Letitia James

Letitia "Tish" James (born c. 1967) is an American lawyer, activist and politician in the Working Families Party. She is the current New York City Council member for Brooklyn's 35th Council District. Elected in November 2003, she represents the neighborhoods of Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, parts of Crown Heights, Prospect Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant. She serves on the committees for Economic Development, Parks & Recreation, Small Business, Technology in Government, Veteran Affairs, and Women's Issues.

Early life and education

James is a life-long resident of Brooklyn, aside from her law school education (earning her J.D.) at Howard University in Washington, DC. She attended New York City public schools and received her Bachelor of Arts from City University of New York's Lehman College. During her law career, James served as a public defender for the Legal Aid Society. In 2003, James completed her Master's Degree in Public Administration at Columbia University's Graduate School of International and Public Affairs.

She was also awarded Alison's Soul Sista of the Year in 1999.

Political career

Letitia James' early political career centered around pressing for the passage of pertinent New York City legislation and reforms as a conscious member of her community. She established the Urban Network, a coalition of African-American professional organizations aimed at providing scholarships for young people.

In 1994, James championed the Primary Health Case Development Bill in the City Council, which expanded day care resources for working families across the city.

In 1996, James negotiated the Welfare Reform Act on behalf of the New York State Black & Puerto Rican Caucus. James also served on former New York Governor Mario Cuomo’s Task Force on Diversity in the Judiciary.

Additionally, James has served as Counsel for Albert Vann, Chief of Staff for Roger Green in the New York State Assembly, and also worked in the administration of New York Attorney General Elliot Spitzer. She was appointed the first Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Brooklyn regional office in 1999. While working in that position, James worked in many capacities but notably focused on consumer complaints involving predatory lending.

James' first run for the 35th Council District was in November 2001. In a close race, James received 42% of the vote on the Working Families Party line but lost to James E. Davis, a Democrat. In July 2003, just months before the next election, Mr. Davis was assassinated by Othniel Askew, a striving politician from the area. Following the tragic event, James Davis' brother, Geoffrey, had decided he was going to take over the Council seat running on the Democratic platform, but on election day, November 4, he lost by an overwhelming margin to Letitia James as the Working Families Party nominee.

During her 2003 race, James officially became a member of the Working Families Party, having been a Democrat. She is the first member of the Working Families Party to win office in New York State, and the first third-party member to be elected to the city council since 1977.

In 2005, Letitia James became very involved in advocating for her community's needs in regard to the proposed Brooklyn Nets Arena in her district. Going against mayor Michael Bloomberg, Borough President Marty Markowitz and developer Bruce Ratner, James opposed the use of eminent domain to evict her constituents, selling the MTA's Atlantic Yards property below the market value, and keeping the planning of the project out of the New York City Council. Perhaps the most surprising turn of events for the arena project was when Bertha Lewis, a Working Families Party and ACORN founder, decided to endorse the stadium development once Bruce Ratner accepted her plan for affordable housing. Lewis characterized James to Brian Lehrer as an elected official who "doesn't choose to represent all of the people in her district." James responded that she is all in favor of affordable housing (she wants to include the area used for the stadium to be housing also) but is concerned about other issues in the project as well, like the height of office towers Ratner plans to build that are, she claims, out of character with the rest of the neighborhood.

Regardless, James picked up the Working Families nomination and won the Democratic party nomination by a large margin against her next main opponent Samuel Eric Blackwell, an urban planner at Long Island University and pro-stadium advocate. James was later re-elected on November 8, 2005, with 88.11% of the vote, compared to 6.80% for Republican Anthony Herbert, and 5.08% for Independent Charles B. Billups. [cite web|url=http://ny1.com/ny/Election/2005election/index.html?page_name=brooklyn|title=Election 2005|publisher=NY1]

On October 10, 2006 there was a devastating fire at the Broken Angel House, an architectural icon in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. The fire attracted attention from the New York City Department of Buildings, which resulted in the citation of numerous building code violations. Letitia James began representing Broken Angel's owner, Arthur Wood, pro bono in his negotiations to keep his home. Thanks in part to James, the agency agreed to allow Wood to re-occupy Broken Angel if the upper levels are taken down and the central stairwell reconstructed. [cite news|url=http://www.brooklynpapers.com/html/issues/_vol30/30_01/30_01nets3.html|title=‘Angel’ on the market|author=Dana Rubinstein|publisher=The Brooklyn Papers|date=January 4, 2007] James originally advocated for the demolition of the Second Empire houses on Admiral's Row in order to build a parking lot for a proposed supermarket to serve residents in nearby housing developments, but later supported preserving some of the historic housing.

References

External links

* [http://council.nyc.gov/d35/html/members/home.shtml Official NYC Council Website about Letitia James]
* [http://www.gothamgazette.com/campaign2005/35 Gotham Gazette Campaign 2005 District 35]
* [http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/31/27/31_27_mm_admirals_row.html]
* [http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2008/07/james_bends_on.php]
* [http://www.letitiajames.info]