City Council Speaker Mark-Viverito fears term limits mean even fewer NYC councilwomen

ERIN DURKIN

January 1, 2017

The small and shrinking number of women on the City Council has sparked alarm for Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and other female pols who see their ranks thinning.

Four of the seven City Council members facing term limits this year are women, a quirk of the calendar that means a majority of those required to leave their seats at the end of the year will be women even though they’re a distinct minority in the body overall.

Two more councilwomen who were term-limited opted to step down early, with one formally leaving office Dec. 31 after being elected to the state Assembly. Another resigned a year ago.

That leaves 13 women on the 51-member Council, a number that may decline further after this year’s election.

It’s a dismal prospect to Mark-Viverito, who will herself depart due to term limits at the end of the year.

“It’s just bad for us,” Mark-Viverito said in an interview. “When you’ve got such a disparity in this legislative body in this most progressive city, it should be alarming to everybody.”

Besides the speaker, Rosie Mendez of Manhattan, Darlene Mealy of Brooklyn, and Annabel Palma of the Bronx, all Democrats, will leave the Council at the end of the year.

Inez Dickens, a Harlem rep who was also term-limited, quit to join the Assembly, and the major candidates running for her seat in an upcoming special election are all men.

Bronx Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo, who stepped down a year ago, citing family reasons, was replaced by Rafael Salamanca.

Mark-Viverito said she’s actively encouraging as many women as possible to run for open seats in 2017, and she’s already endorsed Diana Ayala, her deputy chief of staff, to take her own seat.

The current number of women is down from a high of 18 elected in 2009.

“The minute we become complacent, then we go backwards,” Mark-Viverito said, adding county Democratic parties that are influential in selecting candidates in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens have gravitated toward male candidates.

“You have certain counties that, in all the positions that have become available as of late, they’ve only been supporting male candidates. Why is that the case? Is that because that’s who’s in their circles, and they haven’t widened their network and really taken into account serious and qualified women?” she said. “If we’re in a male-dominated society, the networks are going to be more oriented in that direction.”

The paltry female presence stands in contrast with the Council’s record on racial diversity, where 26 members are black, Latino or Asian.

Marjorie Velazquez, a community board treasurer and district leader, has launched a campaign for a seat in Throgs Neck, Pelham Bay and surrounding neighborhoods in the Bronx, now held by Councilman Jimmy Vacca, who has endorsed her. 

“We stand to lose our voice,” she said of the exodus of women from the Council. “It’s not representative of the city.”

Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal (D-Manhattan) is planning two January fund-raisers at her upper West Side home for Velazquez, Ayala, and another woman running in the Bronx, Amanda Farias. All three could face off against incumbent state legislators looking to move to the Council, with Assemblyman Mark Gjonaj also running for Vacca’s seat. Assemblyman Robert Rodriguez is a possible candidate to succeed Mark-Viverito, and Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. may run for Palma’s seat.

“It’s all so discouraging,” she said of the declining numbers, adding that female candidates would face an “uphill battle” against sitting office holders but have a shot.

“They’re all credible candidates who would be great, and they’re going to need to get their voice out,” Rosenthal said.

================================================

We advise City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito to join our local - no need to worry about term limits.