BY BEN BRACHFELD
Assemblymember Diana
Richardson will become Deputy
Borough President under
the new beep, Antonio Reynoso.
Richardson has represented
the 43rd District (encompassing
Prospect Lefferts Gardens,
along with parts of Crown
Heights and Flatbush) since
2015. Now, though, she will join
Reynoso at Borough Hall as his
number 2.
Thus far she has been tasked
with developing policy and
strategy in three areas: combating
gun violence, addressing
food insecurity, and reforming
community boards.
“Right now I represent three
communities, now I will represent
the entire borough,” Richardson
told Brooklyn Paper in
an interview. “Then, I would
have an opportunity to work on
the issues that I care about the
most, the same issues that I’ve
legislated and paid attention to
here, but now directly on the
ground.”
The Borough President today
is largely a ceremonial
role, though the holder retains
a non-binding role in the city’s
land use process and gets to
make appointments to community
boards and other panels.
On top of that, the position
comes with a signifi cant bully
pulpit to highlight issues important
COURIER L 6 IFE, JANUARY 14-20, 2022
to them, and the beep is
often seen as a stepping stone to
higher offi ce: Reynoso’s predecessor
in the role, Eric Adams,
is now the mayor.
Richardson will be leaving
an elected post in Albany, where
she can vote on legislation and
budgets, for an unelected city
position, but she doesn’t see the
move as a step-down.
“I don’t see this as a stepdown
at all, but it’s really a tremendous
opportunity to really
work with the people on the
ground more closely,” Richardson
said. “For all intents and
purposes, it’s a promotion. It
puts me closer with the people
that I got involved to serve in
the very fi rst place. Remember,
when you run for offi ce as an
elected offi cial, it’s the people
that are the driver. The politics
in the place where you go
to serve them is the outcome,
but it’s the people you get in to
serve. Now, this is more of what
I love to do, I’m just so excited.”
“Also, I’m number 2 in the
borough,” she continued. “And
I’m not number 2 in the Assembly.”
Reynoso’s campaign platform
encompassed reforming
community boards, which he
characterized in a Brooklyn Paper
op-ed last year as important
bodies of citizen democracy but
unrepresentative of their communities
in a range of ways —
including race, gender, age, and
renter vs. homeowner status.
Now, having won the race, Reynoso
is putting Richardson in
charge of achieving that vision.
“I’m looking forward to ensuring
that boards are diverse
and that boards are functioning
Diana Richardson, holding mic, speaks at Grand Army Plaza during the
George Floyd protests in June 2020 Photo by Kevin Duggan
to their optimal level,” Richardson
said.
The two other policy areas
under Richardson’s initial purview,
gun violence and food insecurity,
are ones that she has
focused on in the Assembly, as
both issues are prevalent in her
district and have been dramatically
exacerbated by the pandemic.
She says that she wants
to ensure that the resources
and funds of the Borough President’s
offi ce get used to actually
address the issues across the
whole population, and address
their root causes rather than
just the resulting harms.
Richardson and Reynoso
both come from the progressive
fl ank of the Democratic Party
and they’ve been allied on various
issues over the years. As
such, they see each other as allies
and praised one another for
their vision and character.
“For years, Assemblymember
Richardson has been an
unwavering progressive voice
and a powerful advocate for her
community in Central Brooklyn,”
Reynoso said.
DEPUTY DIANA
Assembly rep Richardson named Deputy BP