NYC Council District 26 Election: Hailie Kim Seeks LIC Seat

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — Democratic voters in New York City's 26th Council district, which includes Sunnyside, Woodside, Long Island City, Dutch Kills, and parts of Astoria, will see 15 names on their ballots when they vote in the June 22 primary election — making it one of the most crowded primary races in the city.

One of those names will be Hailie Kim, an adjunct professor in English Literature at Hunter College.

Patch reached out to all candidates in the election to create these profiles. Kim's responses are below, although her campaign noted that the answers were completed by communications members.

<b>Age (as of Election Day)</b>

28

<b>Position Sought</b>

City Council

<b>Party Affiliation</b>

Democrat

<b>Neighborhood of residence (i.e., East Village, Astoria, etc.)</b>

Sunnyside, NY

<b>Family</b>

Single

<b>Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?</b>

No

<b>Education</b>

B.A. in Literature
Purchase College, SUNY
M.A. in English
Hunter College, CUNY

<b>Occupation</b>

CUNY Adjunct Professor, Hunter College (English)

<b>Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office</b>

None

<b>Campaign website</b>

https://www.hailiekimforcityco...

<b>Why are you seeking elective office?</b>

I’m an educator, teaching at Hunter College, a working class New Yorker, and an immigrant. I grew up in Sunnyside, the daughter of a nail technician and small beauty supply shop owner. They worked long hours at manual labor jobs, and the one thing they thought would help me rise, the one thing that gave them hope, was my education. The message they instilled in me about the importance of education and community stuck,
Education, for me, has been a form of advocacy and activism. Teaching at Hunter College, I see the effects of an underfunded education system on the future of my students every day. I am a Democratic Socialist, I believe that there should be a minimum level of living standards in society and the state should intervene to make sure everyone is taken care of and has their basic needs met, and that justice and equality are upheld.
I reflect this in my classes, where we discuss displacement, racial disparities, and readings that illustrate the dire need for empathy in all aspects of our society: in our justice system, in our education system, our healthcare system and in the city we build. My students inspire me because most of them are already on board with our values, they just need us to have the courage to stand for them. So I decided to lead by example.

<b>The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.</b>

Recently unemployment was 10.7% in Queens. The first piece of legislation we need to pass would be the establishment of a new City agency to provide basic fixed wage public service jobs with full benefits. These jobs will be targeted to people who would otherwise be unemployed or underemployed; they do not replace the City’s professional staff. Workers will be assigned to new or expanded programs, some of which may be administered by community orgs but funded by the City, while others will be managed by appropriate agencies - for example, green initiatives under DEP or arts projects under DCLA. The number of jobs created depends on the funding; a $1 billion program, for example, could employ as many as 25,000 residents.
It is tragic that we accept unemployment and the suffering that it causes when so much important work is not being done. Rep. Pressley has introduced H.Res.145, a resolution “to create a Federal job guarantee … to finally eliminate the moral and economic scourge of involuntary unemployment”. Only the federal government has the financial capacity to truly guarantee employment, but a sizable standing City jobs program is feasible and would have tremendous benefits. If designed to be compatible with H.Res.145, such a program could set an example to build support for the federal program, and could rapidly scale up to a full guarantee when federal funding becomes available.

<b>What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?</b>

Each of us come to this race from a different set of life experiences and life choices. My family moved to Sunnyside from Seoul, South Korea just in time for me to start first grade at P.S 150. My parents worked hard, mother as a nail technician and dad was a small business owner. Our home was a humble apartment. Their hard work and sacrifice are embedded in how I see my community. For example, the library was a place where I could meet with tutors because our apartment was so small and had access to computers.
All of this and my parents strong belief in Education is what led me to CUNY. The choice of public service over being a cog in a corporate system was easy. As a CUNY adjunct professor I would be able to educate and uplift each student that came into my classroom. I have been able to walk out “Not me. Us.”

<b>If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)</b>

I am not a challenger. My City Council Member, Jimmy Van Bramer is term limited and presently running for Borough President.

<b>How do you think local officials performed in responding to the coronavirus? What if anything would you have done differently?</b>

I think what Jimmy Van Bramer did during the crisis was very admirable. He’s been consistently volunteering with local aid groups, distributing food, and PPE. I’m much younger than Jimmy, and thus much less personally at risk, and thus was very active on the frontlines from the beginning, volunteering at least 3-4 times a week from the first two weeks on with mutual aid and faith based groups to help feed our community during this unprecedented crisis. I would emulate his weekly newsletters updating constituents on the COVID numbers in our district, but I would ensure that the newsletter was available in more languages, as Spanish, Polish, Chinese and Korean are also widely spoken in our district.
Lastly, the arrival of COVID-19, brought a surge in hate and violent crimes targeting Asian-Americans, especially with many being the subject of racial bias. These crimes were not taken seriously at the onset. We must empower the Civilian Complaint Review Board to ensure that the NYPD can be held accountable when they fail to prosecute Hate Crimes crimes against Asian Americans.

<b>Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.</b>

As a city council candidate at this point in time we have so many issues to focus on such as defunding the NYPD, affordable housing, stopping hospital closures, gaining municipal control of the MTA, protecting our water fronts and flood zones, rolling out municipal wifi, universal rent control and fully funding NYCHA and honestly so much more. But two areas that I have focused on are Education and Jobs.
Education
At their core, education policies should be centered around the two people who matter the most: those doing the teaching and those doing the learning. Here’s what we can do to ensure equitable and excellent education for all. We start by ensuring the now fully funded Fair Student Funding is equitably distributed. We need to place limits on PTA fundraising for the wealthiest schools. The prioritization of public schools over charter schools is essential. We need to fund universal after-school and fully fund CUNY Community Colleges & CUNY Prep. (free for all). 3-K for all must be fully rolled out in all school districts. And we must do all we can to support for English Language Learners (ELLs) and students with disabilities all the while improving the infrastructure of existing schools.
Jobs
Creating a sizable standing City jobs program to help meet the 10.6% unemployment rate in Queens must be a top priority. It is feasible and would have tremendous benefits. This new City agency would provide basic fixed wage public service jobs with full benefits. These will be new jobs providing either new services or expanded access to existing services; they do not replace the City’s professional staff. The number of jobs created depends on the funding; a $1 billion program, for example, could employ around 25,000 residents.

<b>What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?</b>

The work I did with Nodutdol advancing issues of LGBTQUI work within the Korean Community was very formative. This work included but is not limited to Trans visibility in the korean community and Trans voting rights.
Also the work I did to address food insecurity through Mutual Aide work with food pantries at Mosaic Church’s Community Center, Sunnyside-Woodside Mutual Aid’s Woodside Houses pantry as well as one offs with LIC-Relief and Urban Upbound.

<b>The best advice ever shared with me was:</b>

The best advice I ever got, but is the most challenging to keep in mind is to not compare myself to others.

<b>What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?</b>

My campaign isn’t taking a single donation from special interests. The only people I want to be accountable to are the members of my district. People have the power to affect change and bring about movements. And that power is stronger than the power of any political machine and outside interests. My positions uphold a society and state where basic needs are met, and that justice and equality are upheld.