The Issues

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents — better known as ICE agents — have been terrorizing communities across our state and across our country, disappearing people from neighborhoods based on little more than the color of their skin or the sound of their voice.

This is the defining moral crisis of our time and history will judge us by how we respond to it.

New York must act now to get ICE agents out of our jails and out of our communities. We can get ICE out of our jails by passing the Dignity Not Detention Act. We can tell ICE agents that they are not welcome in our communities by passing New York For All.

NYSEG is raking in profits while individuals, families and businesses are struggling to pay their gas and electric bills. This is backwards. The system should work for ratepayers, not shareholders.

The time for change is now. We must require that utilities like NYSEG return excess profits to ratepayers. At the same time, we must create a centralized Office of Energy and Equity to streamline energy-assistance programs and help households access those programs. Lastly, the State must deny any rate increase that imposes an unfair burden on households and local economies.

Housing is a human right. Everyone deserves a place to call home, whether as a home buyer, a renter or a student.

But, right now, we do not have enough apartments or houses in Broome County for everyone to have a decent, affordable place to call home. Decades of underbuilding and underinvestment have left us in crisis.

We must address the housing crisis with the urgency the moment demands. This means leveraging existing grant programs to build more apartments and single-family homes, rehabilitate existing housing, and repurpose existing structures to serve as housing. The State must work with local governments, developers, builders and community groups to expand housing supply and ensure that homes and apartments are affordable and accessible for people of all income levels.

New York must expand funding for the Housing Access Voucher Program so that we can provide assistance to individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of losing their homes.

Lastly, New York should reform R1 zoning in cities. This would make our urban areas more vibrant, diverse and family-friendly and, at the same time, would encourage local businesses, parks and community spaces to flourish.

Here in Broome County, our roads are crumbling, there are places where the water runs brown every day, and our flood mitigation systems are outdated. We need to fix this now.

One of the jobs of an Assemblymember is to secure funding for their district to address local issues like roads, water quality, and flood mitigation systems. I will fight to ensure that our community gets its fair share of State resources so that we can pave our roads, clean our water, and protect our community from the next possible flood event.