City Council Race District 9

Updated 5/17/23

The sound of leaf blowers rang through the streets of District 9 early one Monday morning in May. Neighbors on 143rd Street swept in front of their buildings and called out to one another. One resident Kevin Jones said, “I come out here every morning when it gets nice to keep my front yard clean for me and my community.” He was working on a small section of sidewalk and steps that led up to his building. “I don’t mind keeping my porch clean myself as long as I can still afford to live here,” he explained.  

Affordable living is the key thing for many in District 9, and they do not think their City Councilmember Kristen Richardson Jordan understands that. A zoning controversy brought the issue of affordable housing to their doorsteps. 

If you continue walking past the neighbor, a few blocks away, you will come across a truck parked on 145th and Malcolm X Boulevard. A sign on the truck reads: “Have You Seen This Person – Your Council Member KRJ is Missing! Call 555-5555 or call her office and ask her why she is not working for the people of Harlem!” 

Neighbors here are angry about council member Jordan’s decision to stop Harlem’s One45 project, which would have created 915 apartments. Half of the apartments would have been affordable.  

At a Community Board 10 emergency meeting, Jordan addressed concerns. “I don’t feel that what they’re calling affordable is actually affordable to the community,” she said. Members of the community board agreed with her. 

The developer who owned the land had threatened to turn it into a truck depot if the project wasn’t approved, and that’s what he ultimately did. Those who live nearby feel that she could have done more to prevent the lot from becoming a truck depot. “We all want to keep out the gentrifiers, but we still need to take care of the people living in the community. This requires lots of attention from our council member, and Jordan has not been showing up,” local resident Kayla Reed explained.  

Logan Phares, the political director of Open New York, a grassroots organization focused on affordable housing in NYC, said, “This is a particularly clear example of what happens when politicians prioritize opposing every zoning change over their constituents’ needs.” 

Community discontent seems to have caused Richardson Jordan to drop out of the upcoming June 27 Democratic primary election. Tuesday, May 16, Richardson withdrew from the election and posted, “Thank you for seeing the true possibility for radical love in the loveless land of politics,” to her Instagram page. That leaves Assembly Member Inez Dickens, Assembly Member Al Taylor, and Yusef Salaam, one of the Central Park 5 who was wrongly accused and convicted of rape in a case that dates back to 1989 vying for the District 9 seat.