New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams announced appointments
for committee memberships and chair positions on Jan. 20.
Emil Cohen/NYC Council Media Uni
COURIER LIFE, JAN. 28-FEB. 3, 2022 23
BY KIRSTYN BRENDLEN
The almost all-new slate of
New York City councilmembers
have been hard at work at
City Hall for just about three
weeks now, and on Jan. 20, they
received their committee assignments,
setting the course
for which issues they’ll champion
over the next four years.
The council’s 38 committees
— or 39, including a new
special task force on fi re prevention,
formed in the wake of
the deadly Twin Parks fi re —
handle most of the Council’s
day-to-day work, hashing out
the details of proposed legislation,
taking votes, and holding
hearings to receive feedback
from the community. A number
of subcommittees, including
the newly-formed Subcommittee
on COVID Recovery
and Resilience and the often
popular Subcommittee on
Zoning and Franchises, handle
specifi c issues within their
larger committees.
Councilmembers voted on
assigning committee members
and chairs, and Speaker
Adrienne Adams offi cially
made the appointments. Only
three Brooklyn representatives
— Lincoln Restler, Inna
Vernikov, and Charles Barron
— are not chairs this term.
Here’s what local pols will
be chairing:
Rita Joseph: Committee on
Education
Former public school
teacher and current representative
of Central Brooklyn’s
District 40 is heading up the
Council’s Committee on Education,
taking on a whole new
set of responsibilities after 22
years at P.S. 6. She’ll be heading
a Brooklyn-heavy group
dealing with everything related
to public and charter
schools and the city’s School
Construction Authority.
Justin Brannan:
Committee on Finance
Longtime South Brooklyn
representative Justin Brannan
will have a hand on the
city’s purse strings as the
chair of the fi nance committee,
responsible for overseeing
the city’s Banking Commission,
Department of Design
and Construction, and the
Comptroller’s offi ce — now
headed by Brannan’s old
neighbor in the Council, Brad
Lander. The committee also
has a role reviewing and making
changes to the city’s annual
budget.
“New Yorkers pay a tremendous
amount of taxes
and rightfully expect to see
a tangible return on their investment,”
Brannan said, in
a statement. “My charge is
to make sure we are spending
wisely, safeguarding our
city’s fi nancial future, and fortifying
the city’s social safety
net for New Yorkers who need
it most. Our recovery will not
be exclusive to the privileged
or the powerful. Our recovery
will be for everyone.”
While his statement referred
to the committee as
the “most prestigious” of the
38, Brannan will also be providing
his expertise to the
committees on Public Safety,
Rules, Privileges, and Elections,
Covid Recovery and Resiliency,
and Senior Centers
and Food Insecurity.
Mercedes Narcisse:
Committee on Hospitals
After a long career as a
Registered Nurse, Narcisse is
redirecting her expertise toward
the Council’s Committee
on Hospitals, and will take
charge of the body’s dealings
with both public and private
hospitals and New York City
Health + Hospitals.
“This is a pivotal time for
our city as we continue to
battle the Omicron variant,
which has decimated our hospitals,”
she wrote on Twitter.
“In particular, HHC facilities
and safety net hospitals
in traditionally underserved
communities need a lifeline
so they can fl ourish, and not
merely survive.”
Narcisse is also a member
of the committees on Criminal
Justice, Education, Health,
Parks and Recreation, and Covid
Recovery and Resiliency.
Shahana Hanif: Committee
on Immigration
The fi rst Muslim woman
to be elected to the Council,
South-Central Brooklyn representative
Shahana Hanif,
who previously worked as the
organizing director for former
Councilmember Brad Lander,
will be stepping up to lead the
committee on all things immigration
in New York City.
“As the daughter of two
working-class Bangladeshi
immigrants, I am deeply honored
to be selected as the next
chair of our City Council’s Immigration
Committee,” Hanif
said, in a statement. “Millions
of immigrants call our city
home, and as the new chair
of this committee, it is my
duty to ensure their voices
are heard, and their rights are
respected. There is so much
work to be done to ensure we
keep ICE, and organizations
that contract with the rogue
federal agency, out of our city.
We will also make certain the
Mayor’s Offi ce of Immigrant
Affairs fulfi lls its obligations
to the millions of immigrants
that call this city their home.”
Alexa Avilés: Committee
on Public Housing
Taking up oversight of the
New York City Housing Authority
is Alexa Avilés, who
represents Sunset Park, Red
Hook, and parts of Windsor
Terrace, Borough Park and
Greenwood Heights. A longtime
resident of Sunset Park
and an active organizer in the
public education space, she
told Brooklyn Paper last year
that housing insecurity and a
city increasingly only working
in favor of its wealthier
residents were two of her biggest
concerns.
“I am honored to serve as
Chairwoman of the council’s
Committee on Public Housing,”
she wrote online. “I will
fi ght to keep public housing as
a public good and to advance a
vision for public housing that
is resident-led and centered.”
Avilés will also be staying
true to her roots on the Committee
on Education, alongside
the committees on Youth
Services and the Twin Parks
Citywide Taskforce on Fire
Prevention.
Ari Kagan: Committee on
Resiliency and Waterfronts
Kagan represents one of
the south Brooklyn districts
most vulnerable to climate
change, including Coney Island,
and will sit at the head
of the newly-reactivated committee,
which was previously
just the Committee on Waterfronts.
A former staffer
of Councilmember Mark
Treyger, Kagan has said he
worked to secure money for
the victims of Superstorm
Sandy, and the committee will
work with the Offi ce of Recovery
and Resiliency and the Offi
ce of Long
Kalman Yeger: Committee
on Standards and Ethics
Formerly the senior advisor
and legal counsel for
then-Councilmember David
G. Greenfi eld, Yeger will be
steering the committee with
jurisdiction over the city’s
Confl icts of Interest Board,
which enforces ethics and confl
ict of interest rules for the
city’s public servants, and ethics
within the Council itself.
While the committee does not
meet as regularly as some of
the Council’s busier bodies, its
business tends to be the juiciest
— it handled the hearings
and consequences for former
Councilmembers Andy King
and Barry Grodenchik.
Jennifer Gutiérrez:
Committee on Technology
Well prepared for her new
position in the council after
years as Antonio Reynoso’s
Chief of Staff, Gutiérrez is
taking over the committee in
a pivotal moment as the city
enters its third year of the
pandemic and a third year
of struggling with remote
schooling and local government
meetings.
“From applying to jobs, to
remote learning, to making
our local government run,
technology is essential,” she
said, in a statement. “Yet despite
its necessity, there are
historical inequities in access
to this resource, especially by
low-income communities of
color. The COVID pandemic
exposed just how paramount
access to internet is for our
livelihood — and this exists
during our recovery today. I
am thrilled to use my post as
Chair to reverse these inequities
and ensure that all New
Yorkers have access to reliable,
affordable technology.”
Farah N. Louis:
Subcommittee on
Landmarks, Public Sitings,
and Maritime Uses
Louis, who has represented
District 45 since 2019, is a jack
of all trades — her resume includes
time as a journalist and
publicist, the founder of a girls’
mentorship organization, and
eight years as an administrator
at Mount Sinai Hospital.
Now, she will be stepping into
a new role in the Land Use Subcommittee,
which reviews the
city’s designations for landmarks
and historic districts,
as well as the locations of new
public facilities and coastal
amenities like piers.
She’ll still be fl exing all her
old skills as she serves on the
committees for Cultural Affairs,
Libraries and International
Intergroup Relations,
Education, Finance, Fire and
Emergency Management,
Land Use, Zoning and Franchises,
and Transportation
and Infrastructure.
For more on area councilmember’s
committee assignments,
visit BrooklynPaper.com.
CHANGING OF
THE GUARD
13 Brooklyn pols to chair Council committees
/BrooklynPaper.com