Who is Cecilia Cortez?

I want to be the next NYC council member from district 40 because my district needs someone who gets things done, and bring changes to the community.  As a special needs’ teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing for 35 years in NYC public schools I was able to provide an education for my deaf and hard of hearing students who have many needs.  I educated their parents to communicate better with their deaf children.  As a chapter leader for the UFT I represented 500 teachers of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing who serve students in all settings in the five boroughs.  I represented the teachers and kept their rights intact.  As a resident of my community I organized events that brought different members of the community together and made our community stronger.  Today we have a newsletter. Before COVID we had a progressive dinner, a holiday event, a garage sale, a summer BBQ, a spring soiree.  We meet monthly and I am the vice president of my association.  As a NYC council member I will work with the community to make their needs known to the council.  Together, with the community, I will work on solutions to their problems that benefit everyone.  I will bring my organizational skills to get things done.  The Council needs to have people like me who have worked in the community and can tackle problems. 

As an educator who was in the classroom for 15 years and a travelling teacher for twenty years, I see education as number one on the list of priorities.  I believe education is the ticket to a better life.  I came to this country as a 17 year old immigrant.  I didn’t speak English.  I went to Midwood High School.  I met great teachers who guided me and educated me and put me on the path to a college education. I went to college at SUNY at Purchase.  Once again I met great teachers who took the time and saw a potential in me.  They taught me and prepared me for the outside world and I graduated from college.  Graduate school was different.  You are there because you know what you want and won’t let anyone stop you.  I got my degree in Deafness Education and became a teacher because I had the opportunity to get an education and I want that opportunity for everyone.  I want every student who is in school to have all the opportunities I had.  I want them to meet great teachers who are prepared and take their time to see the potential in their students as my teachers did with me.  I want schools to have well trained and well paid teacher teachers who have the support and motivation to remain as teachers and support students like me to continue to serve their community and their city. 

I believe housing is a right.  Every single person living in a community should have a place to call home.  We are going through very hard times.  The COVID-19 pandemic shot down our communities.  People have lost their jobs leaving them without an income or with less income leaving them vulnerable and sometimes on the verge of losing their homes.  They deserve help.  For a while workers who lost their jobs were getting a $600 boost to unemployment checks that helped them pay rent or mortgages.  That ended.  There are several proposals out there such as extending the eviction moratorium past September 4th. That is not a permanent solution.  Once that date comes we will see massive evictions.  We must prevent that.  Some homeless people were put in hotels during the pandemic.  Now those communities are complaining about the homeless in those communities.  The homeless population continues to grow because even though there are a large number of vacancies in the city there is not enough affordable housing.  The city must develop affordable housing for working people in new constructions in NYC.  The City Council has the power to push for that.  I will work on that

I see an increased amount of garbage in communities across Brooklyn.  I have been reading the same situation is happening in Manhattan and the Bronx.  Mayor De Blasio has announced major cuts to the current budget. He said he has cut $106 million from the Sanitation Department budget leaving New York with less days for garbage pickup.  That has really affected the standard of living for New Yorkers.  Now we walk around rats who are not afraid to be in the way.   New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer had a news conference where he said that rats have increased 60% in the city.  It is essential to put an end to this situation.  Cleaning streets and collecting garbage must be paramount at this time, especially since we are still in the COVID-19 pandemic and we need everything clean to avoid spreading the virus.  The NYC Council could emphasize in the budget the importance of allocating money to the Sanitation  Department and not cutting it to serve New York better and alleviate the current situation.  I will bring my community experience to the council and change the budget to get communities access to more  garbage pickup.

Public transportation needs to improve drastically. People in district 40 use mass transportation mainly.  We  need a mass transportation system that works well.  Congestion pricing won’t affect much in district district 40, because only 2% of the people in district 40 use cars to go to Manhattan. I don’t support Congestion pricing because the only thing that it does is take money out of people’s pockets. It makes it harder for people to drive to Manhattan. It doesn’t improve public transportation or make biking or walking safer. 

If you want people to use mass transit instead of cars make it so good that people have no incentive to drive or own a car. Otherwise they will continue to use their cars to move around to get to where they want to go when it is easier.

The neighborhood of Ditmas Park West, like many other communities around New York City, does not want an 102-foot eye-sore building in the middle of it’s neighborhood. Community Board 14 has approved the rezoning of 1620 Cortelyou Road project with conditions, despite the community’s opposition. Unfortunately, myself and many others were unable to speak at this meeting because only board members are allowed to vote and speak on the matter.

As a candidate for City Council representing this district, I call on the other candidates for District 40 and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams to stand shoulder to shoulder with the community, and me, in opposition to this development. 

In my opinion, and in the opinion of many other community members who attended the meeting -- this building would be a monstrosity. Not only will it block the sunlight for other buildings around it, but this massive building would bring a serious parking-issue to the area due to the increased density of people. The apartments that would fill the building itself would be too expensive for community members to afford to live. Many of the apartments discussed would be one-bedroom apartments -- where the need for families in this community is two- and three-bedrooms apartments. Neighbors who spoke at the meeting said they themselves have already been displaced from other communities and worry that the same situation will occur in this neighborhood. Rezonings in Williamsburg occurred, for example, and as a result, rent went up.

Currently, 1620 Cortelyou Road is home to a Key Foods supermarket. While the owner claims the supermarket will stay open during construction, there is no guarantee. Due to construction that could last two years, it is uncertain if other small businesses in the area will survive. It is unclear if the laundromat, which is located on the site, will remain open  even though it is crucial to the local community. Furthermore, the Cortelyou Road train station platform is also very narrow and cannot be widened to accommodate an increasingly crowded platform.

Ditmas Park West, is a historic neighborhood known for its Victorian homes that are often 100 years old. We have already seen some of these homes torn down and replaced with big buildings. We have been fighting for 30 years for landmark designation in order to preserve the character of our neighborhood. We want this community to retain a level of historical significance. We want to preserve our community.

As a community member of 30 years, and a City Council candidate, I am standing against this project. It is not in the interest of the community and would destroy what is now a long shopping corridor with nice small restaurants and local shops.