2013

City Council Candidate Questionnaire

Candidate Information Full Name: Carlos Menchaca Address: 398 Van Brunt Street (home) Personal Phone: 917-588-1254 Work Phone: same Personal Email: menchaca@me.com District Information District #: 38 Are you an incumbent? No. If yes, when were you first elected? Campaign Information From which parties are you seeking a nomination: Democratic, Working Families Full Name of Campaign Committee: Carlos For Council Campaign HQ Address: N/A HQ Phone: N/A HQ Fax: N/A Campaign Manager Name: N/A Managers Cell: N/A Managers Email: N/A Please return to Robert Atterbury at Robert.Atterbury@gmail.com by April 15, 2013, with SDNYC Questionnaire [Candidate Name] as the subject.

Additional Candidate Information Endorsements List here the union, organizations (community, civic, media, issue groups), and elected officials that have endorsed you. Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, 32BJ Candidate Experience - Please explain any activities and/or experiences that demonstrate your commitment to the LGBT movement.
I am openly gay and live with my partner in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

As a gay man, I have been fighting for LGBTQ and gender non-conforming brothers and sisters since high school when I first came out in El Paso, Texas. I believe coming out is very critical to our movement, being out and proud. I understand the difficulty of coming out because I came out to a single-immigrant-mother who was raising seven of us. While in college, I was first openly gay student elected to Student Body President at a Jesuit university in the United States in 2001. While president, I focused on increasing awareness to all issues of social justice activism the student body was already working on. As a liaison to government officials in New York since 2005, I have been advocating and organizing for increased access to social services for the LGBTQ community, marriage equality and GENDA legislation. I am also very proud of the work we did while on the NYPDs LGBT Advisory Panel and the NY City Council including historic changes to the NYPD Patrol Guide that ensures police officers treat transgender and gender non-conforming people with dignity and respect. I also worked with a coalition of organizations to increase awareness of bullying in schools with a goal to ensure that LGBTQ youth have a safe space to learn. Working with an LGBT parent group focused on improving the Department of Education, I helped launch a citywide book drive to increase the number of LGBTQ-themed books in k-12 schools. As the Capital Budget Coordinator for Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, I helped launch the Brooklyn Community Pride Center, the first place of its kind in the borough. Brooklyn was the last borough to officially launch an official campaign to open an LGBTQ center. I also served as coPresident of the Lambda Independent Democrats, Brooklyns LGBT political club.

- What experience do you have to demonstrate you are the best person to represent the district office you seek? My professional experience and my passion for public service are centered around New York City government. Whats more, I will bring a powerful combination of political savvy and grassroots organizing experience to the City Council. As a staffer to Council Speaker Christine Quinn and managing the capital budget for the Brooklyn Borough President, I know how to have an impact as a Member of the Council. As an experienced community organizer, I will be able to listen to constituents and bring their issues to the floor of the Council in an effective and energetic manner. Specifically, while at the Brooklyn Borough Presidents office, my position gave me access to specific information about needs of every community, including Red Hook and Sunset Park. Working with executive directors and community leaders in these communities, I was able to learn about needs and executed plans to address them with funding, community organizing and agency response plans.

Policy Positions Please answer the following questions in full, using your policy proposals and including specific examples of your previous actions on any given topic when possible. Marriage Do you support full marriage equality for same-sex couples? (Y)

Will you work with New Yorks congressional delegation to support the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act? (Y)

Adoption: Do you support full adoption rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender couples? (Y) Human Rights Do you support equal rights and treatment for people of transgender experience in the New York Shelter System, both adult shelters and youth shelters? (Y) HIV/AIDS

In 2011, Mayor Bloomberg proposed cutting 248 case managers and millions in rental assistance from the HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA). Individual legislators ended up using discretionary funds to Rill the gap. Do you support increased funding for the HASA? (Y) Please explain your position on using discretionary funds to support agencies like HASA. We must preserve the intent of LOCAL LAW 49 by ensuring that appropriate discretionary funding sustain programs like HASA...the current administration fails to baseline some of the most essential and basic needs to low-income and vulnerable communities.

What actions do you think the City Council should be taking to provide emergency housing for homeless people living with AIDS? COUNCIL should continue to advocate and fund emergency housing programs for homeless living with HIV/AIDS. We need to make sure that mental, health and housing services are provided near higher density populations where HIV is prevalent. AIDS funding no longer corresponds to the demographics of which communities represent the greatest number of HIV cases in NYC. Would you support yearly statistics of both the geographic areas where HIV is most prevalent and as well as which populations in those neighborhoods are most effected, and then allocate yearly funding to services and communities based on these results? YES

Community Boards: Many Community Boards routinely oppose applications for liquor licenses in their areas, particularly if the proposed venue is tailored to appeal to the LGBT community. Please explain your position on the appropriate balance between support for nightlife, minority communities and respect for neighborhood concerns. The existing community should be convened and allowed to determine their own balance community nightlife needs. I will help to make sure everyone is represented in this effort for full community participation. Please outline the criteria you would use in selecting Community Board members. I will ensure a cross section of representation on the board, and focus on emerging leaders in the district who show interest in organizing their community.

NYPD The NYPD often targets bars, restaurants and clubs serving the LGBT community for increased scrutiny. They have used health code violations, allegations of drug use or sale, allegations of prostitution, allegations of serving minors, and a myriad of tools at their disposal. What changes would you implement to ensure LGBT institutions are treated equally by enforcement agencies? Working with the NYPD LGBT Advisory panel and local community boards, we can ensure that the NYPD is fair about their patrolling of all bars and restaurants. I will speak out when any bar has been found to be a target of anti-LGBT sentiment, and when there is suspicion that LGBT establishments were targeted, I will ask for more clarity and an official response directly from the NYPD/Precinct.

Do you support reforming Stop-and-Frisk? Please detail any specific changes to the program you believe are necessary.

YES, and support the kind of the reform the Progressive Caucus is seeking in the city council today.

Do you oppose the use of condoms as evidence of prostitution in criminal cases? Please explain your support or opposition. YES, I support the legislation in the state and all city council resolutions that support the passing of this bill. The NYPD LGBT Advisory Panel has also been pushing the commissioner and support their efforts to move the agency to establish new guidelines preventing this practice.

Runaway and Homeless Youth Will you support increasing the funding for both emergency shelter beds and transitional beds for homeless youth, a huge percentage of whom are from the LGBT community and will you pledge to support capital and expense funding for programs serving this population? (Y/N If no, please explain) YES What will you do to expand access to services for runaway and homeless youth? First, the City Council must create a plan that incorporates a city-wide coalition with action steps. We also must continue to grow community support from religious and immigrant groups. I hope to work with all the not for profit organizations who are working with homeless youth populations to develop this plan.

LGBT Services and Funding:

The LGBT community has no direct funding for the arts from the NEA or other funding sources because of institutional homophobia. Would your ofRice help with funding for LGBT Arts? If yes, please explain how.

YES, by meeting with local arts groups and asking them to develop funding requests for their programming.

The LGBT community is in great need of senior housing for many of our aging population. Many seniors experience homophobia in senior facilities making them feel they must be closeted. Would you help with the funding of senior housing for the LGBT community in your district? (Y)

YES, utilizing participatory budgeting, I hope to encourage communities like LGBT seniors and organizations that serve seniors, to create an eligible project. If you are currently in ofRice, have you made member item grants or supported LGBT funding requests? If seeking ofRice for the Rirst time, would you give strong consideration to LGBT social service organizations seeking funding from your ofRice if elected? (Y) I will also strongly consider any organization that seek funding for programs that bridge LGBT and non LGBT communities.

What actions will you take to help support the LGBT community center in your borough? If there is not an LGBT community center in your borough, what actions will you take to help develop one? I have already been incredibly involved with developing the backbone of the Brooklyn Community Pride Center while at the BK borough presidents office/ Speakers office and will continue to support them while in the City Council as a member.

Other: Please state concrete achievements for the LGBT community that you are responsible for in your current, or previous, elected ofRice/s.

I am a Virst time candidate but have concrete achievements I can point to as a public servant. I served as the LGBT and HIV/AIDS Liaison to Christine Quinn, the Speaker of the New York City Council, at a momentous time for LGBT New Yorkers. Speaker Quinn lobbied hard and successfully for the passage of marriage equality in New York. We also increased funding for HIV testing and treatment, and increased LGBT citizens (especially transgender and gender nonconforming people) access to city services such as housing and health care. While at the City Council to increase access to services for LGBTQ New Yorkers including historic changes to the NYPD Patrol Guide that ensures police ofVicers treat transgender and gender non-conforming people with dignity and respect. I also worked with a coalition of organizations to increase awareness of bullying in schools with a goal to ensure that LGBTQ youth have a safe space to learn. Working with an LGBTQ parent group focused on improving the Department of Education, I helped launch a citywide book drive to increase the number of LGBTQ-themed books in k-12 schools. As a Council Member, I will continue working to meet the needs of the LGBTQ community and advocating for full equality under the law.

Have you endorsed any LGBT candidates? Which ones? I support the the LGBT caucus in the NYC Council (Dromm, Van Bramer and Mendez.) I am currently meeting with other LGBT candidates for Council in the city and hope learn more about their campaigns. If endorsed will you display the endorsement of the Stonewall Democratic Club of NYC in your literature whenever you list other endorsements and will you display the endorsement on your website? Will you hire openly LGBT staff and/or designate a liaison to our communities if elected? (Y)

YES