Patzer will build upon his experience from serving on the Board of Directors of Kingsborough Community College to increase College access for New Yorkers at all income levels.

He previously worked on the ASAP program and supports its expansion, which would continue to give students access to subsidized textbooks and early registration. He’ll also oversee that the City’s FairFares program is properly administered with regards to discounted MetroCards for CUNY students.

Significant funding by both the State and the City into our CUNY schools is necessary to make them accessible to all, as well as to provide adequate resources for maintenance, faculty, and staff. Patzer will fight for that funding and oversee CUNY’s spending to make sure funds aren’t misused.

Like the MTA, CUNY is a State-owned entity which receives significant subsidies from the City. Over $1.2 billion go to CUNY from the City’s expense budget with tens of millions more from our capital budget. Not to forget the millions of dollars New York City residents pay in rising tuition costs. Because of this, there is no reason the City shouldn’t have oversight over the CUNY system and that CUNY officials shouldn’t regularly testify at City Hall.

Patzer also understands that students and faculty must be part of the discussion whenever the City or State seek to implement new programs and changes to CUNY infrastructure.

Our CUNY schools are an incredible asset to Brooklyn and have elevated countless New Yorkers into middle-class careers. Patzer will do everything he can in terms of advocacy and policy as a Councilman to make sure all residents irrespective of background have access to public higher education.

“As a CUNY graduate and former member of the Kingsborough Board of Directors, I recognize and understand that students, staff, and faculty can’t be left behind,” he says. “The City can and should expand access to CUNY education and increase funding for programs that make that path easier.”

• Urge City and State to properly fund CUNY maintenance, faculty, and staff. If necessary, subsidize additional capital improvements to campuses.
• Permanently expand programs such as ASAP and FairFares for CUNY students.
• Work closely with students and faculty to find solutions to CUNY problems.  

New York’s public schools must make sure they accommodate students from all backgrounds, including children with disabilities, those suffering from mental illness and anyone from a different religious background. Patzer plans to conduct oversight of local public schools to make sure that occurs so that no child is burdened while pursuing a decent public school education.

Patzer’s focus will be growth, safety, comfort, and nutrition of all public school students. He will also fight for fair pay and on-time contracts for teachers.

Patzer supports the integration of students with disabilities back into mainstream classrooms and will join other local advocates in trying to receive full funding to expand the city’s pilot program of providing kosher and halal lunches for Muslim and Jewish students.

For physical safety, Patzer will attempt to secure funding to install interior door locks on all classroom doors and to prepare for active shooter situations and work to make sure that all schools have an inclusive ecosystem of counselors and mental health specialists to assist any child in need.

In Brooklyn, a lot of the challenges students face in terms of physical and emotional violence also come from bullying and gang violence. Patzer supports previous efforts by Councilmembers to establish a bullying prevention task force to make recommendations to the Mayor and Speaker on how to reverse the disturbing increase of bullying in our City’s public schools.

Regarding the City’s 3-K expansion, Patzer hopes the program allows skills to be taught that will help kids excel in later schooling. He will also advocate for options that are close to home, as there are currently no locations in southern Brooklyn.

Segregation has been and remains a stain on our public school system but abolishing a test which has helped thousands is not the answer. All students throughout the five boroughs are entitled to a quality education and a chance to prove themselves. Rather than gutting the SHSAT, Patzer supports expanding and funding prep courses in communities that need them most.

In part of reforming the City’s broken public education system, Patzer will introduce legislation to mandate that the Department of Education expands experiential and project-based learning options to students in all five boroughs. Innovative and proven methods of teaching that can help students learn and perform more effectively should be brought to the forefront. As with other programs and initiatives, those innovations can’t be exclusive to a select number of schools but must also make their way into southern Brooklyn.

“Historically, investments in our children’s education has always paid the best dividends,” says Patzer. “I will continue the fight alongside parents and teachers until the necessary resources are available to accommodate different learning styles and until teachers are paid on-time and accordingly.”

“The SHSAT has uplifted thousands of students and it can uplift thousands more with the City’s adequate support for prep opportunities.”

• Oversee schools to properly accommodate students with disabilities and mental healthcare needs.
• Support and expand the pilot program to provide Kosher and Halal lunches.
• Fight for fair pay and on-time contracts for public school educators.
• Support and expand opportunities for SHSAT prep.
• Support a citywide education voucher program to combat inequalities in education.

Patzer’s platform on housing will focus on affordability, safety, and sustainability. Landlords will be required to carry flood insurance.

Safety in our NYCHA houses is important. Patzer is working on increasing response times and community police efforts through his experience as an advisor to a Police Precinct Community Council. NYCHA houses are dealing with backdated maintenance requests, inconsistencies in heating and air conditioning as well as hygiene and safety concerns. Patzer will yield to Teamsters Local 237 and NYCHA leadership for the best ways to establish a volunteer program for concerned citizens to help improve living conditions within NYCHA buildings/grounds.

NYCHA’s $32+ billion repair backlog is unacceptable. While cuts by the federal government are to blame for much of it, there are areas in which the City can increase funding. For instance, NYCHA should take priority when it comes to selecting eligible items for upcoming Capital Budgets. Patzer will address this unacceptable backlog and make it a priority.

The City issues fines when a private landlord ignores a necessary repair, refuses to call an exterminator or fails to remove lead. Yet, the City is doing the same with NYCHA buildings. Councilmembers, the Mayor, and the Federal government have a legal obligation to address this and look for funding in any way they can. Everything must be on the table to accomplish this, including overhaul proposals. Patzer plans to work with NYCHA advocates and legal experts and establish a special task force on drafting a plan to do this. The task force would solely focus on finding funding to fix NYCHA’s backlog.

At the same time, it’s Patzer’s goal to work in any way possible with local residents and volunteers in addressing some of NYCHA’s imminent problems on a grassroots level.

“I will not wait until I’m in office to work to make my district a safe and affordable place to live in,” says Patzer. “I’m currently working with community groups and will continue to do so when in office. It’s not enough to be outraged by the conditions at NYCHA buildings, we must seriously work on both short-term and long-term solutions to fix them.”

• Establish a task force to look for solutions to NYCHA’s backlog and establish a volunteer program to empower residents.
• Never accept backdated responses, hold City to account and find solutions to remove lead and provide heat and water, with no exceptions.

Part of a safe community is inclusivity for everyone. Patzer will use his experience working at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, existing relationships with several police precincts and connections at the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes to find solutions to the recent surge in hate crimes.

While the center is known for helping to combat anti-Semitism, it also takes a leading role in fighting other hate crimes. After recent data was gathered by the Simon Wiesenthal Center on the use of social media to spread hate, Patzer is beginning to speak at classrooms in the district to show students and faculty how hate groups are using social media to recruit them.

Patzer is also working with the NYPD to increase standards of community participation. Police are now giving out their cellphone numbers, so they can reduce response time versus going through dispatch.

Hate is a cancer in our communities, and it must be stopped at its core. By reaching out and providing education throughout the district while also improving police response to such heinous crimes, Patzer hopes to combat that cancer so that no one has the fear of being attacked for who they are while walking down a sidewalk or riding on the bus.

“Hate has no place anywhere in Brooklyn,” says Patzer. Our communities must work closely and in partnership with NYPD to combat crimes against any religions, ethnicities or backgrounds.

• Work with NYPD and the Mayor’s office to address the surge in hate crimes.
• Provide education in schools and other parts of the community to prevent hate from being formed.
• Connect NYPD with targeted communities to reduce response time when a hate crime occurs.
• Develop stronger and smarter community policing tactics and work with communities toward prevention and education.

Improving the Relationship Between Police and the Community

Patzer will be the kind of councilman who knows that reducing the violent crime of all kinds can’t exist without building trust between police officers and the community.

His five-point plan to do so:

• Bring police and citizens to the table on conversations involving budgeting, disciplinary action, and organizing responses.
• Create community events for children that encourage police officers and the public to interact in an environment that isn’t the result of an actual or possible criminal act. His events over the past year and a half include giving kids police uniforms and police car playsets and organizing a “Thank a Cop Day” event for kids to thank police officers through greeting cards. Expand the NYPD Explorers program Patzer participated in as a child.  
• Expand the NCO (Neighborhood Coordination Officers) program.
• Creare more “coffee with cops” events, allowing locals to meet their officers one-on-one. The first step to reducing crime is making it more comfortable and easier than ever to report it.
• Have National Night Out type events several times per year and work with police to find other opportunities to work with the public.

Reforming criminal justice is about switching from a mindset of punishment to empowerment, while also ensuring safety for our communities. Patzer supports District Attorney Eric Gonzales’ Justice 2020 efforts.

He supports neighborhood solutions and decriminalizing certain minor non-violent offenses for people under 25 and will work with local non-profits to create new and expand existing mentoring and job training programs to prevent people from getting trapped in a life of crime.

Criminal justice reform, if done correctly, can help youth guilty of minor offenses without endangering communities. Patzer believes that working with community leaders and law enforcement is the best way to accomplish that.

“I hope to steer youth away from crime by bringing them mentors and opportunities in their community for job training and employment,” says Patzer.

• Support District Attorney Gonzales’ Justice 2020 efforts.
• Create and expand mentoring and job training programs with local non-profits.
• Work with troubled youth to end the school to prison pipeline.

As of right now, the City is simply not prepared for the next superstorm. As Coney Island’s Councilman, Patzer will hold the city to account on fully funding and building resiliency efforts so that extreme weather won’t devastate us the same way it did in 2012.

Billions of dollars in federal funds given after Hurricane Sandy have still not been spent by the City. Protecting out coast must be a priority, not an afterthought.

Patzer will be the liaison to the community for the construction of storm infrastructure along the Coney Island Creek. In addition, he’ll work with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to fund better storm drainage in Bensonhurst and Gravesend.

As was done with Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Patzer will work with local schools and boy/girl scout teams to plant beach grass to stabilize sand dunes in the district. He will also organize the community on an annual basis to help plant new beach grass and patch spots from grass that died during colder seasons.

“I will be accountable to the community from the day my campaign starts to the day my public service ends. I will continually look for projects that I can do as my campaign moves forward such as the beach grass planting,” says Patzer. “Our coastal areas must both be well-maintained and prepared for the next superstorm and I’ll actively hold the city’s feet to the fire in making sure that happens.”

• Hold City to account on building resiliency efforts for the next superstorm.
• Work with DEP to fund better storm draining in Bensonhurst and Gravesend.
• Plant beach grass to stabilize sand dunes.

Patzer will identify and reach out to veterans in the district to inform them about available resources from local nonprofits and government programs.

He will also organize local dental schools and offices to offer free dental care for veterans, due to limited dental coverage by the Veteran’s Administration. We must close that gap.

He will fight for low and medium-income veterans to be included in the City’s FairFares program. Patzer hopes to help eliminate the City’s population of homeless veterans and direct those individuals to shelter as soon as possible.

The City Department of Veterans Services (DVS) is only a few years old and has room for expansion. Patzer will work with the Department to protect those who protected our nation. He will make sure the Department has enough social workers who can find out what services residents need and advocate for them – everything from dental clinics to job training.

“Veterans deserve more than to lose out on services because they didn’t know they existed,” says Patzer. “I consider it part of my job to make sure veterans in my district are aware of the resources and programs available to them.”

• Inform veterans of services available to them.
• Organize free dental care to veterans to cover for limited coverage by the VA.
• Fight for discounted MetroCard’s for low and medium-income veterans as part of the city’s FairFares program.
• Help expand the DVS to deliver for veterans throughout the city.

Patzer will work to help promote two programs for affordable housing: rent freezes and apartment sharing. Apartment sharing has a vast array of options for pairing seniors with appropriate roommates, including young people, for them. He will look at all options and create focus groups within the district to find the best methods available.

When seniors are living on a fixed income, even minimal increases in the cost of housing can mean the difference between whether or not they can afford groceries. Creating affordable housing and ensuring proper treatment of senior tenants is a vital effort Patzer hopes to engage in. Senior homeowners should also be educated on reverse home mortgages and predatory loans in classes organized by Patzer’s office.

According to the Alliance to Advance Patient Nutrition, one in three seniors admitted to hospitals is currently malnourished. In addition to keeping housing costs down for seniors and educating them on predatory loans, Patzer will work towards increasing local education regarding SNAP benefits for elderly citizens as well as advocate for “Meals On Wheels” programs and funding for local non-profits to support them.

“Many Brooklyn seniors are without visiting family members and face social isolation,” he says. “Local nonprofits can fill in the gap with everything from organized visits to senior enrichment programs.”

• Promote rent freezes and apartment sharing.
• Help non-profits provide education on SNAP benefits and meals to seniors.
• Expand affordable housing and non-profit services for seniors.