City Council Candidate James Johnson announced his candidacy for City Council in District 27 last week. He is a community organizer and a lifelong resident of the Southeast Queens neighborhood of Cambria Heights. He is devoted to building a brighter future for his community, he said.
Johnson’s focus is on securing a more equitable portion of city resources for education and small business support. Johnson has worked as a community liaison for both the current councilmember, term-limited City Councilmember I. Daneek Miller, and for New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer. He is prepared to put his city government experience to work to get his neighbors the resources they deserve and keep the municipal accountable to the community.
District 27 includes Cambria Heights, Hollis, Jamaica, St. Albans, Queens Village and Springfield Gardens, and the stakes for these neighborhoods couldn’t be higher, he said. The community needs to be brought to the table to make the necessary decisions that will shape the policy to address these needs and many more.
Johnson’s top three initiatives:
· Education Funding Reform: Johnson has been critical of the inadequate funding level for our local schools for years. He has noted that it is inequitable to allow the city’s disadvantaged to continue to go on without a proportionate level of support from city, state and federal funds. He will work to shift the city’s education funding formula to ensure young people have what they need.
· Housing Justice: The New York City property tax system is broken. Homeowners in the district, and districts like it, pay the lion’s share of the city’s property taxes while others enjoy years of tax abatements and credits. For the last two years, the city government has been discussing reforms to our property tax system. If elected, Johnson is ready to join that conversation. He will work to prioritize a fairer and more transparent property tax system that prioritizes relief for low-income and senior homeowners.
· Community-led Economic Development: Johnson will focus on bringing more economic development dollars to the district and prioritize establishing a vacant commercial property tax to force landlords to give Southeast Queens businesses and entrepreneurs a chance. He will make sure that the dollars he secures are to bring the types of businesses to the community that are needed most, those that are for the community and by the community.
To learn more about Johnson visit his website: jamesjjohnsonforcitycouncil.com.
