Inna Vernikov Lincoln Restler Shahana Hanif Jennifer Gutiérrez Alexa Aviles
COURIER LIFE, NOVEMBER 5-11, 2021 5
In 2020, Szuszkiewicz nearly
toppled incumbent Democrat
Mathylde Frontus in the area’s
Assembly race, but local
Democratic politicos expected
a stronger showing by Kagan
in the Council district since it
does not include Republicanfriendly
Bay Ridge.
Meanwhile, the GOP appears
to have also picked up
the 19th District in northeast
Queens, with Republican
Vickie Paladino leading Democrat
Tony Avella by seven
points.
The GOP’s strength in the
city even showed up in districts
they didn’t contest: Borough
Park Councilmember Kalman
Yeger, a Democrat, won
reelection to a second term
running on both the Democratic
and Republican lines,
but the Board of Elections’
tally shows Kalman Yeger (R)
beating Kalman Yeger (D) by
21 points, with Kalman Yeger
(Conservative) trailing at 7.69
percent.
Brooklyn Heights,
Williamsburg, Fort
Greene, Greenpoint,
Downtown Brooklyn
Not many of north Brooklyn’s
city council races were
surprising, but Lincoln Restler’s
evening was perhaps the
calmest as the unopposed former
district leader cleaned up
with more than 98 percent of
votes, offi cially securing his
spot as District 33’s newest
representative.
Restler, who co-founded
progressive organization New
Kings Democrats and spent
ten years working in city government,
secured 64 percent
of votes in the June primary
after seven rounds of rankedchoice
voting, beating out
eight other candidates for the
Democratic nomination, including
Elizabeth Adams, the
legislative director for incumbent
Stephen Levin, who has
represented the district since
2009 and is term limited.
A lifelong resident of District
33, which includes Greenpoint,
Brooklyn Heights,
Brooklyn Navy Yard, and
Downtown Brooklyn, Restler
told Brooklyn Paper in
June that he intends “to be a
24/7/365 resource, organizer,
and problem solver for our
neighborhoods. I want to be
the fi rst person you call, text,
or email when you have an issue,”
as councilman.
During his campaign, Restler
put forward detailed plans
to lower rents in north Brooklyn
and to make District 33 the
fi rst carbon-neutral district
in the city and picked up endorsements
from the Working
Families Party and local
elected offi cials including
state senators Julia Salazar
and Jabari Brisport, as well as
Stonewall Democrats of NYC
and the United Federation of
Teachers.
Park Slope, Kensington,
Windsor Terrace,
Gowanus, Carroll
Gardens
Shahana Hanif has won
the race for city council in
District 39, picking up nearly
90 percent of votes and coming
full-circle as she heads to City
Hall to represent Park Slope,
Gowanus, Carroll Gardens,
Windsor Terrace, and Kensington,
where she was born
and raised.
“I was born & raised in
Brooklyn. I’m the daughter of
Bangladeshi Muslim immigrants,
a Lupus survivor, & an
activist,” Hanif tweeted. “I’m
humbled to be the fi rst Muslim
woman elected to the New
York City Council and the fi rst
woman to represent my district.
WE DID IT.”
Hanif won 57 percent of
votes in the primary after six
rounds of ranked-choice voting,
beating out Brandon West
by just about 4,000 votes. In
the general election, she faced
off against Libertarian Matthew
Morgan and Conservative
Brett Wynkoop, a member
of the right-wing conspiracy
group the Oath Keepers. Morgan
and Wynkoop picked up
just about 3,000 votes combined
on election night.
Bushwick, Williamsburg
Jennifer Gutiérrez is offi
cially heading to the city
council to represent District
34 in January after securing
about 90 percent of votes on
Tuesday.
Gutiérrez’s victory came
as no surprise — she clinched
nearly 80 percent of the votes
in the June primary and was
without a Republican challenger.
Her opponents, Terrell
Finner and Lutchi Gayot,
both ran third-party and each
got about 5 percent of the total
votes.
It won’t be her fi rst time
serving the constituents of
Williamsburg, Bushwick, and
Ridgewood — she’s worked as
chief of staff for sitting councilman
Antonio Reynoso,
who’s headed to Borough Hall
in the new year, since 2014.
Endorsed by big-name progressives
like Rep. Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez and unions including
the New York Nurses
Association and the Transit
Workers Union Local 100,
Gutiérrez ran on a platform
including bringing utilities
under municipal control and
signifi cantly reducing the
budget of the New York City
Police Department and reducing
police presence in settings
like public schools and
homeless shelters in favor of
rerouting that money to social
services. She has also been vocal
about reforming the city’s
land use process and expanding
rent relief programs.
Sunset Park, Red Hook
Democratic candidate Alexa
Aviles will be District
38’s next city council member
leading Libertarian challenger
Erik Frankel by a
crushing 6,526 votes
“I want to thank my neighbors,
who have fought for
themselves and their families,
for all of our dignity; the
tireless volunteers in NYCDSA;
the union members
who put in shift after shift;
the dedicated domestic workers,
Las Damas of Sunset
Park, who were with us every
step of the way; the parents,
teachers and students
who have been improving
our schools, every single day;
and all the organizations and
individuals that contributed
to this victory,” Aviles said
in a statement after declaring
victory Wednesday morning.
Democratic Socialists of
America and Working Families
Party-backed Aviles
celebrated her nomination
at Maria’s Bistro in Sunset
Park, which she will represent
along with Greenwood
Heights, Red Hook and parts
of Borough Park, Windsor
Terrace and Dyker Heights
when she is inaugurated to
a four-year term in January
2022.
Aviles said she will immediately
begin scouting staff
rooted in her community, as
well as jumping into the budget
and ensuring city funding
is being spent where it
will best serve the city’s most
vulnerable residents.
“I am committed to opening
an offi ce that is refl ective
and representative of this
community, a diverse staff
that really understand the
culture of the community,
that is our fi rst order of business,”
she told Brooklyn Paper
at her watch party, “and
then we are going to be diving
into the budget that is going
to be really critical budget
for us and the rest of the
city, really it is going to be
about identifying those areas
that we are going to need
to dig in and really going to
have to advocate fo increased
funding or moving funding.”
She believes the district’s
biggest challenge is the
COVID-19 pandemic and told
Brooklyn Paper that it only
further exposed issues already
present in her districts,
such as the overcrowded and
underfunded public schools,
housing insecurity, stagnant
wages, lack of job opportunities
and systemically inadequate
approach to policing.
She draws experience from
her work in the nonprofi t sector
and her near decadelong
role as the president of the
Parent-Teacher Association
for PS 172 in Sunset Park,
where her daughter attended
school. She also serves on
Greenwood Heights’ MS 88
School Leadership Team,
Community Board 7 and
chair of the New York City
Youth Board.
As a city council member,
Aviles has said she plans to
boost the district’s workingclass
families and immigrant
community, whose members
fear displacement from incoming
luxury development
she does not support— such
as the dropped Industry City
rezoning.
She said she believes the
city government needs to
revamp the city planning
process to consider the development’s
impact on the
surrounding community and
that it includes climate resiliency
measures that will benefi
t the neighborhood.
The 20-year Sunset Park
resident supports bringing
jobs in the climate industry
to the neighborhood and is
a proponent of Norwegian
energy company Equinor’s
acquisition of the South
Brooklyn Marine Termine
to construct wind turbines
which is expected to provide
over 1,000 jobs to the local
community.
Though, she previously
told Brooklyn Paper she is
prepared to hold Equinor accountable
if the agreed-upon
benefi ts do not materialize.