Janet Tweed, a physical therapist and community official, is running for the New York State Assembly in District 102. Her campaign focuses on supporting the local economy, expanding affordable housing, improving healthcare access, and preserving Upstate New York’s natural resources. Originally from rural Pennsylvania, Tweed chose to settle in Upstate New York with her family and has since been active in local service. She currently serves on the Delhi Village Board and has also worked with the Delhi Town Board, Rotary, and Delhi Beautification Committee.
In her public service roles, Tweed has worked to foster collaboration within the community. She has initiated projects to improve communication between municipal leaders and residents, emphasizing shared services to enhance efficiency. Tweed also contributed to Delhi’s Climate-Smart Community designation, which focuses on energy efficiency and environmental responsibility.
Property Taxes and Cost of Living
• What specific policies would you advocate to balance the need for essential public services with keeping property taxes affordable?
This is the primary dilemma of every elected official at every level: we want to provide the best possible public services to our constituents, but we must do so in a sustainable, affordable way. I’ve served on the Delhi Town Board and Village Board for the past six years, and it’s always a challenge to meet this balance, but it can be done, with creative thinking, open collaboration, and thoughtful advocacy. For example, when I first joined the Delhi Town Board in 2018, one of my top priorities was to strengthen civil communication between town and village municipal leaders and community members. In collaboration with many good people, we have changed the tone of discussion around shared services from combative to cooperative. This has resulted in more logical and efficient use of tax dollars, improving services for residents while saving money.
• How do you plan to address the rising cost of living in your district?
Post-COVID inflationary costs have been a burden on all of us. The factors driving inflation were primarily global, but we do have local mechanisms to protect our residents. Supporting and protecting unions ensures that economic gains are shared fairly. For example, since 1978, CEO pay has increased by 1,209%, but typical worker pay has only risen 15%. This huge increase in income inequality corresponds almost directly to decreases in union membership. Ensuring a reasonable cost of living in a sustainable, long-term way requires enhancing checks and balances on corporate power and systematically empowering workers.
Affordable Housing
• How do you propose to expand access to affordable housing in your area?
Access to safe, affordable housing is the concern I’ve heard most consistently while traveling the 102nd district. In addition to being a basic human need, affordable housing is also crucial for building our economy. In many towns, businesses are hamstrung in expanding because there isn’t enough housing for new workers. There are several New York State programs intended to support community growth and revitalization that focus on clustered and mixed-use development, including rental properties and traditional home ownership. This type of smart development provides protections for open space and farmland, eases transportation demands, and promotes equality. Everyone deserves to have a home. I will work with private and state leaders to improve our housing stock in ways that are collaborative and respect home rule.
• What is your stance on rent control or other measures to ensure that housing remains attainable for low- and middle-income families?
Rent control is one tool in a large housing affordability toolbox. When used appropriately, it protects current residents from losing their homes to gentrification. All programs require oversight, and rent control requires oversight to avoid fraud and waste. Other tools we need to employ include targeted, smart-growth development in cities and villages where jobs exist and where many people want to live. In many states, including New York, private developers prioritize building a small number of very expensive homes, because this maximizes their return on investment and minimizes costs – including labor. But this does not meet the needs of our residents. State and local municipal leaders should work collaboratively with private developers and communities to define appropriate incentives for low- and middle-income housing development. The state can also increase its stock of affordable public housing.
Public Safety and Policing
• What is your vision for public safety?
My dream is that as a community, we can trust that community members and law enforcement officers are all working together for all of our peace and safety. The reality is that we have to have rules and regulations in place to ensure all of our safety and wellbeing. My vision is to improve the respect, civility, and tolerance we have in how we interact with each other, no matter who we are.
• Bail Reform and Raise the Age are “dinner table” talking points for your constituents. Is this recent legislation working or do you see room for improvement?
Since the original bail reform bill was passed in 2018, there have been four additional revisions to the law, which have addressed many concerns raised by law enforcement and the public. These include adding more than 30 misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies that are eligible for judges to set bail and making it easier for judges to set bail on “repeat offenders.”
We should remember that the original point of bail reform was to prevent innocent people from languishing in jail for minor crimes simply because they could not afford to pay bail. Any sweeping change in legislation requires revisiting, and listening to both members of law enforcement and the community.
Education and School Funding
• What are your priorities for K-12 education?
Adequate, reliable state funding for public schools should be a top priority for the state legislature, and we should adjust laws and regulations to accommodate better shared services among schools. New York State sets certain staff position requirements for public schools, but these requirements can be extremely burdensome for small school districts. I would advocate for smaller schools to be allowed to share some of these roles, without having to fully consolidate school districts. Some services could be shared across districts or accommodated as needed with teleservice. This would free up funds for core priorities like instruction and transportation. Transportation costs are a particular challenge in many of the smaller rural school districts in the 102nd, including my son’s school in Delhi.
• What plans do you have for addressing mental health services and school safety?
I’ve been awarded the 2024 Moms Demand Action Gun Sense Candidate distinction. New York State has one of the lowest rates of firearm mortality in the nation, in part because of our strong gun-safety regulations. These include laws that require background checks, responsible gun storage, red flag laws, and disarming of domestic abusers. National and international data consistently proves that policies like these work. However, addressing school safety is about so much more than gun safety regulations, it’s about supporting a suite of resources and policy initiatives that address mental health and safety for students, including access to school counselors, anti-bullying curriculum, and private and governmental officials leading by example with civility and respectfulness.
Job Creation and Economic Development
• How do you plan to stimulate job creation, particularly in high-growth sectors like technology and green energy?
I believe we can make progress in growing our economy by leveraging our core strengths. In upstate New York, we have a wealth of natural resources and educational resources. For example, in the 102nd district are two SUNY colleges – SUNY Delhi and SUNY Cobleskill – which both have educational curriculum in place to train workers for high-growth, high-wage sectors like technology and green energy. At SUNY Delhi, where my husband works, there are wait lists for students to enter some of the most popular tech programs, which have excellent returns on investment for students and produce workers who power our state’s economic growth. The state legislature should appropriately fund these programs so they can take in more interested students and meet employer demands for trained workers.
• What role should local government play in attracting new businesses and supporting small businesses?
It’s hard to overstate the importance of long-term, respectful relationships for achieving growth and success. As a local elected official, I have sought to build connections between businesses, chambers of commerce, economic development agencies, and state legislators to ensure that we’re supporting realistic, sustainable growth that benefits workers and our economy. Systematic checks and balances are also crucial to prevent fraud or mismanagement of economic development tax dollars.
Health Care Access
• What initiatives would you support to improve access to quality health care, particularly in underserved areas?
One of the primary reasons I chose to run for state assembly is to improve healthcare accessibility and affordability. I’m a physical therapist and, if elected, I’d be one of few legislators in Albany who are frontline healthcare workers. I would provide a needed voice on how legislative changes could impact providers and patients. I support the New York Health Act, which would ensure universal coverage of all New Yorkers at lower cost than our current system: the United States is the only developed country in the world that does not guarantee its citizens universal healthcare, and we pay twice as much per capita as the second-most expensive country. On healthcare, the right choice morally is also the right choice economically. As one example of how we could improve healthcare in underserved areas: my employer, the Bassett Health System, has a long-standing program of school-based health services, through which students can access care right at school – both sick care and preventative care. My 13-year-old son has received all of his non emergency care through this program. School-based health does accept insurance, but it provides care regardless of a students’ ability to pay. This is another example where creative thinking and shared services can increase public services affordably, by taking advantage of existing facilities, in schools.
• How would you address the mental health crisis and ensure that services are accessible and affordable?
Rural areas like the 102nd district struggle to attract healthcare providers of all kinds, including mental health providers. Having worked in healthcare, I’m aware of the incentive systems that states and private employees use to attract and retain talent. One strategy that would have rippling positive effects would be state incentive programs that help pay for schooling for mental health professionals, if they work in targeted, underserved areas, for 3-4 years.
Transportation and Infrastructure
• How do you plan to address transportation issues, including public transit options, road maintenance, and infrastructure upgrades?
If elected to the assembly, I would advocate for the state to offer more sustained, reliable support to local municipalities to provide essential services like transportation infrastructure. Tax revenue streams into New York State are far more progressive and based on people’s ability to pay than are property taxes. For example, the New York Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials has proposed legislation that would provide dedicated funding for water and sewer repairs and upgrades, similar to what is currently provided for road repairs through the state Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS). As a local elected official, I have seen how critical CHIPS funding has been in enabling us to maintain our rural roads. Water and sewer are also critical infrastructure that deserve dedicated state support. This type of work also supports New York’s energy-reduction goals, as upgraded water and sewer infrastructure is more efficient, reduces pollution, and prevents breakdown and expensive, catastrophic repairs that come with aging infrastructure.
• What is your stance on building sustainable transportation options, such as bike lanes or electric vehicle infrastructure?
I absolutely support building more sustainable transportation options. Transportation is about so much more than roads; it’s how we use the roads. In Delhi, I’ve supported the Complete Streets program, which involves designing spaces and policies in ways that are inclusive of multiple transportation modes, including cars, bikes, walkers, etc.
Environmental Concerns
• What actions will you take to combat climate change at the local level?
As a member of my village and town board, I helped spearhead the effort to make Delhi a Climate Smart Community. This New York State designation supports local governments in adapting to climate change through grants, rebates, and technical assistance. We have taken advantage of such assistance to weatherize and improve energy efficiency in municipal buildings – a change that protects the environment and saves tax dollars long-term. We can find win-win solutions that address multiple needs and values.
• How do you plan to promote clean energy projects and ensure environmental justice in communities disproportionately affected by pollution or climate change?
It is critically important that all legislators recognize the scientific reality of climate change. Unlike my opponent, Chris Tague, I believe the 97-99.9% consensus of scientists who agree that climate change is happening, is caused by human activity, and is a grave threat to humans and many other species on earth. Transitioning off fossil fuels very quickly, along with capturing carbon from the atmosphere and helping our communities mitigate the effects of climate change, is crucial. Renewable energy infrastructure must be part of that solution, but the state legislature can and certainly should do more to incentivize that buildout on existing infrastructure (brownfield sites, along highways, over parking lots and on buildings, etc.) – and not on prime farmland.
We need to update the electrical grid so that clean energy production reaches everyone without worsening insecurities in our aging grid. We need to promote and protect open spaces, and we need to work respectfully and collaboratively with communities when siting energy infrastructure.
Opioid Crisis and Addiction Services
• What policies would you implement to combat the opioid crisis?
I would support mental health and rehabilitation facilities with additional in-patient beds, not just out patient facilities. And I would support streamlining our healthcare system through the New York Health Act. As a physical therapist, I know how important it is for people to get care quickly, before their conditions deteriorate and they require additional painkillers, which can become addictive. The opioid crisis is in many ways a symptom of a physical and mental healthcare inadequacy crisis.
• How would you improve access to addiction treatment and support services for affected individuals and their families?
Addiction does not just harm the person struggling with substance-abuse; it harms the entire family. Holistic care and support services for families suffering with addiction is crucial for long-term recovery. Increasing in-patient beds, better coordinating comprehensive services, and including licensed counselors and social workers, are all pieces of this puzzle.
Equity and Social Justice
• How do you plan to promote equity and inclusion?
Equity and inclusion need to be fundamental to all decision-making. In any discussion, it’s important to consider all the stakeholders who could be affected by a decision and ensure that members of those groups are at the table. If elected to the state assembly, this would start with my staff, ensuring that I promote a respectful and equitable workplace.
• What specific policies would you advocate for to address systemic inequalities in areas such as housing, education, and criminal justice?
New York State has recently established a Reparations Commission. I will certainly study the findings of that commission carefully to inform my thinking on policies that can better ensure justice and equity for all New Yorkers. More broadly, I support the policies that I do – including universal healthcare coverage, excellent public schools, mental and substance-abuse health resources, increasing affordable housing, and many others – specifically because I believe they do address systemic inequalities and will lead to greater happiness and justice for all of our residents.