City Council Candidate Responses
District 48
Candidate: Mariya Markh
1. Please briefly share your background and note any experiences you may have in engaging older adults, whether professionally or personally, and in connecting with the non-profit sector.
I have worked for the City for over a decade, often in communities with a very large senior population. I’ve helped hundreds of seniors apply for benefits like Rent Freeze (SCRIE), property tax exemptions (SCHE), SNAP benefits, Half Fare MetroCards, Section 8, Lifeline programs, Medicaid, etc. I’ve also worked with many nonprofit groups to provide food to older adults, connecting them to vital services during the pandemic, and helped fight for funding for senior centers. I’ve worked closely with DFTA to make sure our seniors’ voices are heard and to help their outreach so DFTA services reach the people who need them.
2. As we live longer and healthier lives, what are your priorities with respect to promoting equity across all ages in our City?
We need to include more seniors who want to continue in the workforce and have more active adult programs (instead of just senior centers) for those who do not work. We need to have a stronger local municipal advocate for home health aide/CDPA hours so our elders can age in place. We need to build more senior priority housing both for full independent living and with supportive services. As our active aging population continues to grow, we need to use their strengths and life experience to connect them to opportunities, volunteer and otherwise, to benefit our communities and our city.
3. Do you support increasing the budget for the Department for the Aging (DFTA), which funds programs such as Senior Centers, NORCs, home-delivered meals, and more? Please give rationale for your response and specify any specific funding changes you are most committed to achieving.
Yes. Too often our senior centers have to balance need with financial realities. No center should have to cut services that are necessary to the health and wellness of their participants. From my observations during the pandemic, I’d like to see the home-delivered meals program expanded and funded, but with greater consideration given to cultural and dietary needs. We should also have more work training programs for older adults.
4. Do you support implementing a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) increase for city-contracted human service workers and the full implementation of the Indirect Cost Rate (ICR) initiative for non-profits? Please explain your response.
Yes, it’s common sense that people who are working with the City get compensated fairly.
5. Given that many older New Yorkers rely on limited fixed incomes and would prefer to age in community, rather than entering costly nursing homes, how will you address the need for affordable senior housing with services for a growing older population? How will you evaluate/respond to affordable senior housing proposals during ULURP?
We need to build more senior housing. We also need to help seniors get home health aides for the hours that they deserve. Both on a personal level (with my grandparents before they passed) and with constituents on a professional level, I’ve seen so many doctors specify that seniors need additional hours with home health aides so they can live comfortably in their own homes, but often these requests are turned down. I’m happy to support more senior housing during ULURP and work with developers to identify potential sites in the district. I would also try to reverse an existing carve-out of my district for MIH/ZQA to both ease and mandate senior housing.
6. While many older adults wish to be connected, many lack the financial resources or training necessary to fully access technology, exacerbating the digital divide. How would you encourage the City to address this?
We need to not only provide funding for teaching seniors how to use technology, but ensure that they can get the devices and reliable internet connection that they need to use those skills. Luckily there will be a Federal program opening soon that will help pay for devices and internet, and the State just passed legislation to help with broadband connectivity. I would work with organizations like OATS to bring technology training services to seniors in my district.
7. During COVID-19, Senior Centers continued to work remotely, offering services in new ways to ensure their clients’ needs were met. To date, providers have not been authorized to operate in-person, despite restaurants, movies, and other entities, which older adults could also attend, being open. Further, community-based organizations, in many cases, have not been leveraged in the new meal delivery system. What are ways that you feel the City should work with nonprofits and engage older adults in the event of a future emergency?
When I worked in the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit, I proposed that the City work with senior centers to deliver meals to their members but the Administration gave contracts to large companies instead to provide food that does not take cultural or dietary restrictions into consideration. Likewise, I suggested that the City work with these centers to have lists of seniors who would be eligible for vaccines when they became available. Again, this suggestion was ignored.
Additionally, we should have more virtual programming for seniors, and provide them with the equipment and internet access to participate if they don’t already have it. The City only prioritized some NYCHA developments for this program.
8. With 1 in 5 New Yorkers over the age of 60, what are the changes you would seek to make to create a more age-friendly district? Please consider addressing the physical infrastructure of your district (walkability, accessibility, etc.), health care access, safety net resources, and other district specific items of note.
First and foremost, we need to improve transportation options. I would help fund adding elevators to train stations that don’t have them (like Sheepshead Bay Road on the Q/B line). We need to make sure our streets are safe for older New Yorkers to cross. We need to make sure that they have access to programs in languages they speak. We have a number of hospitals, health clinics and doctors’ offices in the district, but we need to make sure the public facilities are funded.
9. In the event of a budget shortfall, how would you push for the City to close the gap? Are there agencies or programs you feel should or should not absorb cuts? Please be specific.
We need to really examine spending programs. We need to make sure we maintain safety net programs and help keep our institutions and non-profits active. We should work with the private sector for partnerships.
10. How should your constituents look to measure your success in achieving your responses outlined above?
They should see it in the services that they get. I want to make sure that everyone who comes into my office feels heard and gets a response. I want to make sure people feel like they can participate in government and in their community.