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City Council Survey (District 6): Gale A. Brewer
Democratic Party Working Families Party http://www.galebrewer.com Candidate Submitted Biography: Council Member Gale A. Brewer has been representing the Upper West Side and Clinton in the New York City Council since 2002. She was re-elected in the November 2005 general election with over 80 percent of the vote, receiving nearly 10,000 more votes than any other incumbent. In the November 2003 election, she received 86% of the vote. Her service in the Council is a continuation of nearly 30 years of public service. Brewer chairs the Committee on Technology in Government, where she works to make better use of technology to save money, improve City services, and bring residents, businesses and non-profits closer to government and their communities. Other committees on which Gale Brewer serves include: Aging; Finance; General Welfare; Higher Education; Housing & Buildings; Mental Health; Transportation; and Waterfronts. In addition, she co-chairs the Manhattan Delegation, sits on the Council's Budget Negotiating Team and is a member of the Rules Committee Working Group. Brewer has been instrumental in passing numerous laws, including legislation protecting domestic workers; a bill establishing an electronic death registration system; two bills aimed at eliminating graffiti and unwanted stickers; and legislation requiring City publications to be made available via the Web. In addition, Brewer is a member of the New York State Universal Broadband Initiative’s Digital Literacy and Community Outreach Action Team and served as a member of the New York State Attorney General’s Real Estate Working Group/Subcomittee on Enforcement and Mediation, and of the Information Technology and Communications Committee of the National League of Cities. Prior to her election, Brewer served as Project Manager for the NYC Nonprofits Project and worked with the Telesis Corporation, a private firm that builds affordable housing. As Deputy Public Advocate for Intergovernmental Affairs (1994-1998), Brewer promoted legislation, wrote policy, and monitored the implementation of the National Voter Registration Act. Her web site, the first in City government, won an award from New York Magazine. As director of the Mayor's Federal Office in New York City (1990-1994), she assisted the Dinkins Administration with its legislative agenda and initiated private funding for a technical assistance program for community-based organizations seeking federal funds. On the West Side she served for over a decade as Chief of Staff to Council Member Ruth Messinger. Brewer has received numerous awards for her service on over two dozen neighborhood and nonprofit boards as well as her work in the City Council. In 2000, she was cited by the Daily News as "One of 50 New Yorkers to Watch." She has taught urban policy at Barnard, Baruch, Brooklyn, Hunter, and Queens Colleges. Gale has an MPA from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and did her undergraduate work at Columbia University and Bennington College. She is married to Cal Snyder and has raised adopted children. City Council Survey (District 6): Gale A. BrewerQuestion 1: What is the most important transportation need in your district? As a Council Member, how would you work to address this need?A need is quality subway/bus service, but also important is safe pedestrian access. I testified to support $ for the MTA; I voted for congestion pricing, to provide $ to purchase new BRT buses, improve transit hubs, and reduce traffic congestion; and I advocated for city $, especially for the city share of the student metrocards. I sponsored forums on ways to make buses go faster, and issued a report. Many of the Mayor’s ideas–smartcards, pay before getting on, electronic arrival times-are in our report, which was issued yrs. ago. I sponsored a Transportation Survey (W 55-86 St) to determine the needs. 2 years ago, I held a forum at John Jay College with residents, and then my staff surveyed nearly ALL of the businesses in the study area door-to-door to determine their delivery protocols. I am organizing a 2nd forum, Sept. 22, again at John Jay. This Survey produced suggestions to improve street conditions, including ways to slow traffic for safer crossing. I tried to make the sidewalks/sts. safer by passing a bill to mandate signage in commercial enterprises (Bike Safety Posters LL 10/2007) that lists in many languages the “Rules of the Road” for delivery bicyclists. Seniors are frightened by illegal bicycling, and PD doesn’t have sufficient officers to deal with the problem. Question 2: The intersection of W 72 Street and Amsterdam Ave is one of the most dangerous in your district, where 2 people died and 49 people were injured between 1995-2005 (NYS DOT). As a City Council member, what traffic enforcement policies or physical changes to the intersection infrastructure would you support to make this intersection safer for everyone who uses it (pedestrians, cyclists and drivers)?Enforcement remains a problem because staffing levels at NYPD do not allow for adequate traffic patrols. I will continue to advocate for more officers to patrol dangerous intersection. DOT could also take additional actions, including leading pedestrian intervals, use of extended crossing times, advanced green arrows, and daylighting of the intersection. Question 3: According to the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles' most currently available data, in 2007 speeding was a contributing factor in over 3,000 motor vehicle crashes in New York City. Furthermore, the same data showed that the top human contributing factor to the 264 fatal crashes in New York City during 2007 was also speeding. Given these figures, what measures, if any, do you support to redress this problem? Finally, do you believe that New York City’s current speed limits are safe?The current speed limit is 30 mph. Probably many drivers do not know the speed limit. First, more enforcement of the speed limit is needed, just as exists with highway patrol on thruways. Second, speed bumps on West 77 Street near 2 schools do slow down traffic, and they should be considered near other schools. Is there a problem with plowing snow and speed bumps? If so, that challenge needs to be addressed. Third, the traffic light sequence needs to be addressed. Technology (NYCWIN) can provide a better system of moving traffic in a safer method, and it should be implemented. Other cities are using similar systems. Question 4: The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's website reports: "In New York City, obesity is epidemic: more than half of adult New Yorkers are overweight (34%) or obese (22%). Data show that obesity begins early in life: nearly half of all elementary school children and Head Start children are not a healthy weight. In New York City, 1 in 5 kindergarten students, and 1 in 4 Head Start children, is obese." Do you believe that increasing walking and biking in New York City would improve public health? If yes, how would you work to increase walking and biking in your district?More walking/biking improve public health. One of the PlanNYC suggestions is to open up school playgrounds for use by the public; this was my idea, announced at a press conference. Slowly, the Mayor is implementing this project, and obviously the open space would give residents the opportunity to exercise in a neighborhood during evenings and weekends. At PS 87, with support from TA and Wellness in the Schools, a grant was written and funded so that bicycles could be purchased and students ride them on a prescribed track during recess. Such initiatives could be taking place in the school yards more often if they were open; funding is necessary for custodians to provide clean up. I have allocated millions of capital dollars to improve walkways, bike paths and promenades in Riverside Park; I have written to DOT to support bike paths on our streets; and I wrote to DOT to support the summertime closed street initiative on West Side streets (hopefully, next year) as well as Park Avenue. With TA support, I introduced a bill to ban cars in Central and Prospect Parks, and we were somewhat successful. I was able to get a hearing on the bill, and on that day, the Mayor announced a major reduction in the hours that cars can drive in the parks. The hours have been further reduced by DOT. Question 5: Road pricing, including such measures as non-stop tolling, fees based on vehicle miles travelled or entry into a highly congested zone, has been the source of much discussion in New York City and other major metropolitan areas. London famously uses a congestion charge to fund its transit system, Oregon recently piloted a program to replace the gas tax with a fee for miles driven and Seattle recently studied how road pricing could be introduced on a regional basis. Seattle's study, “Traffic Choices Study" (http://psrc.org/projects/trafficchoices/index.htm), found that introducing new tolls on major corridors during peak traffic hours influenced drivers’ behavior and projected that a region-wide road pricing scheme could significantly reduce vehicular traffic congestion. Do you think that introducing a road pricing strategy would change New Yorkers’ travel choices? Do you think that this would be an effective way for the City to reduce backups on high-traffic roadways like the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, the Gowanus Expressway or the Long Island Expressway? Finally, do you believe there are additional benefits in the surrounding neighborhoods which could be realized from the reduction of vehicular congestion on these routes?Local Law 23 of 2008, which I sponsored and passed, requires DOT to collect information on various performance indicators, including the usage of key City corridors, bicycle paths, and ferry routes, to provide a snapshot of how the City’s transportation infrastructure is used. On November 1 of each year, DOT is required to submit a report on these performance indicators to the Mayor and the Council. This report will include a summary of DOT’s projects that aim to reduce traffic. The public will also see the reports as they will be posted on the web, and New Yorkers will have the opportunity to add their comments regarding ways to reduce congestion and pollution while encouraging the use of modes of transportation such as ferries, bikes, safer pedestrian walkways, more buses etc. As stated above, I supported congestion pricing, but until it is realized in some form I believe that this data will be a roadmap for reducing congestion in high-traffic neighborhoods. Question 6: Do you believe that reducing residential parking requirements as set forth within NYC zoning regulations would affect neighborhood traffic congestion, and if so, in what way? As you know, New York City is pre-empted from implementing residential parking permitting; any change regarding permits has to go to the State Legislature because the roads are state owned. I do support sidewalk bump outs, where neighborhood residents/DOT can put planters, benches etc., but the local Community Board must be involved. Question 7: The NYC Department of Transportation's Public Plaza Program, Pedestrian Street Program and Summer Streets events are intended to diversify the use of public space and provide more places for New Yorkers to recreate and socialize. Do you support the temporary or permanent repurposing of street space for pedestrians and cyclists? Yes, I support temporary or permanent repurposing of street space for pedestrians and cyclists. I wrote to DOT asking that Summer Streets be extended to west side streets. Although we were not successful this year, I will be pushing for an expansion to the Hudson River bike path for next summer. I support DOT’s new midtown spaces for pedestrians, and I have allocated capital funding to expand Dante Park at West 63 Street and Broadway so as to provide more space in that area for pedestrians. Design plans are being worked on now. Question 8: The City recently released plans for Bus Rapid Transit and expressed interest in bringing a bike share program to New York City. Do you think these new projects would enhance the city's transportation network? Please explain.I am very supportive of BRT and of bike sharing. I held meetings and released a report some years ago regarding improvement of bus service, including smart cards, paying before entering, and installing cameras on buses to photograph license plates and issue summonses to vehicles that park in bus lanes. I introduced two resolutions in 2006 (Res. 356 and Res. 355) advocating for the cameras to be installed, and legislation is pending in Albany. The recommendations for BRT service improvements should also be made to regular bus service, so that passengers can get on and off safely and the bus can move more quickly. I support bike sharing, and am glad it is used at Governor’s Island. The City Council staff has met with DOT on the topic, and I believe that liability issues are still a challenge. If a rider has an accident while using a city-sponsored bike-sharing bicycle, and brings suit, who is liable? I hope that we can work these issues out. I would like a bike-sharing program in my district.
Submitted by Gale A. Brewer on Thu, 08/06/2009 - 18:05.
Submitted by Gale A. Brewer on Thu, 08/06/2009 - 10:12.
Submitted by Gale A. Brewer on Thu, 08/06/2009 - 18:05.
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