Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
TESTIMONY
Testimony by Kimberly Cruz, Author, Hindsight is 2020, on Board of Elections barriers, housing oversight, and civics education
2:19:21
·
3 min
Kimberly Cruz argues that electoral reform discussions must extend beyond open primaries to address barriers at the Board of Elections (like lack of process for justifying signatures) and a broader lack of civics education.
She criticizes failures in city oversight related to housing maintenance and code enforcement, citing examples of negligence leading to building collapses and fires.
Cruz also raises concerns about proposed casino developments potentially displacing residents and neglecting issues like mail theft, urging the commission to focus on enforcing existing legal codes and improving oversight of city agencies like HPD and DOB.
- Highlights procedural barriers for new candidates at the Board of Elections.
- Stresses need for improved civics education amidst political polarization.
- Criticizes lack of oversight in housing repairs/code enforcement leading to safety hazards.
- Points to specific examples of building collapses/fires due to alleged negligence.
- Raises concerns about casino development, displacement, and lack of focus on issues like mail theft.
- Urges focus on enforcing existing laws and improving agency oversight.
Kimberly Cruz
2:19:21
Hi.
2:19:22
My name is Kimberly Cruz, and I'm the author of hindsight is twenty twenty, the tree and key to democracy.
2:19:28
And I am talking about things outside of open primaries because voters do not know what actually goes on in front of the board of elections.
2:19:37
They do not allow new candidates to justify their signatures in front of the board, especially in this technological age.
2:19:44
There were many new candidates last year who received important documents that were straight to their spam box, and when it was stated in front of the board, they did not care.
2:19:52
So there are barriers outside of just the labels that we have that voters should know about.
2:19:57
So this is a problem about civics, really.
2:19:59
And in a civil war that we're in, where federal representatives, our state representatives, and our local city councilmen are creating their own propaganda, their own agendas for their own labels, we have to put civics at the center of it.
2:20:12
So I'm going to focus on housing and the new developments in our boroughs.
2:20:16
Housing and the lack of oversight of the professionals making repairs in housing developments, in apartments and houses of the people of New York, of natives who are here, that lacks oversight.
2:20:26
So if the commission actually wants to change the quality of life outside of this Charles Dickens era post these pandemics, post measles now that it's out in the world, we have to think about housing court.
2:20:36
Does it actually have support?
2:20:38
Does the housing preservation and development agency actually have oversight, or are they creating their own agenda as well?
2:20:45
Is the code enforcement of every borough actually following the code in the maintenance code?
2:20:50
That's legal code.
2:20:51
Because there are a lot of professionals that are making corrections that are leading to collapsed buildings that are leading to fires.
2:20:57
So in The Bronx, nearly a year after a partial building collapse in the Morris Heights section of The Bronx displaced dozens of families, and the New York City Department of Buildings released its findings that the report points to negligence by the engineer in charge identifying a failure to recognize critical masonry as structural.
2:21:15
So you have families just the day before Christmas going to homeless shelters, they're still in homeless shelters.
2:21:21
In Queens, you have a contractor who attempted to remove lead paint with a blowtorch, and he and we have people that are homeless, our New Yorkers.
2:21:29
So when we think about the problems, we have to really think about the structures we have as well as the new developments.
2:21:35
We have three casinos that they're trying to add to our city.
2:21:38
Think about that.
2:21:39
One in where Bailey Links is, which is where the bridge is, one that's creating a red light district in Flushing, Queens where they're trying to take away our Flushing Meadows Parkland, our public land, and one in Brooklyn and Coney Island.
2:21:53
So they're displacing native New Yorkers in front of our eyes, and the commission has to create amendments that actually put these professionals in their place because there's legal code in our city to regulate our homes as native New Yorkers.
2:22:06
So when we think about that, we also have to think about the mail theft that's going around in our city.
2:22:11
That's a federal crime.
2:22:12
If our commission actually thinks about government structure, it's the amendments of our life.
2:22:17
So if mail theft is happening, all our elderly people, our children, the people that wanna get higher education, they're the ones that are getting targeted.
2:22:24
We are doing a disservice to our population if we are just talking about open primaries and our civil war that we have right now.
2:22:31
So really take it take your power.
2:22:34
I understand that my time is up, but there's local laws that are coming up 05/01/2025.
2:22:39
Local law one five seven.
2:22:40
It mandates the installation of natural gas detectors.
2:22:44
And right now, the governor is dealing with hydrofracking policies that will affect New York City people.
Richard R. Buery Jr.
2:22:50
Thank you so much.