City Council Candidates Share Their Stance on the Future of Aging in New York City Ahead of the 2021 Election
May 14, 2021 (New York, NY) – New York City is home to a growing aging population with over 1.8 million older adults living across the five boroughs. As we age, and as demographics predict a growing aging population across districts, LiveOn NY**, a senior advocacy and membership organization, is proud to release the responses to a ten question survey posed to all City Council candidates.
The candidate responses are critical points of education in advance of what will be an historic election, beyond just the number of seats open, this will be the first New York City election to utilize Rank Choice Voting (RCV). This new experience will represent a significant opportunity and change for older voters, and one that furthers the need for extensive educational opportunities such as this questionnaire.
Having received responses from more than 80 candidates across 27 districts, New Yorker’s can now read these in-depth responses to questions that matter to all New Yorkers. Examples of topics addressed in the questionnaire include:
Affordable senior housing
Technology
Community based services such as Senior Centers
City Budgeting
Equity across the lifespan
In addition to other questions, these areas represent just a few of the many concerns we heard directly from older constituents as needing to be addressed by future leaders. The ability for candidates to address these issues will be an important factor in the upcoming election, as AARP New York has found that 3 out of every 4 voters were over the age of 50 during the last open Mayoral primary, which coincides with the City Council primary.
“To further our commitment to civic engagement, we’re pleased to have published more than 80 candidate responses to issues of importance to all New Yorkers as we age,” said Allison Nickerson, Executive Director of LiveOn NY. “We at LiveOn NY are committed to making New York a better place to age, and look forward to continuing to educate all New Yorkers on issues of importance to older New Yorkers.”
Press Contact: Katelyn Andrews, Director of Public Policy, kandrews@liveon-ny.org
** LiveOn NY is a 501(c)3 non-partisan organization and does not endorse, support, or oppose any political parties or candidates at any time, including through their participation in or responses to this non-partisan City Council Candidate Questionnaire.
**All candidates across all districts were given the opportunity to submit responses. Districts not represented were those that LiveOn NY did not receive responses to release.
About LiveOn NY
LiveOn NY’s members include more than 100 community-based nonprofits that provide core services which allow all New Yorkers to thrive in our communities as we age, including senior centers, home‐delivered meals, affordable senior housing, elder abuse prevention, caregiver supports, NORCs and case management. With our members, we work to make New York a better place to age. For more information, please visit our website, https://www.liveon-ny.org/