Taking a day off when you are sick. It is something that is easy to take for granted, but many low-wage New Yorkers have no paid sick days and even put their job at risk if they stay home sick without pay.

But soon that will be in the past....

It is true, as Chris Bragg writes in Crain's NY Business that the members of the City Council's Progressive Caucus are working closely with labor unions, community groups, and the Working Families Party to help bring about a more progressive New York City.

It's not...

I'm thinking very powerfully today about Jon Kest, who passed away last night after a months-long battle with cancer (and just a month after the heart-rending loss of his daughter Jessie Streich-Kest who was killed during Hurricane Sandy). When I first moved to New York City 20 years ago,...

As New Yorkers, we have inherited a vibrant, diverse city, and a rich progressive history -- from welcoming immigrants, to building the subway, to organizing strong unions, to creating affordable housing, to legislating campaign finance reform.

Unfortunately, that commitment to a progressive NYC has weakened in recent years. Inequality and...

Two of the people killed by Hurricane Sandy were two young Brooklynites, Jessie Streich-Kest (24) and Jacob Vogelman (23) -- both young people of extraordinary values and bright promise.  I cannot find any way to understand or explain their loss, or really even begin to grieve.  I'm so deeply sad...

This week, we took some big steps forward toward a better NYPD -- one that keeps working hard every day to keep us safe in our communities, but that stops engaging in discriminatory and abusive policing. And one that has the basic, democratic oversight that all agencies need to identify...

There were many reasons to be a proud Democrat this past week.

The video celebrating Teddy Kennedy's extraordinary career as the liberal lion, fighting for civil rights and health care. Brilliant speeches from Michelle Obama and Bill Clinton. Elizabeth Warren not mincing words, but calling out a rigged system that...

This Father's Day, the most important thing to me is to celebrate it with my children. As a father of two, I know the struggles that many families face in this tough economy and share in the hopes and desires for a better future for all our kids.

Almost...

We live in the greatest city in the world, so it's not often that I find myself wishing that we had something that exists in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, Philadelphia, but not here in New York. All of these cities have independent oversight for their police departments -- which means...

... to deny someone a job because they have student loans? Or because huge hospital bills from an injury forced them into bankruptcy? Or because they were a victim of identity theft?

Many employers in New York City and across the country routinely use credit reports to discriminate against job...

More than just about anything else we do in New York City government, our public schools reflect a shared commitment to our city's future. For me, our schools are a place of real civic magic, where our kids learn to be tomorrow's innovators, leaders, writers, engineers, teachers, and citizens. I...

At the City Council's budget hearing a year ago, I asked Commissioner Kelly for basic budget information on the NYPD's counterintelligence programs. How much are we spending? How many officers? Where are they working? Under what authority? He did not provide any specific answers.

Last fall, at...

Over the last several months, a string of sexual assaults, ranging from groping to rape, shook the Park Slope, Sunset Park, and Windsor Terrace communities.

The response from neighbors has been inspiring. Grassroots organizations emerged -- Safe Slope, Brooklyn Bike Patrol, KWT Canine Watch, and...

Big-box home improvement chain Lowe's attaches the tagline "Never Stop Improving" to its television ads. But this week, Lowe's corporate self-improvement efforts ground to a halt when it caved to pressure from an anti-Muslim organization and pulled its advertising from the reality show "All-American...

Like all New Yorkers, I want the NYPD working hard to keep us safe -- in our neighborhoods and across the city. We want them to have a robust counter-terrorism program that uses a mix of technology and human intelligence to investigate leads, and to seek to prevent attacks before...

Professor Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, had a great op-ed in yesterday's New York Times, on "The New Progressive Movement."

Sachs believes that the Occupy Wall Street movement suggests the coming of a third progressive era in American politics (after the Progressive Era,...

This post was co-written by Samira Rajan, chief executive officer of Brooklyn Cooperative Federal Credit Union.

This Saturday, November 5 is "Transfer Day." Around the country, inspired by Occupy Wall Street's focus on the need to hold financial institutions accountable, people are moving their bank accounts from behemoths like Bank...

Last week, a New York Times, CBS News poll revealed that faith in government is at an all-time low, with a whopping 89 percent of Americans reporting that they don't trust government to do the right thing. There are many reasons for this: stagnation in Washington, even as...

Labor Day is a time to be with family and enjoy the end of summer (and maybe spend time stuck in traffic). But I will be doing one more thing on Labor Day this year -- thinking about workers and the state of unions in our country.

Unemployment is at...

On June 15th, rent regulations that protect nearly three million New York City tenants will expire.

Democratic officials overwhelmingly support strengthening the rent laws, since their constituents rely on them. Upstate Republicans oppose a strong renewal, ideologically yes, but also because -- as the head of the landlords' lobby said...