Issues
Brooklyn is the fourth largest city in America. Who we are, where we live and what kind of community we envision for ourselves and our families matters. In a city like New York (and there is no other!) an enormous number of issues intersect to affect our daily lives.
Below are a few of the key issues for which Jo Anne has a proven record of commitment. Of course, she'll be adding more information as the campaign progresses, so please check back from time to time.
Everybody'sTalking about Term Limits.
Jo Anne believes the voters have spoken. Read her statement here
Education -- Fighting for the rights of all students.
Jo Anne is a teacher and former college administrator, so education is something she cares deeply about and has continued to work on as an attorney. She:
- Opposes the Mayor's recently proposed education budget cuts.
- Supports real accountability in our schools - from last year's bus route programs to this year's admissions debacles (for Pre-K, Kindergarten and middle schools, especially special eduction), it's clear that accountability is more than just a numbers game. Meaningful involvement of parents and educators is key.
- In a landmark case brought against New York's bar examiners, Jo Anne successfully represented Marilyn Bartlett, a learning disabled women who sought accommodations for her learning disability on the Bar Exam. She was refused and a nine year battle, including a visit to the U.S. Supreme Court, was waged. The case was won, opening doors for students with disabilities to standardized testing. (See articles in the San Francisco Examiner and New York Law Journal about this case.)
- Jo Anne regularly speaks to college faculty and administrators across the country regarding higher education, disability and diversity.
- Jo Anne's expertise is held in high regard by her peers and parents alike, serving as President of the New York Branch of the International Dyslexia Association, and the Professional Advisory Board of the Learning Disabilities Association of America.
Development--we know that as council member, she will fight for our communities.
Perhaps no other topic has stirred more controversy in Brooklyn than development. From huge deals to smaller construction of new luxury coops, space has become a hot commodity in Brooklyn. Too often it seems, communities are put in a position of fighting against someone else's idea of what our neighborhoods need.
Jo Anne believes that we can and should determine what our neighborhoods need. Working together we can make that happen. That's why she helped create the Hoyt-Schermerhorn Task Force, a model for community based development city-wide. She has signed a Pledge to Uphold Accountable Development principles. That's why she's organized with neighborhoods and spearheaded efforts to bring the community to the table on issues such as the Downtown Brooklyn Plan, Atlantic Yards, BrooklynSpeaks.net, Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods, PLANyc, Greenpoint-Williamsburg Rezoning, the Gowanus Expressway Community Stakeholder Group,Traffic Calming, Brooklyn Greenway Initiative and so many other important efforts to improve our quality of life.
Transportation
In this dense urban environment, Jo Anne believes that transportation should be effective, efficient and safe, environmentally sustainable, flexible, and have as little environmental impact as possible. Transportation decisions should be respectful of the host communities; made after meaningful participation by the affected persons; and based on sufficient, accurate and valid traffic and environmental data.
That's why she led the communities' effort to have a progressive regional response to the NYS Department of Transportation's proposal to rebuild the Gowanus Expressway and has advocated for transportation and transit improvements for 15 years.
Environment and Open Space
It's taken decades for people to realize that the environment is not just the country - it is also our vital urban landscape. Too many urban areas bear a disproportionate share of the environmental burdens associated with power plants, waste transfer stations, diesel fumes, airborne pollutants - all of which severely compromise our health and our students' abilities to learn efficiently. It is a City Council member's job to keep the environment on the radar screen while ensuring that our open spaces - parks, gardens, plazas - keep growing.
That's why Jo Anne has supported increased city funding for community gardens, improved pedestrian pathways in Downtown Brooklyn, renovation and upgrades to City Parks, such as 16 Sycamore, McLaughlin, South Oxford and Cadman/Walt Whitman Parks. She has co-founded Friends of Douglass/Greene Park to steward the renovation of that park through a community-wide, participatory design process and the use of incentive for environmentally responsible development, such as mandating the use of the "Sustainable Design Guidelines" that were adopted for the World Trade Center redevelopment projects.
If you believe that more democracy is better than less democracy, then you believe that community voices must be heard. The more people are involved in the actual decision-making processes in their community, the more likely our communities will reflect our values and priorities for our neighborhoods, our schools, our local economies, and our overall quality of life.