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Welcome back to this episode of Power and Politics as we turn to a conversation with the council member elect who flipped a Bronx District blue. Democrat Shirley Aldeba spoke with News Twelve's Heather Fordham about her priorities as she enters that new position. This is your first time being a council member elect holding a position in City Hall. How do you feel having this new title? I'm excited. I'm excited to really, uh, get started. Um, I've already started to do some work. Um, I'm ready to serve the constituents of District 13, the Bronx and New York City. And so for the last several decades, you have been serving as the head of 32 BJ in the union, um, and you kind of decided to turn that title in earlier this year. What kind of prompted you to make this change? Well, I felt that, uh, you know, our district in particular, um, and the Bronx, I really got tired of the Bronx being left behind for so long. I felt that we weren't getting the resources that we needed. I felt that, you know, so many people were suffering uh under this affordability crisis and I thought it was time for me to do something uh for my community and uh for the people of the Bronx. And so January 1st is right around the corner. What are kind of your top priorities or what is the first Kind of 100 days gonna look like when you step into the office? Well, I wanna focus on, you know, the issues that you know our constituents of the district have raised quality of life issues, uh, public safety, you know, education, affordability are, you know, the issues that I ran on. Um, I wanna have a deeper understanding of those issues and how to, how to solve them, uh, develop deeper relationships with, you know, the community organizations that have been servicing our district for many years, and I wanna set up a strong, you know, uh, constituent services, uh, operation to, to make sure that, uh, the constituents of District 13 are getting the services. That they need the education around the services uh that are available to them uh and that's basically what I'm gonna be starting with. And we know um affordable housing in particular is a really big topic in this district. I know the Just Home project was kind of back and forth for several years, whether it was gonna go through or not ultimately the mayor will just shut that project down. Is your stance on affordable housing in in this district and how do you plan to approach that? Well, I, you know, I would say this is a very big district and a very, uh, it's very unique. It's very geographically spread out. We have, you know, as you can see around us, you know, single family homes, two family homes. We also have, you know, buildings, we have rent stabilized buildings, we have NIA housing. Uh, and a lot of the people that I've spoken to throughout the district, you know, have, you know, uh, issues with affording their rent, uh, spoke to people who said, you know, I may not be able to retire, you know, at age 65 or 67 because I won't be able to afford to live here and I've been living here for 20 years. Um, I may not be able to afford the rent on a, on a fixed income. Um, seniors who own their homes are struggling to, you know, pay for insurance and increasing, um. Taxes and you know just the maintenance of their homes so we have to provide support uh both for homeowners uh we have to provide support for people who want to buy homes in this district which has become more and more unaffordable for working class people to afford to buy a home here um and we also have to, you know, 60% of the district are renters, so we also have to support those people so that they can continue to afford to pay their rent, buy food. Get health care, um, so all of these issues are kind of commingled and it's important that we, we start to tackle those issues. Another big Topic is Bally's and we know by the end of this year the state gaming commission is expected to make a decision on whether or not Bally's gets the license, uh, for one of the three down state casino licensing. Where do you kind of stand on that Bally's proposal? I know it's kind of late in the game that you're gonna be stepping in, but how do you feel about having a casino over there in, you know, I, yeah, I talked to a lot of residents here, particularly in Throneck, and you. You know, gotten mixed, you know, some people very happy to have a casino or performing arts center, you know, uh, you know, in addition to, you know, a premier golf course, um, the jobs that it will bring, uh, a lot of people are, especially in the Bronx, this will be the largest economic development project, uh, in the Bronx I think in decades, uh, so having good, you know, union jobs come to the Bronx. Um, is important, you know, I share some of the, the concerns that people have about, you know, the traffic, the environment, you know, is there gonna be increased crime? I think that the key to, the key to this is gonna be to continue to, to talk to Bleys to continue to make sure that those issues are addressed as all of this continues to unfold. You're stepping into this role at the same time as we have a new mayor. Or on mom Donny, um, have you spoken with him before and, and how do you feel your relationship will be like working with him to get policies done and things addressed in your district here? I have not spoken with with uh mayor elect uh Mamdani, uh, but I'm excited to work with the new administration. Uh, I'm excited to work with my colleagues in the city council. I think that we all have the best interest of New York City. Uh, in mind, uh, I just wanna make sure that, you know, we take care of the, the constituents of this district that we take care of the Bronx, um, and that we don't want, we don't wanna be left behind, we don't wanna continue to be left behind, uh, there are a lot of issues to. To to deal with affordability is a big one and one of the reasons why he got elected and I think one of the reasons why I got elected people are really feeling the squeeze here and you know they wanna see something they wanna see some change.

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New York Democratic Congresswoman Nydia Velasquez has announced that she will not seek reelection next year. In a statement, the 72 year old called serving the people of New York the honor of her life, but she also says it's time for a new generation to lead while citing the recent election of Zoran Mamdani as New York City Mayor. Velasquez became the first Puerto Rican woman to serve in Congress following her election in 1993. Meanwhile, new legislation aimed at tackling the food insecurity crisis is on the way. Assembly member Amanda Septimo joined Catholic charities and anti-hunger advocates to announce that initiative, and News Twelve's Lindsay Tanny has the details. Fresh produce is hard to come by. Some say we're facing a food insecurity crisis. People going hungry is an emergency. Kids going hungry at night is an emergency. We don't know how long the emergency will last. With recent snap cuts and uncertainty from the federal government, Assembly member Amanda Septimo and other city and state leaders are trying to make food more accessible. They're investing $100,000 into a new partnership called Surplus to Table Catholic Charities and the nonprofit sharing. Excess are teaming up to bring food that would otherwise go to waste directly to New Yorkers in need. This is what the smart modern food policy looks like of the future. It's efficient. It's sustainable. It's cost effective, and it's grounded in the community and communities like this here in the Bronx. It will also be able to strengthen the entire web and network of organizations that are providing food in a dignifying way. Staff members here at the Catholic Charities Food Hub say they're going to use some of the money to add a date to their. do distributions and pop up pantries. Assembly member Sepdumo also introduced the New York State Food Rescue Tax Credit, which incentivizes businesses to donate surplus food. It costs money for businesses to be able to donate, and we want to remove that obstacle because we know that everything has gotten more expensive for everyone. Advocates say their next step is to focus on accessible food access and spreading information and resources in Melrose, Lindsay Tanny, News 12, the Bronx. We'll follow that legislation as it makes its way through the legislature. That is all for this week here on Power and Politics on News 12. Thanks so much for watching. We'll see you next time.

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With current Speaker Adrienne Adams' tenure coming to an end, a new generation of leaders has emerged with the hope of stepping into that role. The council will vote in January when the new term begins.

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