NYC Council District 9 Election: Mario Rosser Seeks Harlem Seat

HARLEM, NY — Voters in New York City's 9th Council district, which includes all of Central Harlem and parts of East Harlem and Washington Heights, will see 13 names on their ballots when they vote in the June 22 primary election.

One of those names will be Mario Rosser, a partnership manager at LinkedIn and formerNew York Young Leadership Board Chair at America Needs You.

Patch reached out to all candidates in the election to create these profiles. Rosser's responses are below.

Age (as of Election Day)

29

Position Sought

City Council District 9

Party Affiliation

Democrat

Neighborhood of residence (i.e., East Village, Astoria, etc.)

Central Harlem

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No

Education

Columbia University, Bachelors in Economics

Occupation

Partnerships Manager at LinkedIn; Former New York Young Leadership Board Chair at America Needs You

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

Advocacy Fellow, REAL Change Anti-Poverty Campaign

Campaign website

www.marioforharlem.nyc

Why are you seeking elective office?

Impact, the City Council office possesses the tangible power to provide support to Harlem through a City Budget that reflects the needs of our community, through land use decisions that help the working people of Harlem and through the convening authority of the office.

The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

Evictions are the number one issue in Harlem and I intend to build an office that is defined by helping constituents access the resources to stay in their homes that currently exists while passing legislation that caps rent hikes and expands protection from eviction.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

Outside of housing, the top issue in Harlem is providing real opportunities to young people in Harlem to get them off the street and on the path to a bright future. I'm the only candidate who has grown the capacity of youth mentorship programs and the only candidate who has helped hundreds of small businesses growth in a professional capacity as a partnerships manager at LinkedIn.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)

The current office holder isn't returning constituents phone calls and isn't being that strong and bold voice on Council that we need from Harlem.

How do you think local officials performed in responding to the coronavirus? What if anything would you have done differently?

We had no leadership from our City Council member during the pandemic. Radio silence during the greatest catastrophe to ever hit NYC. You needed a Council member who would at the very least send weekly communications to residents and actively coordinated relief efforts.

Many in Harlem are worried about gentrification and the displacement of longtime residents. What is one specific policy you would push for to slow gentrification?

To preserve the rich culture of Harlem, you have to keep working-class black people in Harlem by passing legislation that caps rent hikes. I'll push for that and also steward a constituent services focused Council office that helps people on a day-to-day basis access the support that already exists.

Some Harlem residents complain that the neighborhood is "over-saturated" with methadone clinics. Would you welcome more services for vulnerable people in the neighborhood, or push for a moratorium?

We absolutely need a methadone clinic moratorium in Harlem not because we don't believe in drug treatment facilities, but because we can no longer accept a disproportionate share of them being placed in Harlem. That's been the status quo.

Many Harlemites have complained of dirty streets during the pandemic. How would you help clean up the sidewalks?

To clean up Harlem, we need three things: (1) elected leaders actually focused on the issue of trash, haven't had that, (2) a best-in-class call to action campaign on anti-littering, (3) and yes, more frequent pickups but that in itself won't solve the issue at all.

Plans were recently unveiled for a large new development on 145th Street — it would include up to 282 affordable apartments, but some neighbors suggested that the buildings are too large for the neighborhood. As Council Member, would you support this project, oppose it, or push to change it?

I oppose it and won't support it until there are more actually affordable apartments. We've seen this story before in Harlem and this is a poster child for irresponsible development. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

Housing. Youth. Safety.