CUNY Alum is Running for NYC City Council
Words by Brahmjot Kaur.
Photo courtesy of Twitter.
Election day for NYC primaries is June 22, and as that date rapidly approaches, campaigns are in full motion to get their candidates on the ballot. CUNY Alum, Jaslin Kaur, is one of seven candidates running for City Council for District 23 in Queens, NY. Kaur told The Campus,
[Running for City Council] is something I’m really excited about because it’s an opportunity to bring a movement to Eastern Queens in a place that really has not really been tapped into and really has not activated in terms of expanding the electorate, building up a real democracy, and electing someone who is going to champion the policies we’ve needed for quite some time.
District 23 of Queens includes Bayside, Queens, Bellerose, Douglaston, Floral Park, Fresh Meadows, Glen Oaks, Hollis, Hollis Hills, Holliswood, Jamaica Estates, Little Neck, Oakland Gardens, and Queens Village. Kaur was born and raised in Glen Oaks, Queens, where she currently resides. She is the daughter of a taxi driver and unionized grocery store worker. She says on her website, “I know how hard District 23 families work to make New York a world-class city… I will always stand with workers joining together to win dignified working conditions and fair pay, and small businesses serving Queens communities.”
Jaslin Kaur at a rally in Eastern Queens, NY. Photo courtesy of Twitter.
Kaur graduated from Nassau Community College in 2017 with an associate’s degree in Multidisciplinary Studies and Hunter College in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in Women’s & Gender Studies with a Labor, Migration, and Globalization concentration.
According to Kaur, “Housing, development, land use, and the budget, are some of the most important priorities for a city council member.” City council members vote on the NYC budget for an entire year, which is essential for Kaur because she supports defunding the NYPD. “…Their operating budget is about $6 billion but goes upwards of about $11 billion,” she explained. Kaur wants to transition from armed police officers to, “far safer nonviolent alternatives in our schools, traffic enforcement, mental health, and drug use response, subways, homeless outreach, public shelters, and hospitals,” as she says on her website.
Alongside funding, land use and rezoning are also in the hands of the City Council. “That’s really important,” Kaur explained, “when we think about what parts of NYC are going to get affordable housing, what parts are going to have new parks, [whether we are] going to build new schools or senior housing.”
As a CUNY alum, Kaur advocates for a tuition-free CUNY as well. Her website states, “Working with PSC-CUNY and CUNY student leaders, I will champion the New Deal for CUNY, so all students have access to free and high quality two and four-year higher education.
Kaur is also fighting for sexual misconduct survivors. Her website states, “With Know Your IX, [a survivor and youth-led project of Advocates for Youth], I have trained student leaders stepping up to bring their student bodies together, to make their campuses and our state safer and more supportive for survivors of assault, abuse, and gender discrimination,” and also stated, “I will continue my work defending Title IX rights for students experiencing gender discrimination and sexual violence.” The U.S. Department of Education states that Title IX, “is a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs and activities at universities receiving federal funds. Under Title IX, discrimination on the basis of sex can include sexual harassment or sexual violence, such as rape, sexual assault, sexual battery, and sexual coercion.” You can learn more about Title XI at City College on the CCNY website.
Kaur is also endorsed by the Professional Staff Congress at CUNY, the NYC Democratic Socialists of America, the NY Working Families Party, and serval other organizations, as well as several assembly members, state senators, NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, and former candidate for governor of New York Cynthia Nixon.
While election day for the City Council primaries is June 22, early voting and mail-in voting are also options. Early voting is between June 12 and June 20. Absentee ballots will start being mailed May 17, and the last day to request an absentee ballot online, email, or faxed is June 15. The last day to request an absentee ballot in person is June 21. New York City will be trying a new election style this year: Rank Choice Voting (RCV). Voters will rank up to 5 candidates in order of preference. Jaslin Kaur for City Council provides an in-depth schedule as well as assistance with Rank Choice Voting. You can request an absentee ballot through the VoteNYC website. The general election will be on November 2, 2021.
Jaslin Kaur smiling at Hillside Avenue after an event to help inform community members of the ballots, ranked choice voting, and even SNAP benefits. Photo courtesy of Twitter.
