The former chief of staff for Councilwoman Sara Gonzales and current Community Board 6 member wants to craft new ideas, as well as tweak some old ones, to make sure the city’s middle class gets its fair share again.
Schulman would work to update living wage laws enacted in 2002 to ensure that rates rise along with inflation.
“The same living wage back in 2002 is carried over into 2009 — but that’s not a living wage anymore,” she said.
The candidate also wants to expand the council’s oversight operations to make sure that labor laws are enforced by city agencies.
“People are losing out,” Schulman said. “There are projects where non-union people are being used in violation of the law. There are places where they’re not getting benefits.”
Schulman thinks the city also needs to simplify the public bidding proccess, which she said is often sliced up among multiple contractors, leading to inefficiency and waste while making oversight more challenging.
She also wants to give green industries a firm root in the city, an effort she hopes will help fill the vacuum left by Wall Street’s collapse last year.
Schulman promised to tackle the issues of health care, education and community conservation, which are among the most critical problems facing her district.
She would also fight Department of Education guidelines prohibiting parents from sending their kids to neighborhood schools, work to secure a new area hospital and hold developers accountable to maintain the character of communities where they build.
“People should expect a lot from their elected officals and they don’t — and that’s sad,” Schulman said.
District 29 includes Forest Hills, Rego Park, Kew Gardens and parts of Middle Village, Elmhurst and Richmond Hill.
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