Brian A. Cunningham

Brian A. Cunningham was born in New York City, New York. Cunningham's career experience includes working as an advocate counselor with CAMBA and a senior aide with New York state legislative offices. He served as the director of Neighbors in Action.[1]

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Cunningham's campaign website highlighted the following issues. Click "show" on the boxes below for more information about his positions.[4]

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

"It goes without saying that Brooklyn faces a major affordable housing crisis. More low and middle-income families are being pushed out by rising rents and greedy developers, while our elected representatives pay nothing but lip service. It's time we STAND UP to the powerful real-estate interests, and say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, and fight for commonsense policies that support long-time residents who are being rapidly displaced.

Increase rent stabilized and protected units.

Make Affordable Housing AFFORDABLE.

Fighting Back Against Unscrupulous Landlords.

We must increase rent stabilized and protected units and make 'affordable housing' live up to it's name.

Dissolve the state legislature power to regulate housing and rent in New York City. I will stand up to the rogue democrats in the State Senate who have helped Republicans block legislation to protect tenants. We should be the ones who control our ability to afford where we live - not upstate politicians without a stake in the situation who have been bought by the wealthy real estate lobby.

Demand the repeal of the Urstadt Law. Repeal this outdated, unfair law, which has exacerbated the housing crisis with imposed widespread rent deregulation and allowed the real estate market to gouge NYC tenants.

Make rent control and rent stabilized housing cutoff ages increase as time passes. Fewer residential buildings built before 1947 (rent control) and 1974 (rent stabilization) exist and have available rooms.

Passing housing legislation that is mindful of increases and changes in population and demographics.

Ensure that any development receiving government subsidies for affordable living remain affordable - forever.

Give preference to non-profit developers to develop affordable and low income housing. We need to save residents from higher rents charged to pay off for-profit developers.

Develop more lease to own programs. Residents need more programs to become home owners rather than renters lining the pockets of people who do not participate in or give back to the community. The people who live here should have a stake in their community.

Fighting Back Against Exploitive Landlords.

Thanks to our Public Advocate, Letitia James, we know that right here in our district, the worst landlord in all of New York City has 5 properties totaling well over 1,000 violations.

Following in the Public Advocate’s footsteps and promoting legislation such as her proposed bill to crack down on slumlords by preventing them from being able to get building permits.

Strengthening the penalties for repeat offenders and prohibiting them from bidding on city contracts.

Putting forward legislation that gives landlords a 30-day deadline to cash or deposit received rent checks.

Holding free multi-language information sessions in the community to provide tips on how to avoid falling into housing scams.

Making funds available for organizations that send people undercover to investigate racial/gender/sexuality/religious bias when it comes to renting."

UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE FOR NYC

"Everyone gets sick. But many people all across the country, including here in New York, face an incredible dilemma when they or their loved ones need medical attention. It is a disgrace that 62% of bankruptcies are caused by medical debt. I believe that no one should have to choose between rent, food, and healthcare as some New Yorkers are forced to do. It’s in the government’s best interest to introduce an affordable system that takes care of all residents, regardless of health, citizenship, immigration, or employment status. It’s in the government’s best interest to keep people out of crippling debt due to necessary expenses.

As your City Councilman, I will introduce legislation that establishes an affordable health care system modeled after Healthy San Francisco. Our system will rely predominantly on taxing medium to large businesses but also on participants paying varied amounts into the system based on salary. In San Francisco, businesses with 100 or more employees pay $2.64/hour per covered employee on health care, while businesses with 20-99 employees pay $1.76/hour per worker.

Of course, New York and San Francisco are very different. For one, the population of NYC is nearly 10 times larger. That, combined with the Wall Street-type corporations that are headquartered here mean that the tax that works in San Francisco is not likely to work here. If elected, I will sit down with policy and economics experts to come up with a plan that prioritizes the health of NYC residents, while also establishing a fair set of tax rates for the different types of businesses in the city.

It’s more expensive when uninsured people wait until their medical problems become so great that they need to use emergency care. A universal health care plan will save taxpayers a lot of money in the long run since otherwise uninsured New Yorkers will no longer rely on hospitals’ emergency rooms, which forces taxpayers or private hospitals to pick up the tab for extremely expensive medical care. Let’s follow in the footsteps of nearly every other developed country and take care of our all our neighbors in a way that’s practical and saves money. Let’s put an end to choosing between debt and death."

IMPROVING TRANSPORTATION

"As your City Councilman, I will be committed to protecting everyone that uses our streets, whether they’re driving a car, riding a bike, or crossing by foot. Our city needs to step up to the plate and do more to respect the safety of cyclists and pedestrians, as well as improve the safety of motorists. We must make meaningful changes in order to tackle traffic, overcome financial and ableist barriers to public transportation, and reduce carbon and greenhouse gas emissions.

There are some issues in particular that stand out in our neighborhood. First, I want to express my support for the car-free initiative in Park Slope this summer. If elected, I will continue to support the DOT in any way possible in its endeavor to ensure that the effects on traffic continue to be negligible so that we can make it a permanent feature of the park. This will make the park air cleaner and the roads safer for cyclists, joggers, and children.

The other neighborhood-specific issue that needs swift attention is the high crash corridors that are Brooklyn Ave and Kingston Ave. 15.9 and 20.7 traffic-related serious injuries or deaths per mile, respectively, take place here. Specific plans to fix the problem were proposed over 2 years ago and the needed changes have yet to be made while accidents continue to take place at alarming rates. I will not let this situation continue to be ignored; I will advocate proactively on behalf of cyclists where current leadership has failed to do so at the cost of people’s lives.

Additionally, I intend on making our streets safer and easier to navigate for cyclists and pedestrians by:

Introducing specifically marked bike lanes where they are currently lacking wherever possible to reduce accidents and crashes

Supporting the DOT’s proposal for partial street closures on Franklin Avenue as well as on Remsen Avenue to install pedestrian plazas

Pushing for an expansion of Citi Bike so that more New Yorkers have access to get around in a sustainable, healthy way

Reduce Traffic and Commute Times.

If we combat traffic effectively, we will be enabling our neighbors to get to work more quickly and vastly improve emergency services such as ambulances and police vehicles’ response times as well as increase the output of delivery services such as the USPS. I will support:

An increase in the amount of bus only lanes to improve local bus service

PARK Smart NYC as well as an interest in expanding it further to incentivize off-peak travel to reduce congestion

The adoption of Move NY by New York State, a plan that would maintain, modernize, and expand our aging transit system and improve our road and bridge network, creating 30,000+ new, local, annually recurring jobs in the process

Improve Transit Access for Low Income and Disabled New Yorkers.

New York has an expansive network of public transportation. However, its inaccessibility to low income and disabled residents must be addressed and rectified. To improve accessibility and economic opportunity for low income New Yorkers, I will:

Advocate for fair fares. The city should follow the lead of other global cities such as San Francisco and Seattle by introducing a program of half-priced subway and bus fares for New Yorkers living below the poverty level.

Encourage reduced ticket prices for Metro North and Long Island Rail Road users traveling exclusively within city limits.

I will also fight for our disabled neighbors’ rights to access public transportation by:

Advocating the allocation of money towards:

Installing more elevators in subway stations across NYC and repairing existing ones that do not function

Adding new curb cuts and repairing existing curb cuts where necessary

Supporting the integration of yellow taxis (which are wheelchair accessible by law) into Access-A-Ride so that disabled New Yorkers can get a ride right away rather than having to reserve one the day before.

Passing legislation offering alternative livery services that operate in NYC such as Uber and Lyft tax credits for increasing their wheelchair accessibility service."

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM

"Stopping broken windows policing.

Columbia Law School professor Bernard Harcourt, who has conducted two major studies on Broken Windows Policing, has stated that there is no evidence that it works. I agree with his concern that 'definitions about what is orderly or disorderly or needs to be ticketed, etc., are often loaded — racially loaded, culturally loaded, politically loaded.' For example, the city’s decision to start cracking down on subway performers has racial implications because they are often black men. David Thatcher, a criminologist and professor at the University of Michigan'worries that [Broken Windows Policing] encourages the police to see a broader and broader swath of the people they’re policing as bad guys.' He also says it can also lead police to use minor offenses inappropriately as a pretext to search for more serious contraband like guns or drugs.

End the criminalization of poverty and mental illness.

When elected, I will propose legislation to expand the policy that Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez introduced in April that in the vast majority of misdemeanor cases, the DA's Office will consent to a person's release while their case is pending. Three-quarters of people held in jails in New York City are awaiting trial and have not been convicted of a crime, and yet they are incarcerated because they cannot afford bail - 90% of those people are Black or Latino.

I will also work with the state legislature to create more Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) centers in NYC to meet the increasing demand for alternative solutions to rehabilitating the severely mentally ill. According to the Task Force on Behavioral Health and the Criminal Justice System, while the overall jail population in New York City has decreased from 13,049 in fiscal year 2010 to 11,408 in fiscal year 2014, the percentage of individuals with mental health issues has increased from 29 percent to 38 percent during the same period with 7 percent of the overall jail population suffering from serious mental illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

Lastly, I believe that on this issue, the state legislature is failing us with the Timothy’s Law loophole that does not mandate that insurance companies cover substance abuse disorders. This is not only a public health issue but also a preventative measure to reduce crime.

End stop and frisk.

Stop-and-frisk was officially ended in early 2014 but it continues to be implemented unofficially. It was ruled unconstitutional, plain and simple. It should stay in the past where it belongs. I feel very passionately about this because stop-and-frisk, much like Broken Windows Policing, is applied heavily to communities of color. According to data collected from the NYCLU from 2003 to 2015, more than half of those detained and searched, were black, and nearly a third were Latino. Earlier this year, the NYPD released a document explaining their body camera trial process. In the document, it says, 'If a body-worn camera captures a significant use of force, the officer involved will be allowed to look at the video before making a sworn statement, but only with supervisor approval.' This is unacceptable. While civilian witnesses and suspects are isolated, detained, and badgered immediately after law enforcement encounters, compelled to make a statement without being allowed access to evidence that could keep them from incriminating themselves, the NYPD will allow its officers to view their own footage before going on the record about what happened. I will work to end that condition of the body camera issue. The whole point is to hold officers accountable for their policing, not aid them unfairly during an investigation.

In addition to pushing back against these serious problems within our criminal justice system, I will also:

Fight against insurance companies that provide higher work-based compensation against people who were formally impacted by the criminal justice system. We need to stop allowing unfair obstacles from hindering the reentry of people formerly impacted by the criminal justice system into society.

Fund more reentry programs for ex-convicts such as the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) with tax breaks as incentives to provide these men and women with more economic opportunities and a chance to truly reintegrate into society

Support the Ban the Box campaign so that employers interested in candidates can’t look at their criminal history until they offer a conditional letter of employment, which can’t be revoked unless the candidate committed a crime related to the position in question. The objective of the criminal justice system is not only to punish but to rehabilitate.

Push for the automatic re-registration of convicted felons once their parole is over. Forcing them to re-register themselves indirectly suppresses their vote."

AN ECONOMY THAT WORKS FOR EVERYONE

"For the past four decades, the gap between the rich and the poor has exponentially increased. Meanwhile, low and middle-income wages have been stagnant while the cost of living has skyrocketed. With the Federal Government controlled by conservative Republicans, it is up to us on a local level to find innovative solutions to create jobs, support small businesses, and create educational opportunities to support our most underserved communities.

Creating Jobs in the Community, for the Community.

Supporting Small Businesses.

Vocational Training and Supporting Union Labor."

CARING FOR OUR SENIORS

"They say that a society can be judged by how it treats its most vulnerable populations. Having a close relationships with my elderly family members and the community, I understand many of the day-to-day issues our Seniors face. Ensuring a positive and peaceful quality of life for Seniors is a major concern for me and I will continue to dedicate more time and resources to addressing these issues.

Increase funding for Senior Services and Community Centers.

Bolster Community Safety Efforts.

Ease Senior Citizens’ Financial Burdens.

Aid Immigrant Seniors"

OPPORTUNITIES FOR OUR YOUTH

"As a proud product of New York City Public schools, and the son of a single-mother, I understand what it takes for a child to receive a good education and upbringing, especially in underserved communities. For the past decade, I have worked directly with children and young adults, providing services and mentorship programming in neighborhoods lacking resources. I plan to truly champion these issues so that our children have the most opportunities available to them so that they can go on to college, receive vocational training and follow their dreams.

Increase Funding Mentorship Services.

New Innovative Vocational and Career Training.

Support Arts and Recreation Activities and Programs."

CULTURAL PRESERVATION

"Being one of the most diverse places on earth, Brooklyn is soaked in such diverse cultural practices and offerings. As a Jamaican-American growing up right here in Flatbush, it inspires me to see the many cultural offerings our community provides, from food to clothing to music and art. Yet as our city undergoes radical transformation due to the effects of gentrification, it is of vital importance that we protect our diverse cultural heritage and these amazing community institutions.

Support cultural institutions such as the African Music Centre

Open a new community center that celebrates and educates folks about the district’s rich culture of music, from Jazz to Caribbean influenced genres.

Establish food focused events celebrating the unique flavors offered by our diverse restaurants, while setting up cooking workshops so that our children can learn how to cook healthy meals using recipes and ingredients unique to our district's diverse cultures."