By Stephen Witt
On the eve of her re-election for a fourth term, Rep. Yvette Clarke said in an exclusive telephone chat with Kings County Politics that reducing poverty in Brownsville and easing the red tape for immigration from the Caribbean are at the top of her priority list head when Congress returns into session.
Clarke, whose 9th Congressional District includes Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Kensington, Midwood, Prospect Heights,Prospect-Lefferts Gardens and Park Slope, easily bested Conservative Party candidate David Cavanagh in yesterday’s election garnering about 90% of the vote.
“My main priority is partnering with city policy and federal resources to help communities in my district like Brownsville which has been struggling with poverty for the past few decades and not seeing a lot of progress in development and opportunity,” said Clarke.
Clarke said she is glad to report that the federal HUD program, Hope VI is moving forward with the Prospect Plaza project, which is a multidimensional project that includes some public housing as well as affordable housing, commercial tenants and a host of social services from financial counseling to employment and business opportunities to family health care.
Hopefully the project can leverage federal support and a partnership with the de Blasio administration to continue to get more private sector involvement, she said.
Clarke said despite the Caribbean nations having already reached their quote some time ago, unlike Cuba and Kosova, the president has recently agreed to do a Haitian family unification program to expedite immigration for those Haitians who already have family either as citizens or legal residents here.
While recognizing the Democrats are now the minority in both the House and the Senate, Clarke said she will work closely with the White House to issues and to organize them in a way to move the president’s agenda forward.
Clarke, who has long and strong ties with de Blasio, also weighed in on the recent NYPD controversy in which both the city’s top Hispanic and black cops resigned among allegations they were given desk jobs with a deputy commissioner title but no power.
“The (de Blasio) administration has demonstrated a willingness to move forward with progress and really focus on changing the dynamics of the relationship between the NYPD and the community,” she said. “The de Blasio administration has been very sensitive to the concerns many of us have had about the conduct of the NYPD under the Bloomberg administration such as dropping the city’s lawsuit litigation regarding stop-and-frisk. I’m willing to give them befit of doubt about the kinds of decisions they make, but the mayor is quite clear that they reflect the best practices and diversity of New York City.”
