Jun 14

Jun 14 NY-22 Minute: Rep. Brindisi discusses challenges facing inner communities with local leaders By Luke Perry

Rep. Brindisi has represented Utica throughout his public career, beginning with the Utica school board, then in the state assembly, and now in Congress.

The “horrific and heartbreaking murder of George Floyd at the hands of someone who was sworn to protect him” is unfortunately not a new development, Brindisi said. “The fight for justice, accountability and equality has been ragging for generations.”

Bridinsi said he is “working in Congress to address the systematic racism in our society and trying to enact meaningful reforms to our law enforcement.” Brindisi believes “we all need to be conscious of race and racism and to take meaningful steps to end inequality based on race in our daily lives.” Brindisi expressed his commitment to this and previously made multiple public statements on the George Floyd protests (examples here and here).

Brindisi said “COVID-19 has laid bare fundamental disparities in our healthcare system, our infrastructure, schooling, and more for our inner city communities.” Brindisi highlighted his work to address this, including a second round of Emergency Solutions grants for Utica, pursing additional aid for hospitals serving Utica and Rome, and free federal COVID testing and care.

Utica Councilmember Delvin Moody and Trinh Truong identified challenges facing residents in Cornhill, many of whom came to the U.S. as refugees, who are essential workers, lack broadband internet access, and speak English as a second language.

Brindisi said he has been proud to represent the refugee community and fight for funding in the state assembly to assist them, Utica’s refugee center, and school districts with higher levels of immigrants and refugees. At the federal level, Brindisi called on the president to “raise the unacceptably low refugee admission numbers which hurts communities like ours that benefits from refugee resettlement.”

Last fall, President Trump lowered the annual number of refugees permitted in the U.S. to 18,000, nearly half the previous year’s amount, and well below the previous administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, whose annual cap ranged from 70,000 to 110,000.

The industries many immigrants and refugees work in “help keep the economy moving, keep food on our shelves and really to make sure we are all able to get through this pandemic.” Brindisi said. This is a main reason Brindisi supported the HEROES Act, which includes hazard pay for essential workers and paid sick leave for people who contract the virus or have to care for loved ones.

The HEROES Act also allocates money to New York State and school districts, who have experienced unexpected budgetary expenses and diminished revenues due to the pandemic. Without relief, Brindisi believes that education in cities like Utica and Rome, will suffer from less teachers, less programming, and fewer support staff, while “already struggling to meet budgets.”

“We don’t have the same luxuries that some wealthier suburban district have throughout the country,” Brindisi said. “It should not matter what your zip code is to determine what kind of education you’re getting.” High need school districts, in the inner city or poor rural areas, need more funding, because “the issue of poverty are in many cases the same in those communities.”

Similarly, under-served communities in terms of broadband span inner cities and rural communities. People cannot participate in “distance learning, do your homework, or try to apply for a job without high speed, reliable broadband,” Brindisi said.

Brindisi has worked to make major internet providers offer service in under-served communities, which tend to get ignored because they are less profitable, and “make sure (federal) funding does go to the areas that are most in need.”

Luke Perry (@PolSciLukePerry) is Professor of Government at Utica College