Resilience
To put it simply, COVID-19 has ravaged our neighborhoods. Queens was the epicenter of the epicenter, and although our cases might be going down, we need to begin our road to recovery now. As we continue to battle COVID-19, we must take a new approach to our labor. A platform of resilience includes:
Safe Staffing
Evidence shows that safe staffing ratios increase the quality of care and are cost-effective in the long run. Healthcare workers have been fighting for safe staffing ratios since 2009, and the pandemic has only highlighted the need for them. Safe staffing will provide a sense of stability amidst the sense of chaos that COVID-19 has brought. The advancement of safe staffing legislation is especially important during the pandemic to protect nurses' health, and the quality of the care they can provide as the large influx of patients has dramatically increased. Our healthcare workers have worked tirelessly to treat New Yorkers during the pandemic, so it's time for us to protect and advocate for them. I am in full support of enacting Safe Staffing in New York and will fight to make sure and push for Safe Staffing to go through in the City Council right away.
Small Business Relief
We keep hearing that small businesses are the heart of New York City, but it’s time that we start showing small businesses that they are. We must immediately expand COVID relief to small businesses but make sure that we’re making city systems easier for small businesses to navigate. While the City’s MWBE program has shown an attempt to create a connection and network for minority and women-owned businesses in the small business community, the system needs to be more transparent, more streamlined, and more responsive unique needs of business owners.
Commercial Rent Stabilization
We need to enact commercial rent stabilization in order to protect our small businesses and prevent them from closing due to rising rents and gentrification.