Creating Good Jobs and a Fair Economy

"I've been fighting to create good jobs in Brooklyn for more than a decade - and today that fight is more important than ever."

Brad has a record of creating family-supporting jobs for New Yorkers. As executive director of the Fifth Avenue Committee, Brad helped to develop groundbreaking training programs that have placed more than 2,500 low-income New Yorkers in full-time living-wage jobs as commercial truck drivers and cable installers, and to launch FirstSource Staffing, a non-profit temp agency that has placed more than 1,200 New Yorkers with more than 300 employers and become a nationally-recognized model for turning temporary assignments into good permanent jobs.

Brad will fight for job policies that make work pay for working New Yorkers, and build a fair economy for all of us:

• Guarantee Paid Family Leave: No one should be forced to choose between their job and taking care of newborn child or a sick relative. It's time the City Council passed paid family leave legislation giving everyone this basic right.
• Reform the NYC Economic Development Corporation: The economic development agencies of Los Angeles and San Francisco get it right. They see publicly-supported economic development first and foremost about creating good jobs for people who need them, and strengthening neighborhoods ... not only about creating growth and increasing property values. New York can and should require that all jobs created through NYC economic development programs are good jobs - by applying prevailing wage and living wage standards. Companies that get economic development dollars should be required to provide real outreach and training to help residents of nearby communities obtain access to high quality jobs - and they should be held to high standards. The City should end handouts to corporations that don't meet their promises.
• Support Independent Workers: Much of the job growth in our community has been among freelancers (artists, architects, consultants, etc). But our tax and economic policies continue to pretend that everyone works for a traditional employer. Following the lead of groups like the Freelancers Union, we should repeal the "unincorporated business tax" to end the double-taxing of freelancers, establish some form of unemployment insurance to create a safety net for the self-employed, help independent workers collect unpaid claims, support the creation of work-spaces for freelancers, and adopt policies that respect the creativity and productivity of independent workers.
• Preserve Viable Manufacturing: While many of the manufacturing jobs that were once in New York are gone for good, there are still several hundred thousand well-paying, blue-collar jobs in sectors from furniture-making to food production. Right now, their biggest threat is rising real estate costs as a result of the conversion of manufacturing-zoned land to residential uses. We should adopt new zoning for "industrial employment districts" and "balanced mixed-use districts" that does more both to provide spaces manufacturers can afford.
• Establish "Green City/Good Jobs": New York City should launch a large-scale program to help us meet the twin challenges of climate change and a worsening economy. The program would provide initial funding to assess and retrofit buildings to make them more energy efficient, and then create green jobs that pay enough to support a family. "Green City/Good Jobs" would be financed by future energy cost savings and will create thousands of jobs for New Yorkers.