Bessie Schachter

Bessie Schachter

Democratic Party

Education

Bachelor's

University of Texas, Austin

Graduate

New York University

Personal

Profession

Legislative staffer

Contact

Personal website

Bessie Schachter was a Democratic candidate for District 4 representative on the New York City Council in New York. She was defeated in the primary election on September 12, 2017. Click here to read Schachter's response to Ballotpedia's 2017 municipal candidate survey.

Biography

Email editor@ballotpedia.org to notify us of updates to this biography.

Schachter earned a B.A. in history and government from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.A. in American government and politics from New York University.

Schachter's professional experience includes work as the director of community outreach and scheduling for state Sen. Liz Krueger (D), as a program director for the New York Immigration Coalition and Immigrant Action, and as the executive director of Immigrant Action. She has also served as the 73rd District representative to the New York State Democratic Committee and as a member of the board of Immigrant Action.

Elections

2017

See also: Mayoral election in New York, New York (2017) and Municipal elections in New York, New York (2017)

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for the District 4 seat on the New York City Council.

New York City Council, District 4 Democratic Primary Election, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Keith Powers	40.83%	4,456
Marti Speranza	22.84%	2,493
Rachel Honig	8.69%	948
Bessie Schachter	8.41%	918
Vanessa Aronson	6.84%	746
Maria Castro	4.61%	503
Jeffrey Mailman	4.42%	482
Barry Shapiro	2.13%	232
Alec Hartman	1.00%	109
Write-in votes	0.24%	26
Total Votes		10,913
Source: New York City Board of Elections, "2017 Primary: Certified Results," accessed September 28, 2017

Campaign themes

2017

See also: Ballotpedia's municipal government candidate survey

Schachter participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of municipal government candidates. The following sections display her responses to the survey questions. When asked what her top priority would be if elected, the candidate made the following statement:

“	A livable city; more affordable housing, protection for neighborhood small businesses, and greater protections for seniors and families.	”
—Bessie Schachter (September 5, 2017)

Ranking the issues

The candidate was asked to rank the following issues by importance in the city, with 1 being the most important and 12 being the least important: city services (trash, utilities, etc.), civil rights, crime reduction/prevention, environment, government transparency, homelessness, housing, K-12 education, public pensions/retirement funds, recreational opportunities, transportation, and unemployment. This table displays this candidate's rankings from most to least important.

Issue importance ranking
Candidate's ranking	Issue	Candidate's ranking	Issue
1	Housing	7	Transportation
2	K-12 education	8	Public pensions/retirement funds
3	Homelessness	9	Crime reduction/prevention
4	Civil rights	10	Environment
5	City services (trash, utilities, etc.)	11	Unemployment
6	Government transparency	12	Recreational opportunities

Nationwide municipal issues

The candidate was asked to answer questions from Ballotpedia regarding issues facing cities across America. The questions are in the left column and the candidate's responses are in the right column. Some questions provided multiple choices, which are noted after those questions.

Question	Response
Is it important for the city’s budget to be balanced?Answer options: Not important; Not important, but required by state law; A little important; A little important, but required by state law; Important; Very important	A little important, but required by state law
Which level of government do you feel should set a minimum wage?Answer options: None, Local, State, Federal	Local
How do you think your city should emphasize economic development? Candidates could write their own answer or choose from the following options: Changing zoning restrictions, Create a more competitive business climate, Focusing on small business development, Instituting a citywide minimum wage, Recruiting new businesses to your city, Regulatory and licensing reforms, and tax reform	Focusing on small business development
What is the one thing you’re most proud of about your city?	I am proud of the incredible ability of New York to bring in diverse people from all around the world; to embrace them; and to help them thrive in this amazing place.
What is the one thing you’d most like to change about your city?	I have made a general audit of affordable housing the signature platform issue of my campaign.
Do you approve of the city's approach to policing and public safety? What changes, if any, do you think the city should make?	We are fortunate to live in a very safe district, a credit to our local police forces. That said, there is still great room for improvement. I would focus on a community policing model throughout the City. For a more complete analysis of this issue, please visit my website: www.bessie2017.com
Do you approve of the city's sanctuary policy? What changes, if any, do you think the city should make?	By 'sanctuary policy' I take it that this question refers to policies on immigration. I absolutely support a maximally strong sanctuary policy. No hard-working contributing member of our community should fear deportation. I vehemently oppose ending DACA and any efforts to cleave our community in two.
Do you approve of the city's approach to public transportation? What changes, if any, do you think the city should make?	New York City's public transportation has many strengths. Still, there is much room for improvement. High speed services and more reliable signaling infrastructure could go a long way -- here Tokyo and other cities could be a model. It is also time to explore innovative policy ideas like congestion pricing. For a more complete analysis of this issue, please visit my website: www.bessie2017.com
Do you approve of the city's approach to housing policy? What changes, if any, do you think the city should make?	I have made a general audit and a full-scale revamp of affordable housing policy the central issue in my campaign. We have lost over 200,000 affordable units in New York City. It is time to find out where those units are and to make sure tenants have their full rights under the law. I provide an exhaustive analysis of this issue and detailed proposals for how to move forward on my website: www.bessie2017.com

Additional themes

Schachter's campaign website highlighted the following issues. Click "show" on the boxes below for more information about her positions.

HOUSING

"Housing is the largest expense for any resident of New York, but the costs are often more than half of the income of those in our neighborhood. For all the talk about building new affordable units, too little emphasis is placed on the need to focus on preservation and reclamation of affordable housing. While 6,191 units of new affordable housing were financed in 2014, reports stated that 200,000 affordable homes have disappeared from the rolls of the overseeing agencies as of the same year. Rather than spending money on building new units and making slow progress toward livability, we should focus more city funds on finding affordable units that have fallen off the rolls andensure that existing affordable housing is not lost through evictions or demolition of existing buildings. As your City Councilmember, I would: Support new affordable housing programs. Support housing preservation. Support an audit of J-51 and 421a buildings to recover lost affordable units. Support a fast-track restoration of rent stabilized housing rents for re-claimed units. Support development that incorporates public use projects as part of a ULURP (upzoning) process."

OPEN SPACE

"While we can boast of historic Central Park, Bryant Park and Madison Square Park, we have few community parks on the East Side. Instead, we have POPS spaces – plazas and fountains that are privately funded and maintained but are open for public use. Yet too often the amenities of these spaces are missing or the security turns the public away. As part of my campaign I will explore the open spaces and comment on where the public is welcomed or admonished for using them. I invite you to come and meet me in your POPS and mine! Please check back in the spring for dates when I will be in a POPS near you. As your City Councilmember, I would: Support POPS oversight. Support new public parks projects. Support a clarification of the regulations for POPS properties."

HOMELESSNESS

"Last year I noticed one new homeless person on my block. At the same time, residents at 33rd and 3rd complained about a series of incidents with homeless New Yorkers. There are similar problems on 25th street in Chelsea and uptown on 85th Street. It is clear to all of us that homelessness is a mounting issue. Much needs to be done, including funding of programs that move the working homeless (people who work, but cannot get approved for an apartment) into permanent housing; expanding rent freeze programs to prevent people from becoming homeless; and building more affordable units. To effectively address such ongoing community issues, I propose the formation of a community task force to identify the hotspots for homelessness and assist City agencies in serving the residents and preventing street homeless in our community. As your City Councilmember, I would: Support more mental health funding for at risk adults and homeless New Yorkers. Support increased funding for Special Exit and Prevention Supplement program. Support community task force on sanitation and street homelessness. Expanded Rent assistance for residents at risk of losing their homes"

EDUCATION

"As a new mom I understand that nothing can ever be good enough for our children. Our schools on the East Side are good, but more class seats and smaller teacher to student ratios would make them better. While Charter schools fill a purpose in some parts of the city, they are rare in our neighborhood. Charters originally began in 1999 as an alternative for the poorest and most at-risk students in areas where the public schools were failing and administrators were authorized to experiment with new educational approaches. The results of this experiment are as yet unclear in part because it is hard to compare outcomes from charter schools who are authorized and reviewed on the state level and not usually through the Department of Education. While some charters have done well and others have closed, I have reservations about two tracks of education. that we may be headed for a separate and inherently unequal tracks of education by allowing too much difference in administering public and charter schools. Rather than having two tracks of education that are both problematic we should have one form of education that we are all trying to improve together. Important to stand up now for public schools now more than ever since the incoming Federal administration who are openly hostile to public education and public funding of education. Success in education is about creativity. We should allow our teachers to spark the imagination. We need to give teachers the freedom to really teach, and not focus only on teaching to standardized tests. As your City Councilmember, I would: For charter schools: Support standard reporting benchmarks for Charters, comparable to public schools Support intervention for struggling charters schools Oppose the co-location of charter and public schools. Support creative education and moving away from ‘teaching to tests’ Support lower teacher:student ratio and smaller class sizes."

Endorsements

2017

Schachter received endorsements from the following in 2017:

• Lexington Democratic Club
• McManus Midtown Democratic Club
• Muslim Democratic Club
• New York Immigrant Action
• New York Sen. George Latimer
• New York Assemblyman Ron Kim
• New York Assemblyman Dan Quart
• New York City Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Bessie Schachter New York City Council. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Bessie Schachter - Google News

See also

New York, New York	New York	Municipal government	Other local coverage

External links

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