Ray McGuire
Level
Mayor
More Information
Campaign Site
2020 LID Questionnaire Response
Why are you running for Mayor?
Ray is running because of his life story, management experience, relationships, and vision that give him a different perspective than those who have spent years in politics.
He grew up with the same economic insecurity many New Yorkers feel today. That personal story is at the heart of his candidacy.
He has robust ideas for lifting our schools, saving small businesses, creating jobs, making housing more affordable, and reducing crime in a way that respects everyone's dignity. He wants every child in New York City to get the same opportunity that he did.
Please cite your top three-five priorities should you be elected Mayor and why you believe they are priorities.
The top three issues Ray will face as New York City mayor are how to:
Solve the economic crisis by leading the greatest comeback in the city’s history
Create a safe, secure and affordable city where we build public/private and diverse coalitions
Ensure that in New York City every child gets a decent education and can get a job
The devastation caused by COVID-19 combined with years of systemic inequity in the economy, education, and healthcare has put this city at a dangerous crossroads. New York City needs an effective manager and he is the only candidate with the lived experience, business expertise, and bold ideas to lead the greatest comeback in our history.
If elected, what (if anything) would you do differently versus your predecessor (or previous Mayors) and why?
Ray has the management chops to lead New York City out of this crisis and has spent his career helping companies survive and grow. He’ll run the city with competence, energy, and commitment.
Ray knows how to tackle large challenges with high-stakes because of his business background.
We have one shot to rebuild. We need a different kind of mayor who will think big and advance bold ideas, a person who will bring in every expert and call in every favor.
What is your plan to help NYC recover from the economic crisis caused by Covid-19?
New York is facing the most severe economic crisis in generations. We need to Go Big, Go Small, and Go Forward.
Ray will Go Big by introducing a major infrastructure program that will create jobs rebuilding our roads and bridges, fixing subway elevators, building and renovating affordable housing, and making our city more sustainable.
He will Go Small through a Comeback Job Accelerator that will subsidize 50,000 jobs and a Comeback Bank that provides low-interest loans through Community Development Financial Institutions. He will provide immediate financial support for struggling local businesses, and streamline permits, inspections, and approvals to help businesses open quickly. Avoiding a joint eviction and foreclosure crisis requires a number of interventions that would help both small businesses and small property owners. Ray will create a menu of financial relief options that can be made available to small property owners in exchange for forgiving or lowering rent for small business tenants, or other tenant benefits and protections.
He will Go Forward by creating a $50 million loan fund targeted to small MWBEs and ensuring affordable childcare for all. He will focus on categories of businesses for which the city has fallen especially short in reaching its MWBE targets, including Black and brown-owned businesses and LGBTQ+ owned businesses. This year, New York joined a number of U.S. cities and states in expanding the MWBE program to include LGBTQ+ owned businesses. As additional businesses certify into the program, Ray will increase the city’s contracting goals in order to grow the pie for everyone.
Describe how you’d effectively address police misconduct and brutality, particularly as it affects communities of color.
As Mayor, the buck will stop with Ray when it comes to disciplinary actions for police officers.
If we want precinct commanders to instill a culture of respect, accountability, and proportionality in the NYPD, we need to hold them accountable for officer misconduct.
When any officer is involved in a serious incident of misconduct, Ray will make sure that accountability measures are taken not only against the officers involved but also their commanding officer – and that officer’s commanding officer.
We must aggressively change the scope of policing, undertake a comprehensive review of its budget, and provide greater transparency into police conduct.
Describe your plan to address/reduce the NYPD budget while better ensuring public safety and meeting community needs?
NYPD officers are often forced to deal with any number of situations for which an armed response is not required. Ray supports restructuring the NYPD to shift more resources to social services and mental health professionals who are better equipped to handle situations that today end up being assigned to police officers.
He will direct and coordinate resources across the full range of city agencies that will play a role in creating safe communities, including the Homeless Services, Health and Mental Hygiene, Housing, Parks, FDNY, Sanitation, Small Business, and others.
He will ensure that we respond to mental health emergencies and other crises that do not require police with a targeted and appropriately trained response.
We need to prioritize and deploy social services just as quickly and aggressively as we currently deploy police.
What would you do to further LGBTQ+ rights, equity, and justice if elected Mayor?
More than fifty years have passed since the LGBTQ+ movement began at Stonewall, and despite the progress we’ve seen, we still have systemic failures keeping LGBTQ+ New Yorkers from achieving their full potential. Ray sees the fight as ongoing, and equity and justice for LGBTQ+ people is a priority. In addition to other commitments laid out herein, here are some other steps we will take:
All children need a universally nurturing educational environment that addresses the intersectionality of race, sexual orientation and gender identity. LGBTQ+ students who are also low-income, students with disabilities, English language learners, or who have been placed in foster care particularly must receive focused outreach and follow-up to address their unique needs. By supporting the professional development of teachers, councillors, and administrators, our schools will become places all LGBTQ+ kids can be supported and succeed.
Ray lived through the AIDS crisis in New York City and fully committed to doing everything he can end the epidemic. PEP and PrEP programming through the NYC Department of Health will be expanded to ensure all New Yorkers are aware of their options and how to affordably access PEP and PrEP in every borough. Special focus will ensure that LGBTQ young people, especially in populations highly susceptible to transmissions, are educated on how to stay safe, stay healthy, and flourish.
Generations of unrelenting activism by the LGBTQ+ community have resulted in enshrining of strong legal protections in New York City. Ray is committed to strengthening and increasing funding to the NYC Human Rights Commission to ensure agressive enforcement of hard-won anti discrimination laws.
LGBTQ+ New Yorkers remain underrepresented in city government, but they won’t be an outside voice in a Ray McGuire administration. LGBTQ New Yorkers, particularly transgender/gender noncorming people, will sit in high level, visible roles in City Hall.
Do you commit to retaining the New York City Unity Project, the City’s first Mayoral-level effort to coordinate LGBTQ+ policy efforts across city agencies, and if so, what actions would you take to build upon or revise the project?
Not only will Ray build on the successes of the Unity Project, but he’ll up the investment. Ray will migrate this effort from the Office of the First Lady to an Office of LGTBQ+ Affairs reporting to a Deputy Mayor and tasked with working between all city agencies. This authority will ensure that commitments to the LGTBQ+ community are carried out throughout every city agency.
What would you do differently than your predecessor(s) to address New York City’s affordable housing crisis?
As Mayor, Ray will provide expanded rental assistance and subsidies to allow residents to stay in their homes even when the eviction moratorium ends or if rents rise.
All options to expand affordable housing stock such as quality basement apartments, accessory dwelling units, and communal housing will be open to consideration.
Ray will also work with the federal government to update AMI calculations to reflect the real median income of working New Yorkers, so that public dollars go toward truly affordable housing.
Relatedly, and keeping in mind the City’s legal and moral obligation to provide shelter, how would you improve shelter and services for New Yorkers experiencing homelessness, particularly as it relates to reducing the number in need of shelter?
Shelters are not meant for long term use, we have to hold providers responsible for the duration of stay in their shelters.
When Ray is mayor, the city will invest in transitional housing with support services for those who are able to live alone, as well as provide full wrap-around services in supportive housing for those who need more permanent assistance.
Ray will use his years of management experience to simplify the bureaucracy and streamline services across agencies. We need to invest in what works and scale up.
Ray will focus on providing stable housing to those emerging from vulnerable situations like exiting foster care, medical care, or incarceration.
Keeping in mind the specific needs of LGBTQ+ New Yorkers experiencing homelessness, will you commit to increasing capacity for clients (youth and adults) who require single room placement for reasons of health and safety including clients with mobility issues and/or who identify as TGNC (because placement in traditional single adult shelter may compromise their safety)?
LGBTQ individuals experiencing homelessness, especially young people, must receive culturally competent services in housing environments. We must keep our commitment to youth up to the age of 24 to have 24/7 drop-in centers in every borough and to keep them out of warehouse-style shelters that put them at increased risk. As Mayor, Ray will set new, higher baseline allocations for these services within the mayor’s budget and set high enforcement standards to ensure they receive the help they need.
Describe what you believe is meant by “gender equity” and what steps you’ve taken to date and will take if elected Mayor to support and further gender equity?
Historic inequalities have created gender inequity. Gender equity is achieved when we actively dismantle these structural barriers by creating policy and measurable goals. We cannot just check boxes, there must be material change. As Mayor Ray wants his administration to reflect the beautiful diversity of NYC. That means having a targeted approach to achieving greater representation, parity in pay, and development opportunities no matter one’s gender expression. This approach to gender equity will be reflected from personnel to policy. In his professional career it was Ray’s pleasure to mentor, train and hire a diverse workforce, and it's that same approach he’ll bring to City Hall.
If elected, do you commit to using inclusive and gender neutral language in all official documents and press releases, and will you order city agencies to do the same?
NYC legally recognizes a non-binary gender and allows New Yorkers to self-attest to their own gender identity, but if we are committed to our non-binary, gender non-conforming, intersex and transgender communities being visible, there is further work to be done. Ray commits to a full review and overhaul of all existing administrative forms and documents throughout every city agency to ensure those options are clearly presented and to keep that as the standard going forward.
How much money has your campaign raised to date and what are your key sources of support? Relatedly, are you rejecting contributions from specific sectors, such as lobbyists, real estate interests, pension fund managers, police unions, etc.?
Ray is grateful for the support of almost 4,000 New Yorkers who contributed over $5 million in support of his campaign. Without the power of incumbency or the name recognition of a career politician, Ray will continue to raise the necessary resources to be competitive and share his vision for the city with New Yorkers in all five boroughs.
Why do you want LID's endorsement? If LID endorses you do you commit to including that endorsement on your website, social media, and all campaign literature on which you list or make mention of endorsements?
The key to LID’s success is the inclusiveness of the organization, not just across the mosaic of the LGBTQ community, but across generations. By recognizing the work of the previous generations of LID members to fight for and achieve enshrined rights for the LGBTQ+ community, the newer and younger members carry those successes forward and can commit themselves to carry on with that fight for every member of the LGBTQ+ community. This is how social movements succeed over time. Ray’d be incredibly proud to bear the mark of LID throughout his campaign, not just as a mark of endorsement, but as a mark of our shared sense of purpose to move our city ever forward.