Chi Ossé, Council Member for New York’s 36th District, released the following statement on his vote against the Fiscal Year 2023 Adopted Budget:

After months of good-faith negotiations between the City Council Budget Negotiation Team and Mayor Eric Adams, an agreement was reached on the Adopted Budget. While the $101 billion plan includes much to be happy about, it lets down too many New Yorkers, particularly those in my district of Bedford-Stuyvesant and North Crown Heights. My vote on the budget is ‘No.’

Since the first day of my term in the Council, the most frequent concern brought to my office has been housing. Every day, the pain of the housing crisis is laid bare at our doorstep. Tenants call us in tears, facing eviction from the apartments and houses they have called home for decades. Homeowners come in desperate for help in their uphill battle against the sinister and growing practice of deed theft. Rent is skyrocketing in a city whose people struggle to get by – most have no relief in sight. 

And this housing crisis subjects our neighbors to one of the cruelest forms of violence known to New York City: homelessness. And as terrible as our city is at preventing homelessness, we may still be worse at providing solutions for the folks experiencing this daily tragedy. The conditions of our homeless shelters are such that life inside is often miserable; thousands of people choose instead to live on the street. 

I am happy with many line items in this budget, including several large items for which our office successfully advocated. However, in sum, it is quite similar to the budgets that have defined  New York City government for years. The NYPD – which receives over $11 billion of our tax dollars each year –  continues to be among our least efficient guarantors of public safety. By continuing to devote our money to the police, we deprive ourselves of billions of dollars that could be invested into our schools, parks, and housing – areas in which increased government spending has a proven correlation to public safety. 

Funding for our most essential departments remains largely flat. An unchanged funding level means unchanged circumstances – a reality that is wholly unacceptable to my constituents struggling to pay rent, afford medical care, and even eat. 

Ours is a deeply unequal city, with neighborhoods like mine trapped in generational afflictions. I am convinced that this Adopted Budget would be a commitment to only march forward, slowly. It places our faith in incremental progress while setting our sights on some distant date to declare victory and liberation.

My constituents need more. They need fundamental change, in both how our city is funded and in how it is structured: Poverty, hunger, homelessness, maternal morbidity, early death – these are not inevitable consequences of the system in which we choose to live. They are tumors of the cancer we are able to cure. 

I understand that this budget will pass. I applaud and respect my colleagues whose tireless work achieved an agreement to be proud of. I vote ‘no’ as a reminder of why we ran for office, how much more we can do for our people, and what I owe my own constituent-neighbors, who have been failed by incremental change for too long. 

Justice delayed is justice denied. I sought this office in pursuit of justice for New York, for Brooklyn, for Black life. And I was elected to see it delivered. 

I was elected to be one of 51 and to represent the 36th district of that 51. Thus, 51 members get to voice the efficacy of this budget for their residence districts. This budget does not reflect the best for Bed-Stuy and Northern Crown Heights. I look forward to continuing to work and fight on behalf of my constituent-neighbors, and for a City budget that recognizes and meets the needs of poor and working class New York.