The Bronx’s Montefiore Medical Center was the scene of a rally by its resident physicians on Wednesday, July 10. The center’s doctors, members of the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR/SEIU), say they want a fair contract but have not been able to negotiate one with management.
Residents began negotiating a new contract last August but say their union has not been able to come to an agreement with management.
Twelve hundred of Montefiore’s residents voted to become part of CIR/SEIU in February 2023. They are fighting for cost-of-living raises, housing benefits, adequate staffing, childcare allowances, and the establishment of a patient-care trust fund so that equipment, educational materials, and community health programs for its Bronx-based patients can be financed.
For its part, “Montefiore is deeply engaged in our current conversations with the Committee of Interns and Residents and we are committed to creating an agreement that honors the hard work of our house officers in a manner that is sustainable going forward,” the hospital center said in a prepared statement.
But Montefiore appears to be more interested in widening its customer base with potential patients from outside of the Bronx, said Dr. John McCarthy, a Montefiore resident physician in social pediatrics: “I see them on TV. I see them in Hudson Yards. I see their billboards out by a town called Sugarloaf––which is exactly as far away from here as it sounds. And we’re just moving into these wealthier, whiter communities with higher rates of private insurance.
“We see increases in advertising budgets, which [have] quadrupled over the course of like five years. We’ve seen CEO pay go up some 50% and residents didn’t even get a standard raise last year. And throughout all this expansion into wealthier communities, we have seen the closure and the restriction of care services provided within the Bronx …”
CIR/SEIU say because of understaffing, Montefiore residents are working 80 hours a week and sometimes treating patients in the hallways.
Dr. Clara Bertozzi told the rally: “We deserve financial resources to advance our goals for patient care. And we deserve an administration that will not outright dismiss our proposal for a strong commitment to supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion among our trainees and faculty.
“…What my colleagues and I know is that our patients feel more empowered and receive better care from providers who they feel represented by and I have colleagues who can speak to their patients in Spanish, and French, and Bengali, and Wolof, and Hindi, and Haitian Creole, and Mandarin, and Arabic. I have colleagues who [were] born at Weiler Hospital, and who grew up right here in the Bronx.”
The hospital center won’t agree to the establishment of a patient care fund, another point that rankles union members
“I mean, how do you deny a patient care fund to a group of doctors and all they want to do is provide better care for our patients who are marginalized, who are people of color, who are people without insurance, who are people who are underinsured, who are people on Medicaid, people on Medicare, people with zip codes with the worst health statistics in the state,” asked Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez, president of the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) which supports the Montefiore residents. “And yet you’re opening up clinics in Hudson Yards where there’s no need for that. You’re opening up other hospitals elsewhere outside of the state, other lucrative practices. But what happens to the patients who are your backbone, the patients who are your community here in the Bronx? Those patients are neglected.”
CIR/SEIU say the doctors’ next bargaining session with Montefiore will take place within two weeks.
New York Yankees outfielder Juan Soto and Mets first baseman Pete Alonso will be free agents at the end of this Major League Baseball season. There will be a chance for them to get their Lotto payday. Whether or not they re-sign with their current respective teams is a discussion among fans and media that has been constant and will persist until the trade deadline on July 30. It’s a huge gamble for the Yankees and Mets considering how much money both players likely will be seeking. Soto will be seeking a roughly $600 million deal and Alonso in the neighborhood of $300 million.
Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner and Mets owner Steve Cohen are rightly being cautious given the economics of the sport, most critically the luxury tax implications and the ramifications of investing hundreds of millions of dollars in a long-term commitment. But is it worth the risk of losing either player?
The differences in Soto’s and Alonso’s profile dictate the disparity in their leverage and value. Soto is one of the best all-around hitters in the game and is only 25 years old. Alonso is 29 and while a top power hitter in the sport, has a lower career walk rate, batting average and WAR (wins above replacement) than Soto. On Tuesday’s MLB All-Star Game, Soto had a two-run double in the bottom of the 3rd. Alonso was 0-1 in his only plate appearance.
Soto has been a key contributor in his first season with the Yankees after coming to them last December in a trade with the San Diego Padres. The Yankees are 58-40 and only one game behind the 50-38 Baltimore Orioles for first place in the American League East. Batting second directly in front of Aaron Judge, who is slotted in the No. 3 spot in the Yankees lineup, Soto has consistently provided a presence either moving runners or driving in runs. His .295 batting average (14th in the league), 75 runs scored (2nd), 23 home runs (6th) and 66 runs batted in (8th) have him in the AL MVP conversation with Judge.
Soto’s willingness to take pitches, leading MLB with 79 walks, has allowed Judge to be more aggressive at the plate. Soto’s impact on Judge’s production this year, first in baseball in home runs and RBI with 34 and 85 respectively, and second in walks at 72, cannot be overvalued. However, the Yankees have held fast to their policy of letting player contracts expire and taking their chances on re-signing them in free agency. The $31 million Soto is making this season is a bargain.
Alonso is in another space than Soto. He has been with the Mets his entire career. Alonso has the fourth most home runs of all-time in Mets history (211) and is currently fifth in the league with 19. The 2019 Rookie of the Year, he has consistently provided power for a Mets lineup with few other home run threats. He has shown the ability to hit with little protection from the hitters behind.
In the four hole behind No. 3 hitter J.D. Martinez, Alonso has prevented opposing teams from pitching around Martinez, who is having a solid season with 10 homers and 38 RBI in 66 games for the 49-46 Mets, which sits in the third wildcard position as their post All-Star break schedule resumes tomorrow versus the Marlins in Miami to begin a four-game series.
In October, Alonso hired Scott Boras, one of the most powerful agents in sports, to represent him. Boras is also Soto’s agent. He has historically squeezed teams for top dollars for his clients. Cohen is the wealthiest owner in baseball with a reported net worth of some $20 billion. Alonso’s salary over the last three years has been $7.4 million, $14.5 million and $20.5 million—not chump change. By hiring Boras, Alonso expects to greatly surpass those numbers as a free agent.
Common traits Soto and Alonso share that shouldn’t be minimized are that they are selfless teammates, great clubhouse presences and natural team leaders. There are many examples in sports in which athletes are overpaid. In the cases of Soto and Alonso, they probably will be worth whatever the cost is to secure their services.
Araceli Poma is a music teacher graced with the unique calling of teaching Latin youth composition via the six-week pilot program Sounds that Carry. “It has been a unique experience to witness the process of evolution and be part of it at the same time,” Poma said of the program.
Even in the postmodern era of access, technology, education and seemingly sincere olive branches regarding diversity and inclusivity, music composition remains a form of study that is quietly, yet strongly limited to white male American and European musicians. Classical music and jazz have been especially rigid in broadening its reach to diverse youth composers.
Casita Maria, a legacy Latin community arts and culture center in the Bronx, did the important work of opening those doors wide enough to invite youth of color in via the empathetic, trauma-informed music program, Sound that Carry.
“I think it helped that we didn’t pretend that everything was rosy,” said Poma’s co-teacher, Liz Hogg. Her statement refers to a prompt offered to the mostly second-generation Latin youth asked to create a piece of music that reflected the sounds of their neighborhood. Growing up in the centuries-old urban depths of the Bronx, the most prominent sounds were sirens and ambulances and it is not unheard of for a composer to reflect the urban and industrial audial clanking or metal being molded to man’s design and image.
In 1913, futurist composer, Luigi Russolo wrote the widely read manifesto, “The Art of Noises” which understood how vital capturing the sounds of the industrial revolution was for the modernization and the current mode of nature; Vivaldi wrote “The Four Seasons” in 1723, denoting the beauty of the morphing of each meteorological season and pre-dating the use of metal in construction. Russolo wrote “Awakening of a City” in 1914, revealing the audial reality of the world in which many knew: living through industrial expansion,and the sensory effects it has on understanding of music and art.
So, the youth at Casita Maria and Sounds that Carry weren’t outside of a musical legacy when creating their first compositions.
“The point of this pilot program was to change up the way we think about writing a piece of music,” said Hogg. “The most important step in the beginning is cultivating a love for music, and [making] them feel that they can do this, and if you immediately start to give them rules in the beginning, that won’t happen,” she continued.
Sounds that Carry is a music education consulting organization, founded and structured by Renate Rohlfing, associate professor at Berklee School of Music, and Olivia Cosio, a composer and educator. “[Olivia] and I began talking about how we could create curriculum and opportunities for people to create music, and for them to express themselves as creative beings because music is a birthright,” said Rohlfing.
In attempting to understand the experience of the students and the creative environment of Sounds that Carry, Araceli wrote via email, “Throughout the program, I witnessed how the classroom transformed into a dynamic space where creativity flourished, cultural barriers were broken down, and connections were forged through the universal language of music,” she shared as one of the instructors guiding the students the entire duration of the program. “The energy shifted from a timid and cautious curiosity to enthusiastic collaboration as the new musicians embraced their individuality and celebrated the shared experience of making music together.”
The dismantling of racially limiting composition programs where women and composers of color are discouraged from pursuing composition careers within their collegiate experiences is important. “There’s an idea that theory and analysis are the be all and end all of being a composer. One, that’s a very Western view. What some consider very strong feminine qualities, which men can have, like intuition, [are] very downplayed in Western composition. The analytical and theoretical aspects and making [music] into mathematical models and being action-oriented [in that way] is seen as more of a [masculine] way of making music,” said composer Amirtha Kidambi for Jazz Right Now’s column, Feminist Jazz Review.
Jazz composer Steph Richards also spoke of the difficulty of fitting into white male-dominated music spaces, which truly denotes why Casa Maria and Sounds that Carry’s work is so important to the growth and inclusivity of creative youth culture: “[There] was a moment for me when I was trying to figure out how I was going to fit into that sort of puzzle because my piece didn’t fit the same way. My edges are just different. I wondered how I was going to try to deal with [being different] and still be true to myself. I just accepted that I’m not like [everyone], and that’s okay.”
Regarding the support the students, the founders, and instructors received from Casita Maria, the organization’s artistic director, Gail Heidel, focuses on legacy, cultural support, and consistency in order to create a safe established space for education to flourish, “Casita Maria responded to a need 90 years ago that became a permanent part of the social fabric of America, an ‘underclass’ of Spanish-speaking migrants and immigrants who remain at the bottom of most socio-economic indicators. Though Latinos are the largest minority in the United States, they remain largely underrepresented in business, government, politics, arts, education, etc.”
While Gail and Casita Maria maintained the mission of upholding quality education for the Bronx’s Latin community, the Sounds that Carry instructors became quite aware of learning disorders, and nurturing neurodivergent youth. “[One of our students] was on the spectrum, and we let him work alone and he did amazingly! I think he had one of the best compositions: lots of beats lined up one after the other…”remembered Hogg.
It certainly takes a village. In speaking to CM’s senior professionals, to Sounds that Carry co-founders, and the instructors working in the classroom with every child, it is safe and positive to assert that this woman-led musical arts educational structure, from executive to grassroots, has created a space for students to thrive. Their final concert, filled with family, staff and proud community members, highlighted their unique pieces, many composed with fluid rhythmic form, not traditionally syncopated like Latin-pop or hip hop, but truly the youth’s singular creations. It was a testament to the positive outcomes of encouraging freeform composition, as theory can be taught any time.
As the music world continues to modernize, and now globalize, the work of preparing diverse American youth to stand out on the musical world stage by being authentically themselves as musicians, artists, thinkers and composers is being done by culturally based arts community centers like Casita Maria. It is also the open-minded musical basis upon which Sounds that Carry was founded. Both organizations should continue to move forward in their work, as the world will not slow down for our youth, marginalized or otherwise.
Beyoncé dressed to the nines in an all-white pantsuit and matching cowboy hat when she did a surprise in-store appearance last week at Innersleeve Records in the Hamptons village of Amagansett to promote her “Country Carter” album. The megastar signed copies of the album cover for her elated fans. The visit was part of her Record Store tour. In addition to the Hamptons, Queen Bey will be making stops in Austin, Texas, her hometown of Houston, Texas and Atlanta, Georgia. There was chatter flying around last week that the 32-time Grammy award winner had plans to do a residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas. However, the New York Post reported that the talks fell apart because the venue didn’t want to close for two weeks for Beyoncé to rehearse. Now, tongues are wagging that she is reportedly talking to the MGM Grand to do a residency there of 100 shows over four years……..
The fourth annual Kool Kids Foundation Celebrity Golf Tournament took place on July 16 at the Cedar Hill Golf & Country Club in Livingston, New Jersey. The Kool Kids Foundation was created by Robert “Kool” Bell, co-founder/leader of the Grammy winning, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees Kool & The Gang, and his late wife, Sakinah Bell. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the foundation’s goal is to support music education in schools and communities across the country. Last year, the Kool Kids Foundation awarded grants to schools and youth marching bands to help further music education. “We are instrumentally influencing children to find their rhythm and melody in music and life so we can all live in harmony,” said Robert Bell…….
Philanthropist and author Jean Shafiroff hosted her Annual Bastille Day Luncheon at the elegant Maison Barnes restaurant in New York City. The luncheon was held in honor of the French Heritage Society, a charity on whose board Shafiroff has served since 2012. This year, the luncheon was attended by 56 distinguished guests including three fashion designers of color, B Michael, Frederick Anderson and Ese Azenabor, additional designers Victor de Souza, Nicole Miller and Taiwan Ambassador Malan Breton. A regular on best dressed lists, Shafiroff began the luncheon wearing a dress by Oscar de la Renta, then changed into a flowing pajama pantsuit by Alexander McQueen. Other guests who attended included Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia and NYS Assembly member Rebecca Seawright………
Grammy winner Stephanie Mills has returned to Broadway as Hermes in “Hadestown.” The eight-time Tony Award winning musical, which also stars Phillip Boykin as Hades and Jordan Fisher as Orpheus, continues to be in performances at the Walter Kerr Theatre on W. 48th Street in New York. Celebrating five epic years, “Hadestown” intertwines two mythical tales: young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and Queen Persephone…..Go With The Flo
Twenty-two years after his Hall of Fame induction, the Wizard is still creating magic in Cooperstown.
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Education Ambassador Ozzie Smith will host Turn Two with Ozzie Smith on Friday, July 19, from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Cooperstown’s Doubleday Field. Ozzie will welcome fellow Hall of Famers Jim Kaat, Fred McGriff, and Scott Rolen as his guests during a fun-filled morning that will give fans a unique chance to experience on-field moments and stories with Hall of Famers.
Turn Two is a museum fundraiser that supports the Hall of Fame’s educational mission and internship scholarships. Participants will receive on-field, round-robin interaction with the Hall of Famers, along with special mementos to commemorate their experience.
The event will begin with an exclusive morning reception in the Hall of Fame Plaque Gallery with Ozzie and his Hall of Fame friends. Following the light breakfast in the iconic Plaque Gallery, Turn Two participants will receive a commemorative gift to be autographed by all Hall of Famers present before heading to historic Doubleday Field.
There, participants will receive nonstop interaction, featuring stories and instruction—along with photos—from some of the greatest players the game has known.
Turn Two supports the Hall of Fame’s educational mission and the Ozzie Smith Diversity Scholarships for the museum’s Frank and Peggy Steele Internship Program for Youth Leadership Development. Since 2002, the program has raised more than $200,000 for the museum’s initiatives.
Smith, known through his 19-year career as The Wizard of Oz, won a record 13 Gold Glove Awards at shortstop and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2002.
Kaat, inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2022, was a three-time All-Star and 16-time Gold Glove Award winner who won 283 games over 25 years in the big leagues.
McGriff, a Class of 2023 inductee, was a five-time All-Star who amassed 10 30-homer seasons. The cleanup hitter on the 1995 World Series champions the Atlanta Braves, McGriff finished in the top 10 of his league’s Most Valuable Player Award voting in six straight seasons between 1989 and 1994.
Rolen, elected to the Hall of Fame in 2023, won eight Gold Glove Awards at third base and was named to seven All-Star Games. The unanimous selection as the 1997 National League Rookie of the Year, Rolen helped lead the Cardinals to their 2006 World Series title.
Turn Two is part of the July 19-22 Hall of Fame Weekend activities that will be highlighted by the July 21 induction ceremony, where Adrian Beltré, Todd Helton, Jim Leyland, and Joe Mauer will be inducted as the class of 2024.
A limited number of spaces for Turn Two remain, and a reservation is required. Event pricing is $1,000 per person. Reserve spots now by calling 607-547-0385. For more information on membership, please visit baseballhall.org/join.
The Museum maintains the following Hall of Fame Weekend hours: Friday, July 19: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, July 20: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, July 21: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Monday, July 22: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. As always, Hall of Fame Members receive free admission. Ozzie Smith and Fred McGriff promote baseball and educational upliftment
It is arguably the most poorly enforced and yet potentially powerful federal statute: a 25-year-old law that taps into billions of already allocated dollars to provide jobs and work skills training to thousands of the nation’s most vulnerable citizens.
Supporters say if used as intended when it was passed, Section 3 of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 could be a game-changer for low- and very low-income people and neighborhoods around the country. Its use could transform the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), local advocates say, by providing public housing residents with incomes that would not only help the agency reduce its staggering delinquent rent rolls but also give many residents life-changing benefits, such as healthcare and payments into Social Security and retirement accounts.
Section 3’s superpower is that no new money would have to be delegated to the program—some $18 billion in annual federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) contracts fall under its authority nationally, billions of those dollars in New York state and New York City. Those funds are administered in the city by NYCHA, which, as the largest public housing authority in the country, receives by far the lion’s share of federal housing dollars each year.
However, NYCHA is not making sure that contractors honor their Section 3 agreements, which lets money that could change lives and communities go to construction firms and workers who do not live there.
A Section 3 designated percentage of the housing funds sent to the city each year could provide salaries and training not only for thousands of resident workers but also for small and minority- and women-owned businesses working as subcontractors on large NYCHA jobs.
“If you have an eighty-million-dollar project, the Section 3 requirement is going to be a small percentage of that,” said former NYCHA Executive Vice President for Real Estate Takesia Whites, who holds a master’s degree in urban policy analysis from the New School and has worked in city government as a housing planner in former Bronx Borough President Fernado Ferrer’s office, as well as for the nonprofit New York City Housing Partnership and the Enterprise Foundation. “But even if you dedicate just five percent of that to Section 3, that’s still millions of dollars to spread around. You give a small contractor $200,000 to paint a building lobby—that is a significant investment in that business, if you can ensure that that local contractor gets the contract.”
Whites added that “the way to make Section 3 successful is you have to have some sort of mandate in place, because if you don’t make people do it, unfortunately, most people—and I’m not gonna say all, but most—don’t do these things out of the goodness of their hearts. They do it for money.”
Experts say that now is a fiscally opportune time to enforce Section 3 mandates in New York City.
“There’s a lot of money now going into public housing for physical renovation, so there’s an opportunity to use Section 3 in a way that there really wasn’t when there were so many decades of disinvestment” in public housing, said New School University Professor Alex Swartz, who has studied ways NYCHA could improve training and business opportunities for its residents.
By improving job skills among low- and very low-income individuals, Section 3 could reduce public assistance rolls and lift median income levels in whole communities.
“This is an area of public housing [that] has seen extraordinarily little attention over a very long period of time,” said Swartz. “It’s there, on the books, but I’m not aware that it’s been taken seriously. There may be challenges [in] getting residents, especially those who don’t have a lot of work experience or face issues of discrimination…to get jobs in the building trades. But housing authorities could at least try.”
New York City Housing Authority gardens in Brooklyn, New York.
USDA Photo by Preston Keres
Like the Civil Rights Act that created it, Section 3 has been under attack almost since it became law. Head-on opposition is hard to document, but politicians have worked surreptitiously to reduce compliance requirements and contractors have skirted hiring rules, which NYCHA has let them do in New York City.
For instance, in 2020, the Trump administration changed the mandate so HUD no longer requires that construction companies with Section 3-eligible contracts report the names of Section 3 hires or the jobs performed; only the hours they collectively worked. Supporters say the change allows companies to hire workers who can’t work full-time, such as women with children.
Critics say the change gives contractors more leeway for hazy reporting in showing they met Section 3 mandates and has resulted in fewer hires. They say contractors often skirt Section 3’s intent by relegating many of those lucky enough to find a Section 3 job to low-skill labor like moving traffic cones as construction materials and equipment are delivered to a project and not providing real job training.
“With too many of these contractors, the way the process is set up, they’re not producing skilled craftsmen; they’re producing laborers,” said Shelevya Pearson of Brooklyn-based Better New York Brokers, which connects developers and contractors with subcontracting firms.
Smaller firms looking to subcontract Section 3 work with contractors working on NYCHA jobs say the larger companies often either don’t return their calls or require that a small company hold such costly certifications and insurance upfront that they can’t afford the work.
“You have to put in a whole bunch of money upfront before you can even think of getting one of these contracts,” said Shannon Bryant of Brooklyn-based B & S Construction. “And you might not get the work anyway.”
Another Brooklyn minority contractor who asked not to be named said contractors did not return his calls even after he was awarded a Section 3 contract. “I feel like I’m standing in line and when I get to the counter, I still can’t get something to eat,” he said.
That sentiment was reflected at a May 2023 New York City Council hearing about Section 3, where a worker told Councilwoman Alexa Aviles, chair of the council’s Committee on Public Housing, that Section 3 employees are “the last hired and first fired.”
Section 3 has enjoyed some success in other parts of the country, most notably in Chicago, where it has been credited with being the financial root of several successful start-ups and creating jobs in underserved communities. Supporters think it should do the same on every HUD-financed project, but like other groundbreaking legislation of that turbulent era (the Equal Employment Security Act, Voter’s Rights Act, Fair Housing Ac), Section 3 has been under attack since it was enacted.
It’s an easy target.
As noted in the 2008 study, “The Scope and Potential of Section 3 as Currently Implemented” by Deborah Austin and Michael Gerend for the Journal of Housing and Community Development Law, there is no wording in the statute that allows for punishing contractors who do not follow its mandate or under which workers or companies with a Section 3-related hiring grievance against a contractor can seek redress.
“The statute does not provide a private right for action or remedy, and the regulations offer limited viable enforcement tools,” the study said.
That leaves Section 3 enforcement to NYCHA, with HUD oversight, but despite the staggering amounts of money involved, that is not happening, leaving Section 3’s potential unrealized.
How great is that potential?
In their 2008 paper, Gerend and Austin cited 16 HUD funding streams applicable to Section 3 mandates, including the Public Housing Operating Fund, Public Housing Capital Fund, Native American Housing Block Grant, and Housing Trust Fund.
That year, these funding streams totaled $21.6 billion.
Calculating at 22.5% (the median between Section 3’s 15 and 30 benchmark percentages) of that money being spent on hires, Gerend and Austin estimated that more than 112,000 new jobs could have been created if Section 3 mandates were “well implemented and enforced.”
HUD’s 2023 budget was $71.9 billion. The agency proposed a $177 billion 2024 budget, including $100 million earmarked for creating more affordable housing, the construction of which would presumably fall under Section 3 mandates. NYCHA proposed a $106 billion 2023 budget but expects to finish the year in a deficit because of falling rent receipts.
Yet, at the May 2023 City Council hearing, NYCHA officials said contractors reported fewer than 3,000 Section 3 hires by the agency last year.
NYCHA officials at the hearing said one and a half agency employees were tasked with monitoring 800 contracts involving Section 3 hires.
Which is Section 3’s dubious distinction: Even with a dizzying amount of money available and construction abounding in public housing projects across the five boroughs as the city implements the Obama-era Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program and court-ordered lead abatement mandates, contractors who do not want to anger union labor they depend on to work on these profitable projects avoid Section 3 hires and minority- and women-led business enterprises that are interested in a piece of that money.
And nobody is making them do otherwise.
“In regard to Section 3, it is astonishing how they have gotten away with this massive disinvestment of billions of dollars over the last ten years,” said Manuel Martinez, president of the South Jamaica Houses Tenant Association, who also sits on a NYCHA committee examining how Section 3 is used. “We’re not significantly impacting the population that can be affected by Section 3.
“Section 3 could be to New York City what Ford was to Detroit.”
At this year’s June primary Harlem native Jordan J. G. Wright, 29, scored the coveted 70th Assembly seat to replace longtime Assemblymember Inez Dickens. He sat down with Amsterdam News to talk politics, family legacy, expectations for the general election, and his vision for the future.
Wright arrived last Friday afternoon at the crowded and picturesque NBHD Brulee cafe in Harlem, owned by entrepreneur Duane Chan Shue. Despite the oppressive heatwave in the city, he donned a gray suit and tucked into one of the outside tables. His mood was light and airy, the portrait of a candidate that has temporarily put down the burden of campaigning for office in New York to celebrate his big win.
The race leading up to the primaries was packed with a wide range of candidates. Wright maintained an early lead once the polls closed on June 25, and ultimately gained 48.27% of the vote, according to the Board of Elections (BOE). His opponents finished as follows: Maria Ordoñez, 29.68%; Shana Harmongoff, 16.81%; and Craig Schley, 4.93%.
Besides being one of the youngest candidates in the race, Wright was a standout most notably because he is the son of Manhattan Democratic Party leader and former Assemblymember Keith Wright, who represented the 70th Assembly District in Harlem from 1992 to 2016. Wright’s grandfather was State Supreme Court Judge Bruce Wright.
He was also fresh off running a successful campaign to get Councilmember Yusef Salaam elected and is Salaam’s chief of staff.
Wright had come under fire for his family connections and endorsements from the old guard of Harlem. Dickens, former Congressmember Charles Rangel, as well as District Leaders Wilma Brown and William Allen, and of course his father, all endorsed Wright early. That allowed him to be well-funded and highly publicized in comparison to other more grassroots candidates.
“I got elected because the people of Harlem wanted to elect me. I got elected because 48% of the electorate said, ‘Hey I’m voting for Jordan Wright,’” he said, when asked if he thought it was family legacy or merit that had gotten him this far. “And I think that comes at the virtue of the support that I received. I think that comes from my work on the councilmember’s campaign and in the councilmember’s office. And I think that the voter’s voice is the voter’s voice and that’s never going to change,” he said.
Assemblymember-elect Jordan Wright celebrates on primary night after polls close on Tuesday, June 25, 2024 Credit: Bill Moore; Ariama C. Long.
Wright has undoubtedly grown up with famed Black and Brown political figures in Harlem and benefitted from the sheer privilege of having those people in his life. He has fond memories, deep ties to the community, and a plethora of stories to tell.
“My father was being honored by the Harlem Junior Tennis program growing up. He was getting an award like a lifetime achievement award of some kind and he couldn’t accept it because he was in Albany doing the budget,” said Wright, recalling an encounter he had with late Mayor David Dinkins as a teenager. Wright’s father asked Dinkins if he could accept the award for him and bring his son on stage. Dinkins agreed, and at the last minute shoved him into the limelight by himself instead.
“I go to help the mayor. He looks at me, shakes my hand and says, ‘go get him tiger’ and sends me up by myself,” said Wright. “That was my first real like public speaking engagement.”
He’s consistently expressed that his path to political office is driven by his own passion to serve the Harlem he loves and has grown up with. He has a strong community backing in the polls to support it, turning in a record number of designating petitions on the very first day of filing. Family legacy or not, he admitted he does get nervous about the job ahead of him. He’s hopeful about making his own connections in Albany, tapping into his existing resources, and coordinating with Salaam and other Harlem electeds to prioritize community needs.
But first, he’s focused on campaigning into the November election and maintaining his day job as Salaam’s chief of staff. “I’m still doing work with the community. I’m still in the neighborhood,” said Wright. “Why would I leave Harlem? I’m here.”
During his campaign, Wright’s platform included housing, workforce development, education, mental health, and LGBTQ issues. And, as an environmental advocate, he said on the campaign trail that he would support the New York HEAT Act. He is committed to making cooling stations accessible within walking distance of highly vulnerable areas in the district, making buildings green-energy efficient, and wants to plant more trees.
“I think that the environment is something that I grew up worrying about my entire life. I grew up watching ‘An Inconvenient Truth.’ I grew up with Superstorm Sandy,” said Wright. “Not only what it did to my community but also to the city where people [live and] unfortunately their lives were lost. Those storms will become normal if we don’t really [tamp] down on the environmental issues that we have in the community today. And I think that I look forward to being a great voice for the environment.”
In speaking with future constituents, Wright said that many people talk about pushing for environmental justice in Harlem and for congestion pricing as of late.
Though it’s not all politics, all the time. Wright said he enjoys playing and watching basketball, and is a Jets and Yankees fan—even though his father is a big Mets fan. He likes to read biographies and enjoys the occasional video game in his downtime. “I haven’t been running as much as I’d like to, you know, having run for office,” he joked, sipping iced coffee from the cafe.
In order to stay grounded in his high stress line of work, Wright credits his mother, Susan, with teaching him how to meditate, pray, and generally enjoy the quiet. His family are longtime members of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church on West 134th Street.
“My dad was obviously in government. My mother was not,” said Wright. “So I learned a lot from my mother about how to just chill out, unplugging, detaching and doing what’s best for you at certain times.”
This year meanwhile, the state general election coincides with the presidential election on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. The matchup between incumbent President Joe Biden and ex-President Donald Trump has been an increasingly fraught and even violent affair. Dems have outright called for Biden to drop out of the race while an alleged registered Republican recently shot at Trump during one of his rallies.Wright, along with a contingent of Black voters and political clubs in the city, said they’re sticking with Biden as the candidate to win despite his wavering public support. They’ll be heading to the 2024 Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago in August.A sitdown with Assemblymember-elect Jordan Wright
The Summerfest Jazzmobile free concert series opened the 2024 season with Jimmy Heath’s Big Band, lead by Antonio Hart, at General Grant National Memorial, as an audience of young and old music fans danced along. Concerts are every Wednesday at 7 p.m.; visit Jazzmobile.org for the full schedule.
Today the Domain Companies announced more details regarding Estela, the two-building rental development just one stop away from Harlem, NY. Estela, which has 380 market rates and 164 affordable rental apartments to Mott Haven, is 80 percent leased. This milestone follows a year of leasing, with residents moving in as of May 2023. The Domain…
Being environmentally conscious doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. In fact, by making simple changes to your daily routine, you can make a positive impact on the planet while also saving money and living a more sustainable life and style. Consider these practical ways to reduce your carbon footprint and protect the planet for…
