Today, the Fiscal Year 2024 budget passed the City Council, and will be sent to Mayor Eric Adams to be signed into law. It was less than our people deserve, and I voted ‘No.’ 

For months, the Council has been forced to build this budget with a mayor negotiating in bad faith. He slashed tens of millions of dollars from vital agencies and services, then offered the restoration of that funding as a bargaining chip to secure wins for his true constituents: corporate interests and the carceral state. 

Still, I am proud of some of the significant wins that were able to work into the final $107 billion dollar budget. I want to share some of those successes with you. 

After a contentious fight, I am proud to say that the budget will be restoring the $36.2 million that was previously cut from our libraries. The budget also adds $40 million to the Department of Cultural Affairs which will work to support our city’s cultural organizations. As chair of the Cultural Affairs, Libraries, and International Intergroup Relations and the Brooklyn Delegation, I am proud to say that through my advocacy, this budget includes $5 million for systemwide repairs for the Brooklyn Public Library and millions of dollars for cultural institutions across the city. 

Additionally, the budget includes almost 2,000 more seats for extended day and year 3K. While this is not the fully funded universal 3K program our city was promised, any expansion of 3K is better than none. We also secured our discretionary funding that we allocated to tackling the root causes of gun violence by investing in social services, economic development, legal services, and youth programs. 

Within our district, we secured $1.2 million for the Brooklyn Children’s Museum’s HVAC system – from our allocations, $100,000 to Noel Pointer’s String Music enrichment programs, $50,000 for programming and productions at the Billie Holiday Theatre and $100,000 for Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation’s programs. 

I am proud of the wins we secured, and committed to only backing a budget that lives up to what our people deserve. I commit to full transparency with you, and my full energy to securing a city budget of which we can truly be proud.