REMARKS
Sandy Nurse explains her vote on the budget
1:19:34
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127 sec
Council Member Sandy Nurse criticizes Mayor Adams for imposing unnecessary cuts to critical services despite expected budget surpluses, and praises the City Council for fighting to restore funding. She highlights the council's efforts, particularly the Progressive Caucus, in preserving essential services and programs for New Yorkers.
- Nurse emphasizes that the mayor cut library services, park maintenance, community composting, and CUNY programs, while the council fought to restore them.
- She mentions the Progressive Caucus's "Homes Now" campaign, which revived the Neighborhood Pillars program and increased funding for affordable homeownership.
- Nurse concludes by voting 'aye' on the budget, stating that the council deserves credit for baselining many programs to enhance services for New Yorkers in the future.
Sandy Nurse
1:19:34
This is our 3rd restoration budget where we have had to scrap it out with this mayor for basic critical services.
1:19:42
Mayor Adams continued to impose unnecessary cuts to lifesaving programs despite numerous reports that we are expecting multibillion dollar surpluses into next year.
1:19:54
He fails to invest in the services that you depend on that are designed to protect you and make your life better.
1:20:01
And it is the counsel under the speaker that has fought tooth and nail on the front lines for you.
1:20:07
By forcing New Yorkers to fight and scrounge for the bare minimum, he continues to show his inability to properly manage this city.
1:20:16
I'm grateful and proud that this council and I wanna give a special shout out to the progressive caucus for blunting the sharpest of this mayor's cuts and has preserved the bare minimum for the people and families of New York.
1:20:29
And as a reminder, it was the mayor who cut library service, who cut maintenance for our parks, who cut community composting, and CUNY programs.
1:20:39
It was his rent guidelines board who raised your rent.
1:20:42
Who cut services for elders.
1:20:45
He cut the programs for our at risk youth who desperately need more chances to become healthy members of our city.
1:20:51
It has been the council that has stood every single day fighting for you.
1:20:56
The progressive caucus homes now campaign brought a vital program neighborhood pillars back from the dead and won a 140% increase in funding for shared equity, affordable homeownership, over the next 2 years, and that is a win.
1:21:12
To the extent that we can say this budget does the minimum.
1:21:16
It is because the speaker the people in this room, and all the staff of this institution pushed every day.
1:21:23
And that is why I'm voting yesterday.
1:21:25
Because I am clear that we are not the problem.
1:21:29
We deserve more.
1:21:30
We deserve better, and I'm thankful to everyone here for the incredible work to baseline so many programs so that next year's fight is about enhancing services for New Yorkers, not protecting them, I vodai.
