Clean, safe, and accessible public spaces are a key part of what makes any district enjoyable and successful. Our district has some of the city’s most verdant parks and busy plazas. Well-maintained parks, vibrant streets, and reliable sanitation services are essential for the health and happiness of all residents while also attracting tourists and business. 

And we’ve been leading the way on the West Side: there’s the Canoe and series of Street Seats in Hell’s Kitchen, the sprawling plazas in the Meatpacking District, and a plan to vastly increase public space in Hudson Square, too. The redesign of Broadway in the Flatiron District also shows what is possible on our streets when we think beyond just the windshield view.

Many of our city’s public realm initiatives are driven by our business improvement districts, which provide supplemental support for city services like cleaning and beautification. I will continue to work on  the expansion of the Hudson Yards Hell's Kitchen BID further north into Hell’s Kitchen, l will provide marketing and program support for our businesses as well as sanitation and landscaping services for our blocks. 

I support Mayor Mamdani’s pledge to provide 1% of the city budget to fund the Parks Department, to improve maintenance, cleaning, safety, and create more equitable park access, an idea that has been around a long time because of historic underfunding, but needs to be made permanent because it’s our collective backyard!

We know that containerizing trash is possible and it works, too. Cities around the world have done it for decades and it's been happening in Morningside Heights and West Harlem for years already. I’ll work to roll out trash container programs across the district which will reduce rat populations and keep our streets a whole lot cleaner.