REMARKS
Carlina Rivera explains her vote on the NYC budget
1:27:43
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119 sec
Council Member Carlina Rivera expresses her support for the budget, highlighting investments in various areas and emphasizing the restorations secured for cultural organizations and public libraries. She praises the collaborative effort in passing the budget and its focus on community needs.
- As chair of the committee on cultural affairs and libraries, Rivera emphasizes increased baseline funding for libraries and cultural institutions.
- She notes the economic impact of cultural organizations and libraries, citing their diverse services and revenue generation.
- Rivera thanks staff members, colleagues, and her family for their support in the budget process.
Carlina Rivera
1:27:43
Thank you.
1:27:44
Good afternoon, everyone.
1:27:45
Thank you, madam speaker, for your leadership and work to pass this budget I know it wasn't easy, but collectively, we remain focused on 1 goal to listen to our communities and deliver for them to the best of our ability.
1:27:58
This budget builds on work this council has done to expand access to housing and healthcare and invest more in childcare, improve youth, and senior programming address street safety, bolster climate resiliency, support our schools, enhance parks, and public spaces, and much more.
1:28:14
And as chair of the committee on cultural affairs and libraries.
1:28:16
I'm especially proud of the restorations we secured and baselines we established for our cultural organizations and public library systems.
1:28:25
Thanks to our work together.
1:28:26
The libraries will have a higher baseline funding moving forward, ensuring New Yorkers have access to their vital services For the first time since 2009, 15 years, we've increased baseline support for our cultural institutions group that are an unbelievable economic engine for the city.
1:28:44
The return on investment will pay itself off many, many times over.
1:28:50
I applaud the New Yorkers who fought hard to secure support for arts organizations, cultural institutions, and our public libraries as we work together to build a stronger, safer, and more vibrant city.
1:29:01
Libraries in our cultural organizations are valuable institutions that provide diverse performances, renowned theater language classes, access to technology, career, and financial services, and countless other experiences and opportunities And these entities support families across the boroughs, host visitors from around the world, and generate 1, 000, 000, 000 of dollars in economic revenue.
1:29:23
Together, we achieved the budget that invests in impactful services equitably across the city.
1:29:28
I wanna thank all of the staff, Jeremy, John, Faiza Ali.
1:29:31
Thank you.
1:29:32
The speakers leadership team in finance, BNT, my own counsel team that holds it down, and, of course, my family.
1:29:39
And my colleagues, I vote I, happy pride.