to create jobs and as an important step strengthen our maritime towards achieving our climate goals. industry, and prioritize job-intensive uses on the waterfront?

MANAGED I understand the need for a centralized authority over our waterways, but I am wary of How will you work to improve consolidating more power in this Mayor’s office when the incumbent has not yet adequately governance models for the addressed the issues. I am for local oversight, and I am running to be a check on City Hall waterfront? and I will ensure that the city addresses these issues. I also will ensure that the Waterfront Management Advisory Board (WMAB) is given the power it needs to manage our city’s waterways.

JEFFREY MAILMAN (D)

STRONG 1) Through City Council oversight hearings I would monitor agencies compliance with How do you plan to work to established law. 2) I would take an active role on the committee for Environmental hold the city accountable Protections to see that legislation is proposed and passed that effectively deals with the to its climate change goals, challenges of climate change. including mitigation and adaptation, and ensure our region receives its fair share of funding from federal and state partners?

HEALTHY I would seek to invest in upgrading the City's sewer system so as to minimize and prevent What strategies will you combined sewer overflow discharges. pursue to help improve water quality and the health of our waterways, including reducing sewage outfall and meeting green infrastructure targets?

OPEN I would seek to expand ferry service at Metrocard rates. I would look into the feasibility of How will you work to improve constructing more piers along the coast to accommodate more routes. equitable access to use of the waterways, from education to recreation to transportation, and other public uses?

WORKING 1) I would seek to improve the maritime infrastructure along the waterfront. 2) I would What strategies will you work the City Council's Committee on Economic Development to see if there are ways to pursue to protect and incentivize growth. strengthen our maritime industry, and prioritize job-intensive uses on the waterfront?

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 29 City Council District 4 (continued)

MANAGED I would work with the Council's committee on Waterfronts and the Waterfront Alliance How will you work to improve to address accessibility issues, infrastructure issues, and harmful red tape that impedes governance models for the growth. waterfront?

MARTI SPERANZA (D)

STRONG With no leadership on climate change at the federal level, we must prepare to meet these How do you plan to work to challenges at the local and state levels. There is great urgency around building resiliency hold the city accountable –– something we can’t let our federal and state funders forget; Sandy devastated so many to its climate change goals, homes as well as our Subway. We need to work hard and quickly to retrofit buildings, including mitigation and especially NYCHA which was hit badly by Sandy, with clean energy solutions that are adaptation, and ensure our both capable of working through another superstorm and reducing emissions that region receives its fair share contribute to extreme weather events. We will have to lead on issues of climate change at of funding from federal and the local level. This means being proactive about building up our coastal resiliency using state partners? green infrastructure that protects communities’ and enhances access enjoyment of our waterfronts. The East Side Coastal Resiliency Project is a great model for how our future resiliency efforts should go.

HEALTHY As a council member I’ll fight to protect our upstate watershed through continued What strategies will you investment and I’ll work with experts to highlight and implement new ways to shift away from pursue to help improve water the antiquated combined sewer overflows that can impact the health of our waterways and quality and the health of drinking water reservoirs. Building more green infrastructure is one of the most effective our waterways, including ways we can manage stormwater. Grants for private property owners to build blue and green reducing sewage outfall and roofs is a good initiative that should be continued; including the construction of green meeting green infrastructure infrastructure as part of rezonings is another way we can ensure more of these crucial targets? systems are built.

OPEN As a city, we’re doing a good job getting people closer to the waterfront with projects like How will you work to improve the East River Waterfront Esplanade, but we need to do more to get people on the water equitable access to use by creating more places for recreational boat launches along our coastline: floating docks, of the waterways, from get downs, and soft shorelines. In concert with an increase in accessibility, we also need to education to recreation to drive up awareness about the possibilities on-water recreation and the required safety and transportation, and other permission protocols. I think a “one-stop shop” for water users who are seeking permission public uses? and advice about using our waterways is a great idea.

WORKING We need to protect maritime workers who work on our waterfronts from being edged out What strategies will you by waterfront development, which besides potentially costing jobs, can be damaging to pursue to protect and habitats due to improperly done in-water construction that violates the Clean Water Act. As strengthen our maritime part of an expansion of after school programs and an increased focus on STEM, I would be industry, and prioritize interested to see how an awareness of maritime careers would fit in. job-intensive uses on the waterfront?

MANAGED Streamlining and centralizing without oversimplifying is no easy feat. To do this effectively, How will you work to improve we need groups like Waterfront Alliance in the conversation. As we’ve seen, the city has been governance models for the making good progress in terms of waterfront management with tools like the Waterfront waterfront? Navigator, the mitigation bank, and the Waterfront Facilities Maintenance Management System. But with all the coastline and waterways we have to manage, we cannot take a siloed approach; I think a Mayor’s Office of the Waterfront is the answer along with a Waterfront Management Advisory Board, which would create an interface for civic groups and other stakeholders to guide decisions on waterfront initiatives.

30 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 City Council District 4 (continued)

REBECCA HARARY (R)

STRONG As a coastal city, New York is clearly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and rising How do you plan to work to sea levels. I believe that all levels of government in the US – federal, state, and local – as well hold the city accountable as communities, businesses, and individuals have a role to play in reducing our collective to its climate change goals, carbon footprint in order to safeguard the environment for future generations. We must be including mitigation and leaders on the global stage in this fight, and ensure that other nations take similar measures. adaptation, and ensure our Sadly, sea level rise and unusual weather patterns are already a fact of life, as Hurricane region receives its fair share Sandy taught us in New York. Local governments must make adequate preparations to deal of funding from federal and with these threats to ensure the long-term viability of our communities. state partners? In New York, the most pressing danger is in our subways. Hurricane Sandy exposed the vulnerability created by our city’s heavy reliance on a subterranean mode of transit. After 9/11 destroyed the South Ferry station in Downtown Manhattan, New York responded by building a new station even deeper underground at a cost of $530 million. This was a costly mistake: Sandy predictably flooded the station with saltwater, and it cost another $600 million to repair it. This is a waste of taxpayer money that could have been prevented with more forward-thinking planning at the state and local level. Similarly, repairing the L Train will cost billions of dollars in the form of taxpayer money and lost economic activity in Williamsburg and Brooklyn. Our priority as New Yorkers should be to ensure greater preparedness in the future to mitigate the effects of natural disasters and save money for taxpayers in the long-term. We should continue devoting resources to ensure our subways are ready for the next big storm. Given New York’s importance to the state and national economy, we should be constantly making the case for more federal and state funding to ensure our infrastructure can withstand the challenges of a changing climate. We should also be working closely with neighboring communities in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Long Island to create a coordinated “coastal” approach to rising sea levels.

HEALTHY I believe that green infrastructure projects focused on stormwater capture should be What strategies will you encouraged throughout the city to improve the health of New York’s waterways. Both the pursue to help improve water public and private sectors should contribute to this effort. Property owners should be quality and the health of incentivized to implement rainwater collection systems, which carry multiple social benefits our waterways, including such as reduced runoff, less waste, and a smaller carbon footprint, as well as economic reducing sewage outfall and benefits to the property owners through lower utility charges. The City should further meeting green infrastructure incentivize property owners to implement such systems through property tax credits and targets? faster approvals. The NYCDEP should also be held accountable to the long-term goals of its Green Infrastructure Program by including green infrastructure in public building projects.

OPEN I believe that recreational use of New York’s waterways must be balanced with commercial How will you work to improve and safety considerations. While there are not many places to launch recreational boats equitable access to use within New York Harbor, a significant increase in such activity could lead to unsafe water of the waterways, from congestion due to smaller watercraft attempting to maneuver around larger ferries, education to recreation to freighters, and cargo vessels. However, access to New York’s waterways could certainly transportation, and other be expanded, and areas such as the DUMBO waterfront in Brooklyn provide a promising public uses? example of how waterfront access can transform a neighborhood into a dynamic “live, work, play” environment. In addition to improving access, I would like to promote demand for such access by improving the cleanliness of New York’s waterways. Many more New Yorkers would want to kayak in East River, sail the harbor, or swim at Coney Island if the water was cleaner. We should be working to improve the quality of our waterways, while at the same time promoting safe access to them in order to create a sense of community ownership over their maintenance. In this way, I believe that increased access can lead to greater demands for accountability in maintaining he cleanliness of our waterways.

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 31 City Council District 4 (continued)

WORKING I believe that existing maritime terminals should be protected and supports the reactivation What strategies will you of the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal. However, certain shorelines such as Manhattan as pursue to protect and well as areas of Brooklyn and Queens would be ill-served by container terminals. The City strengthen our maritime should continue to support and expand this industry while also being cognizant of the industry, and prioritize wishes of local residents. job-intensive uses on the waterfront?

MANAGED Managing our city’s harbor and waterways is an enormous undertaking involving the How will you work to improve efforts of thousands of personnel in the public and private sectors. We must restart regular governance models for the meetings of the Waterfront Management Advisory Board to provide strong public leadership waterfront? in the management of New York’s waterfront initiatives. The urban renewal of recent decades has demonstrated the benefits of creating forums for various stakeholders to collaborate, exchange ideas, and contribute to community planning and development. I believe that New York’s waterways are no different and that the WMAB would provide a useful forum for a united community approach to responsible waterfront management.

32 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 District 5 (Upper East Side, Yorkville, Roosevelt Island)

PATRICK BOBILIN (D)

STRONG We will receive our fair share of funding by becoming a leading example of innovation in How do you plan to work to adaptation. City council should pass zoning legislation requiring that new construction meet hold the city accountable increasingly rigorous environmental standards. All new developments should be required to its climate change goals, to get 25% of their energy from renewable sources with new construction using 25% including mitigation and sustainably sourced or recycled materials. We need to begin to cut back on the use of fossil adaptation, and ensure our fuels in city departments and by improving bus and bike transit infrastructure, we can begin region receives its fair share to cut back on traffic in our city. I propose an infrastructure tax on new construction, part of of funding from federal and which should be utilized for a flood protection system. Should the 91st Street Marine Transfer state partners? station open, environmental assessments show that the Upper East Side is at a high risk of contamination through the flowing of trash onto our streets and into our water supply.

HEALTHY We should be working to reduce our sewage outfall, ASAP, rather than the current What strategies will you disinfection system which poses other potential health risks. Funding for this could come pursue to help improve water from a citywide infrastructure tax on all new development. Funds could also be diverted quality and the health of to speed up the process of meeting our green infrastructure targets and the adoption of our waterways, including sustainable practices. I hope to get all city agencies, from the NYPD to the Department of reducing sewage outfall and Education to the Department of Environmental Protection, to commit to these goals. meeting green infrastructure targets?

OPEN I would encourage public schools to engage in classroom and physical education in our How will you work to improve waterways. With the expansion of the NYC ferry service, we will see more comfort and equitable access to use familiarity with our waterways which will lead for an increased desire for engagement. By of the waterways, from demanding access to ferries with a metrocard swipe, we will see usage skyrocket. We need education to recreation to to be ready to meet those needs by creating a network of regulated access points to the transportation, and other waterway, including those for recreational vehicles and fishers in the future. public uses?

WORKING Elected officials need to commit to protection of maritime jobs as a commitment to easing What strategies will you truck traffic and subsequent air pollution. By connecting to local schools, more students pursue to protect and will see the value of our waterways and pursue futures in maritime careers. The "Cradle To strengthen our maritime Career" program should educate and connect people of all ages to the life of our waterways. industry, and prioritize job-intensive uses on the waterfront?

MANAGED We should encourage all community boards to prioritize management plans for waterfronts How will you work to improve and waterways. Waterfront maintenance should be a citywide priority and a separate governance models for the citywide fund should be created and dispersed to individual council districts based on need, waterfront? assessed by an independent environmental oversight group. We should also ensure that the most underserved parts of the city are the most well protected from climate-related threats, rather than vice versa. An independent assessment should be taken and a permanent fund created, ready to be dispersed in case of emergency, to each district according to its risk.

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 33 City Council District 5 (continued)

BEN KALLOS (D)

STRONG As the Council Member for the Upper East Side and Roosevelt Island, areas that flooded How do you plan to work to during Sandy, I have made recovery and resiliency a priority. I was proud to re-introduce hold the city accountable legislation with the Waterfront Alliance along with Waterfronts Chair Debi Rose that we to its climate change goals, passed as Local Law 96 of 2016 to reconstitute the Waterfront Management Advisory including mitigation and Board (WMAB) to play an important part in advising New York City on how to best revitalize adaptation, and ensure our and protect our 520 miles of shoreline while also ensuring our waterfront investments are region receives its fair share anchored to the priorities of our coastal communities. of funding from federal and state partners?

HEALTHY New York City is a city of water and we must reclaim our waterways while still ensuring What strategies will you that they remain clean for both the natural ecology and those that use it. I've swam down pursue to help improve water the Hudson and across the East River, so you know I am committed to cleaning up our quality and the health of waterways. As Chair of the Committee on Governmental Operations with oversight for our waterways, including our city's property I have continued to advocated for and question the administration on reducing sewage outfall and reducing our emissions and meeting green infrastructure. meeting green infrastructure We have to keep our students and faculty safe from lead in the water, which is why I support targets? the law that requires every New York school to be tested regularly. When the Department of Education found lead in public school water we held hearings in the City Council during which we received commitments that any water source testing positive for lead would be turned off, repaired, and re-tested before turning the water back on. I was personally concerned and reached out to school principals and parents to offer my assistance and received assurances that no children were harmed or in any danger. I have also spoken to academic experts involved in cleaning up Flint, Michigan, local experts and activists at environmental groups and will protect New York’s water as the world’s best.

OPEN Every year I provide funding for and join in launching City of Water Day with the Waterfront How will you work to improve Alliance. I've enjoyed sailing in New York Harbor on weekends around the Statue of Liberty, equitable access to use down to the Verrazano and back or rowing in the East and Harlem Rivers with East River of the waterways, from Crew. When I ran for office I promised ferry services and have been proud to help secure it education to recreation to for Roosevelt Island and the Upper East Side. I've also secured $150 million to expand and transportation, and other revitalize the East River Esplanade. public uses?

WORKING With over 500 miles of coastline, New York is in one of the best positions in the country to What strategies will you make full use of our waterways, from transportation and manufacturing to housing and pursue to protect and recreation. Over 300,000 jobs are supported by the Port of New York and New Jersey. I look strengthen our maritime forward to working with Waterfront Alliance and the WMAB that I helped reconstitute to industry, and prioritize support our maritime industry. job-intensive uses on the waterfront?

MANAGED Through the Waterfront Management Advisory Board (WMAB), the city should work on How will you work to improve comprehensive plans for financial stability, use, climate preparedness. A functioning WMAB governance models for the will be a powerful tool to bring together experts from all levels of governments, industry, and waterfront? advocates to work toward a multi-use waterfront that supports jobs and allows New Yorkers to access for recreation, housing, and transit.

34 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 District 6 (Upper West Side)

HELEN ROSENTHAL (D)

STRONG A top priority for me is reducing the city’s output of carbon emissions. I introduced, and the How do you plan to work to Committee on the Environment held, a hearing on my legislation to allow for and train citizen hold the city accountable enforcement of car idling laws; and to have school buses run on less harmful bio-diesel fuel. to its climate change goals, I volunteered in the Rockaways after Hurricane Sandy hit and it is clear that low-lying areas including mitigation and on the waterfront continue to be in harm’s way-- we must take measures to fortify them. As adaptation, and ensure our Chair of the Contracts Committee, I held an Oversight Hearing reviewing the City’s Purchase region receives its fair share Power Agreements (PPA’s) with solar panel companies as compared to their own installation of funding from federal and and maintenance of solar. It is not clear that the PPA’s make sense compared to training state partners? and employing NYC residents for solar. It is also not clear that the City will meet its goal of reducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2050 nor its goal of 100 megawatts of solar energy by 2025.

HEALTHY I am a proud co-sponsor of the City bill that would seriously cut down on the amount of What strategies will you plastic bags that block sewage drains and end up in our waterways. It was disheartening pursue to help improve water when our state legislature took the unfortunate action of overriding local government and quality and the health of prevented measures that would reduce the amount of plastic bags used in our city. I remain our waterways, including committed to finding other ways to reduce bags legislatively. (Yet another reason that I do reducing sewage outfall and not support the IDC caucusing with the Republicans). meeting green infrastructure My office gives away reusable DSNY bags at events-- and they are available in my office-- to targets? reduce plastic bag use locally. I am also fully committed to holding the city accountable to meeting green infrastructure targets and have supported efforts toward this goal in my own district by supporting and funding local community parks as well as Riverside Park. My support extends to funding, including: the local Columbus Avenue BID that renovated a sidewalk next to a school playground to include bioswales; a “green wall” in three of the local public schools; tower gardens and a hydroponic garden on the roof of a local senior center; and solar panels on the roof of another.

OPEN NYC’s waterways are a largely untapped resource when it comes to all of the uses they can How will you work to improve serve. We have begun to take advantage of them through initiatives such as NYC Ferry, of equitable access to use which I am a supporter, and the Harbor School, which uses our waterways as a classroom. of the waterways, from As NYC Ferry was under development I advocated strongly for a NYC Ferry route to serve education to recreation to communities on the West Side, something I will continue to do in the future. transportation, and other public uses? When it comes to recreation, I’ve funded a number of projects in Riverside Park so residents can take advantage of the park and Hudson River. I’ve allocated funds to repair the 72nd street kayak dock; purchase picnic tables; purchase two big belly solar trash compactors for each of the 8 playgrounds; and purchase a sound system for the RCTA Sunset Concerts.

WORKING Thankfully, New York City has retained much of its shipping industry, largely located on our What strategies will you waterfronts. But there are many more job-creating and sustaining programming on our pursue to protect and waterfronts. From the tourist industry and all that goes into docking major cruise ships, to strengthen our maritime facilities such as Chelsea Piers and the soon-to-come Superpier at Pier 57, to the planned industry, and prioritize ferris wheel on Staten Island, all incorporate or are influenced by the waterfront in important job-intensive uses on the ways. I will remain focused on maintaining an active waterfront and allowing businesses to waterfront? operate along the waterfront so long as they are doing so responsibly, with respect to the water itself.

MANAGED In the new era in Washington, where someone who does not believe human-impacted How will you work to improve climate change currently holds our nation’s highest office, local control could not be governance models for the more important. While the Federal Government should continue to offer resources for the waterfront? restoration of natural habitats and resiliency efforts, local government must now play the biggest role in determining how our waterfront is used and where this money is spent. I am proud that New York City has placed such a priority on revitalizing our waterfronts. We are reimagining this space and beginning to realize its amazing potential, and doing so with substantial investments. Local knowledge and expertise are crucial resources and should be relied upon to accomplish our many goals for our waterfront: safety, resiliency, industry, education, transportation and recreation.

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 35 City Council District 6 (continued)

MEL WYMORE (D)

STRONG Climate change is an imminent threat and we need set and meet aggressive targets. We How do you plan to work to need to organize and make sure we have an engaged population that can hold the city's hold the city accountable feet to the fire, and win statewide elections to ensure that our state representatives are to its climate change goals, committed to fulfilling our goals. I started the organization Carbon Squeeze for this purpose, including mitigation and and have been an aggressive advocate for more engagement on the issue of climate change. adaptation, and ensure our region receives its fair share of funding from federal and state partners?

HEALTHY Every New Yorker deserves clean waterways. Although our drinking water is among the What strategies will you cleanest in the world, our infrastructure is breaking down. We need to do the long-term pursue to help improve water planning needed to renovate these systems in the long haul. We also need to plan to quality and the health of separate our wastewater and cleanwater management systems. I want to work with nonprofit, our waterways, including state, federal, and local partners on waterway cleanup and restoration, including local reducing sewage outfall and wetlands which are vital to both clean water and climate change mitigation. meeting green infrastructure targets?

OPEN When Extel Development wanted to build a massive series of buildings at the southern How will you work to improve end of my district, that design would have cut off public access to the Hudson River. As equitable access to use Chair of Community Board 7, I took on the developer, and won a redesign that included of the waterways, from full river access, as well as 600 units of affordable housing and the first new school in the education to recreation to district in 30 years. I also negotiated millions of dollars for Riverside Park renovations. I've transportation, and other also advocated for budget items which support recreational use along the river, including public uses? renovation around Pier 1, the athletic facilities under the West Side Highway, the River Walkway, and renovation of the 79th Street Boat Basin. Every New Yorker should be able to fairly access our waterways for all purposes.

WORKING I look forward to partnering with the Ports and all users of our waterways to ensure that our What strategies will you maritime economy remains strong, including trade, tourism, and recreational industries. pursue to protect and strengthen our maritime industry?

MANAGED Good governance doesn't happen by itself. I want to forge intra-governmental relationships How will you work to improve at the city, state, and local levels, as well as across agencies--for example, between Parks governance models for the and the EPA. I also want to explore working with the financial industry to develop more waterfront? effective loans and other mechanisms with guaranteed paybacks for investment in these vital projects, especially renewable energy and infrastructure. In a modern democracy, it's also vital to empower local residents to have a say in critical policy. I want to be a much more inclusive leader and ensure that every Upper West Sider has a say in the future of our community. Part of this effort should be shifts in educational investment to include programming around sustainability.

36 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 District 7 (Manhattanville, Morningside Hts., Hamilton Hts.)

MARK LEVINE (D)

STRONG In my time in the City Council I have worked incredibly hard on environmental issues How do you plan to work to within our control at the city level and as an advocate at higher levels of government. I am hold the city accountable a co-sponsor on a number of environmental bills such as Intro 1886 which identifies and to its climate change goals, addresses environmental justice among many others. including mitigation and adaptation, and ensure our region receives its fair share of funding from federal and state partners?

HEALTHY I am proud to have been a co-sponsor on Intro 1346 - which looked to better regulate water What strategies will you pollution control, including stormwater management and control of discharges into storm pursue to help improve water sewers - and seen it enacted into law. As Chair of the Committee on Parks, protecting our quality and the health of waterways and green spaces is incredibly important and I look to continue this work. our waterways, including reducing sewage outfall and meeting green infrastructure targets?

OPEN One of my main goals as Chair of the Committee on Parks has been to create a more How will you work to improve equitable parks system, which we have made tremendous strides on. Most recently, I have equitable access to use worked on opening up parks and open spaces which residents had previous not been of the waterways, from able to access. I believe that our waterways should serve in educational, recreational and education to recreation to transportation capacities that highlight their wonder. transportation, and other public uses?

WORKING I will work to prioritize growing the maritime workforce through funding, advocacy across What strategies will you all levels of government, and through pushing forward legislative means of supporting the pursue to protect and existing maritime facilities and promote job expansion. strengthen our maritime industry, and prioritize job-intensive uses on the waterfront?

MANAGED As mentioned earlier, I have fought for equitable access in our city's parks system as well as How will you work to improve in other arenas such as housing. I am proud to have been endorsed by the New York League governance models for the of Conservation Voters for my stance on protecting our environment, supporting resiliency waterfront? efforts, and I will continue to introduce and support legislation that promotes economic opportunity, transportation, and recreation. I believe in an equitable city for all, and that includes our waterfronts and waterways.

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 37 District 8 (East Harlem, Mott Haven)

ROBERT J. RODRIGUEZ (D)

STRONG It is important to make sure that we are prepared for climate change. That is why I co- How do you plan to work to sponsored A10342, enacting the New York State climate and community protection act, hold the city accountable which would help put the State on track to minimize the adverse impacts of climate change to its climate change goals, through a combination of measures to reduce statewide greenhouse gas emissions. including mitigation and Moreover, I think it is important to make sure to incentivize proactive infrastructure adaptation, and ensure our improvements in areas where climate change will affect us the most. For example, areas in region receives its fair share New York City where flooding is likely to occur should be build with infrastructure to support of funding from federal and any adverse impact due to climate change. state partners?

HEALTHY I would support the Waterfront Alliance Blueprint plan. By improving oversight of CSO What strategies will you remediation processes, prioritizing green infrastructure, improving water testing, and pursue to help improve water providing incentives for storm water capture, we can help support improved water quality quality and the health of and the health of our waterways. our waterways, including reducing sewage outfall and meeting green infrastructure targets?

OPEN New York City has to make sure that the waterways and coastline are accessible to the public. How will you work to improve That is why we need to support and fund the East River Esplanade and Bronx River Greenway equitable access to use as crucial parts of the infrastructure in District 8. The water’s edge is an educational of the waterways, from opportunity, therefore we should support any programming that educates New Yorkers education to recreation to about our waterfront. I would also make sure to increase our capacity for ferry services and transportation, and other plan the expansion of ferries in Upper Manhattan and the South Bronx. public uses?

WORKING I would make sure to preserve and protect our existing maritime uses through legislation and What strategies will you an educational outreach program. I would also encourage my community to seek and learn pursue to protect and about careers in maritime industries. I would also speak out about further growth industries strengthen our maritime as well as maintaining the “hidden infrastructure” that is critical to the industry. industry, and prioritize job-intensive uses on the waterfront?

MANAGED There are multiple ways to change the way government works to provide access to How will you work to improve our waterfront and waterways. First is supporting the strengthening of the Waterfront governance models for the Management Advisory Board (WMAB). I also think it is important to review and change the waterfront? permitting process to streamline any inefficiencies that would prevent access issues.

38 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 District 9 (Central Harlem)

PIERRE GOODING (D)

STRONG I want to ensure that we engage in a number of efforts that will help both Harlem and New How do you plan to work to York City residents. For starters, we must ensure that we lower the percentage of low income hold the city accountable residents that are at high risk for their homes to be flooded, which is currently 61% or 3 out to its climate change goals, of every 5 individuals affected. We understand the devastation that hurricanes such as including mitigation and Sandy, Katrina and Harvey have caused, and do not want our most vulnerable residents to adaptation, and ensure our experience that pain. region receives its fair share We understand that climate change contributes to rising sea levels, and are committed to of funding from federal and holding our City accountable for our stated goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, state partners? ensuring zero waste in our schools and public facilities, responsibly eliminating the brownfields in Harlem, and increased public space for parks and other recreational community activity. I also believe advocacy is the biggest determinant for how much money Harlem and New York City will receive from New York and our federal government, and it is critical to have leaders who will fight for these dollars. I believe my record of advocacy shows that I will backwards plan to ensure that these macro-level policies become reality, which is what is most important. When you meet with worthy entities such as Economic Technology Center which is supporting healthy eating initiatives you want our city, state and federal dollars to be steered into these programs, and I will not stop until we have proper funding for every initiative mentioned above.

HEALTHY As an individual that drinks New York City water on a daily basis, I am committed to Harlem What strategies will you and NYC having the highest quality drinking water in the world. Often lower income pursue to help improve water communities are most affected from undrinkable water and our schools have a lead problem quality and the health of with the pipes that must be fixed, a clear infrastructure issue. Moreover, we must work our waterways, including with District 7 to ensure that the Harlem North River Wastewater Treatment plant is not reducing sewage outfall and contaminating the Hudson River, which has many devastating consequences including meeting green infrastructure polluting the West Harlem Piers and its fish - which makes its way into the community. targets? Issues do not end at the district border and it is in every city councilor's interest to ensure clean water that attracts tourists and keeps real estate values high and our communities livable.

OPEN When I was a teacher, I had students that had never gone to the Statue of Liberty. Although How will you work to improve we took them via our waterways from Washington Heights to Lady Liberty, I have always felt equitable access to use that more money should go to ensuring our students learn from the greatest communities in of the waterways, from the world, Harlem and New York City. I will call for our mayor to add the 125th Street pier into education to recreation to any plans he has for expanded ferry use in NYC, and I would like for our students, schools transportation, and other and residents to have unique incentives to utilize these spaces. I have also specifically public uses? called on Citi Bike to expand its bike program past 130th Street so that our residents can access clean transportation (http://nyc.streetsblog.org/2017/02/10/where-harlems-city- council-contenders-stand-on-streets-and-transit-issues/) and believe that these sorts of partnerships can lead to a significant increase in the safe, eco-friendly access to our waterways on the east and west.

WORKING My team and I have been fighting to end the 13% unemployment in Harlem, and making What strategies will you sure that we incorporate small businesses and job opportunities into our efforts is essential pursue to protect and to me. The first step is to ensure that all people and organizations with a vested interest in strengthen our maritime Harlem have a city councilor that they can go to when a problem needs to be solved, and industry, and prioritize I believe we provide that leadership. I will look for any opportunity to work with maritime job-intensive uses on the organizations to ensure that we bring jobs to Harlemites. waterfront?

MANAGED One step is to ensure transparency in the process to either maintain or redevelop these sites. How will you work to improve Public access begins with knowing what our elected officials are doing with our property and governance models for the tax dollars. We can efficiently restore our natural habitats while ensuring that our residents waterfront? have access to jobs during both the transition and maintenance phases of the process, but only if we backwards plan and make this type of process a priority. With an emphasis on ensuring that New York City lives up to its stated promises and goals, we will effectively address our climate-related threats.

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 39 City Council District 9 (continued)

TYSON-LORD GRAY (D)

STRONG As an attorney who has a J.D in environmental policy, who has worked in the federal level How do you plan to work to with the EPA and the local level with WE ACT for Environmental Justice in West Harlem I hold the city accountable have learned a lot about implementing environmental law and funding. I plan to be proactive to its climate change goals, and instead of reactive with climate change goals by working and pushing my peers in city including mitigation and council to make sure that we allocate enough funding to make sure our environment is adaptation, and ensure our secure. A lesson I have learned while working on environmental issues on the local level is region receives its fair share that our city representatives and the people must work in unison to make our voice and the of funding from federal and issues close to our heart are heard and not ignored. state partners?

HEALTHY New York City's sewer system does not lend itself to providing the healthiest water system. What strategies will you Combined sewer flow continues to be one of the biggest problems with our antiquated sewer pursue to help improve water system. One of the most effective strategies would be to improve oversight of combined quality and the health of sewer overflow and I would look in to tactics and finance to make sure we construct the most our waterways, including effective infrastructure that would lead to long term success. reducing sewage outfall and meeting green infrastructure targets?

OPEN The Bronx River Alliance, an organization that looks protect, improve and restore the How will you work to improve Bronx River corridor and greenway so that they can be healthy ecological, recreational, equitable access to use educational and economic resources for the communities through which the river flows, of the waterways, from would be my inspiration to creating diverse use for the waterways in Harlem. The Harlem education to recreation to River is a location ready for access development and I would work on a strategy to make it a transportation, and other community space for the people of Harlem. public uses?

WORKING We have to preserve and protect existing maritime uses. As the maritime industry face What strategies will you pressure from private developers, I will work to pass and support legislation that would pursue to protect and preserve and protect existing maritime uses. strengthen our maritime industry, and prioritize job-intensive uses on the waterfront?

MANAGED The best way to ensure protection from climate change, the waterfront and our natural How will you work to improve habitats is to work with closely with community organizations, constituents and making sure governance models for the we are implementing the most comprehensive legislation and actions that work best for waterfront? everyone involved.

40 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 District 10 (Washington Heights, Inwood)

YDANIS RODRIGUEZ (D)

STRONG It is up to every person in this city to hold the city accountable to its climate change goals, How do you plan to work to and to this end I will work to increase awareness among the people of this city with regards hold the city accountable climate change and the effect of greenhouse gas emissions. I will also work with city officials to its climate change goals, to support policies which reduce greenhouse gas emissions and expand access to clean including mitigation and energy alternatives. I will also work closely with city, state, and federal officials to secure our adaptation, and ensure our fair share of funding. region receives its fair share of funding from federal and state partners?

HEALTHY I will work to hold parties that engage in sewage dumping in our precious waterways What strategies will you accountable for their actions if they violate EPA regulations set forth in the Clean Water Act. pursue to help improve water I will also promote the use of wastewater treatment plants in favor of dumping raw sewage quality and the health of into our waterways. our waterways, including reducing sewage outfall and meeting green infrastructure targets?

OPEN I will advocate in city hall for an increase in water access in waterfront districts across How will you work to improve the entire city. I will work to provide more people with access to waterways, whether it be equitable access to use for boating, fishing, swimming, or any activity of that nature, without overcrowding our of the waterways, from waterways with vessels. I encourage the use of our waterways for recreational, commercial, education to recreation to or transportation purposes and will work with officials across the board in order to increase transportation, and other access to our waterways and waterfronts. public uses?

WORKING I am an ally of the maritime industry. As such, I will ensure that the concerns of maritime What strategies will you workers and the industry in general do not go unheard in City Hall. I will work to bring the pursue to protect and maritime industry more into the public view, and increase awareness about the importance strengthen our maritime of such an industry for our City. It is important that our waterfronts remain accessible to industry, and prioritize the general public, but it is just as important that we take advantage of our extensive water job-intensive uses on the network for commercial use. waterfront?

MANAGED First and foremost, I will ensure that the government agencies responsible for the How will you work to improve management and maintenance of the city’s maritime industries understand the importance governance models for the of this industry and the role it plays in our economy. These agencies must also be made waterfront? aware of the importance of maintaining public waterfront access that should coexist with commercial and industrial waterfront usage. Thirdly, individuals and industries that dump waste into our waterways will be held accountable to EPA regulations in order to prevent sewage waste from destroying natural habitats. Last but not least, I will work to implement clear and transparent, as well as strict, regulations aimed at reducing greenhouse gases from the highest sources in the city as to protect our coastal populations from the sea level rise that comes with global warming.

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 41 District 12 (Williamsbridge, Eastchester, Co-op City)

KARRÉE-LYN GORDON (D)

STRONG We need to increase information and education to Community Boards and the community How do you plan to work to regarding climate change. The City Council in cooperation with the Community Boards hold the city accountable should carefully screen and scrutinize all development projects to ensure that all new to its climate change goals, development projects meet the EPA Guidelines for Smart Growth such as:Build compactly including mitigation and and use energy-efficient, green building techniques; reuse existing infrastructure and adaptation, and ensure our buildings to take advantage of previous investments and the energy already used to build region receives its fair share them; put homes, jobs, stores, parks, schools, and other destinations close to each other so of funding from federal and that people can easily walk, bike, use public transit, or drive shorter distances, and; preserve state partners? green space.

HEALTHY I will support the decisions of the experts on ways to improve water quality and reduce What strategies will you sewage. I will also support and seek funding to increase Climate Change Awareness and pursue to help improve water Impact in Schools and Communities by producing and distributing targeted materials quality and the health of to communities most affected. A Climate Change Task Force that can contribute to the our waterways, including information gathering in the city. reducing sewage outfall and meeting green infrastructure targets?

OPEN We have to clean up and improve our waterways to ensure equitable access starting with How will you work to improve allowing members of the community access to fishing, paddling and sailing. I will work equitable access to use with City Council, Community Boards and Community Based Organizations to create of the waterways, from opportunities for healthy competitions in these areas that are televised and publicized education to recreation to throughout all communities in the City. transportation, and other public uses?

WORKING I intend to create a Jobs Center in District 12 that promotes, educates and trains individuals What strategies will you on 21st Century Jobs and the Global Job Demand starting with those at home in the USA pursue to protect and in NY, NY. I will also advocate to increase Career and Technical Skills Programs in Schools- strengthen our maritime offering classes on Evenings and Weekends to more accessible to students and job-seekers. industry, and prioritize job-intensive uses on the waterfront?

MANAGED I will work to increase the resources, including human resources, to upgrade the waterfronts How will you work to improve to meet 21st Century demands. I will engage Colleges and Higher Education Institutions to governance models for the help with the work, partner for grants, and to help defray and contain the costs of such a waterfront? huge undertaking.

42 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 District 13 (Throggs Neck, City Island, Pelham Bay)

MARK GJONAJ (D)

STRONG Protecting my district and constituents has always been my highest priority. Whether How do you plan to work to that has meant suing the city to ensure that other boroughs contribute their fair share of hold the city accountable supportive housing or fighting back against developers seeking to change the fundamental to its climate change goals, character of our communities, I have always stood for the issues to matter to my district. including mitigation and Combating and mitigating the effects of climate change are especially important issues adaptation, and ensure our to this city council district, because the district contains so many vibrant and beautiful region receives its fair share waterfront communities. You can be sure that I will work with neighborhoods, property of funding from federal and owners, the city, state and federal governments to ensure that these communities continue state partners? to thrive into coming generations.

HEALTHY I will never stop fighting to make sure that our residents receive safe, clean and affordable What strategies will you drinking water. The only way to ensure this is by making the infrastructure investments today pursue to help improve water to prevent governing by crisis in the future. As the greatest population center on the east quality and the health of coast, New York City must take a lead in investing in New York's watersheds and waterways to our waterways, including keep them clean and in building sustainably and upgrading to ensure efficient usage. reducing sewage outfall and meeting green infrastructure targets?

OPEN Coming from a working class family of fishers and outdoorspeople, this is an issue that is How will you work to improve close to my heart. I have supported "Rocking the Boat," a Bronx youth development program equitable access to use that teaches boat building and sailing. I want to ensure that the waterfronts and waterways of the waterways, from that are part of this district are as accessible as possible for recreation and impact-free education to recreation to commercial use. I am proud to be an elected official that has built a reputation for doing transportation, and other what I say. public uses?

WORKING Infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure is the answer to ensuring that our waterways What strategies will you remain sources not just of recreation and drinking water, but also of jobs. New York City pursue to protect and would not be the capital of the world economy without the port, harbor and shipbuilding that strengthen our maritime characterized its growth. I want to ensure this continues and is revitalized in this century. The industry, and prioritize way to do is by building the infrastructure to allow these businesses to thrive. Creating a low- job-intensive uses on the cost environment for expansion and innovation is one of the best ways government can spur waterfront? the economy in any field.

MANAGED The most important thing in politics is to listen. Too often, our elected officials will hear How will you work to improve from just one interest group or lobby before determining policy. I believe you have to meet governance models for the with all relevant stakeholders. When it comes to our waterways, this absolutely includes waterfront? environmental and wildlife advocates and economic justice activists. I can promise that I will not make policy decision on issues so important before being sure that these voices are part of the discussion.

MARJORIE VELÁZQUEZ (D)

STRONG There is no denying that climate change threatens our waterfront communities, and we must How do you plan to work to work together to provide funding and develop an environmentally efficient infrastructure hold the city accountable that will protect those communities and allow them to thrive. My district has some of the to its climate change goals, most expansive and beautiful waterfront communities in New York City, and holding the City, including mitigation and State, and Federal partners accountable to protecting those communities will be a priority adaptation, and ensure our for me in City Council. For this reason, the New York League of Conservation Voters has region receives its fair share endorsed my candidacy, as we fight against climate change. of funding from federal and state partners?

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 43 City Council District 13 (continued)

HEALTHY Developing a sustainable and green infrastructure is critical to ensuring our city will be able What strategies will you to prosper for future generations and of the most pressing issues relates to water quality. As pursue to help improve water Treasurer of Community Board 10, I fought for budget requests to install storm breaks in City quality and the health of Island. In the City Council, I plan to address these issues by investing in methods to maintain our waterways, including our paved surfaces clean, and ensure that our waste is disposed of properly to reduce the reducing sewage outfall and amount of waste that can negatively affect our water sources. However, improving our water meeting green infrastructure quality must also include increasing the frequency of the monitoring of our water, to ensure targets? policies are properly implemented and functioning.

OPEN The most important step in improving equitable access to the use of the waterways, How will you work to improve is securing real investment into the needed upgrades to the infrastructure. Too often, equitable access to use communities can’t access waterways because of safety concerns that have been left of the waterways, from unaddressed for years. In my district alone, there are many waterfront properties that still education to recreation to cannot be used from the damaged incurred during the Sandy Hurricane. I plan to fight to transportation, and other secure funding that will deliver real results to upgrade facilities, and manners of access so public uses? that our communities can appreciate our great waterways, as well as bring much needed ferry service to the district.

WORKING When it comes to strengthening our maritime industry, I believe we must approach it What strategies will you by both investing to make maritime education more accessible, and helping our small pursue to protect and businesses afford to stay. The maritime industry is a central part of my district, as we are strengthen our maritime home to SUNY Maritime, which provides one of the premier educations in the maritime industry, and prioritize industry, and I believe we must continue to help the industry thrive. My top priority in the job-intensive uses on the City Council is to bring a ferry service to my district, and specifically to SUNY Maritime to waterfront? increase accessibility, and additionally passing the Small Business Revitalization Act that will fight to prevent maritime and other businesses from being evicted due to unaffordable rent increases.

MANAGED Though beautiful and vital waterfront areas surround New York City, the maintenance and How will you work to improve development has been continuously neglected. I believe the first step to improving the governance models for the governance models for waterfront is making it a priority to increase the public’s ability to waterfront? access these areas, and from there we can invest in restoring, protecting, and investing in industries that rely on coastal areas. Therefore, investing in ports, ferry service, and opportunities for small business are crucial to addressing the neglect that our waterfront communities currently face.

44 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 District 17 (Hunts Point, Morrisania, West Farms)

PATRICK DELICES (D)

STRONG To hold the city accountable, it is paramount that I work diligently to make our city / How do you plan to work to government transparent not only in our climate change goals, but also in our decisions hold the city accountable and actions, as we ensure that our region receives its fair share of funding. Thus, our goals, to its climate change goals, decisions, actions, policies, spending, resources, etc., regarding climate change must be including mitigation and open to public scrutiny where the people have the right to access such information. adaptation, and ensure our region receives its fair share of funding from federal and state partners?

HEALTHY To improve water quality and the health of our waterways, I will engage in the following What strategies will you strategies: increase public awareness; secure additional funding for research and pursue to help improve water development along with surveying / monitoring the water quality and the health of our quality and the health of waterways; upgrade the City’s Wastewater Treatment Systems; invest in and secure our waterways, including additional funding for NYC Green Infrastructure Plan; implement, support and strengthen a reducing sewage outfall and protection plan for restoration projects that will filter pollutants such as nitrogen and provide meeting green infrastructure shelter and habitat for fish and shellfish; restore and revitalize wetlands; implement policies targets? and fund projects that encourage and boost ecological productivity; build new cost-effective, sustainable infrastructure; optimize existing systems to meet goals for water quality; maximize the use of green infrastructure and other source controls to capture rainfall on surfaces that are waterproof; significantly decrease combined sewer overflows and other discharges; restore and update natural systems to enhance ecological productivity, reduce pollution, and provide habitat, recreation, and climate-adaptation services; enact legislation and/or strict regulations to protect water quality and the health of our waterways.

OPEN To improve equitable access, I will work to expand and enhance ferry service in New York How will you work to improve City; introduce / bring ferry services to the South Bronx; revitalize the waterways of the South equitable access to use Bronx and the rest of New York City; increase access to waterfront neighborhoods; develop/ of the waterways, from create waterfront neighborhoods; rejuvenated public uses of waterways; integrate the ferry education to recreation to transit with the mass transportation network of NYC; allowing free metro card transfers transportation, and other between MTA rides and Ferry transit; display maps of Ferry transit along with schedules; public uses? synchronizing the schedules of mass transit with that of the ferry’s; explore and implement alternative uses of waterways from recreational to educational to therapeutic; making waterways accessible by creating / expanding parking lots while extending bus lanes and bike routes; and provide discounted fees or incentives for those who utilize both Ferry transit and MTA rides.

WORKING To protect and strengthen our maritime industry, and prioritize job-intensive uses on What strategies will you the waterfront, I will engage in the following strategies: support economic development pursue to protect and regarding maritime industry along with job creation and training; expand and enhance strengthen our maritime the public experience of the waterways that encircle NYS / NYC; Improve water quality; industry, and prioritize connect the waterfront / maritime industry with institutions of higher education, the job-intensive uses on the people / community, and other industries; increase recruitment for maritime employment waterfront? opportunities; expand the maritime industry; increase awareness of maritime careers; create a partnership between educational institutions and the maritime industry; promote the growth of maritime industry; and make maritime employment opportunities accessible.

MANAGED I will preserve and protect existing maritime uses; strengthen waterfront management How will you work to improve by way of regulations and quality control; increase funding for the maintenance of NYC’s governance models for the waterfront; create resilient infrastructure; foster innovation and sustainable industrialization; waterfront? encourage and promote inclusivity / diversity; conserve the use of water; advance and implement legislation, guidelines, measurable outcomes, and empirical timetable / timeline by applying a symptomatic approach to improve governance models for the waterfront and to ensure equitable public access, retain maritime industrial activity, restore our natural habitats, and protect coastal populations from climate-related threats.

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 45 District 18 (Soundview, Castle Hill, Parkchester)

WILLIAM RUSSEL MOORE (D)

STRONG By writing legislators and holding public forums on the matter. How do you plan to work to hold the city accountable to its climate change goals, including mitigation and adaptation, and ensure our region receives its fair share of funding from federal and state partners?

HEALTHY Transparency What strategies will you pursue to help improve water quality and the health of our waterways, including reducing sewage outfall and meeting green infrastructure targets?

OPEN Public Law bills How will you work to improve equitable access to use of the waterways, from education to recreation to transportation, and other public uses?

WORKING Open access to all What strategies will you pursue to protect and strengthen our maritime industry, and prioritize job-intensive uses on the waterfront?

MANAGED Making sure with protect the interest of these models with legislation. How will you work to improve governance models for the waterfront?

46 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 District 19 (Bay Terrace, Bayside, College Point, Douglaston)

PAUL VALLONE (D)

STRONG It is very important that we continue to stay vigilant and hold our City, State and Federal How do you plan to work to partners accountable especially as we all witness the tragedy currently taking place in hold the city accountable Houston. With our population and geographic location, it is crucial that we make sure we not to its climate change goals, only receive our fair share of funding, but that these programs are carried out in a timely and including mitigation and efficient manner. adaptation, and ensure our region receives its fair share of funding from federal and state partners?

HEALTHY Making sure our water is clean and healthy is incredibly critical to the well-being of our What strategies will you City and the people who reside within it. In the City Council, we have fought to provide City pursue to help improve water agencies the regulatory authority to act and manage possible pollutants and storm water quality and the health of runoff and we must continue to do so. our waterways, including reducing sewage outfall and meeting green infrastructure targets?

OPEN We can improve equitable access to our waterways by continuing to work with non profit How will you work to improve organizations, local and Citywide, who commit to increasing the health of our water, provide equitable access to use diverse educational programming and advocate for necessary initiatives that would be of the waterways, from beneficial for us all. Increased outreach and expansion to our ferry system would also bring education to recreation to the added benefit another form of transportation. During my first term, I made it a priority to transportation, and other utilize our waterfront and will make sure it stays a priority. public uses?

WORKING We must protect and strengthen our maritime industry, for a variety of reasons, most What strategies will you importantly, for the amount of jobs that are provided. Supporting our local workforce should pursue to protect and always be a priority for our City, State and Federal government. strengthen our maritime industry, and prioritize job-intensive uses on the waterfront?

MANAGED By making waterfront use and access a priority, we can properly maximize the potential How will you work to improve and utilize the benefits, not just for us but for generations to come. From investments to governance models for the infrastructure, to the creation of jobs, to educational programming and family friendly waterfront? events, and to finally moving towards clean and healthy waters, we have a responsibility to work with our colleagues in government in ensuring these goals are met.

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 47 District 20 (Flushing, Murray Hill)

PETER KOO (D)

STRONG Climate change is real and holding the federal government accountable to this fact is How do you plan to work to increasingly important, especially with regard to funding. I wrote a support letter with hold the city accountable Congresswoman Grace Meng to push for the remediation of the Flushing Creek watershed to its climate change goals, by the Army Corps of Engineers. On the city level, I supported the bag bill to charge a 5 cent including mitigation and fee on plastic bags in order to keep plastic pollution out of our sewers. I worked closely with adaptation, and ensure our Riverkeeper, Guardians of Flushing Bay, Friends of Flushing Creek and other community region receives its fair share advocates to call on the city and state to withdraw their plans to chlorinate Combined of funding from federal and Sewage Overflows in the Flushing Creek, and instead build more capacity to handle runoff. state partners? On the local level, I introduced legislation to determine which buildings in the city’s Business Improvement Districts are capable of providing solar power, and to provide those BIDs with bulk purchasing discounts to incentivize the purchase of solar. Such environmentally conscious purchasing power can significantly help reduce emissions in our city’s busiest commercial corridors. Additionally, I introduced legislation requiring the recycling of discarded carpeting from commercial units or buildings. EPA estimates 1-2% of the annual solid waste in landfills is carpet, and I believe this can be improved through recycling.

HEALTHY I have worked closely with environmental groups to call on the city and state to withdraw What strategies will you their Long Term Control Plans to chlorinate CSOs in the Flushing Creek. I supported pursue to help improve water the installation of over 100 bioswales in my district, provided DEP provides options to quality and the health of constituents about the type of infrastructure available. I have also contributed funding for our waterways, including two green playground reconstructions in my district (JHS 189 and PS 120.) This was done reducing sewage outfall and in cooperation with the Trust for Public Land and the DEP. Finally, when the city sought to meeting green infrastructure rezone Flushing West for thousands of new apartments, I used the opportunity to highlight targets? our community’s desperate need for environmental remediation in the Flushing Creek. At the end of the day, I forced the mayor to withdraw the proposal, in part, because of the lack of real plans to combat CSOs in the Creek. All of these efforts aim to to reduce CSOs in our local waterways. I look forward to continuing these efforts, in particular with regard to being a leading advocate for additional grey infrastructure for Flushing’s waterways.

OPEN I am currently working with the Department of City Planning to update the Waterfront How will you work to improve Access Plan (WAP) for the Flushing Creek. As development has expanded towards the water, equitable access to use many sites that were previously manufacturing districts are now turning into residential of the waterways, from and commercial corridors. Our hope for the new WAP is to improve access to the waterfront, education to recreation to including breaking up the long blocks leading up to the water, and to create a boardwalk that transportation, and other residents can use to enjoy the waterfront. Earlier this month, I hosted a press conference public uses? on the Flushing Creek in Flushing Meadows Corona Park - outside my district - because there were no locations inside Council District 20 where we could actually access the Creek. This is unacceptable. The waterfront should be a resource available to enjoy by everyone in our community. Furthermore, as the former Chair of the Waterfronts Committee, I also supported legislation that would better prepare our city against flooding resulting from natural disasters. I also personally donated funds to support Mandarin translators during the (Metropolitan) Waterfront Alliance’s annual “City of Water” day to educate visitors on the importance of the waterfront and its incredible benefit to our city.

WORKING Maritime industries are thriving inside and just outside my district near the DOT’s cement What strategies will you factories and the DSNY’s transfer station. I supported the dredging of the Flushing Bay pursue to protect and to give barge’s more access, and I continue to push for additional dredging through all of strengthen our maritime Flushing’s waterfronts. As more development continues along Flushing Creek, we must be industry, and prioritize sure to encourage industries that support open space and recreational opportunities for the job-intensive uses on the community. waterfront?

MANAGED I will continue pushing for grey infrastructure to combat CSOs. I will continue contributing How will you work to improve funding to build green infrastructure wherever possible (playgrounds, Queens Botanical governance models for the Garden, schools). I will continue working with the city on a Waterfront Access Plan for any waterfront? new development on the Flushing Creek.

48 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 District 22 (Astoria, East Elmhurst, Woodside)

COSTA CONSTANTINIDES (D)

STRONG As chair of the Environmental Protection Committee, Costa has been instrumental in setting How do you plan to work to the agenda for the city's climate change goals. He sponsored the bill to enact the city's ""80 hold the city accountable by 50"" initiative, to cut carbon emissions by 80% by 2050. He has passed several bills in to its climate change goals, the Council to make greater use of renewable energy, including solar power and geothermal including mitigation and heating, and to transition to cleaner fuels where possible. We do not know how much we can adaptation, and ensure our rely on the federal government for funding and assistance for climate issues. Their official region receives its fair share stance seems to be do nothing. Where the federal government drops the ball, the city must of funding from federal and pick it up. Also, we plan to coordinate with the state as much as possible, so that we can all state partners? work together on this issue.

HEALTHY Last year, Costa sponsored a bill in the council to prevent storm water discharges into our What strategies will you waterways. Storm water contains all manner of pollutants that contaminate our water and pursue to help improve water the ground. The bill was signed into law by the mayor in May. Costa also co-sponsored a bill quality and the health of in his committee to prohibit the discharge of oil or natural gas waste into the city's water our waterways, including system. This bill was signed into law last August. As chair of the Environmental Protection reducing sewage outfall and Committee, Costa will continue to enact these kinds of measures to protect our water. meeting green infrastructure targets?

OPEN This summer, the new ferry route opened in Astoria. Costa was a tireless supporter of How will you work to improve bringing the ferry here to improve transportation and access, especially at Hallets Cove, equitable access to use which dosen't have convenient access to the subway. of the waterways, from education to recreation to transportation, and other public uses?

WORKING Each year in office, Costa has funded new technology in science classrooms in the district. What strategies will you He has supported STEM labs as well. This is the fundamental education that prepares pursue to protect and students to tackle complex jobs like those in the maritime industry. Comprehensive strengthen our maritime education is the cornerstone that will build up the industries of the future, including those on industry, and prioritize the water front. Ensuring that New Yorkers have access to this necessary education remains job-intensive uses on the one of Costa's primary objectives. waterfront?

MANAGED As chair of the Environmental Protection Committee, protecting and maintaining our How will you work to improve waterways is one of Costa's main subjects. It is an issue frequently under examination by governance models for the the committee, and he will remain dedicated to the best use of the city's water for the public waterfront? good.

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 49 District 27 (Hollis, Jamaica, St. Albans, Queens Village)

I. DANEEK MILLER (D)

STRONG Though my district remain landlocked, I strongly supported these efforts legislatively and How do you plan to work to fiscally. I supported new city laws to move the city towards greater sustainability in its hold the city accountable buildings. I supported the great investment in flood mitigation infrastructure in southeast to its climate change goals, Queens and flood management plans for Southeast Queens that also address stormwater including mitigation and runoff by use of community gardens and several local parks. I supported the Article XI adaptation, and ensure our application to ensure development of The Jamaica Crossing project which expects to region receives its fair share secure Silver LEED status and offers a model we hope to replicate in other development in of funding from federal and Southeast Queens. In addition, 40 one-family NYCHA homes in District 27 got renovated as state partners? green buildings. I sponsored Local Law 66 of 2014 (Int. No. 378 by Costa Constantinides), in relation to reducing greenhouse gases by 80% by 2050 The flood management plans for Southeast Queens will also address stormwater runoff by use of community gardens and several local parks. I sponsor Int. No. 982 to ban the sale of personal care products and over the counter drugs that contain microbeads priority. We introduced a roof top farm to Jamaica and we are working to expand options for farmer markets in southeast Queens. As chair of the Council Committee on Civil Service and Labor I support investment in training in programs that increase job options in sustainable industries. This includes training 3,000 workers for NYC 'green' jobs” through pre-apprenticeship available through the NYC Green Jobs Corps, a collaboration with the NYC Building Trades and Construction Council.

HEALTHY I supported the great investment in flood mitigation infrastructure in southeast Queens and What strategies will you flood management plans for Southeast Queens that also address stormwater runoff by use pursue to help improve water of community gardens and several local parks. I sponsored Local Law 66 of 2014 (Int. No. quality and the health of 378 by Costa Constantinides), in relation to reducing greenhouse gases by 80% by 2050. I our waterways, including sponsor Int. No. 982 to ban the sale of personal care products and over the counter drugs reducing sewage outfall and that contain microbeads. I support recycling and waste reduction and fair share in waste meeting green infrastructure management which helps drive needed community support. While another is the prime targets? sponsor of Fair Share legislation, I developed the bill.

OPEN Though my district remains landlocked, I strongly support these efforts legislatively and How will you work to improve fiscally. In addition to working with colleague, Councilmember Donovan Richard to secure equitable access to use the City’s investment in needed infrastructure to address flooding in southeast Queens, and of the waterways, from supporting legislation to move NYC real estate to sustainability, I have focused on improving education to recreation to public transit options including the Freedom Ticket which the MTA will pilot in southeast transportation, and other Queens to allow city residents to use commuter rail with a free transfer to bus and subways public uses? and thereby enjoy shorter commutes, and enactment of the Commuter Rail Reform Act. Previously as then President of ATU Local 1056 and then chair of the MTA Labor Coalition, I worked to expand transit and introduce and expand the use of hybrid fuel buses. In those roles, I was also successful in restoring bus service and improving routes and advocated for more for more funding for transit.

WORKING As chair of the Council Committee on Civil Service and Labor I support investment in training What strategies will you in programs that increase job options in sustainable industries. This includes training 3,000 pursue to protect and workers for NYC 'green' jobs” through pre-apprenticeship available through the NYC Green strengthen our maritime Jobs Corps, a collaboration with the NYC Building Trades and Construction Council. industry, and prioritize job-intensive uses on the waterfront?

MANAGED Though my district remains landlocked, I strongly supported these efforts legislatively and How will you work to improve fiscally. I supported city laws to move the city towards greater sustainability in its buildings. governance models for the I support recycling and waste reduction and fair share in waste management which helps waterfront? drive needed community support. I remain a foremost advocate on public transit options including better and expand use of public bus transit.

50 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 District 31 (Far Rockaway, Laurelton, Rosedale, Arverne)

DONOVAN RICHARDS (D)

STRONG As a member of the environmental protection committee, issues related to climate change How do you plan to work to are often at the forefront of our discussions on how to ensure that we protect our coastlines hold the city accountable and hold polluters accountable. Southeast Queens has faced an enormous amount of to its climate change goals, flooding over the years and we are constantly taking steps to help our communities avoid including mitigation and flood damage through things like updating and creating new sewage systems. I will continue adaptation, and ensure our to work with my city council colleagues, the Mayor, and state officials to lobby the federal region receives its fair share government to allocate appropriate resources for us to continue our work, especially in light of funding from federal and of Hurricane Harvey. state partners?

HEALTHY Our waterways are one of our most valuable resources we have as New Yorkers and What strategies will you protecting them has to be one of our top priorities. Communities like the ones I represent pursue to help improve water depend on it. We’ve worked tirelessly to update our sewage infrastructure and will quality and the health of continue to do more to mitigate the impact we have on our waterways. Also, as Chair of the our waterways, including Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises and a member of the Land Use Committee, we are reducing sewage outfall and working toward a path where all new projects must incorporate appropriate green measures meeting green infrastructure and push developers to adhere to a stricter building code in order to withstand natural targets? disasters near our coastline.

OPEN During my first term, I was a part of advocating for a ferry station for the Eastern part of the How will you work to improve Rockaways. This was an important first step to including more of our communities in the equitable access to use tourist market that thrives here in New York City but also allow easier access to other parts of of the waterways, from the city for our residents for work, leisure, and other travel. We should continue to seek new education to recreation to ways to increase services like these and encourage more recreational use of our waterways transportation, and other by opening more spaces for use in a safe and manageable way. public uses?

WORKING Economically, our waterways provide NYC with unique opportunities to expand our maritime What strategies will you industries to create more jobs and incentivize companies to invest in our communities. I pursue to protect and will continue to seek out opportunities for NYC to utilize our waterfront and increase the strengthen our maritime presence of these industries while also looking for ways to create training programs and industry, and prioritize better awareness of the jobs and potential job creation these industries hold. job-intensive uses on the waterfront?

MANAGED As a member of the land use committee, I have the ability to affect many different types How will you work to improve of projects throughout NYC but none are more important than the ones that affect our governance models for the waterfronts and waterways. I will work to take each project put in front of the committee and waterfront? put it through a rigorous review process to ensure that no matter the impact, it’s the correct choice for each community. We all need to work together to create an atmosphere that is recreationally friendly and actively engaging the business community while keeping an eye toward the ever-increasing threat of climate change. With cooperation from all sides, we can make real changes that allow our waterways to serve multiple purposes.

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 51 District 32 (Far Rockaway, Laurelton, Rosedale, Arverne)

MICHAEL G. SCALA (D)

STRONG We must remind everyone of the devastating effects of climate change already experienced, How do you plan to work to e.g., the destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy. A top priority must be implementing both hold the city accountable short term and long term solutions to protect our environment. to its climate change goals, including mitigation and adaptation, and ensure our region receives its fair share of funding from federal and state partners?

HEALTHY We should demand strict standards and regulations concerning the protection of our What strategies will you waterways. pursue to help improve water quality and the health of our waterways, including reducing sewage outfall and meeting green infrastructure targets?

OPEN When we think of New York City, we do not always think of a "water" city. Access to the water How will you work to improve must be equitable and more education and outreach should be done on the benefits of equitable access to use using the water. Ferry access should be expanded. of the waterways, from education to recreation to transportation, and other public uses?

WORKING We should do more to promote entering this important field, beginning with strategic after What strategies will you school programming for children and including more promotion of careers available in the pursue to protect and maritime industry. strengthen our maritime industry, and prioritize job-intensive uses on the waterfront?

MANAGED We should act swiftly to ensure appropriate legislation protecting our waterfront and How will you work to improve waterways is enacted. governance models for the waterfront?

52 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 District 35 (Ft. Greene, Clinton Hill, Crown Hts., Prospect Hts.)

SCOTT HUTCHINS (G)

STRONG Investment in green energy and technology to remove carbon from the atmosphere. How do you plan to work to hold the city accountable to its climate change goals, including mitigation and adaptation, and ensure our region receives its fair share of funding from federal and state partners?

HEALTHY Increased regulation in the NYCDEP. What strategies will you pursue to help improve water quality and the health of our waterways, including reducing sewage outfall and meeting green infrastructure targets?

OPEN I am in favor of public transit lacking fares and being paid via taxes instead. How will you work to improve equitable access to use of the waterways, from education to recreation to transportation, and other public uses?

WORKING (No response) What strategies will you pursue to protect and strengthen our maritime industry, and prioritize job-intensive uses on the waterfront?

MANAGED Funding for carbon reduction technology in the atmosphere. How will you work to improve governance models for the waterfront?

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 53 District 37 (Cypress Hills, Bushwick, East New York)

RAFAEL L. ESPINAL, JR. (D)

STRONG I support the Mayor’s target of reducing city greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by How do you plan to work to 2050. As the Public Advocate, I will continue to monitor the city's progress in meeting its hold the city accountable goals. I will also continue the push to divest city pension funds from the fossil fuels industry. to its climate change goals, Moving forward, the city must fully fund the Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency. including mitigation and The city must move quickly to protect low lying areas from storm surges and other flooding adaptation, and ensure our events. The city must work with state and federal partners to fund mitigation and adaptation region receives its fair share measures for Lower Manhattan. of funding from federal and state partners?

HEALTHY I think the city needs to act more forcefully to reduce CSO events. I have toured Flushing What strategies will you Creek with clean water advocates Riverkeeper and do not support the city's plan to chlorinate pursue to help improve water CSO pitfalls rather than mitigate and abate them. Green infrastructure is an important, cost quality and the health of effective strategy to manage storm water. I want to see more green roofs in the city and our waterways, including would support programs that would incentivize property owners to install them. I think that reducing sewage outfall and more must be done with large asphalt commercial parking lots to catch storm water. meeting green infrastructure targets?

OPEN I applaud the city's recent acquisition of the last parcel for Bushwick Inlet Park. I support How will you work to improve using city funds for projects like the 132nd street Pier in the South Bronx to improve public equitable access to use access to the waterfront. I support improvements to bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure of the waterways, from to allow east access to waterfront spaces. Ferry service has proven to be a success. I want education to recreation to to work with the mayor to improve the service and make it more convenient for more New transportation, and other Yorkers. public uses?

WORKING I will work to protect maritime industries by supporting the preservation of industrial zoning What strategies will you where it already exists. I support the mayors efforts to reactivate city owned industrial sites pursue to protect and like Bush Terminal in Brooklyn. I wish to support workforce development programs that strengthen our maritime would train New Yorkers for jobs in the industry. I support increasing the use of rail barges for industry, and prioritize the transport of cargo across New York Harbor. The Port Authority must be held accountable job-intensive uses on the to ensure that the appropriate investments are made in port infrastructure. waterfront?

MANAGED Given that the issues facing waterfront management span numerous city agencies, the How will you work to improve city should create a single office or desk within the deputy mayor's office that will handle governance models for the waterfront affairs. The city must also work with federal and state partners to simplify the waterfront? permitting process for waterfront construction. A new city program should be developed to get private property owners to maintain and repair bulkheads.

54 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 District 38 (Red Hook, Sunset Park, Windsor Terrace)

SARA M. GONZALEZ (D)

STRONG As past events such as Sandy, and more recent ones such as those in Texas have shown that How do you plan to work to the City and State must do its part in combating climate change. I will work in collaboration hold the city accountable with my colleagues in the City, State and Federal government in order to ensure that we meet to its climate change goals, our goals. When I was in the Council, I worked hard on the NYC 2030 plan and look forward to including mitigation and ensuring its application. adaptation, and ensure our region receives its fair share of funding from federal and state partners?

HEALTHY New York City needs strong leadership in order to receive the necessary federal support What strategies will you for our clean waterways – particularly in the current economic climate. In order to pursue to help improve water reduce combined sewage outfalls, investments must be made in upgraded and efficient quality and the health of infrastructure. Federal, State and City funding, low-interest government loans, private-public our waterways, including partnerships – everything should be on the table when facing these challenges. reducing sewage outfall and meeting green infrastructure targets?

OPEN When I was in the Council, I fought hard against the Mayor to bring back much needed ferry How will you work to improve service to my District in both Sunset Park and Red Hook and won. I will continue to be an equitable access to use advocate for public use of our waterways and waterfront. I will also work to help make our of the waterways, from waterways both fishable and swimmable, as outlined in the “Blueprint for Our Blueways” education to recreation to agenda. I secured millions of dollars in City funds to convert old industrial brownfields in transportation, and other Sunset Park into the beautiful, new Bush Terminal Open Space Park we have today and look public uses? forward to doing the same in other areas of our District.

WORKING As my record demonstrates, I have brought good-paying jobs and environmentally What strategies will you conscious maritime industry to my District's waterfront. Working with responsible private pursue to protect and businesses, organized labor, and the local community, we can bring even more job growth to strengthen our maritime our waterfront. Our City must also ward off attempts to rezone our Industrial Business Zones, industry, and prioritize a vital resource for preserving and expanding the manufacturing and light-industrial job job-intensive uses on the base so many residents depend on. waterfront?

MANAGED As I mentioned before, the work done in Sunset Park at Bush Terminal Piers can serve as How will you work to improve a template for addressing all of these concerns throughout my District and the City. The governance models for the project, in the middle of an Industrial Business Zone with many businesses using our waterfront? waterways for transportation (from Sims Recycling and the new Maritime Department of Sanitation station – both built during my tenure in the Council), has brought back natural habitats for a number of birds and fish species, serves as a natural flood barrier in a flood zone impacted by Sandy, and gives Sunset Park residents a free, open recreational area along a waterfront they were previously cut off from. Working together with local communities and public interest groups, we can bring this model to other parts of my community. Additionally, we as a City need to embrace recommendations for natural resiliency measures, including but not limited to: expansion of oyster reefs to filter and clean our water, using natural stone and rock structures as barriers in flood prone areas, and drastically increasing the number of native wetlands and aquatic vegetation along our coasts.

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 55 City Council District 38 (continued)

CARLOS MENCHACA (D)

STRONG Representing the community of Red Hook, residents of my district know full well the damage How do you plan to work to climate change can cause. Many in the Red Hook Houses saw flooding in their homes, hold the city accountable leaving them trapped and unable to leave their apartments for days. During my time in to its climate change goals, the Council, I've supported measures to address climate injustices that leave folks living including mitigation and in less fortunate communities unprepared to deal with the challenges like rising sea levels adaptation, and ensure our and fiercer storms. The waterfront community needs to be made more resilient or we will region receives its fair share continued to be under threat from future storms. I plan to continue my work in fortifying and of funding from federal and modernizing our waterfront community, working with the City as well as partners on the state state partners? and federal levels to ensure that every dollar allocated for resiliency goes to where it should and that there is equity in this funding.

HEALTHY The health of our city relies on the water that surrounds us. As someone who represents What strategies will you communities bordering the Gowanus Canal, I understand entirely the negative impact pursue to help improve water contaminated water can have on communities and our city as a whole. I am fully committed quality and the health of to holding the city accountable to hitting green infrastructure targets and winding down our waterways, including the practice of dumping sewage into our waterways. We have to look for new solutions to reducing sewage outfall and waste management that does not involve contaminating our vital waterways. This includes meeting green infrastructure runoff prevention through the use of methods such as bioswales on sidewalks. Ultimately, targets? NYC should share this burden and require developers to build green infrastructure into their projects to mitigate runoff.

OPEN The inauguration of NYC Ferry was a major benefit to residents of the Red Hook community How will you work to improve I represent. This former transit desert was in real need of a direct route to lower Manhattan equitable access to use and I was glad to work with the de Blasio Administration to make this a reality. Ultimately, of the waterways, from we should be making better use of our waterfronts across the city when it comes not just education to recreation to to transportation but recreation as well. Failing to capitalize on this lets a valuable resource transportation, and other go untapped when it could contribute even more to students' education or community public uses? recreation. Our waterways should function as classrooms for students interested in marine biology or boating. I will continue to advocate for investments that open up our waterfront to communities, while teaching about resiliency.

WORKING Keeping valuable industries that not only support jobs but our environment is important. We What strategies will you have to avoid the massive amounts of truck traffic that continue to enter our city and there pursue to protect and are few better ways than shipping by boat. I understand this very well and it is why I worked strengthen our maritime with the de Blasio Administration to upgrade the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal in my industry, and prioritize Sunset Park community, enhancing the facilities to attract more business to the area, while job-intensive uses on the supporting current residents in the process. It is hard to regain industries pushed out by waterfront? development, so doing everything in our power to support the maritime industry, not just in Red Hook and Sunset

MANAGED Balance is key to managing any vital resource and we have to do a better job of finding How will you work to improve balance for our waterfront communities. The many layers of government with oversight governance models for the of the city waterfront creates an alphabet soup that makes it hard to move projects waterfront? forward, be they recreational, development or industrial. New York City is unique in its importance to our nation, and our waterfront plays a role in that, with the shipping industry, tourism industry and more. But even with this, the local knowledge and proximity to the issues facing waterfront communities should take precedence, with the city being the predominant goverment entity with oversight of our waterfront. NYC is doing more than ever before to reclaim our waterfront, revitalizing industry, reestablishing transportation and supporting educational and recreational activities. It is only right that with these substantial investments, we should have full determination over who does what on our waterfronts and where. I will continue to make the case that with the amounts we spend supporting waterfront enhancements, the state and federal governments should cede some control over processes and regulations.

56 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 District 41 (Brownsville, East Flatbush, Bedford-Stuyvesant)

HENRY BUTLER (D)

STRONG I plan to be a loud advocate to ensure that our city does everything possible to safeguard How do you plan to work to from the realities of climate change. This includes, smart development, reducing our carbon hold the city accountable footprint, building sea walls, enacting updated emergency plans, as well as advocating that to its climate change goals, the state and federal government come to the table and contribute. including mitigation and adaptation, and ensure our region receives its fair share of funding from federal and state partners?

HEALTHY We need to take matters into our own hands and pass laws that put strict regulations and What strategies will you oversight over our waterways. pursue to help improve water quality and the health of our waterways, including reducing sewage outfall and meeting green infrastructure targets?

OPEN I support the NYC Ferry plan and would love to see additional routes established with How will you work to improve greater frequencies so more residents can use the service. I would also like the service to be equitable access to use compatible with a metro card. of the waterways, from education to recreation to transportation, and other public uses?

WORKING We need to continue to dredge to allow for the newer, larger commercial freighters easy What strategies will you passage into our harbor so we can continue to expand our maritime & marine shipping pursue to protect and industry via our ports. strengthen our maritime industry, and prioritize job-intensive uses on the waterfront?

MANAGED This is an issue I would need to learn more about and would seek information and guidance How will you work to improve from your organization. governance models for the waterfront?

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 57 District 43 (Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst)

KEVIN PETER CARROLL (D)

STRONG Since the Trump Administration has removed the United States as a signatory of the Paris How do you plan to work to Climate Agreement, we cannot rely on our federal partners to combat global climate change. hold the city accountable Governor Cuomo has committed to have 50% of all of New York State’s electricity to come to its climate change goals, from renewable resources by 2050. I will use the bully pulpit of my office to incentivise new including mitigation and developments in my district to use the Green Roof Tax Abatement to create green roofs or adaptation, and ensure our install solar panels on them. The popularity will force Albany to continue to fund the tax region receives its fair share abatement program while also fulfilling the goals of New York’s Clean Energy Standard. of funding from federal and state partners?

HEALTHY I will talk to DEP and DSNY to see what alternative means we have to dispose of waste What strategies will you materials. To expedite the process of cleaning up our waterways, I will direct more funds to pursue to help improve water the Billion Oyster Project out of the New York Harbor School Roosevelt Island. quality and the health of our waterways, including reducing sewage outfall and meeting green infrastructure targets?

OPEN The NYPD already does have a harbor unit to protect people on the waterways. As a How will you work to improve councilmember, I will talk to the Mayor’s Office and Police Commissioner to learn what types equitable access to use of laws and regulations should be put in place for equitable and safe usage of our waterways. of the waterways, from education to recreation to transportation, and other public uses?

WORKING Since the Port of New York and New Jersey is controlled by the Port Authority, a bistate What strategies will you agency, the New York City Council does not have much regulatory power on such pursue to protect and matters. However, last summer, the Wall Street Journal reported that the International strengthen our maritime Longshoremen’s Association and the New York Shipping Association has been having industry, and prioritize issues with the Waterfront Commission, due to allegations of corruption regarding its job-intensive uses on the hiring practices, and wants the commission abolished. If things continue to escalate, waterfront? as a councilmember I would work with my colleagues to create a temporary fund for the unionized waterfront workers to help pay living expenses if the workers chose to go on strike. Additionally, I would sponsor a resolution in the Council calling on Albany to pass legislation to eliminate the Waterfront Commission.

MANAGED Many people do not realize the regulatory powers the New York City Department of How will you work to improve Environmental Protection has over our waterways and natural habitats. I would work to governance models for the make sure it has the financial means it needs to regulate our waterways from destruction. waterfront? Additionally, when I am in the council, I want to chair the Parks Committee and will use my oversight powers to make sure that our parks are properly maintained.

58 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 City Council District 43 (continued)

VINCENT CHIRICO (D)

STRONG The 43rd Council District encompasses the entire shoreline between southern Bensonhurst How do you plan to work to and the 69th Street pier in northern Bay Ridge, including the entire south-west Brooklyn hold the city accountable shoreline abutting the Belt Parkway. This shoreline was adversely affected by Superstorm to its climate change goals, Sandy which, together with the recent tragedy in Texas due to Hurricane Harvey, mitigation, including mitigation and adaptation and emergency preparedness are foremost in our minds. The Council Member adaptation, and ensure our from this district will therefore have an important role to play on these issues. As a member of region receives its fair share Brooklyn Community Board #11, and as counsel for a local nonprofit boating club, I have for of funding from federal and years coordinated with federal, state and city/local government leaders on issues regarding state partners? these issues, am fully supportive of the 80x50 goal, and have worked on efforts to protect NYC’s drinking water, DEP water conservation initiatives. As the only attorney in this race, and a litigation appellate specialist, I have the skills necessary to (a) advocate for advancement of these goals, (b) build coalitions between federal, state and local stakeholders, and (c) become a leader in New York City's climate change efforts.

HEALTHY As counsel for a local nonprofit boating club, I have advocated for toxic cleanup efforts along What strategies will you Paerdegat Bay, and have built coalitions with over a half dozen other neighboring boating pursue to help improve water clubs, community boards and legal counsel, advocating in litigation which resulted in a quality and the health of federal Consent Order requiring National Grid to remediate past toxic spills of PCBs into our waterways, including the Bay and rebuild docks. These experiences prepared me to take a leadership role in water reducing sewage outfall and quality improvement efforts. meeting green infrastructure targets?

OPEN The 43rd Council District encompasses the entire shoreline between southern Bensonhurst How will you work to improve and the 69th Street pier in northern Bay Ridge, including the entire south-west Brooklyn equitable access to use shoreline abutting the Belt Parkway, with its picturesque views and walking/biking paths. of the waterways, from The American Veterans Memorial Pier at 69th Street pier in Bay Ridge is already home to education to recreation to newly installed public ferry service. I support the expansion of environmentally-friendly transportation, and other access endeavors, including partnerships with additional nonprofit organizations focused public uses? on public access for leisure activities. I have already called for the expansion of the NYC ferry service via the construction of a pier at the foot of Bay Parkway in Bensonhurst, adjacent to the Caesar's Bay shopping center. This is an ideal location for water-based commuter and leisure transportation, as it is replete with currently-underutilized parking facilities and close to other forms of mass transit, including readily accessible subway and bus service. It is also adjacent to a plethora of public parks, which can be further improved/developed to provide access to shoreline leisure activities.

WORKING I proposed joint efforts with NYC DDC on issues regarding protection of NYC’s drinking What strategies will you water, completion of Water Tunnel #3, planning for rehabilitation of Water tunnels 1 and 2, pursue to protect and and coordinating with DEP water conservation initiatives. I support full implementation of strengthen our maritime more robust recycling efforts, including composting, for both residential and commercial industry, and prioritize premises, to further increase residential and institutional waste diversion capacity, so as job-intensive uses on the to further reduce the city’s reliance on landfills, transfer stations and exporting efforts, waterfront? including the poorly planned Waste Transfer Station in Southeast Bensonhurst which, based on the current Administration's proclaimed net-zero garbage goal by 2030, would render this waste transfer station obsolete in only 10 years. And my 10 years of board service at nonprofit Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow (www.obtjobs.org) (the last two as Board Chair) have provided me with large-scale, young adult workforce training expertise, including the development of opportunities for thousands of disconnected young adults via personal, academic and professional development, including workforce training in various settings, paid internships, and job placements. I would endeavor to replicate this and similar partnerships to provide employment initiatives for sustainability projects on the waterfront throughout the city.

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 59 City Council District 43 (continued)

MANAGED While the significant shoreline abutting the 43rd Council District is generally in fine shape, How will you work to improve several sections of the walking/biking path under the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge have governance models for the repeatedly been damaged over the years due to hurricanes, storm surges and heavy wind. waterfront? Additional efforts ought to be undertaken to strengthen these vulnerable areas, including coordination with federal and state governments to encourage better sustainability and storm preparedness. Additionally, I support the expansion of environmentally-friendly access endeavors, including partnerships with nonprofit organizations focused on public access for leisure activities.

KHADER EL-YATEEM (D)

STRONG We must pass comprehensive legislation to make sure that city agencies, buildings, and How do you plan to work to entities that work with the City or accept city funds are working to meet ambitious climate hold the city accountable change goals. I will advocate in Albany and Washington along with partners in direct services to its climate change goals, and advocacy to make sure that our region receives our fair share of funding. including mitigation and adaptation, and ensure our region receives its fair share of funding from federal and state partners?

HEALTHY I will support legislation that ensures water quality testing and other initiatives that What strategies will you address the health of our waterways including prioritization of green infrastructure and the pursue to help improve water reduction of sewage outfall by holding entities accountable and improving our stormwater quality and the health of management system. our waterways, including reducing sewage outfall and meeting green infrastructure targets?

OPEN We must ensure that our waterways are accessible and available to New Yorkers of all income How will you work to improve levels and neighborhoods. Expanding ferry service more broadly will serve to open up the equitable access to use waterways as well as ease congestion on the roads and subways. The City must also support of the waterways, from and promote on-water programming across the city. NYC can be a city of active and robust education to recreation to waterways once again. transportation, and other public uses?

WORKING The City can do more to promote maritime careers and support the growth of the industry What strategies will you that is both sustainable and environmentally conscious. We must also work to protect the pursue to protect and existing industry with robust labor protections. strengthen our maritime industry, and prioritize job-intensive uses on the waterfront?

MANAGED Investment and support are vital to ensuring equitable access, maintenance of maritime How will you work to improve industry, restoration of natural habitats, and the strengthen infrastructure for climate- governance models for the related threats. As a City Council Member for a district with a large coastal population of waterfront? homes and businesses, I will commit to making sure that our waterways are fully funded to increase access, a prospering and environmentally responsible maritime industry, and strengthened and forward-looking infrastructure to address increasing vulnerabilities from climate change.

60 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 City Council District 43 (continued)

LIAM McCABE (R)

STRONG I am the only City Council Candidate in the 43rd District with experience working with the How do you plan to work to federal government and I will leverage the relationships I have built over seven years working hold the city accountable in the office of the Congressman to route federal funding and resources to New York City to to its climate change goals, help the city achieve its goals. including mitigation and adaptation, and ensure our region receives its fair share of funding from federal and state partners?

HEALTHY I support educating and communicating with New York City residents about the importance What strategies will you of keeping our waterways clean and healthy. From transportation, to the city’s economy, pursue to help improve water to recreation and education, the New York City waterways are an incredible resource that quality and the health of should be better understood and better protected. In addition to educating individuals our waterways, including about how their behaviors impact water quality and sewage systems, we need to educate reducing sewage outfall and businesses on compliance and best practices to promote environmental health and meeting green infrastructure eliminate dumping. targets? Within City Council District 43, there is a rise in illegal home conversions (the conversion of homes zoned for one or two families into multiple illegal single room occupancy units) is impacting sewage systems and other natural and city-provided resources. Illegal home conversions lead to dumping, the use of makeshift waste disposal systems in homes, and overtaxed residential sewer systems across South Brooklyn. I will make sure that any legislation geared toward protecting sewage systems and our waterways includes punishment for illegal home conversions that overburden our systems and threaten our environmental and public health.Additionally, I support reducing the use of Marine Transfer Centers for waste as a way of keeping our water cleaner and our environment healthier.

OPEN Our New York City waterways are a tremendous resource for businesses, commuters, How will you work to improve individuals and families. I support working with multiple organizations and agencies in equitable access to use the public and private sector to improve access to our waterfronts and the opportunities of the waterways, from that they provide. I recommend integrating small business development and Business education to recreation to Improvement Districts with plans for creating better access to and utilization of the transportation, and other waterfronts and waterways. Doing so will increase access to areas across the city, public uses? including in South Brooklyn, where we have only just begun to tap into the waterfront as the community and economic resource that it is. Within Council District 43 in particular and throughout the city, I support expanding ferry service and improving access to ferry terminals by adding bus lines and shuttles to bring more commuters to the ferry terminals.

WORKING I fully support the maritime industry and recognize the ways in which they improve What strategies will you congestion in an already over-crowded roadway infrastructure and the jobs that they pursue to protect and provide to local residents. I recommend improving dialogue with representatives from the strengthen our maritime maritime industries and making sure that they have a seat at the table for discussions about industry, and prioritize transportation, the city’s economy, and business development. Job creation, supporting job-intensive uses on the business development and fighting for fair and equitable taxes and fees on businesses are waterfront? important parts of my platform. I want to make sure that the maritime industry is included in those conversations and can benefit from the initiatives I am able to put in place as a City Councilmember

MANAGED As a Councilmember, I will be able to leverage the relationships I have built within the federal How will you work to improve government to allocate resources for our waterfront and waterways, and for the residents governance models for the and businesses who use them. Having worked to assist with Hurricane Sandy recovery, waterfront? I understand first-hand the need to protect our coastlines and will work with federal and other agencies to help make that a priority. Governance models need to evolve in step with the transformation of the waterfront. I welcome dialogue with experts about environmental health and habitats and will work within my scope as a City Councilmember to advocate appropriately in the best interest of our waterways and our city.

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 61 City Council District 43 (continued)

JOHN QUAGLIONE (R)

STRONG I oppose commercial and residential development in areas that are flood prone. Having How do you plan to work to worked with Senator Marty Golden, I have seen what happens when areas are overwhelmed hold the city accountable by extreme weather events. We are still assisting residents and businesses that were affected to its climate change goals, by the storm-almost five years later. Another way to mitigate the problem is to introduce including mitigation and "resiliency tax credits". Similar to "energy tax credits, such a plan would offer incentives to adaptation, and ensure our property owners to make their properties more resilient to extreme weather conditions. region receives its fair share of funding from federal and state partners?

HEALTHY I agree that every New Yorker has the right to clean drinking water and waterways. For many What strategies will you years, New York’s waterways, notably the Gowanus Canal, were among the most polluted pursue to help improve water in the nation. While there have been improvements, more needs to be done, and we must quality and the health of ensure that progress that has been made is not reversed. our waterways, including I believe we can improve water quality for private property of all sizes and land use types, reducing sewage outfall and such as bioswales, green roofs and rain gardens by offering tax credits to property owners meeting green infrastructure who incorporate these features in their property. As a member of Senator Golden’s staff targets? I have worked with the Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) on its water- conservation initiatives, notably the distribution of rain barrels. As the father of two young children and the husband of an Assistant Principal in the New York City Public Schools, I am very concerned about the drinking water in our schools. I will support efforts to increase testing, and support funding for the replacement of pipes to ensure that our children have access to safe drinking water.

OPEN Working with Senator Golden, we have worked to improve waterfront access, notably the How will you work to improve rehabilitation of the 69th Street pier and the sea wall along the Belt Parkway to allow for equitable access to use greater opportunities for recreation. I would be supportive of additional initiatives of this of the waterways, from nature, and I will oppose any efforts to close off waterfront access. education to recreation to transportation, and other public uses?

WORKING I would support tax incentives to attract businesses to areas such as the Red Hook Container What strategies will you Terminal and GCT New York. In addition, I would support infrastructure improvements to pursue to protect and these areas in order to expedite the movement of goods in and out of these facilities. strengthen our maritime industry, and prioritize job-intensive uses on the waterfront?

MANAGED I would support legislation creating greater transparency over decision-making relating to How will you work to improve our waterfront. governance models for the waterfront?

62 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 District 47 (Bensonhurst, Coney Island, Gravesend)

MARK TREYGER (D)

STRONG I’ve worked hard since my election to the City Council to make sure we rebuild from Sandy, How do you plan to work to and prepare for future extreme weather events. It’s important that we plan for the future hold the city accountable in a scientific, and appropriate way. As a member of the OneNYC Advisory Board, I’ve to its climate change goals, proposed a number of bills that would require the City’s Climate Change Adaptation Task including mitigation and Force to consider the impact of climate change on our telecoms infrastructure and to make adaptation, and ensure our resiliency recommendations for it. I have also been working tirelessly, meeting with our state region receives its fair share and federal delegation, to make sure funding for physical resiliency projects, such as the of funding from federal and Rockaway Inlet-Jamaica Bay Draft Reformulation Study (including Southern Brooklyn tie-in state partners? features), will be ready to be allocated once the study is complete. With its large proportion of vulnerable residents, significant environmental hazards, and high flood risk, much of my district (Brooklyn Community District 13) ranks very low on the Harbor Scorecard. While projects like the Sea Gate t-groin and beach replenishment are a good start, we have a long way to go before the safety and resiliency of my community is significantly improved from its pre-Sandy state.

HEALTHY We must improve our water quality testing methods, including incorporating citizen What strategies will you water testing data, and we must work to stop sewage from continuing to overflow into pursue to help improve water our waterways. Currently, the sewer infrastructure in Coney Island is undergoing a major quality and the health of overhaul, which will reduce CSO contamination in our local waterways. As the representative our waterways, including of Coney Island Creek, a waterway that is both intensely polluted and used recreationally, I reducing sewage outfall and am acutely aware of how far we are from being compliant with the Clean Water Act, setting meeting green infrastructure aside current national threats to our environmental legislation. Far too many times, I have targets? attended public meetings or stood beside colleagues in government and community advocates, expressing outrage at yet another illicit discharge or spill. This has real impacts on how my residents utilize a vital natural resource. Many residents fish on Coney Island Creek (including low-level commercial fishing), and yet, because it does not meet swimmable and fishable standards, the Department of Health is unwilling to place signs warning them of the danger. The Department of Environmental Conservation recently denied a permit for an oyster reef installation in the Creek, because of risks to public health from exposure to water from the Creek. We need to make sure that a better legislative and regulatory system is in place to improve the health of our waterways, particularly as Congress and the Trump Administration signal their intent to lay waste to our environmental protections. As the Chairman of the Committee on Recovery and Resiliency, I appreciate the importance of worked green infrastructure, and secured $15 million in HUD CDBG-DR funding for bioswales throughout Coney Island. Unfortunately, the administration later deemed this project to be infeasible. However, I have worked with my colleagues in state government, such as Assemblymember Pamela Harris, to propose tax credits for green infrastructure investments, including replacing impermeable ground cover with more absorbent material.

OPEN Whether it’s increasing transportation services and expanding routes on weekends, to How will you work to improve increasing awareness of the cultural, educational and resources our waterways provide. equitable access to use Alongside the Waterfront Alliance, I have urged NYC Ferry to consider adding a ferry stops in of the waterways, from Coney Island and Canarsie, and will continue to argue for the expansion of the ferry network. education to recreation to As a member of the Committee on Parks and Recreation, and the representative of a number transportation, and other of passionate public trust advocates, I actively advocate for ways to improve access to our public uses? waterfront, and for programming that helps residents avail themselves of one of our city's greatest resources. Coney Island Creek was home to great environmental stewardship and educational programming and frequently used by boaters, prior to the discovery last year of significant illicit sewage discharges. Since then, the children of my community have seen their opportunity to learn about and interact with their local ecologies limited. We need to do more to improve the health of our waterways, while also improving access options, so that all New Yorkers can enjoy the waterfront.

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 63 City Council District 47 (continued)

WORKING I strongly support the investment in existing waterfront industrial infrastructure and What strategies will you preservation of the maritime industry in New York City. In the City Council, I have strongly pursue to protect and advocated for the Career and Technical Education offerings of the NYC Department of strengthen our maritime Education to be aligned with meaningful career pathways in high-wage, high-growth fields. industry, and prioritize We should be doing more to ensure that our children are aware of career opportunities in job-intensive uses on the maritime industry, and that they have access to training that will prepare them for these waterfront? careers. As Chair of the Committee on Recovery and Resiliency, I have spoken about the need for our city to position itself at the lead of emerging green energy economies, including solar and offshore wind production.

MANAGED I strongly support a more unified approach to local governance of our waterways, and a How will you work to improve strengthened Waterfront Management Advisory Board. As the representative of an outer- governance models for the outer borough waterfront community, I also support a comprehensive financing plan for waterfront? waterfront maintenance. The disparity between maintenance of waterfront infrastructure in my community, from the iconic Riegelmann Boardwalk to the promenade by Caesar's Bay to Dreier Offerman/Calvert Vaux Park, and maintenance of waterfront infrastructure in wealthier areas of Brooklyn and the city is stark.

64 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 2017 District 49 (North Shore, Staten Island)

DEBI ROSE (D)

STRONG This year Councilwoman Rose held her first Waterfront Roundtable meeting which was How do you plan to work to attended by very diverse stakeholders not always seen or heard in the traditional committee hold the city accountable hearing format. She intends to continue holding these forums. The discussion was primarily to its climate change goals, about the issue of water safety accordingly, the next hearing by the Waterfront Committee including mitigation and will be about the city agency responsible, New York City Parks Department Marine Division, adaptation, and ensure our for maintaining water craft safety. In her next term a greater range of stakeholders will have region receives its fair share the opportunity to be heard. She will also publicly engage our elected federal legislators, the of funding from federal and governor and the relevant state legislative committee chairs on the increasing threats of state partners? climate change, coastal flooding and sea level rise.

HEALTHY Sewage treatment must be a priority in the NYC capital budget to make improvements in What strategies will you water quality and to keep the promise of fishable,swimmable waters of the Clean Water Act. pursue to help improve water Rose also supports the expansion of stormwater recapture underway in the Bluebelt on the quality and the health of South Shore of Staten Island to the North Shore. She is pledged to engage with the advocacy our waterways, including community on introducing and supporting legislation to further this work. reducing sewage outfall and Strengthening DEP's defenses against cyber attack to protect our water supply and sewage meeting green infrastructure systems must be done. Rose has advocated against automation at the water chlorination targets? plant on Staten Island because it would make the system more vulnerable to attack.

OPEN Waterfront access and access to open space has been a priority of Councilwoman Rose How will you work to improve since elected. The results of these efforts include the opening of a waterfront park at Van equitable access to use Pelt and Van Name Avenues this week and funding for an open space park at the Urby of the waterways, from development at the former Navy Homeport site in Stapleton. education to recreation to Debi Rose held the first Waterfront Roundtable in June. The participants included transportation, and other community board chair, the Riverkeeper, the Waterfront Alliance, the Staten Island Museum, public uses? the Staten Island Kayak Club, waterfront business owners and representatives of Brooklyn waterfront organizations. Issues discussed included additional funding for NYC Parks Department Marine Division, water safety, safe launch areas for kayakers, increased green funding support for DEP and sewage overflow issues providing a range of issues for further hearings. Better communication among relevant agencies is critical to achieve consensus for policy improvements which is why she made restarting the Waterfront Management Advisory Board a priority (Int. 507). The Coast Guard, DOT, EDC and recreational use groups must be brought into the discussion.

WORKING The district is the North Shore of Staten Island which has a rich history of businesses which What strategies will you directly support the maritime industry of the port, such as Caddell Drydock, McAllister, pursue to protect and Moran and other tugboat operators, ship provision suppliers and the Sandy Hook Pilots. strengthen our maritime When first elected Debi made working with these businesses a priority; she walked along industry, and prioritize Richmond Terrace and visited them. Local hiring was an issue. She worked with the job-intensive uses on the Department of Education and these businesses to launch a marine electrician program at waterfront? McKee High School and establishing internships at Miller's Launch. The result will be a revived interest in our waterfront and jobs for Staten Islanders. Debi Rose plans to work with the Department of Education to enhance the public school curriculum to include a history of the Port of New York, the study of the effects of climate change and how it will affect New Yorkers. Awareness of these critical issues will result in increased civic awareness and responsibility in the next generation.

MANAGED Debi Rose is a prime co-sponsor of Int. 507 to revise and revamp the Waterfront How will you work to improve Management Advisory Board; appointments are currently taking place. The City Council governance models for the must also closely monitor EDC the agency with prime responsibility under the Charter for waterfront? the development of waterfront properties. She will continue to work with DEP on issues ranging from cleaning catch basins to reduce street flooding to expansion of stormwater remediation. She also is committed to revisiting the methods used by the Netherlands to reduce the effects of flooding to determine their applicability to our city.

2017 Voter Guide for the Waterfront 65 WATERFRONT ALLIANCE

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