Council Member Epstein on Intro 866A (disruptive work signage) and Intro 813A (cannabis/tobacco license revocation)

Councilmember Epstein, followed by Maloney.

Thank you.

I'm honored to pass two pieces of legislation today, Intro 866 as well as Intro 813.

866 is a really simple thing.

A lot of disability advocates and people in my community talk about crossing a street and getting through an intersection, and sometimes there's construction happening.

We all see it.

But it's very different for someone who's physically able versus someone who's disabled.

And when you get to a corner and there's a construction, you can't go into the street, you can't get around it.

It's been a struggle.

And with the support of the community,

groups like Sydney and 504 Dems were able to pass this legislation that says, hey, city agency, you're doing work there, just put notices up, tell people, tell people who are in contact with their issues going on.

It's a common sense piece of legislation.

I want to thank the speaker and the staff who were able to get this done as well as my team on this legislation.

The second bill is 813, and the speaker just mentioned that as well.

And when I was in Albany, we worked hard on getting the MRTA to legalize cannabis

in this state and talk about why it mattered, to talk about the history of discrimination, talk about the history of black and brown New Yorkers going to jail and white New Yorkers not, and talking about what we needed to do to rectify that problem.

And we entered into a process that allowed

people who are incarcerated or arrested for cannabis.

Thanks, Carl.

Good day.

To get licenses and get those licenses first.

But what happens now is the illegal market is taking over.

And we're having people who have a tobacco license or other license selling illegal cannabis that undermines all the work we did to legalize cannabis and to help the businesses thrive.

This legislation goes a little way in kind of curbing that back, saying if you're doing this illegal sale, you can lose your other license that you have, specifically your tobacco license, which is so vital.

It's an important step to say, hey, let's continue to support the legal market and support those businesses who have done the right thing and penalize the groups who don't.

I hope my colleagues will support both pieces of legislation.

Thank you.