REMARKS
Acknowledgments and introductions of council members and staff
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136 sec
Council Member Restler concludes his opening remarks by acknowledging and thanking various staff members and introducing other council members present at the hearing.
- Thanks committee staff members by name
- Acknowledges his own team members
- Introduces other council members present in person and on Zoom
- Reads a statement on behalf of Council Member Hanif, who is absent due to illness
- Introduces the first panel speaker, Henry Garrido, Executive Director of DC 37
Lincoln Restler
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I'd like to thank the civil service committee staff who are terrific.
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Elizabeth Arts and and Rhee Oguessuara.
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Did I miss that up?
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Did I do okay?
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Sorry.
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Do I should I say that correctly?
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Asawara.
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Asawara.
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Excuse me.
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I'm sorry, Rhee.
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And the governmental operations team, Jaisri Ganapathy and Erica Cohen for their work.
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I'd also like to thank my team, my great communications director, Niamh Niamh Mooney, and Molly Haley, who is brilliant, my chief of staff.
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With that, I'd like to recognize council member Batcher and did I see Vicky?
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And council member Paladino.
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Welcome council member Paladino.
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And
Carmen De La Rosa
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Moya and Cabana.
Lincoln Restler
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And council members Moya and Cabana are on Zoom.
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How are you guys doing?
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Do you wanna reach out as opening?
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You want me to?
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She had an opening.
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Okay.
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And council member Hanif is unfortunately sick today, but she asked us to read a statement on her behalf, with regard to her legislation.
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Thank you, chairs de la Rosa and Ressler, for including my bill intro 2 12 a on today's agenda.
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I'd also like to thank Ter de La Rosa for introducing this bill alongside me as a co prime sponsor.
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It's no secret that our municipal workforce has a vacancy problem.
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Positions at city agencies are not being filled, which has decreased the performance of essential services that our constituents depend on.
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Let's be clear.
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There's no shortage of demand for civil service jobs.
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Working class New Yorkers, including those from immigrant community backgrounds, or with those with lower levels of educational attainment are eager to use their skills to strengthen our city.
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However, unnecessarily complicated language in the civil service exams can serve as a barrier for those who are well qualified for the jobs that they are applying for, but who speak English as a second language or who have lower levels of reading comprehension.
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Intro 212 seeks to address this issue by requiring DCAS to offer civil service exams in plain simple language at the lowest reading comprehension level that is practicable for the available position.
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I wanna stress that this bill would not lower the standard for applicants.
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It would solely make the language of the test more accessible for a diverse pool of potential civil servants.
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I look forward to hearing testimony from the administration and the public on intro 212.
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I'm hopeful this bill can open up new economic opportunities for New Yorkers and strengthen our city's workforce.
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Thank you so much, council member Hanif.
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We hope you feel better.
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And with that, we'd like to call up our first panel, the the executive director of DC 37, the one and only Henry Garrido.
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Thanks for being with us.
