Think about it: Parents are basically mayors of their families. Among the countless other tasks moms and dads juggle on a daily basis, they also implement policies on everything from education to healthcare, deal with transportation issues, and invest in infrastructure—all while fielding opinions and complaints from their local kid-constituents. It’s not an easy job.
Now imagine being the mayor of New York City and governing millions of people (whose bedtimes you don’t enforce). Daunting, right? Yet there are some who not only imagine doing it but actually yearn to. As Mayor Bloomberg’s era comes to an end, ten men and one woman have offered their vision for steering NYC into the future. Whoever takes the helm of our metropolis will face a growing pile of knotty issues on his or her desk in City Hall. Among them: a barrage of safety concerns from Stop and Frisk to hurricane readiness; a vast public education system with far too many failing kids; an affordable housing crisis; and an economic recovery that still needs lots of priming.
Next month, New Yorkers from all five boroughs will head to the voting booths for the primary election on September 10, then return for the general election on November 5. So how do the candidates weigh in on the concerns regarding your family’s quality of life? That’s what New York Family set out to discover. We spoke with every major candidate except for independent Adolfo Carrion, Jr., whose office didn’t reply to requests for interview. We found they all have one thing in common aside from wanting the keys to Gracie Mansion: an unwavering belief in our city’s bright future.
THE DEMOCRATS
Sal Albanese
Managing Director for Mesirow Financial, Former New York City Councilman
Big Idea You May Not Have Heard About: Introduce a 21st century curriculum for NYC students that highlights technology, engineering, and computer science education, as well as the arts, music, and fitness.
Family: Married to wife, Lorraine; has two daughters; and lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
One of the most important issues for families is education. Please share a few steps you would take to improve the NYC public education system.
I’m a former New York City public school teacher, so education will be my number one priority. While we all agree that we need universal pre-K and that [we need] to stop closing our schools and teaching to the test, I think we’re missing the boat if we don’t focus on poverty, which causes thousands of our students to start school far behind their peers. I will establish pediatric wellness centers in low-income communities, where parents, doctors, and educators will work with kids from 0-3 years old to ensure that all of our kids are school-ready.
Tell us one thing you will do to make the quality of family life better in the city.
The single biggest issue facing New York City is affordability. As a City Councilman, I authored the city’s first Living Wage law, which impacted 70,000 workers and put $3 billion in their pockets. As mayor, I plan to expand that law, advocate for a higher minimum wage, and focus on expanding our affordable housing stock and keeping our transportation system affordable.
Can you share an important memory or experience that has shaped your policies or priorities?
I immigrated to New York from Italy when I was 8 years old. Growing up as a young immigrant in a working class family, my sisters and I depended on the public schools, libraries, and the CUNY to elevate us to the middle class. Those experiences have shaped my belief that the Mayor’s number one job is to provide affordable, quality services.
Bill de Blasio
New York City Public Advocate
Big Idea You May Not Have Heard About: Improve the standards for family-friendly work environments by promoting telecommuting opportunities and more designated spaces for breastfeeding at work.
Family: Married to wife, Chirlane McCray; has a daughter and a son; and lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
Please share a few steps you would take to improve the NYC public education system.
If I am fortunate enough to be elected your mayor, I would be the first New York City mayor with a child in public schools. This issue is personal for me, and I’ve offered a real plan to create truly universal pre-K and afterschool programs for every child who needs it. [I am] proposing a small tax increase on New Yorkers making $500,000 or more per year to pay for it. Universal pre-K is an important early step toward raising graduation rates and breaking the vicious cycle of poverty. Likewise, afterschool programs keep students engaged in productive activities like tutoring, arts, and physical education.
Tell us one thing you will do to make the quality of family life better in the city.
We must address the growing income inequality if we truly want to improve family life across the city—and this will be a top priority for me as mayor. We must expand and protect affordable housing in our city. I have a plan to build and preserve 200,000 affordable housing units over the next decade, by requiring builders to include affordable housing in new developments.
Can you share an important memory or experience that has shaped your policies or priorities as a candidate?
When Chirlane and I took our first child, Chiara, home from the hospital, we took her out of the car, walked in the front door of our home in Brooklyn, put her down on the couch, and thought, “What now?” That first experience of taking your child home and realizing that their entire future is now in your hands has shaped me deeply—and this knowledge affects the policies I fight for every day.
Imagine if 12-year-olds could vote for the next mayor. What would you say to convince them that you’re the right person for the job?
The big decisions in this election will define your futures: your education, health, safety, and so much more. As Public Advocate and as a member of the City Council, I have fought for every type of person, regardless of where they came from or what they look like. I am committed to tackling our city’s growing inequality—and so children today will know a more fair and equal city when they are adults.
John Liu
New York City Comptroller
Big Idea You May Not Have Heard About: Boost the city’s economy and help the environment; create incentives for buying locally based food.
Family: Married to wife, Jenny; has a son; and lives in Flushing, Queens.
Please share a few steps you would take to improve the NYC public education system.
I’d like to restore the learning environment in every one of our classrooms and schools, rather than continue running them as if they are business units reporting to DOE Corp. That will start with appointing a chancellor who has an educational background and allowing teachers and principals to do their jobs professionally. We also need to provide our kids with well-rounded coursework, including arts, music, and physical education. Jenny and I are both proud products of NYC public schools, and our son, Joey, is a middle-schooler in public school.
What’s one of Mayor Bloomberg’s policies that you would like to uphold? What’s one that you would like to change if elected?
Mayor Bloomberg did well in greatly reducing smoking in our city, especially among young people who have been among the most effective anti-smoking advocates. The horrifying ads depicting the terrible impact on health and family have been particularly effective. In contrast, I think his policies of subjecting daycare and afterschool programs to the annual budget dance and outright elimination have been penny-wise and pound-foolish; as mayor, I would fight for increases, as detailed in my PeoplesBudgetNYC.com.
Tell us one thing you will do to make the quality of family life better in the city.
The quality of family life can be made better by keeping schools open late into the evening, with the city using the low-cost space to partner with community-based organizations to provide family-oriented programs, homework assistance for students, and adult education programs like tax preparation, budget management, and credit counseling.
Can you share an important memory or experience that has shaped your policies or priorities as a candidate?
I often speak about my experiences being bullied by other kids in school. As a city councilmember, I worked to pass the Dignity for All Schools Act, requiring the Department of Education to track bullying and harassment in schools. And, knowing that immigrants who come to New York have difficulty getting city services due to language barriers, I enacted legislation like the Equal Access Bill mandating on-demand language services in health and human services agencies.
Christine Quinn
City Council Speaker
Big Idea You May Not Have Heard About: Propose a Mentor Teacher program to offer top teachers the opportunity to leave the classroom temporarily and receive specialized training from CUNY.
Family: Married to wife, Kim Catullo, and lives in Chelsea.
Please share a few steps you would take to improve the NYC public education system.
Improving our schools will be my number one priority as mayor. My education plan includes creating the most intensive literacy support program in the country. We’d build a strong foundation through an integrated pre-K to third grade approach and provide training to all teachers at every grade level—no matter what subject they teach—on how to work literacy skills into their classroom. Studies show more learning time leads to greater academic achievement and better attendance. I plan on extending learning time for students to 6 pm five days a week, starting in the 100 schools with the highest percentage of students who qualify for free or reduced price lunch.
Tell us one thing you will do to make the quality of family life better in the city.
The most important thing we can do is make sure everyone can get a quality, livable apartment they can afford. As a former housing advocate, creating quality, affordable housing for all New Yorkers has always been a top priority. I have already pledged to build 40,000 new middle-income affordable housing units in the city over the next 10 years.
Can you share an important memory that has shaped your policies or priorities as a candidate?
My grandfather came over on a boat from Ireland with a third-grade education and worked his way up through the ranks of the Fire Department. Rockaway Beach offered him a chance to rent a bungalow in the summer, to afford a little place on the ocean just like the rich people he saw in the magazines. It was his own piece of the American Dream. I can remember walking along the boardwalk as a young girl with my late mother and aunt. It’s one of my favorite memories of my mother, of how much that place meant to her and to my whole family. Millions of New Yorkers have stories just like mine. In the weeks and months after Sandy devastated our city, I visited [many] neighborhoods, including Far Rockaway. We will make sure our children and our grandchildren have those stories too—not of a Rockaway destroyed, but of a Rockaway reborn.
Imagine if 12-year-olds could vote for the next mayor. What would you say to convince them that you’re the right person for the job?
Middle school is one of the most difficult times for students in school. But it’s only more difficult if they have to worry about getting picked on and bullied. As speaker, I created “Respect for All”—an anti-bullying program that teaches students, parents, and teachers how to combat bullying in schools by not only standing up to it, but by learning more about what makes us different. New York City’s diversity is one of our greatest strengths and we must do everything in our power to preserve the respect that binds us together.
Erick Salgado
Minister
Big Idea You May Not Have Heard About: Increase revenue by using school buildings, when not in use, as meeting and activity space for local non-profit organizations.
Family: Married to wife, Sonia; has six children; and lives in Westerleigh, Staten Island.
Please share a few steps you would take to improve the NYC public education system.
It is unacceptable that the Department of Education is not meeting the needs of many of its million-plus students. Every day wasted threatens the future success of each child. I will increase parental involvement in their child’s education and conduct a systemwide audit to identify the programs that are working and disseminate the information to every teacher and principal.
Can you share an important memory or experience that has shaped your policies or priorities as a candidate?
While I was working to help the residents of Coney Island, who were hit so hard by Superstorm Sandy, I witnessed my fellow New Yorkers looking through garbage bins for food. This was at the same time that the city was still planning to hold the New York City Marathon. This disconnect between City Hall and the people troubled me. This is why I decided to run for mayor, to be a mayor who truly understands the needs of the city’s residents.
Imagine if 12-year-olds could vote for the next mayor. What would you say to convince them that you’re the right person for the job?
I am concerned about their future. That’s why I will make sure that they are getting not just a good education, but an excellent education, because that is what they will need to compete and succeed in today’s global economy. With childhood obesity reaching epidemic levels, I will motivate and enable our young people to be more active, including requiring recess in public schools. Also, I believe that the only people who should tell you that you can’t have a large, sugary drink are your parents or guardians.
William “Bill” Thompson, Jr.
Former Comptroller of New York City and, for five consecutive terms, president of the New York City Board of Education
Big Idea You May Not Have Heard About: Create a chief jobs officer for City Hall and start a Partnering for Parents program that would offer educational opportunities to single moms and dads.
Family: Married to wife, Elsie McCabe Thompson; has a grown daughter and two stepchildren; and lives in Harlem.
Please share a few steps you would take to improve the NYC public education system.
My commitment to improving public schools is the culmination of a lifelong commitment to education and teachers that began with my mom, who taught in Brooklyn for 30 years. I know how hard she worked and how much she cared about her students. As mayor, I won’t demonize teachers; I’ll help them teach by giving them the resources they need and bring them back into the decision making process on how we run our schools. While there is a place for standardized testing in our schools, we need to put an end to a philosophy that reduces the entire educational endeavor to a test score. Our schools must teach students to be critical thinkers who can apply knowledge—that’s what their future demands.
Which policy of Mayor Bloomberg’s would you like to uphold and which would you like to change?
I would like to praise Mayor Bloomberg, along with the NYPD and Ray Kelly, for their tireless dedication keeping this city safe. Stop and Frisk can be a useful tool for police officers, but it has been badly abused by this administration. The numbers are clear: 90% of stops are black or Latino, and 90% of people stopped are also completely innocent. That’s wrong, and it will end when I’m mayor. In turn, it will be replaced with a constitutional and effective Stop, Question, and Frisk approach that will reduce crime more efficiently.
Can you share an important memory or experience that has shaped your policies or priorities as a candidate?
When my daughter came back after college, she could not afford to live in New York City, so she moved into an apartment with two roommates in Jersey City. Affordable housing is a crisis in the city of New York. I want everyone to have the opportunity to live in New York City. That’s why I plan on creating new affordable housing units in the city over the next eight years.
Imagine if 12-year-olds could vote for the next mayor. What would you say to convince them that you’re the right person for the job?
You hate tests? So do I. I’m not promising One Direction concerts or meet-and-greats with Selena Gomez, but I do promise to work my hardest to make school less boring. Right now, an obsession with test scores is driving our education policy, and while test scores have their value, teachers don’t have the freedom to teach topics you might find more interesting.
Anthony Weiner
Former United States Congressman
Big Idea You May Not Have Heard About: Save taxpayer money, open access to millions of new book choices, protect the health of our kids’ backs, and provide an eReader for each NYC student.
Family: Married to wife, Huma Abedin; has one son; and lives in Chelsea.
Please share a few steps you would take to improve the NYC public education system.
Education was the number one priority in our house growing up; my mom taught math in the city schools for 31 years. My brothers and I went to New York City public schools and got a good solid education. Mayor Bloomberg has rightly invested in our schools, but the money has not been well spent. We need to rethink how we use our schools by making them the center of our communities and ensure we educate the next generation of New Yorkers so they can compete in a global marketplace. I believe parent involvement is the key to success. I want the community to have a chance to be involved in available space and say, “We want a Gifted and Talented program, or a charter school, or an expanded library, or a lab.” I want to have a fair competition and let the best ideas win.
Tell us one thing you will do to make the quality of family life better in the city.
In our great city, we have 1.2 million New Yorkers who are uninsured; that’s people who have to walk into the emergency rooms to get care. Why, when we have the Health & Hospital Corporation with its 3,300 doctors, 8,000 nurses, labs, treatment centers, and facilities? I propose a plan to overhaul healthcare in New York City to create an insurance plan for the uninsured and underinsured.
Can you share an important memory or experience that has shaped your policies or priorities as a candidate?
My entire adult life, I have been a fierce advocate for the middle class in New York and those hoping to make it there. But when my son was born on December 11, 2011, that took on a new urgency. I want Jordan to have every opportunity I had—be it an excellent education, affordable housing, and well-paying jobs. I’ve outlined these ideas in my policy book, Keys to the City.
Imagine if 12-year-olds could vote for the next mayor. What would you say to convince them that you’re the right person for the job?
We face real challenges as a city—climate change, poverty, hunger, job creation—and these touch us all, whether you’re 12 or 82. But you won’t find anyone who will work harder or smarter for you. I believe that if we lean into the tough decisions, we can drive change for generations to come. Also, I love the Mets.
THE REPUBLICANS
John Catsimatidis
Chairman and CEO of real estate company Red Apple Group and grocery store chain Gristedes Foods
Big Idea You May Not Have Heard About: Provide students with useful skills by the time they graduate by creating partnerships between the New York City business community and the public school system.
Family: Married to wife, Margo; has two grown children; and lives on the Upper East Side.
Please share a few steps you would take to improve the NYC public education system.
I am a product of NYC’s public and parochial schools who earned his way into Brooklyn Tech. I understand the value of a quality education and the equal importance of a quality vocational education focused on teaching practicable skills and earning success in today’s competitive job market. We have an almost 40% dropout rate, and a strong vocational program will help lower it.
Tell us one thing you will do to make the quality of family life better in the city.
Public safety. We need to keep our streets safe and continue the NYPD’s efforts to prevent crime and terrorism in order to retain the world’s confidence in New York City.
Can you share an important memory or experience that has shaped your policies or priorities as a candidate?
For the last 30 years, I have been on the board of Police Athletic League, working with District Attorney Bob Morgenthau to help underprivileged children so that they have a place to go after school and a chance to lift themselves out of underserved neighborhoods. We have to give these kids hope, and that is what shapes my policies and priorities.
Joseph Lhota
Former chairman and CEO of the MTA and deputy mayor for operations under Rudolph W. Giuliani
Big Idea You May Not Have Heard About: Expand scope of the charter public school system, with the aim to at least double the number of charter schools in the city to provide parents more education options.
Family: Married to wife, Tamra; has one daughter; and lives in Brooklyn Heights.
Please share a few steps you would take to improve the NYC public education system.
Reforming our public education system will be one of my top priorities as mayor, along with job creation and enhancing our quality of life. I have laid out a comprehensive plan that will put students’ learning first. We have seen impressive results with mayoral control—math and reading scores are improving, and graduation rates are surging to record levels. We need to continue building on these successes instead of unraveling them and starting over. I support expansion of pre-K education with a core curriculum that provides children with foundational learning skills. If a school is failing our children, I will close the school.
Can you share an important memory or experience that has shaped your policies or priorities as a candidate?
My father was an NYPD officer, his father was an FDNY fireman, and my mother’s father was an NYC taxi cab driver. I have had the great fortune of serving the people of New York City as budget director, deputy mayor, and head of the city’s mass transit system. I’ve served during some of our brightest and most transformational days, but also through some of our biggest challenges, like 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy. I am the only candidate who brings that level of tested leadership managing large, complex organizations to this campaign.
Imagine if 12-year-olds could vote for the next mayor. What would you say to convince them that you’re the right person for the job?
This is the land of opportunity. You can grow up to be anything you want to be, and I want you to be able to stay in New York and raise your own family here one day. The job of the mayor is to be a leader and make sure the right policies are in place so you can have everything you need to fulfill your dreams. I want you to have the best education and be able to play safely in your neighborhood and to make sure your parents have access to quality jobs.
George McDonald
Founder of the Doe Fund, the non-profit organization that provides career transition and other housing and educational opportunities to people who were homeless or incarcerated.
Big Idea You May Not Have Heard About: Achieve a 100% employment rate for New York City through a variety of plans with an emphasis on “making it here, selling it here, buying it here” and increased support of local businesses.
Family: Married to wife, Harriet; has four children; and lives on the Upper East Side.
Please share a few steps you would take to improve the NYC public education system.
We need to rethink our education system from top to bottom. We have school days and a school year set on a calendar devised when America was an agrarian society—that doesn’t make sense today. We need longer school days, longer school years, and more access to pre-K, especially for our neediest children. We have a teacher disciplinary system that allows sexual predators to remain in the classroom—our chancellor needs to have the ability to fire them on the spot.
Can you share an important memory or experience that has shaped your policies or priorities as a candidate?
Twenty five years ago, I went to Grand Central Terminal for 700 nights in a row to feed the homeless, and I listened to what they had to say—while they appreciated the sandwich, what they really wanted was a room and a job to pay for it. They wanted to work. So my wife, Harriet, and I sat down at our kitchen table and created the Doe Fund that has helped tens of thousands of individuals find jobs and reclaim their lives.
Imagine if 12-year-olds could vote for the next mayor. What would you say to convince them that you’re the right person for the job?
I would ask what is it they want to be when they grow up and tell them as mayor, my job is to make sure that they have the best chance possible to realize that dream. I will tell them that they have to work hard and be committed—but, in turn, I will work hard to ensure that they have the education and opportunity to achieve their goals.
