Marti Speranza

Marti Speranza

Democratic Party

Education

Bachelor's

University of Pennsylvania

Graduate

Harvard University

Personal

Profession

Business owner

Contact

Personal website

Martha "Marti" Speranza 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.

Biography

2017

Speranza studied economics and political science at the University of Pennsylvania and earned an M.B.A. from Harvard University.

Speranza's professional experience includes work as a small business owner, the director of the New York City initiative Women Entrepreneurs NYC, the director of strategic initiatives for New York City's Department of Consumer Affairs, and a senior manager at a global technology company. She has also served as the 74th District representative to the New York State Democratic Committee, the president of the Gramercy Stuyvesant Independent Democrats, the vice president of the Village Independent Democrats, a member of Community Board 5, a member of the NYC Health + Hospitcals Bellevue Community Advisory Board, and the chair of Women Build 2017 and a member of the Leadership Council for Habitat for Humanity.

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

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

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

"We live in the greatest city in the country and it is only natural that people are relocating here to take advantage of our booming economy and high quality of life. While growth provides new opportunities and diversity, it must be tempered with tough decision-making when it comes to development. New Yorkers are tired of city policies that offer sweetheart deals to luxury developers while giving local residents the run-around. New construction in our district should reflect the rhythm and character of our neighborhoods, and must include permanent affordable housing units for seniors, students, working families, and people with disabilities. Since 2000, and according to a report by NYC Comptroller Scott M. Stringer, New York City has lost over 400,000 apartments renting for $1,000 a month or less. Imagine a city where nurses and teachers can afford to live in the communities in which they work. MARTI'S PLAN FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING Identify vacant city-owned lots and revise the city’s land bank legislation to help transform underutilized land into affordable housing. Specifically, create a citywide Community Land Trust that will ensure a community-backed model for converting vacant lots into permanently affordable, multi-family, rent-stabilized buildings and low-income cooperative housing. Analyze all existing federal, state, and local tax incentives and abatements intended to induce the creation of affordable housing. Identify where there are gaps or additional funds needed to ensure that more affordable units are built for the individuals and families that need it the most. Expand community education and outreach to seniors who qualify to receive The Senior Citizen and/or Disability Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE/DRIE) benefits. Protect communities from unsafe and illegal hotels by holding home sharing services accountable and working with the Office of Special Enforcement to crack down on users advertising illegal short-term rentals. Analyze the existing availability and cost of services and facilities for seniors and improve access and affordability to create better opportunities for the elderly to age in place. Work with local lenders and banks to create a 'first-look' program in which lenders offer properties that are at-risk of going into foreclosure or losing their affordability restrictions to good housing developers before they market the buildings more broadly. Stand against predatory equity by passing new legislation that publishes physical letter grades on rent-stabilized apartments. Much like restaurant grades, this legislation will evaluate landlords and their building management based on criteria including the number of outstanding housing code building violations, current tenant-landlord legal disputes, and debt service ratios. The grading system will help current and prospective tenants identify the quality of the current landlord, the likelihood that the building will fall into disrepair, the history of tenant harassment, and the risk of foreclosure based on debt levels. It will also help dissuade bad landlords from continuing poor and illegal behavior and identify for the City where proactive intervention is most needed. RENT REGULATION Repeal the Urstadt Law to give New York full control over its rent regulation. End vacancy destabilization to bring apartments back permanently under rent regulation and end the practice of selling tenant screening reports to landlords to evaluate prospective new tenants STUY TOWN + PETER COOPER VILLAGE Ensure that Blackstone continues to honor their commitments to preserve 5K affordable units for 20 years, set limits on yearly increases for Roberts tenants, maintain current configuration of open space and submit to public review any proposed air rights transfers. Require advance notification for major capital improvements, so residents are aware of the costs and timing of projects. THE HOMELESS Reduce the amount of beds at the 30th Street Men's Shelter to manageable levels and ensure that no sex-offenders are allowed into our neighborhood shelters. Prevent homelessness before it starts by investing in affordable housing and moving long-term street homeless individuals directly into subsidized, supportive housing that provides mental health services, debt counseling, legal and job support services. Learn from and invest in proven models that provide targeted supportive housing services for homeless individuals and families such as the Scattered Site Housing Model. DEVELOPMENT + LANDMARKS Preserve historically significant housing by increasing the use of landmarking to ensure permanent affordability. Notify Community Boards when developers assemble air rights to add transparency to the process. Ensure community feedback in implementation of mandatory inclusionary housing plan. Monitor existing modular (prefabricated construction) development in New York City and other municipalities and identify ways to improve and scale unionized building projects around the City. NYCHA Create paid resident-run 'neighborhood watch' patrols to create local jobs, ensure community safety, and reduce building vandalism."

EDUCATION

"A zip code should never determine the quality of childcare and the educational opportunities available to families. Our children deserve an education that prepares them for the future - including access to broadband, STEM training, and financial literacy tools. The City is responsible for engaging parents, maintaining facilities and playgrounds, and ensuring nutritional meal programs. Marti believes in increased funding for our city schools and a sustained commitment to educational equity. MARTI'S PLAN FOR EDUCATION Provide a citywide after-school financial literacy program to educate high school students about student loans, saving, credit, and budgeting. Expand outreach and opportunities for students and families to become more familiar with STEM career paths and programs as early as elementary school and continuing through high school. Utilize public-private partnerships to expand the New York Public Library’s Hotspot loan program, which will ensure that children have the adequate broadband service required to successfully complete their homework. Ensure that the Department of Education continues to collect information on race/ethnicity, gender, special education status, English language learner status, primary home language, and address of residence for all pre-K children in order to analyze how to best integrate UPK and identify opportunities for integrated classrooms. Require schools and universities who receive City funding to train staff on how to respond when students experience cyberbullying as advocated by Hollaback. FACILITIES + MAINTENANCE Increase funding for school construction and repair to alleviate crowding and facility rationing. Monitor the number of available UPK seats in District 4 and ensure that the gap is closed by identifying new providers and easily accessible locations. FAMILIES To increase equitable access, hire additional counselors in schools to help parents navigate the complex open enrollment process. Conduct comprehensive, consistent outreach to parents and others in school communities to increase and foster parent interest and participation in their children’s schools and education. Convene parent advocates from around the City to share best practices, urgent issues, and creative solutions for our local schools. NUTRITION Research and scale proven programs that encourage healthy eating and fitness habits for students. Pass an immediate ban on deep/flash-fried foods and junk food vending machines to reduce childhood obesity. Expand funding for school gardens and gardening programs as well as after-school cooking programs."

SMALL BUSINESS + JOBS

"District 4 is home to a diverse, exciting, and thriving small business community. Our local small businesses have helped to create a better future for our residents and support for our small business owners must be expanded. Marti is a staunch supporter of workers' rights because workers are the bedrock of our economy. MARTI'S PLAN FOR SMALL BUSINESSES Form a Legacy Business Preservation Fund, which will provide qualifying small businesses (including nonprofits) with annual financial assistance. The funds will also provide grants to commercial landlords in exchange for creating 10-year leases with these businesses. Reform the Commercial Rent Tax to exempt business owners located south of 96th Street who pay less than $500,000 per year, from the current threshold of $250,000. Establish a new public-private partnership that provides 1,000 small businesses with free advisory committees comprised of volunteers who are experts in key fields. Create and distribute a free toolkit for small businesses that includes vetted back-end products (i.e. inventory management, payroll, employment support, etc.) and technical assistance training to ensure that entrepreneurs can spend more time working on their businesses, not in their businesses. Like the City’s MWBE program which aims to increase the participation of Minority and Women Business Enterprises in the economy through local government contracting, amend the administrative code and New York City Charter to establish goals for participation by socially responsible, mission-driven businesses (such as B-Corporations and nonprofit organizations) which allow for the businesses to better compete for government contracts. Expand programs that support NYCHA-based home businesses, using the NYCHA Food Business Pathways program as a model. Build on the Small Business Jobs Survival Act (SBJSA) by focusing legislation on existing businesses with under 50 employees and under $500,000 in annual revenue. WORKERS' RIGHTS Support prevailing wage and organizing rights for all workers in New York City. Support and highlight businesses and employer models that commit to providing workers with a minimum number of work hours and sufficient advance notice of last-minute schedule changes, in contrast to companies that use "just-in-time" and split shift scheduling. Advocate for the expansion of New York State’s Temporary Disability Insurance program to include paid family leave that raises the current cap on benefits from $170 per week to roughly $600 per week over the course of four years to ensure that mothers and fathers are able to care for a newborn or newly adopted child, and that care of a seriously ill child, spouse, domestic partner, parent, grandchild, grandparent, sibling, or the parent of a spouse or partner is allowed. Empower individuals to negotiate fair salaries and ensure gender parity by exploring the creation of an online database based on City tax data. To protect the privacy of individuals, the site would list salary information by job title (not name) for companies that employ 50 or more employees. IMMIGRANTS Adequately fund and expand access to free legal services for immigrant workers and asylum seekers. Build the capacity of community-based organizations that serve immigrant communities by regularly convening and coordinating groups focused on worker education and workforce development. Increase support and technical assistance for worker centers (aka day-laborer centers), which offer valuable opportunities for immigrant workers to learn on-site while waiting for employment. JOB TRAINING + TECHNOLOGY Using the Tech Talent Pipeline as a model, close hiring gaps in the Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) fields by working with employers to specify the skill needed and provide high quality training to local job seekers. Expand free, multi-lingual technology training to businesses to support increased sales with education that focuses on website development, social media training, and marketing."

TRANSPORTATION

"The East Side of Manhattan is currently undergoing one of the most significant construction projects in decades: the creation of the long-awaited Second Avenue subway. Marti will fight to keep construction on time and on budget, and ensure we get the funding we deserve to keep our roads, buses and subways from falling into disrepair. As the population in District 4 increases, so too does the demand for transit and the strain placed on our streets and public transportation infrastructure. A robust and comprehensive transportation network must be a priority. MARTI'S PLAN FOR TRANSPORTATION Hold the MTA accountable for completion of the Second Avenue Subway since the first phase alone decreased travel times and crowding on the Lexington Avenue line. Work with the Department of Transportation to quickly identify the best locations for short-term expansion of Select Bus Service on the Upper East Side to reduce congestion on the Lexington line. Expand and protect local bus service to increase mobility for seniors and people with disabilities. Advocate for Move NY's fair tolling plan to maintain, modernize, and expand our road, bridge, and transit networks. Ensure all public school students are provided with a full fare MetroCard by collaborating with the MTA, NYC Department of Education and NYC Office of Pupil Transportation. BIKE + PEDESTRIAN SAFETY Hire more bike cops to improve bicycling conditions, safety against careless drivers, and mobility, but also protect pedestrians and seniors from aggressive biking behavior. Work with the Department of Transportation to model new, lengthy, protected bike lanes much like the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway Bike Route, which will not interfere with pedestrian plazas or traffic. Follow up on the Transportation Alternative's recommendation to put Vision Zero 2024 back on schedule by adopting interim annual reduction targets and increasing funding for the Department of Transportation to allow for the redesign of the most dangerous streets and intersections, like 76th and Park."

ENVIRONMENT

"From Stuyvesant Cove in the south to Carl Schurz in the north, the East Side of Manhattan is home to beautiful parks and open spaces. New York City must make massive strides to reduce waste and increase recycling to protect vulnerable citizens from pollution and valuable resources from the impacts of a changing world. Community input is vital to understanding how to best solve the local environmental challenges, like increasing noise pollution and decreasing greenspace, that impact our quality of life. We must also protect our parks, communities, and businesses from natural disasters like Super Storm Sandy. MARTI'S PLAN FOR THE ENVIRONMENT Move away from pollution-generating sanitation garages and toward single-stream, zero waste recycling. Continue to monitor the East 91st Street Marine Transfer Station and the 25th Street Sanitation Garage to guarantee that community needs are met and our children are protected from truck congestion and pollution. Bring hassle-free composting to District 4 by expanding the NYC Organics program to every resident and business on the East Side. Create more public open space by expanding the temporary use of our side streets as places to congregate, play, and exercise. Enhance the district's green canopy by planting thousands of trees in our parks and neighborhoods. Address the air quality and noise concerns with power plants in neighboring districts by working with power plant operators to find appropriate times to release steam and supporting a resolution to call on the State to phase out the harmful number 4 and 6 oils burned at power plants that serve the City. RESILIENCY Support the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project, as long as community needs are addressed, and continue to reinforce our waterfront above 23rd Street, especially Waterside Plaza, with green infrastructure to protect residents against future Sandy events and rising sea levels. Convene leading experts on climate change to understand what additional regulatory reforms would benefit the City in its effort to become more resilient and advocate for even more proactive legislation. Continue to enhance the district's green canopy by planting thousands of trees to protect critical transit infrastructure from hurricanes, floods, and climate change. RECYCLING Enforce recycling laws for restaurants and bars to reduce waste. Encourage paperless City agencies, which will allow for reduced waste and cost savings. Continue to monitor and invite community participation in the development of the East 91st Street Marine Transfer Station and the 25th Street Sanitation Garage to guarantee that community needs are met and our children are protected from truck congestion and air pollution. Support the expansion of hassle-free composting to District 4 by expanding the NYC Organics program to every resident and business on the East Side. NOISE POLLUTION Working with the DOB, investigate ways to mitigate noise concerns related to after-hours construction. Explore options such as the use of noise mufflers and sufficient notice to neighborhood residents prior to activity. Ensure community involvement and continued oversight for all new, large scale construction projects to ensure that noise protections are enforced and quality of life for residents and businesses does not diminish. Partner with the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission to create a Taxi Stand at the Waterside Plaza boat slip so noisy disembarking passengers can leave directly from the pier instead of walking through Stuyvesant Town Peter Cooper Village."

SENIORS + HEALTH

"New York City can and should be the health and wellness capital of the world. New Yorkers live long and adventurous lives that require adequate health options and the capacity to age in place and with grace. Marti will combine innovative ideas, local feedback, and proven best practices to expand services for our seniors, to advocate for universal health care, and to keep our hospitals from closing their doors. MARTI'S PLAN FOR SENIORS AND HEALTH SENIORS Launch a robust outreach campaign to educate seniors about Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE) benefits since a Department of Finance report found Stuyvesant Town is one of the most under-enrolled neighborhoods in the city, with only 25% of eligible seniors receiving benefits. Create additional Senior Centers in District 4 and fund programming on weekends for Stein Neighborhood Senior Center and Lenox Hill Neighborhood Senior Center. Establish a public-private partnership to scale senior-focused technology centers like the first-of-its-kind Senior Planet Center, which provides seniors with social connections and education around technology and health. Convene organizations that promote Home Sharing for seniors to identify best practices and interventions that can be used to scale safe, sustainable cohabitation that combats the isolation and loneliness experienced by aging alone. Commit to listening to community needs through a quarterly convening for seniors in District 4 to discuss priority issues impacting senior quality of life. HEALTH Hold Mount Sinai Health System accountable to keep their commitment to expand their facilities, including a new hospital at 13th Street and 2nd Avenue to counter the downsizing Beth Israel at 16th Street and 1st Avenue. Provide free sunscreen in NYC parks, beaches and playgrounds to reduce risk of cancer as suggested in a recent report from NYC Comptroller Scott M. Stringer. Support universal health care for all New Yorkers. Specifically, review outcomes from the Direct Access pilot that serves 1,000 immigrant New Yorkers, who are excluded from federal and state insurance programs, with reliable and coordinated access to low-cost healthcare. Using information and learning from the pilot, work with the community to explore pilot expansion. Bring and expand mobile health clinics that provide preventative care and flu shots to families with small children and seniors."

ARTS + CULTURE

"District 4 is home to world renowned Museum Mile, Carnegie Hall, The New York Public Library, and independent theater productions. The Arts are ingrained in our DNA and enrich our lives, but we risk losing essential arts programs in New York City due to Donald Trump’s proposal to cut the National Endowment for the Arts from the federal budget. Marti is prepared to work alongside artists, musicians, actors, and dancers to ensure that New York remains an artist-friendly city by protecting and fighting for the arts funding and culture programs that make our City the cultural capital of the world. MARTI'S PLAN FOR ARTS & CULTURE Work with the many arts advocacy organizations in NYC to fight for the classroom space and funding schools need to provide their students with a rich education in music, drama, visual arts, and dance. Stand up to employers who unfairly misclassify working artists as independent contractors and prevent misclassification before it happens by educating artists about their rights and informing employers about labor best practices. Build on existing pilot that exchange workshops for public school students, seniors, and NYCHA residents, for access to rehearsal/performance spaces as advocated by League of Independent Theaters NY (LITNY). Advocate for the Mayor’s office of Media and Entertainment to adopt grant awards guidelines that ensure that arts institutions are paying their musicians and actors fairly. Sign onto City Council’s City Spaces legislation to create a searchable database of underutilized community and city-owned spaces that can serve as performance and rehearsal spaces. Expand the Theater Subdistrict Fund to include arts organizations with budgets below $250,000/year. Relieve independent venues of high property taxes and rents by using rezoning and landmarking measures. Ensure that individuals who make their living from their art have a loud voice in the conversation about affordable housing and ensure that their needs are being met with the creation of new developments (read more about Marti’s plan for affordable housing here)."

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM

"We must build on the momentum created by the decision to close Rikers and push for wider reforms to our justice system that improve the lives of all New Yorkers. Every year, taxpayers spend over 125 million dollars to incarcerate defendants unable to pay bail. Many of these individuals are low-level nonviolent offenders. Imagine what we could invest in with all the savings from a reduced inmate population: affordable housing, transportation infrastructure, better schools––the vital resources to make our city livable. MARTI'S PLAN FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM Prohibit the City from hiring contractors that build private prisons. We need to send a message that profiting of off mass incarceration is wrong and if you partner with these companies, you don’t deserve taxpayer dollars. Pass the Right to Know Act, the legislative package that would improve communication and the relationship between police and civilians by requiring officers to identify themselves during an encounter, state their reason for making a stop, and explain the right to refuse a search where there is no legal justification. End the prosecution of fare evaders citywide. No one should be sitting in jail for not being able to afford the cost of a subway ride. Diverting repeat offenders to community service programs instead of prosecuting them is less costly for our city and better for the future of these individuals. Accelerate the closure of Rikers Island, as advocated by State Senator Brian Benjamin, to bring the injustices and wasted taxpayer dollars to an end. Through decreasing unnecessary arrests, finding alternatives to incarceration, and following through on the creation of a citywide bail fund for nonviolent and low-level offenders, we can work towards closing Rikers in less than 10 years. Empower the Civilian Complaint Review Board to initiate investigations without receiving a formal complaint, as supported by the good government group, Citizens Union. Without this reform, many incidents of known police misconduct that go unreported by citizens who fear reprisal or simply don’t know they have the option to file a complaint, could be investigated. Keep Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents out of our courts and schools. We need to resist Donald Trump’s bigoted war on our city’s immigrant population, whom we depend on for its contributions to the city’s economy, culture and vitality. Maintaining our status as a sanctuary city by refusing to cooperate with ICE/DHS when they overstep their bounds and use intimidation tactics will ensure that our city lives out its progressive values."

Endorsements

2017

Speranza received endorsements from the following in 2017:

• New York Amsterdam News
• American Council of Engineering Companies
• City University of New York Professional Staff Congress
• Communications Workers of America
• Empire State Humane Voters
• Gramercy Stuyvesant Independent Democrats
• Laborers' International Union of North America
• League of Independent Theater
• Mason Tenders District Council
• The National Council of Women of America
• National Stonewall Veterans' Association
• New York State Laborers' Union
• New York State Nurses Association
• Sierra Club of New York
• United Federation of Teachers
• New York Sen. Brian Benjamin
• New York City Councilman Antonio Reynoso

Recent news

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

Marti Speranza - Google News

See also

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

External links

Suggest a link

• New York City Council
• Campaign website
• Social media
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter