Even though Melissa Mark-Viverito’s district encompassed only a tiny sliver of the Bronx, she represented our interests as if her entire constituency resided here.
City Council District 8 was mostly in East Harlem but Mark-Viverito never once neglected her small corner of the Bronx. She strongly encouraged residents to take part in participatory budget sessions where Bronxites voted on where money should be allotted —like a true democracy.
She was one of the first city officials to help put the breaks on the FreshDirect sweetheart deal listening to the concerns of residents who suffer from some of the highest rates of asthma in the nation.
Melissa Mark-Viverito has been a true progressive leader and as we enter a new era with a new mayor and administration that vows to work for all New Yorkers, it only makes sense that she leads the City Council going forward.
Now that most of most of her district is in the Bronx due to redistricting, it is even more important for Bronx residents (and our borough’s City Council Members) to support her candidacy for Speaker. Our borough has been long underrepresented in city government and having Mark-Viverito in the second most powerful position in New York City, after Mayor Bill de Blasio, will help elevate us to an even playing field with the rest of the city.
As a Latina, Melissa Mark-Viverito also represents the changing face of New York City and it is important that we see QUALIFIED people of color, particularly women, in the upper echelons of our city’s government.
We strongly believe that she is the exact type of progressive leader the city needs right now and can help make this city, once again, a city for all.