Manhattan Borough President Race 2021: Brad Hoylman Seeks Office

NEW YORK, NY — Voters in Manhattan will see seven names on their ballot when they vote in the June 22 primary election for borough president.

One of those names will be Brad Hoylman, who has represented much of Midtown and Lower Manhattan in the State Senate since 2013. He is running to succeed Gale Brewer, who is term-limited as borough president and running instead for her old City Council seat on the Upper West Side.

Patch reached out to all candidates in the election to create these profiles. Hoylman's responses are below.

Age (as of Election Day)

55

Position Sought

Manhattan Borough President

Party Affiliation

Democrat

Neighborhood of residence (i.e., East Village, Astoria, etc.)

West Village

Family

David Sigal - Husband; Silvia (10) and Lucy (3), Daughters

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No

Education

West Virginia University (BA)
Exeter College, Oxford (MPhil)
Harvard University (JD)

Occupation

New York State Senator District 27, Elected 2012

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

Currently a State Senator, previously a District Leader and Community Board Chair

Campaign website

www.BradHoylman.com

Why are you seeking elective office?

Across the United States and here in New York City, we are experiencing three overlapping crises: the immediate public health crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic, to which we have lost far too many neighbors; economic devastation of our small businesses, arts and cultural institutions, and accompanying mass unemployment and increasing inequality; and a crisis of community, as many people cut off from their normal gathering places and the interactions inherent to non-pandemic life endure profound isolation and loneliness. These issues have only exacerbated and laid bare existing inequities in Manhattan.
The stakes for New York City’s next class of elected leaders are extraordinarily high. They will not only determine whether we recover from these crises, but how it happens, and whether that recovery is broadly shared. Manhattan, in particular, has become increasingly inaccessible to New Yorkers without excessive wealth or small businesses without billion-dollar backers, and those who are working class and have remained are far too often forced to make unreasonable sacrifices to make ends meet. I am running for Manhattan Borough President because this is my home, the people who are suffering are my neighbors and friends, and my two young daughters’ future depends on where we go from here. Manhattan’s recovery is our own.
Over the course of my career in Albany, I’ve passed 120 bills — I’m proud to say some of them are considered to be the most progressive and consequential in decades. I took on the issue of child sexual abuse by passing the Child Victims Act with Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal. I passed the Police STAT Act, which for the first time requires the NYPD and police departments across the state to share data on the demographics of the people they are arresting and ticketing. I passed GENDA, for the first time establishing statewide antidiscrimination protections for transgender and non-binary New Yorkers. I passed the Protect Our Courts Act, which bars ICE from arresting immigrants in and around our state’s courthouses. I helped to pass 2019’s rent reforms. I even took on anti-vaxxers by strengthening vaccine requirements for our kids.
This is all to say: I have a record of getting big things done, I am creative in my use of public office, and I intend to bring that same energy to the office of Borough President. We desperately need it.

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

Housing affordability. There's no question that our city has become simply unaffordable for millions of working families - that's unacceptable, and it's wrong. The next Borough President must be laser-focused on this issue - from committing to building affordable housing in every part of our borough, to creating a Manhattan's Tenants' Union, which will allow tenants to collectively organize after the eviction moratorium runs out to ensure folks can stay in their homes.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

The biggest differentiation is my record. Over the last decade in Albany, I've proven myself as a leader of progressive reform - passing over 120 bills on things ranging from LGBTQ equality, to protecting a women's right to choose, to getting guns off our streets. I'll bring that same passion and drive to the Borough President's office. At a time when we are recovering from a once in a generation crisis, we need proven leaders who know how to get things done.

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

This is an open seat, and I think Gale Brewer has done an incredible job as the current borough president and I will be honored to follow in her footsteps.

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

I think that we faced an evolving and unknown threat, and I’m proud to have passed important, data-driven and science-first legislation to respond: making vaccines available in pharmacies, keeping tenants in their homes through the Tenant Safe Harbor Act, and providing relief to small businesses. But there's no question that the failure of leadership from the Trump Administration cost hundreds of thousands of lives. As we rebuild, we need to be laser-focused on ensuring that tenants who have lost their jobs aren't unfairly evicted, and that we are rebuilding in a way that addresses the racial and economic inequality that’s so prevalent in our borough.

What's one policy you'd push for to make housing more affordable in Manhattan?

During this campaign, I've proposed a Manhattan Tenants Union -- to use the Borough President's office to help residential (and commercial) renters who share a landlord to organize to bargain together to keep tenants in their apartments, negotiate for fairer rents and demand better conditions. Instead of negotiating in the dark, as renters have always done in the past, tenants can share information and make decisions jointly.

In your first year, what would be your top funding priority through your discretionary budget?

One of my daughters has dyslexia, and we only learned about it when she was 9 years old. We know that we can detect dyslexia early and get early intervention to help kids like my daughter thrive in our schools - so I am proposing universal dyslexia testing in all public schools. This would cost less than 99 cents a child, and take less than 10 minutes, and would expose the reality that so many children have a completely treatable learning difference.

As Borough President, would you recommend approving or disapproving the following ULURP applications: SoHo/NoHo rezoning, the New York Blood Center tower, and the 250 Water Street seaport project?

The guiding principle for all zoning decisions when I am borough president will be: has the community been properly consulted? Unfortunately, it's clear that in these projects this has not occurred - so it's no question why these communities and I oppose those projects as currently formulated.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

Tackling income inequality and growing opportunity the make our borough more equitable. One example is my “Working to Ensure Equity in Development of the Cannabis Industry” — or “W.E.E.D. plan.” We can use the Borough President's office to invest in the communities that have been most impacted by the failed War on Drugs. By connecting these entrepreneurs with resources and investing in them, we can work to undo a small part of the decades of overwhelming discrimination they've faced through racist drug policy.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

One of my proudest accomplishments from over the last year was the passage of my Adult Survivor's Act through the State Senate this week. This legislation will finally allow the survivors of abusers like Donald Trump and Harvey Weinstein to see their day in court, and achieve a measure of justice that has been long denied them. In this legislative session alone, my office has passed 34 bills - on things ranging from cracking down on street racing, to support for LGBTQ veterans, to getting ghost guns off our streets. We need leaders who are passionate about building a stronger, progressive Manhattan - and I have the record to show it.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

Judge someone by their enemies. I’ve taken on a lot of fights and made some righteous enemies like the anti-science and anti-vaxxers, the insurance industry, Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump, Big Tobacco companies, the NRA and the Real Estate Lobby. If anything, these enemies and righteous fights have energized me to take on the daunting tasks ahead of us in Manhattan.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I'd want voters to know that I'd be honored to serve them as Manhattan's first gay borough president. As a husband and as a father, I know how lucky I am to have Manhattan as a home for our family - and I want to make it even better for its current and future families. We can rebuild stronger than before the pandemic, and I know that with my record of achieving progressive wins in Albany, we can do the same thing right here in Manhattan.