Speaker To Focus On Human Rights In State Of City Address

New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito is expected to call for the creation of an office to coordinate civil legal representation for low-income New Yorkers, advocate for relying more on summonses for minor criminal offenses and push for revitalizing the Human Rights Commission during her inaugural State of the City address today.

Mark-Viverito has titled her speech “Lifting Every Voice” and it will be delivered from a unique venue—an East Harlem public housing development.

The speech will lay out an agenda focused on tackling systemic issues in human rights, workers’ rights and civil justice, according to her office. The address will also touch on public housing, small businesses and criminal justice.

Mark-Viverito will argue more than a million low-income New Yorkers are put at a disadvantage when they fail to access civil legal aid each year and fight evictions, debt collectors and for access to benefits alone, according to highlights of her prepared remarks provided to City & State.

As a remedy, the progressive speaker will propose opening an Office of Civil Justice Coordinator charged with ensuring all can access civil legal assistance. 

“Justice should not be reserved for only those who can afford it,” her prepared remarks note.

Mark-Viverito, whose district includes East Harlem, Port Morris and Mott Haven, will also make the case for having police issue summonses and desk tickets rather than arresting those who commit low level offenses. Her office did not provide details about which specific offenses she had in mind.

“Whether it’s the $100,000 a year it costs to house someone on Rikers –or the public assistance programs many must access upon leaving – New Yorkers are paying this bill,” Mark-Viverito’s prepared remarks read. “We need to take a comprehensive approach to criminal justice reform that ensures a fairer system, improves police community relations and addresses the fact that far too many of our young people – mostly low-income black and Latino males – are locked up at Rikers.”

Her address will also highlight plans to retool the Human Rights Commission, which has seen an 80 percent decline in funding since the 1990s, and unveil legislation aimed at strengthening the Human Rights Law.