Corey Johnson (politician)

Corey Johnson
Member of the New York City Council from the 3rd District
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 1, 2014
Preceded by Christine Quinn
Constituency Manhattan: Chelsea, Greenwich Village, SoHo, Hell's Kitchen, and parts of Midtown
Personal details
Born April 28, 1982
Beverly, Massachusetts
Political party Democratic
Residence Chelsea, New York City, USA
Occupation Government official, LGBT activist, community organizer
Website http://www.council.nyc.gov/d3/html/members/home.shtml

Corey Johnson (born April 28, 1982) is the Council Member of the 3rd Council District in New York City Council, which includes the West Village, Chelsea and Hell's Kitchen neighborhoods. Corey has been a long time community and LGBT rights activist. Corey received national attention for coming out as gay in 2000 as captain of his high school football team at Masconomet Regional High School.

Before assuming office, Corey was the Chairperson of Community Board 4. His work on the board ranged from negotiating permanent affordable housing for residents to securing educational scholarships for children. Corey has also worked in the real estate industry, and was the political editor for Towleroad.[1]

Campaign

Johnson was elected in November 2013 with 86% of the vote[2] and assumed office on January 1, 2014.

The New York Times endorsed Corey for City Council in 2013, saying "[Corey] has helped tenants faced with eviction by landlords who wanted to raise rents. He has been involved in bringing public schools to the neighborhood and fought to scale back growth in commercial developments that threatened to overwhelm the area.[3]

City Council

Councilmember Johnson is Chair of New York City Council’s Health Committee, and also serves on the Contracts, Finance, General Welfare, Waterfronts and Mental Health, Developmental Disability, Alcoholism, Drug Abuse and Disability Services committees. Johnson is also Co-Chair of the Manhattan Delegation with Council Member Margaret Chin and is a member of the LGBT Caucus and Progressive Caucus.

Johnson's first bill to pass City Council was in November 2014. The bill provides easier access to shelter for survivors of domestic violence.

In 2014, Corey introduced legislation that would ease the requirements for individuals to change their gender on their birth certificates in New York City. On December 8, 2014, City Council passed the bill, making the city’s policy one of the most liberal in the country.

Legislative Record

Access to Shelter for Survivors of Domestic Violence

Johnson’s first bill passed in the City Council, Intro 361-A, passed in November of 2014. It provides easier access to shelter for survivors of domestic violence by granting those who have already gone through extensive intake processes (which are required for the domestic violence shelters from which they are transitioning out of) presumptive eligibility for Department of Homeless Services shelters. The measure was signed into law by Mayor Bill de Blasio on December 12, 2014.

Transgender Legislation

Johnson authored and introduced two bills enabling transgender New Yorkers to correct the gender designation on their birth certificates, eliminating the requirement that they first prove that they've had "corrective surgery".. Passed on December 8, 2014, this legislation brings the City’s birth certificates in line with modern standards by removing outdated and unnecessary surgical requirements for correcting a birth certificate. Johnson views this as critical for the vast majority of transgender New Yorkers who have inaccurate birth certificates; as surgery is not an option for many due to other health conditions or discriminatory health insurance exclusions. He believes that when you have an identity document (in particular a birth certificate) that does not match who you are, you become a target for discrimination, accusations of fraud, denials of service, and other administrative and logistical problems. His legislation aims to eliminate one of those barriers.

Pet Shop Industry Reform

Johnson worked with Council Member Elizabeth Crowley to pass a bundle of bills to protect animals. The bills regulate irresponsible breeders by ensuring that City pet stores do not obtain puppies from abusive and irresponsible breeders and prevent overpopulation and animal homelessness by requiring that dogs and cats sold at pet stores be spayed or neutered, as well as licensed prior to sale. The bills also keep animals out of the hands of abusive owners by creating standards that potential owners must meet before obtaining a new pet, and require New York City pet shops to disclose information about the origins of the animals they sell.

Social Adult Day Care Center Reform

Along with Council Members Margaret Chin and Paul Vallone, Johnson passed legislation that created oversight for all of the City’s social adult day care centers. In contrast to typical senior centers, social adult day care centers are supposed to specifically serve seniors suffering from dementia, Alzheimer's or other chronic conditions that require close supervision and care. The bill requires all social adult day care centers operating in New York City to register with the City’s Department for the Aging (DFTA), and also requires those centers to adhere to State regulations. The legislation additionally creates a DFTA ombudsman who will take complaints – through a phone hotline and website – regarding a lack of compliance with these requirements.

Enhancing Workers’ Rights

Johnson has put forth a wage transparency bill that aims to protect employees from adverse or retaliatory personnel actions by their employers in the case that they inquire about, disclose, compare or otherwise discuss their wages or benefits or the wages or benefits of another employee. As over 60% of private sector employees in the U.S. report being discouraged or prohibited from discussing wage or salary information, Johnson believes such barriers impede any ability to pursue existing protections in the law for those suffering from wage discrimination. His position ultimately holds that we must protect employees’ right to wage society in order to achieve societal equal pay for equal work.

Johnson has also fought to strengthen protections for low-wage workers by co-sponsoring legislation such as the Grocery Workers Retention Act, which aims to protect the 50,000 New Yorkers who work in the grocery store industry. In a field that has extremely high employee turnover, these employees are often subject to unfair, low standards. Additionally, the constant turnover of employees creates a health risk as the proper handling of food is not always maintained by newer workers with less training. Johnson believes this bill addresses those issues in that it grants a transition period to employees when the ownership of a grocery store changes which should, in turn, both enhance workers’ rights within the industry and consequently better food regulation compliance.

Pushing Back Against Hydrofracking Waste

Johnson is an advocate against hydrofracking in New York. In November of 2013, he was arrested protesting both fracking and the Spectra Pipeline. He put forth a bill in August of 2014 with Council Member Stephen Levin banning fracking in New York City to put protections in place for the five boroughs while the statewide issue remained in legal limbo ; shortly thereafter in December of 2014 Governor Cuomo banned fracking in the entirety of New York State.

Landlord Harassment, Illegal Hotels and the Rent Guidelines Board

Johnson has participated in rallies to protest the illegal destabilization of apartment units, landlord harassment, displacement of tenants and unsafe working and living conditions. On September 14, 2014, he spoke out on behalf of Chelsea residents in such a situation alongside New York State Senator Brad Hoylman, Assembly Member Richard Gottfried and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer.

Illegal hotels are another issue that has increasingly affected the people of Johnson’s district. He expresses concern that constituents have been subjected to a constant flow of strangers in hallways and surrounding apartments, without the basic security that any hotel would provide. They have had to sleep every night in a building that violates basic fire safety laws. Given these realities, Johnson has advocated through well-attended hearings at City Hall on the matter and continues to work alongside the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement to crack down on the operators of illegal hotels who both violate the law and endanger the health and safety of both building residents and visitors. He spoke about this matter extensively in a New York 1 interview on February 13, 2015.

Most recently, Johnson has advocated for tenants in calling for reform to the NYC Rent Guidelines Board of New York City, which continually raises rent on rent-stabilized tenants on an annual basis. Johnson has introduced legislation that calls upon Mayor de Blasio to reform the process for calculating rent increases at the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB), as they currently use measure called the Price Index of Operating Costs which overestimates landlords’ expenses by as much as one third. Corey’s position is that the RGB should use the actual numbers on landlords’ income and expenses – data it already has in the form of annual filings that many owners of income-producing property submit to the Department of Finance.

Legislation to Increase Oversight in NYC Correctional Facilities

Johnson put forth legislation to increase the scrutiny of healthcare providers at all correctional facilities to help prevent medical negligence in the City’s jail system. The bill would require health services in correctional facilities to release annual reports to both the Mayor and the Speaker of the City Council on the intake, follow up care, patient safety, preventable hospitalizations, preventable errors in medical care, and information regarding the evaluations of the performance of any contractor providing either medical or mental health services to inmates.

Safety in Youth Sports Johnson has demanded change for youth sports safety in the City. He is the co-sponsor of two bills introduced by Council Member Steve Levin that would provide additional safeguards for young football players. The legislation would require teams to have trained medical personnel at games and full-contact practices in order to receive a permit from the Department of Parks and Recreation, as well as to establish requirements for a standardized concussion assessment. Additionally, the bills would serve to create a special Youth Sports Health & Safety Task Force to study injuries sustained in youth sports generally and how these injuries affect young student-athletes' educations.

Eating Healthy

Early in 2015, Johnson introduced a resolution with Council Member Rosenthal which urges the City Council to endorse the Meatless Monday campaign. The resolution sites studies that have shown how red meat in particular has a carbon footprint similar to that of automobiles. With regards to health, it sites lowered rates of obesity, cancer, and diabetes due to cutting meat out of one’s diet.

As access to healthy food is one of Johnson’s priorities, he launched the West Side Supported Agriculture program in Council District 3 in partnership with Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer. The program aims to supply community members with a bag of mixed fruits and vegetables from upstate New York farms at an affordable price, every other week. During its first season in the summer of 2014, his office supplied 604 food bags to constituents. The program is due to resume in the summer of 2015.

Participatory Budgeting

Johnson implemented participatory budgeting in his district for the first time in 2014, which enables constituents to decide how they want to spend $1 million capital dollars from his annual budget.

Other Office Initiatives

Let’s Talk Series

Johnson has hosted three “Let’s Talk” series community events, which focus on providing a safe space to gather experts on various issues and have a panel discussion driven by the questions of constituents. Thus far, these events have centered on women’s health , affordable housing, bike safety and the Rent Guidelines Board in New York City.

Johnson has hosted free flu shot and paper shredding events for his constituents, in addition to the monthly housing clinic his office hosts during which attorneys volunteer their time to offer advice surrounding housing issues such as landlord-tenant harassment. He also offers a food bag program for residents to receive locally grown food from farmers.


Personal life

Born in Beverly, Massachusetts, Johnson attended Masconomet Regional High School while living in Middleton, Massachusetts.[4] Corey became a vocal LGBT rights activist after gaining national attention for coming out as gay while captain of his high school football team.

Johnson came out in 2013 as HIV-positive.[5] It was his activism that brought him into politics and New York City government: Corey was a contributor and the political editor for Towleroad and joined Manhattan Community Board 4 (CB4) in 2005 at the age of 23. After six years of volunteering for CB4, Corey was elected to be Chair of the community board.

Johnson currently lives in Chelsea, where he has been a resident for over a decade.

In 2013, Corey was arrested for protesting against the Spectra pipeline and hydrofracking.

References

  1. ↑ Andy Towle (September 10, 2013). "COREY JOHNSON DECLARES VICTORY IN NYC CITY COUNCIL RACE". Towleroad.
  2. ↑ "Election 2013". New York Times. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  3. ↑ "For New York City Council". The New York Times. August 30, 2013.
  4. ↑ Cooper, Anderson (2000-05-14). "YouTube". A Life Rooted in Courage. ABC. Retrieved 2015-03-15.
  5. ↑ GINIA BELLAFANTE (May 3, 2013). "Out, but Not About That". New York Times.

External links