Poughkeepsie Council Addresses Gun Violence

By Madison Langweil

POUGHKEEPSIE – New York State and the City of Poughkeepsie has undergone many changes and updates regarding the Latin community, public safety, vaccine access, and black history month, which the Common Council addressed in their meeting on Thursday, February 4, 2021.

To encourage inclusiveness in the City of Poughkeepsie, Common Council member Natasha Cherry and Marc Nelson issued the implementation of hiring a Shared Community Relation Coordinator which was described as a bilingual position that would work for the city and part time for the school district. Cherry explained that this position would bridge a community gap and help community members to be “one step closer to being more inclusive,” she said.

“This is huge,” expressed Council member, Sarah Salem.

Much praise and appreciation went to the Department of Public Works for being quick and efficient from the recent snow storm and clearing the roads and the Fire Department for acting “courageous,” Salem said, when a mother and daughter were saved from their building.

Salem led discussion on police reform and modernization where the modernization collaborative report was released. Essentially, “It’s a preliminary report in response to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Executive Order 203,” Salem said. There will be a virtual meeting Wednesday, February 10, 2021 at 6:00pm where police Chief Pitt will present the plan and accept public feedback.

The council introduced new legislation for Poughkeepsie gun violence prevention grants to fund local non-profits to continue to fight gun violence. Evan Menist, Council member, mentioned there has just been communication thus far and this will be continued in future meetings.

The Covid-19 pandemic created a health issue as well as a housing one. In order to combat this, under the Poughkeepsie Ethics Act, which is a Poughkeepsie emergency tenant and causing and inclusionary strategy act where “this bill is designed to build an increase in affordable housing in the City of Poughkeepsie,” and, “we will see a mixed income housing structure in our larger developments,” said Menist. The committee is building “a larger inclusionary housing bill,” he said.

Before concluding final council thoughts, the Common Council took the time to appreciate and bring awareness for Black History Month. Salem called the understanding and remembrance of Black History to be an” ongoing” thing.

“The American experience is diverse and some parts of our history is gruesome, at times hard to swallow, however it is necessary to account these points of history in order to reform and move forward,” Salem said.