NYC Council Elections 2021: Erik Bottcher Seeks Village Seat

WEST VILLAGE, NY — Voters in New York City's 3rd Council district — which includes Greenwich Village, West Village, Chelsea, SoHo, Hell's Kitchen, Times Square, Hudson Square, and the Flatiron — will see six names on their ballots when they vote in the June 22 primary election.

One of those will be Erik Bottcher, the former LGBTQ Community Liaison for Gov. Andrew Cuomo and current Chief of Staff to Speaker Corey Johnson, who is among the Democrats seeking to replace the term-limited incumbent Johson.

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

Answers have been lightly edited for clarity.

Erik Bottcher

Age (as of Election Day)

42

Position Sought

City Council, District 3

Party Affiliation

Democrat

Neighborhood of residence

Chelsea

Family

Uncle to Drake (age 5), Lucas (age 4), Fiona (age 3) and Jordi (age 2)

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No

Education

The George Washington University, B.A., 2001

Occupation

Chief of Staff to New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson since 2015

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

Special Assistant for Community Affairs, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, LGBTQ & HIV/AIDS Community Liaison, New York City Council

Campaign website

ErikBottcher.com

Why are you seeking elective office?

New York City is where I found myself. Growing up in a small town in the Adirondack Mountains as the only gay person I knew was not easy. The struggles I faced with depression instilled in me a deep empathy and dedication to helping the most marginalized members of our society, which led me to become an activist and advocate, working at the city and state level to make life better for New Yorkers.

I have dedicated my life to public service, and I’m running for City Council because if our city is going to truly recover from the COVID-19 crisis, we’re going to need leaders who are tested, experienced, and ready to lead. I have a strong record of delivering results for our community, and that is what I will do as a member of the City Council.

I will fight for safe, livable and vibrant neighborhoods, create affordable housing and work to end homelessness, and help our small businesses reopen safely and succeed. I will work to root out the systemic racism that pervades society, advocate for our children and world-class public schools, and push for safer streets and better transportation options.
If we work together, I know we can make sure New York City’s best days are still to come.

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

As someone who has worked with thousands of Council District 3 constituents throughout my career, I can tell you that our community has been profoundly affected by the affordable housing crisis. As the candidate endorsed by TenantsPAC and as a longtime tenant activist, I believe that housing is a human right. To create thousands of permanently affordable homes in Council District 3, I support the conversion of distressed hotels and commercial office buildings into affordable and supportive housing. I’ll ensure that developers seeking land use approvals generate significant affordable housing and other benefits for the community. I will be a strong advocate for the residents of NYCHA, and will ensure that their homes receive the long-overdue repairs and upgrades they need. I'll push back forcefully against any attempts to weaken our rent laws, so that rent-regulated tenants are protected. I’ll fight to expand rental assistance vouchers, to extend the moratorium on evictions, and protect tenants who are subject to illegal harassment. As a Council Member, I will host monthly housing clinics in my office with free legal assistance for renters to help solve serious housing issues.

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

Times of crisis call for proven leadership. I am the candidate in this race with experience in government and a deep knowledge of how to get things done at the city, state and federal level.

Next year is going to be a make-or-break year for the city, and with nearly all of the City Council turning over due to term limits, we’re going to need people at City Hall who know where the light switches are and who can help us make our policy visions a reality.

Additionally, our campaign has the most grassroots support of any campaign in this race. Over 930 people have contributed to our campaign - those most of any campaign in the history of our district - without a dime from real estate developers, lobbyists or corporate PACs. Hundreds of residents are volunteering, and we garnered 4,961 petition signatures to get me on the ballot. I’ve been endorsed by nearly every labor union, environmental groups, animal rights groups, pro-choice groups, and many more. Our campaign is a grassroots movement of residents who believe that anything is possible if we come together as New Yorkers.

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

N/A

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

Given the lack of leadership from the federal government and the fact that we were faced with unprecedented circumstances, our local elected officials did their best in a crisis situation. One major area of failure was communication with families about school closure and reopening. Our teachers, principals and school staff performed heroically, coming up with new methods of learning virtually overnight. The City’s decisions on school reopenings and closings, however, left families in the dark until the last minute regarding many decisions, confusing even school principals and administrators, and eroding confidence in the entire system. I would have made decisions in a transparent manner that gave families sufficient lead time to make informed decisions and plans for their children.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

One of the banner issues of my campaign is addressing the mental health crisis that is gripping our city. This issue is personal for me. When I was 15 years old, I was involuntarily admitted to a mental health facility following a number of suicide attempts. Difficult as the experience was, the 30 days of care that I received at Four Winds Hospital saved my life. It wasn’t until years later that I realized how privileged I was. Most Americans do not have sufficient access to behavioral health care, especially BIPOC Americans, undocumented people, and those living in poverty.

As a country, we have failed in our approach to mental health. Our most tragic failure relates to those with serious mental illness. One need look no further than the streets of any large city in America, including New York City. Thousands of our fellow New Yorkers are experiencing unfathomable pain and suffering, right before our eyes. Many of the tragedies that have happened were entirely avoidable with proper care and treatment.

I have released a concrete plan, which can be found at www.erikbottcher.com/mentalhealth, to address the “shadow pandemic” of serious mental illness in New York City. I’m calling for an expansion of behavioral healthcare services including the Fountain House “clubhouse” model that helps to provide critical transition services for New Yorkers released from congregate care settings so they can successfully rejoin and sustain a healthier life within the community.

My plan calls for a halt to the closure of inpatient psychiatric beds, an increase in crisis stabilization centers, a revamping of prison discharge services to ensure people with mental health issues receive proper care, and other concrete recommendations. I know it is possible to achieve a society that cares for its most vulnerable and ensures the health and safety of all. As a member of the New York City Council, I will take on this fight.

Connected to mental health, addressing the homelessness crisis will require a creative hands on approach to a truly broken system. It is a disgrace that in one of the richest cities in the world, nearly 80,000 men, women and children are forced to live in shelters and temporary housing. Thousands more are living on the streets. This is a result of our city, state and country’s complete failure to address the crises of housing, jobs, education, systemic racism, substance abuse, criminal justice, mental health and more. I will fight to help individuals and families avoid the shelter system altogether by extending the moratorium on evictions, increase rental assistance, preserve NYCHA, expand legal representation for those facing eviction, and increase post-incarceration services to keep people off the streets when they are most vulnerable. For those experiencing homelessness, I will push to increase rental voucher amounts so that people can realistically rent apartments with them in New York City. We need to get serious about making our shelters safe, and outfit them with basic amenities like lockers, clean bathrooms, and washing machines as well as access to mental and physical healthcare services. We must change the way we approach transitioning unsheltered New Yorkers from the streets by creating more low-threshold safe haven sites, and build supportive housing for people who need mental health and substance abuse services to survive and thrive.

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

Having worked in senior roles for the Governor and under three City Council Speakers, there is no question that I am tested, prepared, and ready to lead on day one. When Hartley House, the 115 year-old settlement house in Hell’s Kitchen, was threatened with closure, I worked with community leaders to come up with a plan to prevent its sale to private developers. I’ve helped thousands of constituents with nearly every conceivable issue in city and state government, learning every agency as well as the issues facing every city block in Council District 3. When our State’s rent stabilization laws were being held up in Albany, I was arrested alongside tenant activists in the State Capitol. When the COVID-19 crisis hit, I took action, building an expansive volunteer network that made weekly wellness calls to thousands of home-bound seniors and delivered tens of thousands of meals to food insecure residents across the district. I created a vaccine volunteer program that helped nearly 400 seniors get vaccination appointments. I organize weekly community cleanups in the Village, Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen.

Whether it’s facing down right wing zealots in the capitol hallways during the fight for marriage equality, organizing rallies and marches for thousands of people in the wake of hate crimes, negotiating complex land use actions, drafting legislation, or organizing our community in resistance to the Trump Agenda, I am prepared to represent my community on the City Council.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

Kindness is the ability to know what the right thing to do is and having the courage to do it.

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

When I was a freshman in college in the late nineties, I wrote a letter to my hometown school district, the Lake Placid Central School district, about the anti-LGBTQ bullying I had experienced there. I had always kept this bottled up inside, and felt I had to speak up for other young people coming up behind me. The letter was read aloud at the next meeting of the school board. So, I simultaneously came out as a gay man to the town, and came out about my experiences in high school. Soon after, I learned that the school district made changes, including adding sexual orientation to the nondiscrimination policy of the schools. This taught me a powerful lesson that I carry with me today. Each of us has immense ability to create change.