Lucky 13? Darializa Avila Chevalier Answers Questions That Rep. Adriano Espaillat Won’t
Every two years, we ask Congressional candidates to answer a series of questions to determine if they truly support the livable streets movement, are merely paying lip service to it or are outright foes. Months ago, we reached out to the candidates in the June 23 Democratic primary for the 13th Congressional District, which covers upper Manhattan and The Bronx and has long been the political base of Rep. Adriano Espaillat, an opponent of the Department of Transportation’s Vision Zero efforts under now three mayors. Espaillat did not respond to our questionnaire, but his Democratic Socialist opponent, Darializa Avila Chevalier, did.
What can you do as a single member of Congress to make the federal government more responsive to the needs of cities?
Darializa Avila Chevalier: We are living in a time of crisis of leadership, particularly at a federal level. Families in cities across the country have faced decades of rising costs (housing, transportation etc.), forcing them to leave their neighborhoods or they are teetering on the brink of eviction. They are facing increased challenges due to climate change. And, they are experiencing increased fascism on the streets — in the form of ICE.
I’m running because families in New York City — and NY-13, in particular — deserve a representative who will fight for them. I’m running for Congress in NY-13 to ensure we provide housing for all, to end childhood poverty by investing in our babies and not bombs, and to abolish ICE once and for all. However, I will also fight tooth and nail to ensure that we tax the rich, win Medicare for All, expand the child tax credit and provide universal free college. We must increase the minimum wage and push for a Green New Deal. We must also combat fascism at scale and provide a pathway to citizenship for all immigrants, and to safeguard American democracy by removing monied influence from our political process.
Now that congestion pricing is a success, how will you push the federal government to further reduce traffic and boost non-car modes in New York City?
Chevalier: I am an advocate for developing the public transit infrastructure in the district. More than 56 percent of NY-13 use public transit to get to work every day, but have one of the slowest commutes in the country (with an average commute of over 40 minutes). I am advocating to make public transit more accessible to these communities, which would not only increase commute time but would also decrease air pollution, decrease reliance on cars, and improve quality of life for commuting families.
Tens of thousands of New Yorkers are injured in hundreds of thousands of reported crashes every year. What is the primary reason for that — and what should the federal government do to change that?
Chevalier: We need to increase public transit infrastructure — fast and free buses, and trains are reliable. I would advocate for federal funding to provide more public transportation infrastructure not only in my district, but in cities across the country.
The federal government has broad regulatory oversight over many aspects of our built environment. What are the levers you can’t wait to get your hands on?
Chevalier: NY-13 is a district that has been disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis. To illustrate the disparity, in 2021, the New York Times reported a 31-degree difference in temperature between a block on 94th Street and Central Park West and a block on 115th Street and First Ave (84 and 115 degrees, respectively). It also noted that Black Americans in the city were twice as likely as their white counterparts to die of heat exposure. Additionally, NY-13 is home to the George Washington Bridge, the busiest motor vehicle bridge in the world. Such a heavily trafficked area results in many environmental impacts, such as higher rates of asthma and asthma hospitalizations in Black and low-income communities of color.
I am a staunch supporter of the Green New Deal, which is a 10-year national plan to get the United States to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, create millions of good-paying union jobs, and protect our water, air, and land for generations to come. I believe the only way we continue to live on this planet is by creating environmentally responsible infrastructure. And I believe the only way we achieve that goal is by providing dignified well paying union jobs for all members of our society. This includes a Green New Deal for public housing. Roughly 80 percent of NYCHA developments in Manhattan are in NY-13. Decarbonizing NYCHA would be the equivalent of getting 400,000 cars off the street.
I agree with Sen. Bernie Sanders that there should be a moratorium on data center construction, due to the devastating impacts that they have on our environment. In this, we join with more than 230 groups (including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Food & Water Watch) that have signed on to a letter calling for a national pause on new data centers that power AI, due to their enormous electricity consumption and unsustainable water consumption.
Car owners dislike bike and bus lanes and would prefer to have that space for parking. What do you think?
Chevalier: We need to decrease our reliance on car transit, and increase our capacity for bikes, buses, and trains to increase safety, decrease travel times, decrease traffic, address climate change, and increase quality of life.
How do you get around your district?
Bike, on Foot, bus, subway.
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