Meet Scott

Fiscal Accountability:

• Grew the city’s pension funds from $147 billion to $240 billion, achieving a cumulative 9.12% return—exceeding the portfolio benchmark and required actuarial rate of return (7%).
• Overhauled the back office of the City’s pension fund system—the fourth-largest institutional investor in the nation—and instituted new ethics, risk management, and compliance practices, banned “placement agents,” and aligned fees paid to investment advisors with their performance.
• Conducted rigorous audits of city agencies, including NYCHA, exposing inefficiencies and driving reforms to improve housing conditions.
• Identified and eliminated wasteful spending, saving taxpayers hundreds of millions while ensuring better service delivery.

Housing Advocacy:

• Conducted 17 audits of NYCHA, identifying inefficiencies in lead paint remediation, boiler repairs, and tenant services, leading to tangible improvements.
• Focused on NYC’s affordable housing crisis by identifying over 1,000 vacant, city-owned lots that could be used to boost the City’s affordable housing stock by more than 50,000 units.

Diversity and Transparency:

• Established the city’s first-ever Chief Diversity Officer, increasing the Comptroller’s office spending with minority- and women-owned businesses from 13% to 50%.
• Launched “Making the Grade,” the city’s first-ever review of MWBE access to procurement programs, exposing lack of equal access for minority firms and grading city departments' outreach efforts.
• Created transparency tools like ClaimStat and Checkbook NYC, shedding light on the city’s legal claims and contracts.

Childcare and Education:

• Developed the NYC Under 3 initiative, the largest local investment in childcare proposed in the nation, making affordable childcare accessible to thousands of families.
• Published a report advocating for teacher residency programs to improve teacher retention and student outcomes.

Small Business Support:

• Launched the "Save Main Street" initiative during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing grants and resources to struggling small businesses.
• Conducted comprehensive engagement with small businesses, creating a blueprint for ensuring their survival and growth.
• Streamlined bureaucratic processes, such as permit applications, to make New York City more business-friendly.

Public Safety and Justice:

• Created the award-winning ClaimStat initiative to track lawsuits against the city, identifying issues early and cutting claims by tens of millions of dollars.
• Added the NYPD to the city’s Checkbook database, providing real-time transparency of NYPD spending and contracts.
• Terminated the MOU that allowed the NYPD to shield surveillance and equipment purchases, increasing transparency around department spending.

Climate Leadership:

• Led the largest divestment from fossil fuels by a public pension fund, a $4 billion move, and doubled investments in renewable energy to $6 billion.
• Championed a Green New Deal for New York City, including plans to phase out fossil fuels, expand renewable energy projects, and create green jobs.

Audits and Investigations to Reform Government:

• Conducted high-impact audits exposing waste and corruption, saving billions in taxpayer dollars.
• Led audits of NYCHA, uncovering systemic failures, mismanagement of $692 million in federal funds, and poor inventory practices, prompting critical reforms.
• Identified 1,100 vacant city-owned properties that could create 57,000 affordable housing units.
• Exposed health and safety hazards in city shelters, leading to major corrective actions by DHS.
• Uncovered $31 million in underreported US Open revenue, securing additional rent payments and lease renegotiations.
• Highlighted NYC’s early COVID response failures, driving improvements in crisis management.

Education Initiatives:

• Launched "School Overcrowding War Rooms," forcing the Department of Education to invest in new schools and reallocate resources to address overcrowding.
• Advocated for better public school funding and policies like universal pre-K to close the achievement gap across Manhattan’s public schools.
• Partnered with communities to secure $24 million in arts education funding, ensuring every child has access to creative resources.
• Facilitated the expansion of major universities, including Columbia, Fordham, NYU, and Cornell Tech, creating thousands of jobs while balancing community needs through innovative solutions like the West Harlem Special District.

Affordable Housing:

• Opposed predatory real estate practices and supported community land trusts to protect tenants from displacement.
• Established the first-ever Urban Fellows Program, which placed an urban fellow to work in every community board to help ensure a stronger community voice in development and neighborhood planning.
• Initiated policies to preserve affordable housing units and promote equitable urban planning.
• Championed responsible rezoning initiatives that included affordability guarantees and protections for longtime residents.
• Estimated that New York City renters sunk approximately $507 million into security deposits alone, leading directly to landmark state legislation that now limits security deposits to one month’s rent and empowers tenants.

Sustainability and Public Space:

• Led efforts to expand bike lanes, pedestrian plazas, and green spaces, promoting sustainable urban living.
• Advocated for energy efficiency and green building standards in Manhattan’s urban development projects.
• Helped lead the campaign against fracking in New York State and launched the Go Green East Harlem program, which opened the neighborhood’s first walk-in asthma center.

Public Health and Safety:

• Supported initiatives to reduce asthma rates in high-risk neighborhoods through air quality improvement programs.
• Advocated for expanded hospital capacity and mental health services across the borough.

Community-Based Planning:

• Strengthened and reformed community board systems, ensuring greater public input in land use and zoning decisions.
• Created the West Harlem Special District, a rezoning of the West Harlem neighborhood that helped protect its character and allowed tenants to stay in their homes while also ensuring that Columbia University could expand.

Ethics and Transparency:

• An outspoken advocate for democratizing the legislature.
• Led efforts to pass the first ethics reforms in Albany in a generation—including the end of “empty seat voting,” the practice that for decades allowed lawmakers to vote on legislation without even being present in the Capitol.
• Advocated for increased government accountability and campaign finance reform to reduce corruption.

Tenants' Rights:

• Bucked party leadership with bold votes against rent regulation roll-backs, including opposing vacancy decontrol, a pivotal moment in the fight to preserve affordable housing, ensuring rent-stabilized units remained available to low- and middle-income families.
• Went against his party to stop the repeal of the commuter tax to put New York City’s interests first.
• Supported legislation under the Emergency Tenant Protection Act to expand tenant protections and prevent evictions during housing crises.

Landmark Legislation:

• Co-sponsored the state’s first marriage equality legislation and passed bills protecting survivors of domestic violence, including stronger restraining order enforcement and safe housing guarantees.
• Opposed the repeal of the commuter tax, defending NYC’s fiscal sustainability.