New Majority NYC Endorses Inez Dickens to Represent Harlem in City Council

City and State has an article on New Majority NYC formerly known as 21 in ‘21, a women-in-elected office advocacy group that played a key role in bolstering the number of women represented in the City Council. Since its founding in 2017 the group has surpassed its initial goal two years ago when voters elected 31 women to the body – the majority of whom were women of color. Members’ work has since shifted into a new stage of sustaining the majority of women in the city’s political leadership for years to come. The group’s endorsements for the 2023 City Council elections were staked around that premise.

“We’re thrilled to see so many women who are stepping up and saying that they want to represent their communities,” said Yvette Buckner, executive board chair for the New Majority NYC. “It’s so critical and important because they are seeing what’s happening on the ground from very different perspectives.” 

That’s not the case in District 9 in Harlem, where the New Majority NYC endorsed Assembly Member Inez Dickens over Council Member Kristin Richardson Jordan. Richardson Jordan got the group’s second-ranked endorsement two years ago, but the socialist has courted controversy in her first year, voting against Adrienne Adams as speaker, tweeting apparent justifications of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and opposing a controversial rezoning that would have created some affordable housing units. The Democratic primary has already taken on a fairly competitive tone, and Richardson Jordan is likely to lose other mainstream endorsements that some incumbents take for granted. 

Richard Jordan’s racially divisive and nationalist rhetoric has also alienated many Harlem residents who have noted (for example) that she did not attend a vigil for Yao Pan Ma, a 61-year-old from China, was murdered in 2021 while collecting cans on busy 125th Street, and has failed to attend any of the Upper Manhattan Asian American Alliance cultural events.

The Studio Museum Grows

Facade work continues to climb on the new Studio Museum of Harlem building.

Columbia Journalism Student Wants to Hear From You

My name is Morgan Desfosses, I am a staff writer at Columbia Daily Spectator’s long-form magazine The Eye. In case you are unfamiliar with us, we are the branch of Spectator that focuses on nuanced, in-depth, human-centered reporting.

I am currently working on an article about Columbia University and New York City’s overdose prevention efforts including the new overdose prevention centers provided by OnPoint.

I have met with several leading researchers in this field and will be meeting with a NYC DOH commissioner and OnPoint themselves. As residents and community stakeholders in these neighborhoods, your voice is necessary to understanding the complexity and nuance of these issues, and as such I am eager to hear your perspective.

Thank you for your time, I look forward to hearing from you!
Morgan DesfossesStaff Writer | 

Columbia Daily SpectatorB.A. Candidate, Sociology & Creative Writing, Columbia University ’25

[email protected]

Ph: +1 (917) 868-6343

25th Precinct’s Community Council Meeting with Borough President Mark Levine

Kioka Jackson, the president of the 25th Precinct’s Community Council writes:

Good Morning All,

It is my hope that everyone is doing well.  Hope you guys are preparing for the Holiday, to purposely spend quality time with family and friends.  

We are planning our last meeting of 2022.  Yikes!  2022 is coming to an end.  We started this year off with a literal bang – with one of our Officers being shot in the head by a stray bullet.  We are thankful and lucky that he is alive and well sporting his long beard, still protecting and serving the East Harlem Community.  We have so much to be grateful for but yet still so much work to do together to provide a safe community for all.  So don’t bail out on me yet.  One more meeting this year to go.  

Come join us to discuss public safety concerns with not only our Commanding Officer and his team, but also with Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine.  Let’s show BP Levine some love and show up in numbers like last month.  Riverbend—- STAND UP! Where yall at?  Don’t fail me now.  LOL!  Love yall. Not just my Riverbend people – My East Harlem community Family come out and join us for our last meeting of the year.  We will also have a few other guests as well.  

Lastly,  We are preparing for our  Annual Toy Giveaway on December 20th.  It will be held at the East River Plaza on 116th and Pleasant.  Bring out a young person to receive some Holiday Cheer from the 25th Precinct Collective Body, East River Plaza associates, and friends.  There will be some surprise pop up guests there too.  Who might it be????? I can’t tell – you have to come out to see.  If you would like to volunteer for the event please email me or call me (646-294-3906) If you know me…… Wherever and whenever there is music – I’m going to dance and sing.  So if nothing less…. Come out and shake a leg, sing a holiday tune and spread happiness to anyone we grace with our presence.

 —

Kioka Jackson

Follow your dreams………

Patch.com Reports on Plans for Central Park’s ‘Gate of the Exonerated’

Patch.com’s Nick Garber reports on the progress to name a north-east gate into Central Park for the Exonerated 5.

“It was such a long journey to get to where we are,” Karen Horry, a CB10 member who helped lead the effort, told Patch on Monday. “The community’s voice has been heard.”
An unveiling ceremony will be held on Dec. 19, and the Conservancy has already chiseled out the soon-to-be-installed sign, according to the New York Times, which first reported on Monday’s vote.

https://patch.com/new-york/harlem/exonerated-5-be-honored-central-park-entrance-harlem

Inez Dickens Expresses Concern Regarding The 125th Street Cannabis Shop Across From the Apollo