Beacon City Council At-Large
How long have you been a Democrat?
I’m a lifelong Democrat. I started voting as soon as I was able. My first time voting was for Barack Obama in 2008.
What made you decide to run for office?
I have been working to further community connections and social justice since moving to Beacon in 2017. This has taken the form of volunteer work with local organizations like Beacon4Black Lives, Mutual Aid, Fareground, and Community Voices Heard. It has also included more formal roles like Chair of the City of Beacon Human Rights Commission and manager of the Beacon Farmers Market, which administers important free or discounted fresh food programs like SNAP, Fresh Connect, and Greens4Greens.
During this work in 2020, I learned that several Councilmembers I and others had been working with would not be seeking re-election. After trying to recruit others across the community to step up—with no success—fellow organizer Justice McCray and I realized that we may need to step up ourselves, and we did.
What will be your priorities if you get elected?
My high-level priorities of affordable housing, climate justice, community safety, and participatory governance have remained consistent.
Affordable housing: The City must make every effort to encourage the preservation and development of subsidized housing, to ensure that tenants are aware of their rights, and that landlords and homeowners have the information they need to be responsible housing providers.
Climate Justice: Beacon is already a Climate Leader in NY State, and we must continue to take action to meet our ambitious but necessary commitment to reduce GHG emissions across the city to 40% of 1990 levels before 2030, pushing the state to also meet its obligations under the CLCPA. This means investing in infrastructure to support non-personal-vehicle travel, embracing biodiverse land stewardship practices, and continuing to connect residents to state and federal resources toward a just transition.
Community Safety: The addition of a Mental Health professional (Lashaveous Dicker) to our emergency response teams, within the Police Department, has been a great community asset. It is a priority of mine to continue to connect Beacon residents to resources they need—including food, housing, and community connection—to be able to show up in our community as their healthy selves.
Participatory Governance: I will build off successful programs like Participatory Budgeting, Open Office Hours, and opportunities for legislative co-governance to support active engagement from residents with local government.
What is something that you have done or achieved in Beacon or elsewhere that positively contributed to your community?
One legislative achievement that I am particularly proud of is the passage of Good Cause Eviction in the City of Beacon. This common-sense legislation protects tenants from arbitrarily losing their housing and clarifies responsibilities for both landlords and tenants in their lease agreements. This is legislation that I advocated for mid-pandemic when I was seeking housing myself before I was on Council and was proud to vote for and pass after I was elected. I know this law has helped residents with deep community connections including schoolteachers, long-time residents, and City employees stay in their homes and keep the fabric of the Beacon community strong.
What can you bring to the role?
I have been on the City Council for three years. In that time, in addition to serving, I have pro-actively engaged in training and conferences to both deepen and widen my understanding of policies and best practices.
I also remain dedicated to community building outside of my official work on Council which informs my understanding of the needs of this community alongside up and down votes on policies.
Tell us something about you.
In my full-time job at an Indigenous Arts & Culture nonprofit, I have connected with the Stockbridge Munsee Band of Mohicans whose citizens include the descendants of Chief Daniel Ninham. Chief Ninham was the last leader of the Wappingers tribe when they were forced to leave their homelands and join Mohican and Munsee speaking bands in Stockbridge Massachusetts. Chief Ninham and his son along with other Native peoples of the Stockbridge Militia were killed in the Bronx fighting against the British in the Revolutionary War. I would love to see the City engage in an understanding of our history beyond our establishment in 1913 or settlement by Dutch colonists in 1709.
I also love to bake and started baking sourdough from scratch when I moved here. It’s very popular amongst friends and acquaintances (and that I am always very happy to share!)