BY JACKSON CHEN | State Senator Bill Perkins will be returning to the City Council after securing victory on February 14 in a nine-candidate special election for Council District 9.
Earning a plurality at 33.64 percent of the vote, Perkins won 3,750 votes, according to unofficial numbers from the city’s Board of Election, for the seat that runs uptown from Central Park North into Harlem.
Marvin Holland, a long-time labor representative for the Transport Workers Union Local 100, was the runner-up, with 18.59 percent, or 2,073 votes. Athena Moore, a former North Manhattan director in the borough president’s office, placed third, winning 15.09 percent, or 1,682 votes.
The seat was subject to a special election after incumbent Inez Dickens, facing term limits at the end of this year, won election in November to the State Assembly representing the 70th District covering Harlem and portions of the Upper West Side.
Dickens’ departure from the Council sparked a spirited content, with 14 candidates initially tossing their hats in the ring and nine making it onto the ballot. The total turnout was 11,149, according to the BOE’s unofficial numbers.
Perkins comes full circle in returning to the Council, having served the district from 1998 through 2005, at which time he was succeeded by Dickens.
Given his familiarity with the district and the role of councilmember, Perkins, who served in the Senate since his election in 2006, said the transition to councilmember wouldn’t be a big deal.
“The idea is to do the most good, wherever that opportunity is offered,” Perkins told Manhattan Express. “I could possibly be more useful and do more good to the same constituency basically on the city level than the state level.”
In Albany, Democrat Perkins has in recent years been part of the minority, which is typically shut out of setting the Senate’s agenda. Perkins said he wasn’t prepared to discuss his first actions as a returning councilmember but noted that some of the issues he’s tried to advance through state legislation could be translated into Council initiatives.
Since the February 14 special election merely fills out the remaining 10 months of Inez’s term, Perkins must face another round of elections this fall.
As first reported by the Gotham Gazette, Holland, last week’s runner-up, plans to contest the seat again, making clear in a statement later released on his Facebook page that he would be “continuing on to the September primary for City Council.”
Holland noted that two-thirds of the voters did not support Perkins, signaling to him that the district wants to see change.
When asked about the challenger, Perkins said he welcomed Holland or anyone else prepared to face off against him for the Council seat. The senator said he was confident he would prevail again, but also commended the efforts of his opponents to remain engaged in civic life.
Perkins pledged to continue what he described as his record of being a “responsive, visible, and accessible” elected official.
Using his MetroCard a lot more – as opposed to the weekly Amtrak runs and Greyhounds in and out of Albany – he said he would have more time to walk around his district.
“Each institution offers its own gifts, opportunities, challenges, obstacles,” Perkins explained. “It’s like they’re all kinds of shovels. When you dig a ditch, you decide which one is appropriate for the kind of hole you’re digging and the planting you’re trying to do.”
Holland could not be reached for comment.o-thirds of the voters did not support Perkins, signaling to him that the district wants to see change.
When asked about the challenger, Perkins said he welcomed Holland or anyone else prepared to face off against him for the Council seat. The senator said he was confident he would prevail again, but also commended the efforts of his opponents to remain engaged in civic life.
Perkins pledged to continue what he described as his record of being a “responsive, visible, and accessible” elected official.
Using his MetroCard a lot more – as opposed to the weekly Amtrak runs and Greyhounds in and out of Albany – he said he would have more time to walk around his district.
“Each institution offers its own gifts, opportunities, challenges, obstacles,” Perkins explained. “It’s like they’re all kinds of shovels. When you dig a ditch, you decide which one is appropriate for the kind of hole you’re digging and the planting you’re trying to do.”
Holland could not be reached for comment.
