The following is an extended version of the story that appears in our print edition dated Feb. 28. 

The Unity Democratic Club previously announced their official endorsements of selected candidates in multiple political races in the upcoming 2025 primary elections. These included City Council Member Justin Brannan (C.D. 43) who represents parts of Brooklyn for the role of NYC comptroller, a role currently held by Brad Lander; City Council Member Rafael Salamanca Jr. (C.D. 17) for Bronx borough president, a role currently held by Vanessa L. Gibson; Danielle Herbert Guggenheim, a Unity Democrat member and former club vice-president, for City Council District 11, a role currently held by Eric Dinowitz; and finally incumbent City Council Member Pierina Sanchez for District 14.

 

The club’s endorsements came after multiple candidates in the aforementioned races made their respective pitches to the club and answered questions from members. During the Unity Democrats meeting held on Feb. 4, Gibson was asked about endorsements she had given last year to two candidates for district leader in Assembly District 81, which covers much of the northwest Bronx, candidates who the Unity Democrats had opposed. These were Ben Jackson and Emily Hausman, members of Democratic rival club, the Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club.

 

As reported, the Unity Democratic Club launched in The Bronx in October 2022 after some members of the Ben Franklin Reform Democratic Club broke away and formed the new club. The former club has typically supported more progressive Democrats. In explaining her rationale for the two referenced endorsements at that time, Gibson told Unity Democratic Party members, “What I will say about what transpired last year is I need to understand who’s who and who’s out there.”

 

The borough president added, “I was asked to support two candidates that I knew from colleagues that I have great respect for, and not knowing some of the history. Certainly, I would have done my own homework had I known at that time [of other candidates running] and so I thought it was fine and I decided to support my colleague’s request.”

 

Gibson continued, “I would say that [the] Unity Democratic Club, as a viable part of our infrastructure in The Bronx, needs to make sure that you reach out to the elected officials and let them know that you are running if you’re an incumbent or if you’re a new candidate because it’s really hard to keep up with everyone that is running, and since I no longer serve as a district leader.”

 

She added, “When I was in the city council, I represented District 16 and really had a better understanding of all of the party leaders that were running. Now, as borough president, I’m honestly removed from that process. I don’t know all the district leaders. I don’t know all the state committee members.”

 

Gibson was also asked about her plan to tackle the drug epidemic in The Bronx, if elected to a second term. “We need to make sure that there is an all-hands-on-deck approach because it’s not just adding more police presence to some of these areas that is not going to solve the issue,” she responded. “We need to make sure that individuals that need assistance are given access to programs, wraparound services, and affordable permanent housing.”

The borough president was also asked about her non-support of the Just Homes supportive housing proposal, a plan to house formerly incarcerated people with medical issues in one section of the Jacobi Medical Center campus located in Morris Park. While some Bronx residents support the project, others oppose it, saying it was the reason they voted out former Democratic District 13 City Councilwoman Marjorie Velázquez in 2023.

 

The former councilwoman appeared to have been the “fall guy” for the project and the Democrats when she was defeated by now incumbent Republican City Council Member Kirsty Marmorato (C.D. 13) the same year. New York City Mayor Eric Adams later appointed Velázquez to a tenant protection role with the City.

 

Gibson said of the controversial project, “My hope is that the city council, when they vote, will not support this and instead force [NYC] Health + Hospitals to repurpose that site for something that has community support that makes sense, that is responsible, and is a project that we can all support.”

 

Salamanca Jr. had briefly run for the role of borough president in 2021 before abruptly withdrawing his candidacy early in the race [on Jan. 22, 2021] having only announced his run in November 2020. He explained at the time that as New York City was beginning to reemerge from the pandemic, he felt he could better serve the community by seeking re-election to the city council.

 

The South Bronx councilman and chair of the City Council Land Use Committee had already made his pitch to the Unity Democratic Club on Jan. 23. He was asked what he would do differently from Gibson, if elected this time around. “Well, for one, I’m a unifier,” he said. “I try to bring in coalitions and those individuals. There are many pockets in the borough of The Bronx that are divided, and I do want to bring in that coalition. The borough of The Bronx is going through a major redevelopment.”

 

He added, “If you travel, especially in the southern part of the district or in the northern, the west part of the district, there’s a lot of development that is happening. I have a proven track record of negotiating with developers, those that are building affordable housing or those that are building housing to ensure that we’re building responsibly in every part of the district.”

 

Salamanca Jr. took aim at Gibson’s alleged support for a new shelter in the South Bronx. “I am pushing back on this administration on the 2,200 men’s shelter that they’re placing in that community,” he said. “Why? Because the South Bronx is overburdened for homeless shelters. I have over 60 homeless shelters in my district. That may not be my district, but that is right across the street, not to mention that, directly across the street from that shelter, is the Bronx jail that’s coming.”

 

He added, “Now, the current borough president voted for that Bronx jail there. Where did that Bronx jail belong? It belonged to her district when she was council member.” Gibson previously represented Council District 16, now represented by Councilwoman Althea Stevens. When Norwood News interviewed Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark in 2023 in the context of her reelection campaign, she talked about Rikers Island’s closure and the opening of the new Bronx County jail on the grounds of the former Lincoln Hospital and NYPD tow compound at 745 E 141st Street [320 Concord Avenue] in the South Bronx, which is indeed located in City Council District 8, represented by Council Member Diana Ayala, rather than in C.D. 17.

 

Clark said at the time that while she supported smaller jails, she wasn’t necessarily happy with the new chosen Bronx jail location, saying it should be at the Bronx courthouse (on 161st Street) like in every other borough so that families could more easily visit detained relatives both when they appear in court and just generally, while they are detained as it’s more central/accessible than Rikers Island. Norwood News reached out to Gibson for comment in February on this point and did not receive an immediate response.

 

However, we later had an opportunity to put those points to her during an unrelated event held at Morris Park library on Feb. 27. Gibson said, “So first, let’s be clear that the site of the migrant facility [shelter] is in Council District 8 that’s represented by Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala, and then secondly, when we had conversations about borough-based jails when I was in the city council with my challenger, there were multiple sites on the table, including 161st Street behind The Bronx Hall of Justice, [in Council District 16] including the site that we ultimately went with in Mott Haven [in Council District 8], which is the site of the NYPD tow pound. There was a site in Zerega [Avenue in the Unionport section]. There were tons of sites – at least ten.”

 

She continued, “The City identified potentially as the site [for the jail] on 161st Street, but what we found and learned [was] two thirds of that site was owned by the State of New York and so at the time, the mayor, Bill de Blasio, obviously knew that there would be a challenge gaining access and ownership from the State to make that site amenable, the one behind the Hall of Justice [courthouse], and because of the site and the size of that site, the building would have been 50 stories tall in a neighborhood like 161st Street that we deem as residential. Concourse Village is there, 1800 apartments, Morrison [inaudible], Andrew Jackson, so there’s a lot in that area.”

 

The borough president added, “And respectfully, Council Member Diana Ayala stepped up and said that she would accept the site at the Tow Pound, and so we supported her as a Bronx delegation, and so this wasn’t anything that was malicious at all. That was the right site for the right time. Do I regret it? Absolutely not, because I would never support any building anywhere in The Bronx at 50 stories, and I think the easier site [at] the [former] NYPD Tow Pound is all owned by the City.”

 

She continued, “It’s all City-owned land, and so that made the process easier honestly, because we didn’t think that we would get the buy-in from the State, because DCAS (NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services) and others had a vision for behind the Hall of Justice, which is now a pedestrian plaza.

 

Norwood News readers had also previously weighed in on the siting of the new City-based jail in Mott Haven. More recently, in the context of a public hearing on the separate redevelopment of the Old Fordham Library building located at 310 East Kingsbridge Road in Fordham Manor, the borough president shared her thoughts and experience on the logistics and potential roadblocks for redevelopment projects.

 

We raised with Gibson Clark’s comments on her preference to locate the jail near the courthouse. She replied, “The district attorney and I respectfully disagree, because I’m not supporting and nor would I ever support a building at 50 stories in an area that we call the civic community of The Bronx.”

 

She added, “The Mott Haven site, the old tow [pound] was a much better site and yes, you still have to travel, but guess what? It’s easier to travel from Mott Haven than it is from Rikers Island across the bridge, and so we thought about all of that, and now, as the site is being built out, we’ve asked MTA, New York City Transit to look at adding more bus services so that clients and families can actually travel to the courthouse.”

 

The borough president continued, “Because a big part of why the court system is so delayed is because it takes forever to bring the detainees to DOC (NYC Department of Correction) / custody and into the courts, and so this is absolutely a better plan. Now, in a perfect world, we shouldn’t build a jail anyway, because we shouldn’t have a need for it, but I recognize that we do. We have a lot of crime in The Bronx, and we have individuals that are accused of violent crimes. We can’t give them an ankle bracelet. They can’t necessarily have supervised release or an ATI (alternative to incarceration) program. They have to go through the system.”

 

Gibson said the job of elected officials was to make the system more “humanized.” She added, “That’s why the borough-based jail conversation started in the first place in the four boroughs, and I was a part of that with Chief Justice Jonathan Lipman. So again, I know there’s a lot of concern because Mott Haven, as many other parts of the South Bronx, [is] saturated. That is true, but what I will say is we’ve done our very best to contain the height of the building.”

 

She continued, “I’m fighting with DDC [NYC Department of Design & Construction) now because I want more therapeutic beds than the traditional beds. That’s another story but there’s also going to be housing, there’s going to be a supermarket, there’s going to be a lot of retail in that area to really make it a neighborhood, so that the residents and homeowners don’t feel like it’s a jail.” As reported, Regal Movie Theater recently opened at Concourse Plaza, opposite the courthouse.

Gibson added, “We don’t build jails as a City. We’ve never done that before, and so we have to get this right. If we don’t deal with the issues on the island today, we’re going to have four disastrous borough-based jobs, and we don’t want that and so we have to keep working, and I know there’s a lot but I’m happy to be a part of these conversations.”

 

Before the Unity Democrats endorsed Sanchez for City Council District 14, the councilwoman, who was first elected to office in November 2021, made her case to members against her predecessor and opponent in the upcoming election, Fernando Cabrera. “My predecessor, before running for office, was a registered Republican, right? So, he is someone who espouses much more conservative views than I do.”

 

District 14 covers the Morris Heights, University Heights, Fordham and Kingsbridge sections of the borough, and includes the Kingsbridge Armory. Sanchez said in part, “There’s many differences, but that’s why I unapologetically and very loudly and boldly say, I will stand up and I will protect and defend our LGBTQ New Yorkers. I will continue to be as progressive as I have been.”

 

As previously reported by Norwood News, Cabrera courted controversy in 2014, while serving his second term at City Council, when he praised the Ugandan government in a video posted on YouTube, after the government passed a law criminalizing homosexuality, as reported at the time by The Gothamist.

 

Cabrera later addressed his stance on the LGBTQ+ policy in an op-ed in The Bronx Chronicle, as reported. His campaign also later said that Sean Coleman, executive director of Destination Tomorrow, The Bronx’s dedicated LGBTQ+ center, had allegedly said Cabrera’s support had been “essential” to the lifesaving work of the center.

 

Norwood News reached out to Destination Tomorrow at the time to corroborate statements made regarding alleged funding support for the center from Cabrera [who recently spoke to Norwood News at the funeral of murdered Bronxite, Pamela Alcántara Rubiera], how such funding compared with support from other Bronx elected officials at City and State level, and to obtain a sense of how the center’s representatives felt about Cabrera’s stance on LGBTQ rights generally.

 

In a statement, Coleman said at the time, “My comments were in response to the council member supporting Destination Tomorrow within the Bronx delegation, during discussions for NYC Council discretionary funds.” Coleman said that while Cabrera had offered support in this regard, others like Ayala, Gibson and Salamanca had also offered support within the delegation, including monetary support. At the February 2025 Unity Democrats meeting, Sanchez also mentioned how she has also been endorsed by the Bronx Democratic Party.

 

Prior to endorsing Brannan, the current chair of the City Council’s Finance Committee, for the role of city comptroller, club members asked the councilmember about his plans for the role. “The way that we’re going to bring the cost of living down, the way that we’re going to make this city more affordable for working people and working families is how we spend our money,” Brannan said. It’s really not that complicated. If we have a $115 billion budget, if we invest in the programs and priorities that would make life more livable for working people, then we bring down the cost of living for working people.”

Brannan went on to say that this meant investment in early childhood education, getting serious about universal childcare, funding parks, and making sure that public schools have what they need. “It’s making sure that we have libraries that can stay open seven days,” he said. “It’s making sure that the grass gets cut in our parks. Making sure our streets are clean.”

 

The Unity Democrats used a ranked-choice voting system where members of the club decided who they would be formally endorsing in each race. The club also hosted a mayoral forum with six mayoral candidates on Feb. 18 at Lehman College.

 

*Síle Moloney contributed to this story.