Harm reduction centers are essential to combatting addiction crises in any environment, but are especially critical in ones as overstimulating as New York City. Current harm reduction programs lack the oversight and funding to be effective. If people really want to see addiction rates (and homelessness caused by addiction) go down, the city government must provide spaces for people suffering from addiction to safely administer drugs and/or go through withdrawals.

There is a lot of space that New York City could take advantage of to implement renewable energy for the five boroughs. The most pragmatic option is to put solar panels over parking lots and other walkways prone to overheating, to provide shade. Solar panels can also be implemented in buildings and spaces already urbanized, as to not mess with the aesthetic. Implementing solar infrastructure will provide more jobs in tradework.

Global warming is not an issue that should be handled lightly. The city government needs to implement strict climate policy without any loopholes for the rich and powerful, while also working with local businesses who need support to reach emission and waste mitigation goals. Furthermore, we need to address how climate change has already disproportionately affected underprivileged communities in terms of quality of life- remedying the many ramifications to their infrastructure and public health.

The New York City government needs to reaffirm its stance of being a sanctuary city: that means denouncing the actions of the Department of Homeland Security, and not letting ICE come in to our city and rip people from their homes. We also need to invest money into shelters and create temporary housing to provide residency for migrants coming to live in our city. Furthermore, we need to support local “know your rights” workshops, as well as give grants to local organizations who work to aid immigrants as they transition.

The East River Walkway is one of the nicest and highly funded public green-spaces in Manhattan, but all of that funding is pooled at the bottom of the east side. Above Carl Shurz Park, the walkway is “under renovation” and dilapidated. Not only does it deprive public space from the residents of neighborhoods such as East Harlem, but it highlights a glaring issue when it comes to climate justice in city politics. To prepare for rising sea levels, a plan was set in motion to renovate the portion of Manhattan on the East River below 25th street. However, uptown Manhattan is just as vulnerable to these rising sea levels, with no “plan” in sight. Therefore, the city must implement a plan to renovate the East Harlem portion of the East River Walkway in a similar manner to the Lower East Side.

City College, the first CUNY school, was the first public institution for higher education to be free for all of its students. Over a hundred years later, in 1976, all institutions under the City University of New York ended the free tuition policy. Since then, higher education across the country has become an exploitative industry- making academia less accessible while also making a bachelor’s degree a prerequisite for many to enter the workforce. There seems to be a consorted effort to keep college this way. New York City must flip the status quo, and bring back the precedent that higher education is not an industry to profit, but a right that is essential to progress and development. That starts by making all CUNY institutions free, like they were just 50 years ago,

RENT FREEZES FOR ALL RENT STABILIZED UNITS. PERIOD. THEN WE CAN DEAL WITH DEEPER ISSUES WITHIN THE HOUSING MARKET.

The NYCHVS reports tens of thousands of vacant units across the five boroughs that are deemed “not available for rent” due to a multitude of solvable reasons. The Department of HPD should create a task force to close loopholes and remedy the issues that prevent units from being available to the people of New York City.

Mental health and addiction issues have only increased in New York City over the years, giving rise to homelessness, crimes, and other preventable problems. We need to reinstate and bolster the city funded mental health and addiction services, especially in lieu of record high poverty rates.

Gifted and Talented programs are just another page in the story of intellectual segregation that New York City puts its public school students through. There is a grave psychological toll on students both inside and outside of these programs: students inside become obsessed with achievement and academic achievement, risking burnout, and students outside of the program feel inadequate and grow unconfident in their abilities in class. These programs disrupt the healthy socialization of a diverse body in students in backgrounds, interests, and capabilities. Someone’s worth should not be determined at the age of 5 years old- that’s where the Schoolwide Enrichment Model comes in. “SEMs”, developed by two scholars at the University of Connecticut, is an educational framework that abolishes a binary of “gifted or not gifted” in favor of simply identifying gifted behaviors within all students. From this framework comes programs centered on enrichment opportunities for all students, not just those who the school feels are “worth” the extra effort. Often, these programs manifest as group activities, bringing kids of similar interests to work together and help each other with their individualized strengths. Students who excel in education at an early age can share their abilities with struggling students, and the connection provides both social and academic benefits for both parties. Schools in Queens, NY, and the  District of Columbia Public Schools have already implemented SEM programs to the fullest benefit of their students. Activities range from small clusters of students to school-wide days of programming, with the thesis of the activities being to group students based on their expressed interests and provide them with creative and challenging tasks that will be as engaging as they will be fulfilling. The New York City Department of Education, which prides itself on its goals of “creativity, diversity, and progress,” could really benefit from implementing a Schoolwide Enrichment Model across all schools- providing every student the opportunity to feel gifted.

Despite spending the most money per pupil (out of the 100 largest cities in America) New York City’s public school attainment rates have been on the decline. A large reason that impact attainment and the per pupil rate is the fact that more and more students in public schools are dropping out. Students don’t feel engaged in their learning, and don’t see the point in showing up to something they don’t enjoy . Leaving the school environment has a lot of negative impacts on not just the educational development, but also the social development of young minds. The best way to combat this is fund arts and enrichment programs- extracurriculars and creative classes that are known to engage students and give a more comprehensive learning experience. Getting students involved outside of the traditional classroom makes them more willing to participate inside the classroom. Teachers’ salaries also need to be raised so that those with a true passion for teaching are compensated for their work. A teacher can make or break a student’s experience with a whole academic subject; and a good teacher does more for students than just cultivate their knowledge. In my opinion, every teacher should be hovering around a six-figure salary.

Despite past “reforms” within the NYPD, the misconduct of those meant to “protect and serve” is egregious when it comes to student protestors. While we have a federal onslaught on student activists, we have domestic problem of the city government silencing and agitating those who try to speak up on the issues in our city and beyond. The only place that law enforcement should have at a protest is to protect- instead they simply serve the interest of those who do not care about the issues at hand.

A massive issue in housing is the fact that many landowners choose to keep apartments vacant (especially rent stabilized units) as a means of inflating the housing market, keeping many New Yorkers out of homes whiles those in homes are losing their paycheck to someone whose job is to collect their paycheck. To play the economic game of these landlords and development companies, the city government needs to incentivize owners to rent out units by putting a steep tax on vacant property.

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