Dear John
As many of you already know, our state's eviction moratorium ended last Saturday, 1/15/22. The inaction of our state government to protect tenants in the face of a global pandemic is truly unacceptable. Rest assured, I will continue to work with my colleagues on the state level to ensure we pass Good Cause eviction protections and keep the nearly 200,000 tenants across our state facing the threat of eviction in their homes.
If you, or someone you know, is behind on rent, apply for ERAP today. There is still money for tenants to receive to pay rental arrears. If you have applied before, you can apply again! If you are facing an eviction, remember that lockouts are illegal in New York City. Be sure to call 311, and then contact our Constituent Services Director Faiza Azam at [email protected], to be connected with free legal counsel to ensure your landlord does not infringe on your rights.
Updated COVID-19 Situation & Quarantine Measures
This week, the New York Department of Health released updated guidelines on quarantine and isolation. If you're a visual learner like me, here's a helpful chart outlining the measures you should take based on your exposure, symptoms, and vaccination status.
In terms of COVID-19, we seem to have reached the peak of the Omicron wave. Cases are down from their peak of 50,000 a day to around 10,000 a day, which is a positive improvement but still a worrying number. The testing positivity rate is down, but that might be due to fewer people getting tested generally (click here to order your free test from the federal government). Hopefully, the worst is behind us, but we'll keep you updated.
Weekend Water Shutoff
Over this past weekend, close to 300 of our neighbors lost water during one of the coldest weekends of the year. After a long weekend, pipe replacement, and dozens of phone calls with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the water has been restored! This situation underscored two critical points: the first being that our city's infrastructure has been neglected for far too long. Infrastructure is a national debate, but the effects are local. I know there will be more issues like this in the future, which emphasizes how desperately we need our city, and our country, to invest in upgrading our infrastructure to avoid interruptions to essential services.
The second is the need to develop clear lines of communication during emergencies like this. We know it was frustrating not to receive regular updates from the agency, and we did our best to provide regular updates from our office. When these unpredictable moments happen in the future, we'll be working closely with agencies to ensure you can stay informed and up to date. If you're affected by something like a water or gas shut-off in the future, follow our government Twitter for regular updates. Our office will also send out updates via email regularly so, please contact us in the event you are affected so we can add you to that email list. We are also looking into acquiring a conference call number to give updates to those who prefer phone communication.
Committee Assignments
I'm thrilled to announce my committee assignments! As the daughter of two working-class Bangladeshi immigrants, I am proud to be chairing our city's Immigration Committee. From planning a smooth rollout of the Our City, Our Vote legislation to ensuring no organization that does business with ICE does business with our city, there is so much to do to make certain our immigrant communities are protected and empowered. I look forward to transforming this committee to be one that centers a feminist and gender-responsive legislative and budgetary agenda that reflects care for all immigrants.
But that's not all! I'll also be a member of five other committees including Education, Criminal Justice, Government Operations, as well as Cultural Affairs, Libraries, and International Intergroup Relations (this is just one committee!) and Mental Health, Disabilities, and Addictions. There is so much work to be done, and I am ready to start building the anti-racist feminist city we need!
In The News & In The Community
This week we published not one but two op-eds! On Tuesday, we came out with a five-point plan in Streetsblog on how to avoid fatal car crashes like the one that took the life of Arcellie Muschamp a little over a month ago. I was proud to join the community that night for a vigil hosted by the Carroll Gardens Nanny Association to commemorate this tragedy and commit to making our streets safer for everyone. Then on Friday, I was proud to partner with District 39 resident Professor Celina Su in writing this op-ed for the Gotham Gazette as our response to Michelle Go's horrific murder just last week. Too often, our government's first response to hate is to invest more in carceral policies when we know it's community investments that truly keep us safe. I am proud to call for more investments in our city's Participatory Budgeting program to bring about budget justice and create the conditions for real public safety.
One last note. Our office is still working remotely at the moment, so please bear with us on response times! We hope to be back in the office soon.
In Solidarity,
Shahana
P.S. We heard some parents were looking for child-friendly sites to get their kids vaccinated. Our team is still digging, but the Brooklyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza has regular pop-up vaccine sites just for kids! We'll continue to look and advocate for vaccine sites accessible and inviting to our city's youngest residents.
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