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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now, we continue our series, 51 Council Members in 52 Weeks. We're inviting all the New York City council members roughly in their district number order across this whole year neighborhood by neighborhood. We're doing this because it's a new era in the New York City Council. There are mostly new members this year because of term limits and women make up the majority of council members for the first time ever.

Today, we are up to District 27 out of 51 and we're talking to one of those women, Nantasha Williams. District 27 is in Southeast Queens and includes the neighborhoods of Cambria Heights, Hollis, Jamaica, St. Albans, Queens Village, Addisleigh Park, and Springfield Gardens among others. Council Member Williams, welcome to WNYC.

Council Member Nantasha Williams: Hello. Thank you for having me.

Brian Lehrer: Would you tell us first a little bit about your own story and what brought you to the city council? I see from your council bio that you were raised by a single mother who worked as a social worker for the city, I think, in the district that you now represent. Did that draw you to public service?

Council Member Williams: I think certainly working with or being raised by a mom who worked with the city and gave so much of herself in service to others is definitely inspiring. When they asked children what they want to be and they expose you to different career paths and historic figures, I always was drawn to Thurgood Marshall. [chuckles] There was always something about doing things in service to others that I was drawn to. Never thought I would actually run for office, but I always knew that I wanted to be in some form of public service.

Brian Lehrer: You've worked on the staffing side, I see, in the New York State Assembly, but the plan wasn't always to run for office yourself someday?

Council Member Williams: No, I actually thought I wanted to work in the nonprofit sector. I sort of stumbled upon working for the New York State Legislature. I was going to grad school at the time and wanting to supplement my education. I started working for the New York State Legislature, but the idea was actually to either go into the nonprofit sector or perhaps go into a government agency.

Brian Lehrer: I see from our archives that you were on WNYC back in 2017 on The Takeaway to talk about your work helping to organize the Women's March back when President Trump first took office. Now, probably some of those same women, you and others, are in elected office in New York City Council while others are taking to the streets to protest the actions of Trump's Supreme Court appointees obviously because of the reversal of Roe v. Wade. Do you think you can have an effect on things like that from within city council or does part of you wish you were outside elective office and back to being an organizer and activist?

Council Member Williams: That is such a great question and I love the trip down memory lane. I've always been a huge proponent of both outside agitation and inside agitation. Even when I worked for the New York State Legislature, part of the reason why I even had the ability to be a part of organizing the Women's March is because of my connectivity to the activists who were on the ground at that time, Tamika Mallory, Carmen Perez, and Linda Sarsour. They were a part of an organization called The Gathering for Justice by way of the Justice League. Working with them while I was inside of the New York State Legislature, I think, was a win-win.

That year, we actually saw Governor Cuomo at the time issue his executive order to have special prosecutors in police-involved fatalities and a suite of other legislative victories that year around the same time as Eric Garner and Freddie Gray. I always believe inside and outside working together is best. Yes, I still love to be attached to the ground and to the people because I feel like that's the real stuff, but I also recognize almost like a sacrificial obligation to also be inside of the halls of decision-making and to make sure that I am maintaining that same connectivity.

Brian Lehrer: Now, I'm going to ask you as we do with all the council members in the series to talk about the people of your district. I think sometimes the media forgets to talk about the people and just focuses on the elected officials who represent them. Tell us a little bit about District 27 and who lives there and who you feel you were elected to represent.

Council Member Williams: Well, it is a beautiful community. Southeast Queens at large, we love to cast a wide net on one Southeast Queens. Even though it's represented by numerous elected officials, we are one big Southeast Queens community, really a strong beacon, Black, middle-income folks. We have more property owners than a lot of other places in the city, so we are majority homeowners.

It provides a sense of community. I think New York City is such a transient place, but here in my district, you see generations and generations of folks who have lived in this community for decades. My grandparents lived in this community. My mom lives in this community. Now, I live in this community. It's just a very rich, I'd say, Black community in New York City. Then things have shifted some bit. We have lots of Caribbeans in the district as well and also a growing South Asian population.

Brian Lehrer: What do you think people in the district need most from city government? I'm thinking of how well-represented the district is now. Besides you being elected, Mayor Adams comes from Southeast Queens, I don't have to tell you, and Speaker Adrienne Adams. You're from District 27, she's District 28. She will presumably be our next guest in this series, but also Southeast Queens. Do you think that area of the city has been neglected by previous administrations and previous councils that didn't have as much connection? What are some of the things that the people you represent need the most from city government, do you think?

Council Member Williams: You raised some really good points. I always brag on Southeast Queens and, specifically, the 27th Council District. Speaker Adams, who represents 28th Council District, she actually grew up in the 27th Council District and so did our majority whip, Selvena Brooks-Powers, who represents the other neighboring council district also within Southeast Queens. She also grew up in the 27th Council District. We have such a strong community, I would say.

Of course, marginalized communities typically are underserved. I do feel, however, throughout the years, we've been able to really build a lot of political power because we have such strong voting blocks. Lots of administrations, they can't totally ignore us because we are an important constituency. I do feel though, however, having a speaker who was born and raised in Southeast Queens and a mayor, who also spent a lot of time growing up in the community, and the chancellor, the school chancellor is also from my district.

Brian Lehrer: Right, I forgot about David Banks.

Council Member Williams: If we don't see attention to our district now, I don't know how we'll ever see it. I do think it is really meaningful and special to be able to have conversations with the administration and the speaker's office because they know firsthand what issues we have here because they're from this community. I do feel that there is a focused interest in making sure that Southeast Queens really gets what we need. I'd say for your first question is, what does the community need?

This is a pretty suburban district and a lot of our issues-- of course, we are faced with many of the issues that the city as a whole is dealing with, but we have a lot of quality-of-life issues. Whether that's illegal dumping, speeding, illegal parking, these are some of the main issues we have here. That says, to me, the need to ensure that there is an adequate delivery of government services. We want to make sure that the Department of Sanitation, the Department of Transportation, the Parks Department are all working to address some of these long-standing, quality-of-life issues that we've had.

Brian Lehrer: I see another issue that you flagged to our producers before you came on, is what you call source of income discrimination and the source of income unit at the Human Rights Commission. This has to do with people who are seeking to rent apartments and ways that even though they apparently have the money to do it, they get discriminated against. Do you want to lay that issue out for some of our listeners who may not be familiar?

Council Member Williams: Absolutely, so I was appointed to chair the Civil and Human Rights Committee and have oversight over the city's commission on civil and human rights. The source of income unit is a unit that was designated really to address issues around discrimination. When folks have housing vouchers, CityFHEPS vouchers, and they are going to look for an apartment in a very, very tight and aggressive rental market we have in New York City, oftentimes either the real estate brokers or the property owners themselves may discriminate because their source of income, which is a voucher, is the mode of how they would pay for that apartment.

There's been tremendous discrimination across the city for folks who are holding those vouchers. When we talk about housing issues in New York City and homelessness, you have people lingering in homeless shelters that have vouchers. They just haven't been able to actually find an apartment.

Brian Lehrer: My guest, listeners, if you're just joining us in our series, 51 Council Members in 52 Weeks, is the brand new council member from District 27, Nantasha Williams. 212-433-WNYC is our phone number, 212-433-9692. District 7 puts us in Southeast Queens today, including the neighborhoods of Cambria Heights, Hollis, Jamaica, St. Albans, Queens Village, Addisleigh Park, and Springfield Gardens.

By the way, it's worth mentioning, I know some of the historic figures from sports and the arts as well as government who lived in the Addisleigh Park Historic District, Count Basie, Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald, Illinois Jacquet, Jackie Robinson, James Brown, Joe Louis, Milt Hinton, Roy Campanella, Percy Sutton, Coote Williams, wow.

Council Member Williams: Yes, so many people have lived in Addisleigh Park historically. Currently, we have a lot of amazing people that live there. It is one of the landmarked communities in the district. Actually, recently, we have received another landmark designation in another part of the district in Cambria Heights. It is such a beautiful district enclave of New York City. Totally untapped. I don't even think people realize we have the types of homes, historical homes.

Just the infrastructure of the homes itself is pretty amazing. Of course, there was a long history. A lot of those homes were, of course, occupied by white families. When Black folks started coming into the community, there was a whole bunch of lawsuits. [chuckles] Eventually, Black folks were able to purchase homes in Addisleigh Park. It is a beautiful community. I'm proud to have that in the 27th Council District and I'm proud that it's a landmark, so it'll sustain over a course of time.

Brian Lehrer: Let's take a phone call from the district here. Sean in St. Albans, you're on WNYC. Hi, Sean.

Sean: How are you doing? First-time, longtime listener.

Brian Lehrer: Glad you're on.

Sean: My question is, what plans do you have for the schools in the Southeast district and up Queens, and are we going to get mopeds, the bike share, and the scooter-share programs that the rest of the city are getting?

Council Member Williams: That's a great question.

Brian Lehrer: Council Member?

Council Member Williams: Yes, so Chancellor Banks, because he comes from District 29 schools that are primarily the schools in the 27th Council District, has committed to making sure that we really improve upon our schools. I'm really excited about the new superintendents that we have. In fact, I've already been in contact with many of them and really looking to do something different. I'd say, specifically for our high school students, wanted to make sure that all of our high schools have a career technical training program.

We know that all students are not going to go to college, but we want to set them up for success. That's one of the things I've been looking into. I actually just had a meeting yesterday with the principals within our school district to talk to them about what their needs are as they go into this next school year, wanting to make sure that I'm advocating to the best of my abilities at the DOE to make sure that our schools have what they need. I was able to secure funding to address a lot of the issues that some of our schools have.

I'm actually doing a budget briefing during my next community conversation to go through this. I encourage everybody to join July 28th at the Robert Ross Center. You can check out my website for that. Your other question about micro-mobility. Last year when I ran, I ran on this idea of really looking at alternative transportation options for Southeast Queens. We are a transportation desert. If you can't catch a bus, if you can't get yourself to the Long Island Rail Road, you really don't have a way to get around.

I think our community is ripe for other forms of transportation. I do look forward to working with some of the companies that I know have done pilot projects like a pilot project in the Bronx to see if we can have some pilot projects in Southeast Queens. I definitely need the help of folks who are in support of this because our district, of course, is very heavy on cars. It is going to be an ongoing conversation. I want to be inclusive to make sure that we can all work together to increase the modes of transportation in the district.

Brian Lehrer: Sean, thanks, and please call us again. Do you think that society's becoming too anti-car in New York City in particular? Since you have a lot of private homes, a lot of car owners you were just citing, are you against the congestion pricing program?

Council Member Williams: I am not against the congestion pricing program. I just need more details. I actually remember when this first came up, I was working for the New York State Legislature. The question was always, how do you plan to spend the money from that? What I would like to see is investments and communities that are transportation deserts. I understand that there is a need to even increase revenue specifically on our bridges.

My question is, how are we ensuring that the money that would be gained from congestion pricing goes to districts that really don't have a lot of modes of transportation? I do think that our society has become very anti-cars, but for a very good reason. I as a person, who I'd say how I try to legislate, is trying to find a happy medium. I understand why we need to get folks on public transportation and maybe use other hybrid vehicles or electric cars.

I also believe we need to be realistic about where we are right now. One of the things I've actually said on a recent hearing is that my community is car users. We have a lot of folks who take public transportation, but a lot of the people in my district are car users because we don't have all of the different modes of transportation as other parts of the city. We can't use a one-size-fits-all model. We really need to be hyper-focused on our solutions pertaining to the needs of particular districts.

Brian Lehrer: Maybe you have a confluence of interest there with the way they say they're going to use the money, which is a lot of it would go to the MTA if they're making it harder to drive into the Manhattan business district. They want to use a lot of the money that they raise from people paying that charge to improve mass transit. Hopefully, that will help places like District 27 and Southeast Queens that don't have as much mass transit as a lot of other places.

Few minutes left with New York City Council Member Nantasha Williams in District 27, Chapter 27 of our 51 Council Members in 52 Weeks series in which we're interviewing all of the members of city council this year because most of them are new, because of term limits, and its majority female for the first time ever. Let me ask you, Council Member, about that demographic first. Do you think it's mattering to policy here in the first six months of this council that it's the first majority-female New York City Council in history?

Council Member Williams: I think it speaks to some of the interests of the council and what we are advocating for. I'm also of the mindset that regardless of gender, we're all here to do a good job for all New Yorkers. I do think it's been important and we see a lot of the focus that the council has had, whether it's on maternal issues or even how we've responded to Roe v. Wade. It's, of course, because we're a majority women body, but I also just feel like we're just doing the work as anyone who would be in elected office.

Brian Lehrer: Very local question, I think, from Craig in Queens. You're on WNYC. Hi, Craig.

Craig: Hey, good morning, Brian. Good morning, Council Member. Brian, you know I've called about this before. It's a school, particularly in Jamaica, but it has happened in other parts of New York City trailers. A school in the council member's district, PS 116, trailers were installed 25 years plus ago when my younger brother graduated as a temporary thing. There have been new schools built less than half a mile from PS 116.

The trailers that were supposed to be temporary, sometimes the heating wasn't good in the winter and vice versa. In the summer, no air condition. This was a temporary thing. The budget just got passed. Money got taken out for education, even though the state has said they put extra money in. Even the Congress said they'd put extra money in for education. The city voted on the last bill-- excuse me, for budget. What's going on with PS 116 and other schools like it around with these temporary trailers that's still there?

Education is key and some areas need more help than others. I think when the expanding immigrant community, they always say, "Oh, we got to put a new school because those communities have newer populations and they're expanding," but communities that were in need in the first place get overlooked. This has been not just the situation right now with this council member. Like I said, it's been going on for 25-plus years and I--

Brian Lehrer: Thanks for continuing to draw attention to the issue of the trailers, housing students at PS 116. Council Member, are you familiar?

Council Member Williams: Yes, I am familiar. Thank you also for flagging that and making sure that it's at the forefront. One of the things I started doing and what I keep telling people is I'm only seven months into the job, [chuckles] so I'm trying to figure out my job still. I also have inherited a lot of things that have existed way before me, but I am a problem-solver. One of the things that I did on day one was to proactively reach out to the schools in my district to do visits. 116 is actually up the block from my office.

That is one of the schools that I did visit, saw the trailers. We're completely horrified because they're actually housing the pre-K students there. That is actually one of the schools that is busting out of the seams. I will say some semi-positive news because government is quite slow, but the semi-positive news is that that school has been designated for expansion. However, because government is bureaucratic, it has to go through a process. They've done scopings. They've held hearings.

I actually have a follow-up meeting, I believe, either this week or next week because I try to be a problem-solver and stay on top of these issues. I have regular meetings with the School Construction Authority around projects in the district. This is something that I will continue to follow up on to make sure that we have a conclusive timeline as to when they will start construction. I will say that that school has been slated for expansion, which would hopefully allow them to eliminate the trailers and get all of the students into the school building.

Brian Lehrer: Craig, I hope that's helpful. Keep calling us. Before we run out of time, let me ask you about one breaking news story from the district from this weekend that has a tragic ending. Then one on a lighter note before you go, your show-and-tell item from your district. People may have heard that there was a police shooting in St. Albans Saturday evening. A man had reportedly called 911 making threats against elected officials and the police.

When the police showed up, he pulled out a gun and started firing reportedly. He was killed in the confrontation. I saw that you responded on Twitter saying in part, "We need to be serious about tackling the root causes of gun violence and mental health." I'm just curious how you see this incident. Do you have questions about whether the police acted properly in this fatal shooting or what's the bigger picture as you see it as well?

Council Member Williams: From what I've been told, I know there's still ongoing investigations on this situation and I will say outside of some other horrific things that have happened like Sean Bell. For the most part, the 113th Precinct and the 105th and 103rd, we rarely get complaints of police brutality or police overreach. I have a really good--

Brian Lehrer: Wow, that is saying something in Southeast Queens.

Council Member Williams: Yes, rarely. Not saying they don't happen at all, but we rarely get those complaints. It was a very sad thing to hear about. I do know that this person did open fire at the police officers, but I try to look at the root causes, right? There are reports and, again, it's ongoing. I don't want to misspeak, but there are reports that there was some mental disturbances perhaps.

When we think about mental health and when we think about one's ability to even have access to a gun, that is the issue, right? How did this man even get access to a firearm to even conduct the act that he did. I really want to continue to work on that, which is a difficult thing. I know Council Member Abreu had introduced some legislation around this, really wanting to get reporting data because the NYPD does track the sale of the influx of guns coming from out of state.

I think we need to really understand how to minimize the prevalence of guns, especially the prevalence of guns getting into the wrong hands because we've seen across the country what happens when the wrong types of folks have access to firearms. I will say for the police department, I actually was on a board of a crisis management organization in Southeast Queens' LIFE Camp.

Overall, I'm always trying to figure out alternatives to policing, right? Do we need a police officer to respond to every single thing? When we don't need a police officer to respond to every single thing, what other type of community tools do we have to provide that response? Then, again, going back to proactive measures, how do we prevent gun violence from happening in general?

Then how do we respond to it in a humane manner is the approach that I've taken. Council Member Riley, Council Member Stevens, and I, we lovingly call ourselves the Hood Caucus. We represent Black and brown neighborhoods. One of the first things we did was we had a huge rally at the beginning of Gun Violence Awareness Month to support the crisis management organizations but to also look really diligently in working with our state and federal colleagues to address this issue at its roots.

Brian Lehrer: One of the biggest, maybe the biggest question in our society right now with all this gun violence that's taken place and 30 years and more of mass incarceration, and how do we get rid of both at the same time? We'll continue to talk about that on the show obviously with many, many guests. Good to hear your take on it. All right, last thing for this series, 51 City Council Members in 52 Weeks. As you know, we're inviting everyone to bring something from the district for show-and-tell. Not literally since it's radio, so you can be pretty creative in what you bring. What did you bring us? We have a minute left.

Council Member Williams: [chuckles] Well, I was going to bring Addisleigh Park, but we talked a lot about Addisleigh Park.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, I didn't mean to upstage you. I didn't know that was it.

Council Member Williams: It's okay. I think another thing I'll say really quickly is we have a wonderful park, Roy Wilkins Park. It has a beautiful history. It was a park controlled by the community and it's such a great asset for the largest Southeast Queens community. I'll also just take this opportunity to talk about the many Caribbean restaurants we have. We have one of the well-known Caribbean restaurants, The Door. That's really exciting. Then we have a well-known Haitian restaurant, Good Taste.

I like to brag on those two restaurants because, across the city, folks know about these restaurants in their house in the 27th Council District. We also have JCAL, which is a performing arts center on Jamaica Avenue. We're really excited to have some of these institutions. I'll also just plug York College. I know that's a lot of show-and-tell, but I like to talk about all of these different institutions that really helped to make the 27th Council District what it is.

Brian Lehrer: Nantasha Williams, now representing the 27th Council District in Southeast Queens. Thank you so much. I really enjoyed it. I really appreciate you coming on. We'll keep talking to you through your term. Thank you very, very much.

Council Member Williams: Thank you.

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