Christopher Carew

Christopher Carew

Personal

Profession

Small business owner

Contact

Personal website

Christopher Carew was a Solutions Party candidate for District 41 representative on the New York City Council in New York. He was defeated in the general election on November 7, 2017. Click here to read Carew's response to Ballotpedia's 2017 municipal candidate survey.

Carew originally filed for the District 41 race as a Democratic candidate, but his name did not appear on the ballot for the primary on September 12, 2017.

Biography

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

Carew's experience includes work as the cofounder of the Schwick flea market and the apparel company Class Attire.

Elections

2017

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

New York City held elections for mayor, public advocate, comptroller, and all 51 seats on the city council in 2017. New Yorkers also voted for offices in their boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island.

Primary elections were scheduled for September 12, 2017, and the general election was on November 7, 2017. Under New York law, candidates who run unopposed in a primary or general election win the nomination or election automatically, and their names do not appear on the ballot. Alicka Ampry-Samuel (D) defeated Berneda Jackson (R) and Christopher Carew (Solutions) in the general election for the District 41 seat on the New York City Council.

New York City Council, District 41 General Election, 2017
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Alicka Ampry-Samuel	95.49%	18,203
	Republican	Berneda Jackson	3.18%	607
	Solutions	Christopher Carew	1.19%	227
		Write-in votes	0.13%	25
Total Votes				19,062
Source: New York City Board of Elections, "General Election - November 7, 2017," accessed January 2, 2018

Campaign themes

2017

Candidate survey

See also: Ballotpedia's municipal government candidate survey

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

“	Improving the baseline standards for public schools.	”
—Christopher Carew (November 2, 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	K-12 education	7	Crime reduction/prevention
2	Government transparency	8	City services (trash, utilities, etc.)
3	Unemployment	9	Transportation
4	Housing	10	Environment
5	Homelessness	11	Recreational opportunities
6	Civil rights	12	Public pensions/retirement funds

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	Very important
Which level of government do you feel should set a minimum wage?Answer options: None, Local, State, Federal	Federal
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?	Diversity
What is the one thing you’d most like to change about your city?	Better schools
Do you approve of the city's approach to policing and public safety? What changes, if any, do you think the city should make?	In general, yes. I would like to see more community policing, with officers walking the streets and engaging in a positive way with residents. I would like to see police officers who live in or around the neighborhoods they are patrolling.
Do you approve of the city's sanctuary policy? What changes, if any, do you think the city should make?	I'll say yes, but I believe we need to grant, on the federal level, a certain amount of amnesty to undocumented immigrants, which would then lessen the need for sanctuary cities to be an issue at all. I also believe we need to put more of the burden on employers for hiring undocumented workers, rather than deporting people and tearing families apart.
Do you approve of the city's approach to public transportation? What changes, if any, do you think the city should make?	I believe we need mayoral control of the MTA, and I would like to see more common sense solutions brought to the table to increase efficiency and decrease delays and congestion. With today's technology, of sensors, cameras, etc., when we have cars that can almost drive themselves on an open road, there is no reason why we can't have a more dependable subway system. As far as buses go, I believe we need to prioritize them over cars, with more dedicated lanes and more frequent service. If we can get more buses running - faster - more people will ride them. When more people ride buses, that will likely mean less people riding trains. If the buses are electric or hybrid, they will spew less pollution into our city's air. Lastly, I would love to see more reduced-fare MetroCards for New Yorkers, and let tourists pay a little more. I would really love to see the MTA's financials in all honesty. I will be pushing for the city to control the MTA when I am in office.
Do you approve of the city's approach to housing policy? What changes, if any, do you think the city should make?	Not entirely. I would like to see the city build affordable housing on the 1,000+ city-owned vacant lots. I would like to see an initiative to legalize basements, which would add tens of thousands of affordable units to the market, and bring new income for landlords. I would like to see more affordable home ownership opportunities, especially in historically underserved communities.

Additional themes

Carew's campaign website highlighted the following issues:

“	AFFORDABLE HOUSING Currently, there are 216 city-owned vacant lots in New York City Council District 41 - many of which have become unsightly dumping grounds. All 216 of these are at least as large as a standard three-family building, with many of them being much larger, as in the photo above. In this I see enormous potential. If each of these lots contained just one three-family home, that would provide housing for 648 families - upwards of 2,500 people. The fact is, many of these lots are much larger than that. In a district where 1 in 6 children have experienced homelessness in the past five years, there is an urgent need for affordable housing in our community. It is unacceptable that there are so many in need, while the city is letting vacant lots sit unused right in our back yard. If elected to City Council, I will fight to bring permanent affordable housing to the district, thereby creating union jobs, building energy-efficient homes, and beautifying our communities. EDUCATION Education is the most important issue in our community. When our children receive a quality education, there is no limit to what they can achieve. If elected, I will work hard to ensure that our public schools are top priority when it comes to funding from the city and state. I will fight to ensure that the curriculum in our schools is preparing our students for the future, with a focus on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math). In addition, I will push hard to fund programs for very important subjects that are not found in so many of our schools today - agriculture, home economics, financial literacy, and law - because if you know how to grow food, take care of your household, manage money, and understand the law, you are off to a great start. ACCESS TO HEALTHY FOOD Many areas of District 41 do not have adequate access to nutritious foods. These areas are known as 'food deserts'. With 56 community gardens in the district, there is no reason for this. If elected, within my first year in office I will propose converting the 10 most under-utilized of these community gardens into exclusively food-producing plots, where volunteers and/or paid growers will grow food crops to be sold at cost, or given, to the community at large. Additionally, I will push to utilize unused school lands and rooftops for gardening, in order to supplement the food supply of students at the school. COMMUNITY / POLICE RELATIONSHIP Historically there has been tension between African-American communities and the police tasked with patrolling these neighborhoods. There are many reasons for this, but I believe there are several ways to alleviate much of this tension with policy changes. If elected, I will push to encourage NYPD officers to walk the neighborhoods they patrol on foot, in order to meet residents of the community. I believe this can and will go a long way towards forming relationships and building trust between police officers and the community they are tasked with serving. In addition, I believe the NYPD must end the practices of Stop & Frisk and arrest quotas, which disproportionately affect black and latino men.	”
—Christopher Carew's campaign website, (2017)

Recent news

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

Christopher Carew - Google News

See also

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

External links

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