Editor’s Note: The following is an updated version of the story that appears in our latest print edition.

 

Surrounded by family and close friends, as well as a large contingent of local elected officials, former District 16 city councilwoman, Vanessa Gibson, was officially sworn in as the 14th Bronx borough president during a ceremony at her alma mater, Lehman College, in Bedford Park on Sunday, March 27. She is the first woman and the first member of the Black community to hold the position. Gibson also previously served as assemblywoman for the 77^th assembly district.

 

Deputy Bronx Borough President, Janet Meija-Peguero, took to the stage at the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts, and addressing Gibson, said, “You have taught me so much about being an honest, dedicated public servant.” Peguero later recalled, “I knew she was the real deal when I stumbled into her district office to introduce myself as a city rep, conducting outreach to businesses and to my surprise, she assisted me along the Jerome (Avenue business) corridor.”

 

Peguero, who, herself, also made history by becoming the first Dominican immigrant to hold the office of deputy borough president, as reported, added, “She is a politician who’s doing the work with honesty, transparency and attention to detail, a woman who doesn’t take no for an answer, but always finds a way to reimagine and question the status quo. She is representing our borough for all the right reasons.”

For her part, Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark said when she became district attorney, Gibson had stood with her in all things, public safety. “That was started from giving the Bronx D.A.’s office the funding that we needed, so you could have a D.A.’s office that you deserve.” Clark added, “As chair of the Public Safety Committee in the city council, she has continued to do that, standing with me shoulder to shoulder as we march through the streets of The Bronx against gun violence.”

 

Assembly Member Jeffrey Dinowitz (A.D. 81) said he met Gibson about 13 years ago. “We were making some changes to the Bronx Democratic Party and then when Ruben Díaz Jr. made the incredibly smart decision to name Aurelia Greene as the deputy borough president, I presided over the meeting that nominated Vanessa to the assembly,” he said. “I’m so excited that Vanessa is our borough president, I look forward to working with her.”

 

New York State Attorney General Letitia James also praised Gibson, saying, “I worked with Vanessa for 15 years. She brought her talent, energy and character to the New York State Assembly, to the City Council, and I was so proud when The Bronx chose her to be the borough president, and I think The Bronx has already seen just what kind of a leader Vanessa is.”

 

Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (NY-20) said, “One in every four Bronx family members were out of a job at the height of this pandemic. Vanessa and I talked many times about our shared priorities for them and for all your families. We’re both committed to rebuilding the economy in a way that revitalizes industries and gets everyone back to family-supported jobs.”

The ceremony was also attended by Bronx Congressman Ritchie Torres (NY-15), who, as reported, for now represents Norwood, Spuyten Duyvil and Riverdale, in addition to the existing neighborhoods in congressional district 15. As reported, the change follows the recent approval by the State legislature in early February of Democratic Party-supported redistricting plans, which  Republicans have legally challenged. A judge overruled the vote as unconstitutional, saying the districts were gerrymandered by Democrats and ordered new maps to be redrawn.

 

Lawmakers had until April 11 to submit the new maps. However, in the meantime, on Monday, April 4, a judge issued a stay on the case, which keeps the latest district lines [Democratic Party supported maps] in place, and allows candidates time to canvass to collect enough signatures to get on the ballot for the June primaries before the upcoming deadline.

 

Referring to Gibson’s hectic schedule, Torres said, “I envy Vanessa’s ability to be everywhere at once. She is the most impressively visible elected official.” He added, “When people ask me, ‘Why are you not as visible as Vanessa? I see her everywhere,’ I’m like… well, you know Vanessa has an identical twin,” a line that drew laughter from the crowd.

 

Later, Gibson was joined on stage by her family as she took the oath of office. She was sworn in by Justice Sallie Manzanet-Daniels, associate justice of the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division. After thanking her family, colleagues, and those in attendance, the borough president vowed to put forward a bold, creative, and comprehensive agenda for what she said was a beloved borough. “To my colleagues in government, I am proud to partner with you each day to make this borough, our city, and our state a better place for all New Yorkers to live and raise their families. We are truly better together.”

 

Gibson continued, “I do not take this responsibility lightly, and I stand proud on the shoulders of those who have come before me, those that have paved the way and created a path for our leadership. They have set their footprints in history for me to follow and for that, I’m thankful. My ancestors, our ancestors fought and died for me to be here today.”

 

When Gibson kicked off her campaign for borough president on Dec. 17, 2020, she spoke about the need for access to healthy food, violence intervention, school safety, employment opportunities, and health inequity as being key issues which required more attention in the borough. “There’s a lot of work to do, but I’m ready to take on the fight that lies ahead,” she said at the time, but there were also some fun moments along the campaign trail, such as when she got her wheels on for Skate Night at the Williamsbridge Oval. Gibson later addressed many of those same issues during her inaugural address.

 

Meanwhile, on the ongoing plague of crime across the borough, Gibson said addressing this would be her administration’s top priority, while also announcing a new Office of Public Safety which will be based at the Bronx borough president’s office. She also vowed to work with the NYPD, the Bronx District Attorney, the Department of Probation, the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice as well as organizations within the New York City Crisis Management System, local precinct councils, clergy leaders, and others to combat crime and gun violence.

 

It is unacceptable for New Yorkers to be fearful of going outside, due to fear of being senselessly gunned down in our city,” she said. “It is heartbreaking to continuously see mothers and fathers burying their children… as a result of this gun violence epidemic.”

 

As reported, on Monday evening, April 4, a 61-year-old female bystander was shot in the back in crossfire in the Fordham Heights section of The Bronx, amid a dispute among a group of young men, while she was simply walking down the street. As also reported, on Friday, April 8, three teenagers were shot in the Mott Haven section of the borough, one fatally. Year-to-date shooting victims are up 37 percent in The Bronx versus the same period last year, and year-to-date shooting incidents are up 38 percent across the borough.

Moving on to the topic of economic recovery, Gibson vowed to help existing businesses, and to also bring new business to the borough. In addition, she committed to finally putting through a workable plan for the Kingsbridge Armory and “create a project that is going to have a tremendous impact” on the entire borough. Gibson said she would also work with public and private partnerships to bring new investment to the borough, help bridge the technological divide for Bronx students, and generate more healthy food choices for Bronxites.

 

Concluding her remarks, the borough president said, “We are a mosaic of different cultures and ethnicities, and a place of hope and opportunities for a better tomorrow.” She added, “Together we will be bold, and we will be brave, and I am excited for the bright days that lie ahead. I know the very best is yet to come. May God bless the boogie-down Bronx!”

 

*Síle Moloney contributed to this story.