Harlem’s District 9 City Council race just got a bit tighter as heavy hitter Assemblymember Inez Dickens announced she is running against Councilmember Kristin Richardson Jordan.
Dickens would be like a returning champ battling a newcomer since she served in City Council for District 9 for 12 years before moving onto the State Assembly 70th District. Dickens is also a lifelong Harlem resident, and her father and uncle both served as the assemblymember in the district before her.
Dickens said that she hadn’t initially planned on running but a coalition of NYCHA and business leaders in the community had asked her to. There had been rumors of disharmony between the community and Richardson Jordan, as well as a feud between the councilmember and other Harlem electeds.
“I hadn’t thought about running but they asked me to run because they’re so unhappy with the nonresponse that they feel that they’re getting from the current occupant of the seat,” said Dickens.
Richardson Jordan ran against former Councilmember Bill Perkins, who at the time hadn’t rallied much for a reelection campaign and had pretty robust health issues. Richardson Jordan won on her progressive socialist policies, cementing her seat as a newcomer in the City Council.
Since she already has experience in City Council, Dickens said she’ll be able to navigate the politics of council funding and securing resources for the community better than her opponent. She also said that she has a sturdy relationship with most of the City Council women and men as well as the mayoral office. She plans on prioritizing public safety, housing and seniors.
“To be honest, on all levels, when you go in as a new person, nobody is going to tell you where anything is, where the pots of money are, how to be on budgeting, how to do legislation. They don’t tell you because that’s less for their district,” said Dickens.
She maintains that she’s solid at communicating with the community and collaborating on City Council issues when residents reach out to her.
Dickens speaks well of her other notable opponents in the race, Dr. Yusef Salaam of the exalted Exonerated Five and incumbent Assemblymember Alfred Taylor. Salaam is a Harlem native who was wrongfully tried and convicted in the Central Park Jogger rape case of a white woman in 1989 with his friends. After his release and city payout, Salaam has since become an author, activist, father of 10, and is now turning his intentions to politics.
Meanwhile Taylor has been an assemblymember for the last five years and has never shied away from publicly speaking on his experiences in the criminal justice system. Taylor was born in North Carolina and raised in Harlem.
In a ranked choice voting race, Dickens said there’s no “going up against them” to speak of. She said it’s a similar situation to Richardson Jordan in that neither one of the candidates has her same level of experience to do the job effectively and efficiently.
It should be noted that because of City Council redistricting the next round of council members will only have a two-year term as opposed to a full four-year term.
“It takes you two years to get in there and learn where the bathrooms are and I don’t have to do that,” said Dickens.
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting: https://bit.ly/amnews1
The more people join. The more KRJ will win!
Inez needs to retire. She already had the worst attendance record as a council member and as an assembly member she has the worst attendnace record. Fires in her district and residents displaced and her staff do nothing