Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. Later this hour, we're going to check in with the Ketanji Brown Jackson confirmation hearings, of course, for her nomination to sit on the US Supreme Court. We'll play some clips and get some analysis from Olatunde Johnson, the law professor at Columbia who's paying very close attention for us.

Right now, first, we continue our series, 51 Council Members in 52 Weeks. In this year with a new Mayor and 35 of the 51 Council members being new and a majority female City Council for the first time. We're touching every neighborhood of the city by inviting every member of Council on the show over the course of the year, so 51 Council Members in 52 Weeks. This is week 12. We're going in order, so we're up to District 12.

With me now is one of those rookies, Kevin C. Riley, who represents District 12 in the Northeast Bronx neighborhoods of Wakefield, Baychester, Eastchester, Olinville, Edenwald, Williamsbridge and Co-Op City. He had previously been a staffer for New York State Assembly Speaker, Carl Heastie, whose district also covers some of those parts of the Bronx. The Council members bio page also cites his founding of groups called Music Over Violence and The Dad Gang, plus mentoring his [unintelligible 00:01:32] from members of his Church, Butler United Methodist Church in the Bronx and his work as a mentor in Barak Obama's initiative known as My Brother's Keeper.

Councilmember Riley, congratulations on your election and welcome to WNYC.

Kevin C. Riley: Thank you for having me, Brian. How are you doing today?

Brian Lehrer: I'm doing great. Thank you for asking. Demographically, who lives in your district? Tell everyone else. How would you describe the people you represent in the Northeast Bronx?

Kevin C. Riley: I have a predominantly Caribbean base community. My parents are from Jamaica. We have a lot of people who come from the Caribbean in the community. We have a lot of people who come from Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic in the community as well.

Brian Lehrer: How bad has COVID been in your district and what would you say are some of the longer-term effects on communities within your district, even as the pandemic recedes for the moment?

Kevin C. Riley: COVID was really challenging. When COVID started, nobody knew what was going on. The unfortunate part that happened during COVID is we lost a lot of members in our community, predominately, a lot of seniors. I represent one of the largest NORC in the United States of America, Co-Op City.

Brian Lehrer: NORC stands for Naturally Occurring Retirement Community, for those who don't know.

Kevin C. Riley: Correct, Brian. Within Co-Op City, which is the largest NORC in United States of America, we lost a lot of residents in our district. Something else we realized was the food insecurity. We didn't realize how difficult it was for people in our community to obtain food. The pandemic highlighted that and put a microscope over that. I think the pandemic really highlighted a lot of the underlying issues that we have in our district.

Another thing that really played out community is unemployment. Prior to the pandemic, the Bronx was on the path of being ranked low. When it comes to unemployment, we were under, I believe, 8%. Then, during the pandemic, we rose to about 23% to 24%, which was the highest in the nation.

Brian Lehrer: 23%, 24% unemployment?

Kevin C. Riley: In the Bronx, yes. That's really, really challenging. I think right now we're between 13% and 14.4%. We're getting back down there, but those things I would go with health, wellness, food insecurities and unemployment, were three of the biggest issues that we saw during the pandemic.

Brian Lehrer: You mentioned the toll on seniors in the district. Errol Lewis from New York 1 in New York Magazine was just on the show last hour. He was saying that he thinks one of the two little-discussed drivers of the spike in violent crime in the city right now is the number of families in poor communities in the city, that had been headed by grandparents for various reasons. Then many of those grandparents were killed by COVID. Now, you have more unsupervised youth, let's say, or those from experiences of dealing with the loss of maybe two generations of parents in one way or another and grandparents and that that is a driver of violent crime right now.

I wonder if that's something you thought of or if you would tend to agree with him?

Kevin C. Riley: I don't think it's necessarily the main driver of crime right now, but that does have a lot to play into it. I lost my grandmothers in high school. I know during that time, I went through a very aggressive, angry state, where I didn't know how to express myself. I utilized violence or just my aggression to express myself. That could be a driving factor, but there's a lot of other driving factors that contribute to crime.

We can look at unemployment, like I stated, which was one of them, where a lot of families didn't have a source of income. That could have been a driver when it comes to crime. Then you had a lot of, what you stated, Brian, you had a lot of people, not only seniors, but you had a lot of family members, people who lost their mothers or fathers to COVID or people who lost siblings to COVID. I think the trauma that we've been dealing with in communities of color for years, really took plight during the COVID-19 pandemic. That's where we saw a rise in crime in our communities.

Brian Lehrer: Listeners, we're talking to Kevin C. Riley, the New City Councilmember from the Northeast Bronx in our series 51 Council Members in 52 Weeks. We have time for just a few phone calls. If anybody from the district or anywhere else wants to call in, 212-433-WNYC, 433-9692 or tweet a question @BrianLehrer.

Councilmember, since you took office in January, what's the number one thing that your constituents contact your office about?

Kevin C. Riley: Sanitation.

Brian Lehrer: Really?

Kevin C. Riley: Sanitation, man, is the abundance of garbage that's plaguing our community. Sanitation, the tractor-trailers that are parking everywhere in the community. You can really put those two together and really say the quality of life. District 12 is on the border of Westchester, so a lot of the times, we do get people who come on New England Thruway and just throw garbage on the side. We have a lot of tractor-trailers, but we do have people that own and work for corporations that have to utilize tractor-trailers. We have a lot of tractor-trailers that are parking throughout the districts, which are really prohibiting people to utilize a lot of our community parks.

Like our parks, a lot of people are afraid to go to the park because there's tractor-trailers wrapping around the park, we can't really see what's going on inside.

I would say sanitation and tractor-trailer is a huge issue that's going on in my district, but not only my district, that's going on throughout the entire New York City.

Brian Lehrer: Talk more about those tractor-trailers. Where do they come from? What do they have in them? Why are they parking around parks in the district all of a sudden?

Kevin C. Riley: We don't know what they have in them, but the tractor-trailers, what I'm hearing from community members is that a lot of people that live in the community actually own those tractor-trailers and they don't have a place to park them. They don't have a rest stop or a place to park them, so they always decide to park them on abandoned streets or places where people don't usually park their cars.

Brian Lehrer: So, these are independent truck drivers?

Kevin C. Riley: I'm sorry?

Brian Lehrer: Independent truck drivers who own their rigs and might even live in the district?

Kevin C. Riley: Correct. That is what has been a huge issue in the district. They're taken up parking spots, they really are deteriorating the quality of life in District 12 and throughout the entire New York City. I'm really trying to work with the Mayor's office, the Borough president's office and my colleagues in government to figure out where we have a rest stop in New York City, that tractor-trailers won't be parking all over our districts are ruining the quality of life in our communities.

Brian Lehrer: How about sanitation, like garbage on the streets, did that get worse during the pandemic?

Kevin C. Riley: Yes, of course. With the budget cuts to sanitation that we saw last year, even the cuts that the Mayor is talking about this year, we're really afraid for communities of color when it comes to sanitation. Even simple things like garbage pickups on corners, that has been cut down. It's really sad that as Councilmembers, we have to take our discretionary funding when we could give it to a non-profit organization to help us out with sanitation issues. We have to give it to the Department of Sanitation to help us out with sanitation issues, being that this is a true issue in our community.

I'm telling you, if you could take a walk to a lot of our district, you'll see TV bags of garbage. How can you really appreciate and really celebrate your community when you're walking around and there's just garbage everywhere? That's not a way that we're going to bring New York City back, if we don't continue to help our Department of Sanitation brothers and sisters with funding and not cut their funding to make sure that we're helping our local businesses and local residential areas with this garbage issue that's plaguing us.

Brian Lehrer: Do you think the city budget is going in the wrong way, in the wrong direction on that or prioritizing wrong things, in general? I know we're at that time of the year where the Mayor has issued his budget proposal and the City Council has come up with yours.

Kevin C. Riley: We're figuring it out right now. I think we're trying to figure out the Mayor's budget. He's really trying to figure out the best budget possible, but I do feel like if we're talking about cuts to sanitation, the DOE, these are agencies that are really important to our communities and we can't afford to cut any funding from the agencies if we're already experiencing problems with the fundings that they already have. When we're talking about bringing our community and bringing back NYC, if we're going to bring back NYC, let's bring it back better. Let's not bring back NYC pre-COVID pandemic.

I think Public Advocate, Jumaane Williams says it best, "Let's not get back to normal." Getting back to normal is why we ended up where we are in the first place. Let's be better. Let's figure out how can we be better and prevent this from ever happening again. We're always going to go through public pandemics, nationwide pandemics, but we have to put our community and our constituents in the best place possible and in order to do so, the cuts from the budgets from sanitation, DOE and other city agency, isn't really going to help us out getting NYC to the best place that they could possibly be.

Brian Lehrer: Let's take a phone call from across that Northeast Bronx Westchester county line. Earl in New Rochelle, you're on WNYC with City Council member, Kevin C. Riley. Hi Earl.

Earl: Thank you, Brian and thank you Honorable C. Riley. I just have a question. I grew up in that area and I know the old landfill at Orchard Beach, is that area also included in your district?

Kevin C. Riley: No, unfortunately not. It's in Councilmember of Alaska's district, which is Council District 13.

Brian Lehrer: Yes, she'll be on next week.

Earl: Oh, okay.

Kevin C. Riley: I Utilized the beach a lot, I utilized the space a lot, so I could definitely talk about it.

Earl: It is a great beach. It's a gem for New York, but I also wanted to highlight that big old landfill that's been there since I was a kid riding the bike to Orchard. I just had a question regarding that space, wouldn't it be nice if we had a wind turbine farm up on that landfill to create energy?

Kevin C. Riley: Yes, you're talking about clean energy too, at that. That would be an amazing idea. We definitely would have to speak to Matt Cruz from Community Board 10 to make sure that the Community Board would approve something like that. When you're talking about clean energy, that would definitely be something that could help us out because we are really trying to lower the emissions in our section of the Bronx. That would be a good idea.

Brian Lehrer: Earl, thanks for your call. As you know, Councilmember, we're inviting everybody in this series to bring a show and tell item from your district, virtual, obviously, since it's the radio, but something from your district that you think a lot of other people in the listening area might not know about, that you would like to show them or tell them about, what did you bring?

Kevin C. Riley: I bought Moody Records and God rests his soul, Earl Moody, who passed away last year. Moody Records was established in the early '70s and it really was the driving point to how Reggae, Calypso and other Caribbean-style music was being pumped in New York City. I knew about Moody Records because my father used to take me there back in the day. I actually was hoping that we were online because I have a picture when I was a kid in Moody Records, but I'll probably post that later when I post the interview.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, yeah. If you tweet it, we'll retweet it.

Kevin C. Riley: I'll retweet the picture, but Moody Records was a landmark within our district and unfortunately, we lost Earl Moody last year. His family still has the business in the district. They're still giving Reggae artists and Calypso artists and other Caribbean artists the opportunity to bring their music to the states. We really just wanted to highlight Moody Records and all the amazing things that they've been doing for the community for years because they've been around longer than I've been a alive

Brian Lehrer: Shout out a favorite artist, maybe even from when you were a kid who you learned about at Moody Records.

Kevin C. Riley: I would say Bob Marley because Bob Marley was an artist that my mother-- actually, my mother and father was from Jamaica where I stayed before. My mother used to live on the same block, I believe or in the same atmosphere as Bob Marley. She's used to always talk about him, but I didn't really gravitate to the music until I went to Moody Records. They had kind of a vibe in there, where they had Bob Marley, they had the incense going. It was a holistic type of environment where we could embrace the culture of what Bob Marley bought to the Caribbean music industry. I would say Bob Marley would be one of the artists that I could really highlight from Moody's Records.

Brian Lehrer: Derek in the Bronx, you're on WNYC with Councilmember, Kevin C. Riley. Hi Derek.

Kevin C. Riley: What's going on, Derek?

Derek: Good morning, gentlemen. My name is Derek. I'm a constituent of Councilman Riley, I live in Bronx Westchester border. I'm a senior citizen. I've lived in a home that's owned by my three children and I have very, very meager income. They're practically none, through a weird life, but that's another story and they've informed me that in about six to eight months they're going to sell the home that we live in, but they don't live here. They're going to sell the home and I'm going to be homeless in about six to eight months. I just want to know how to navigate through the malaise and what subsidized senior housing that I can apply for that's out there. I can use whatever help that can you-- I've actually met Councilman Riley this summer in Alabama, at neighborhood events.

Brian Lehrer: Can you help this constituent?

Kevin C. Riley: Always, that's why I got into public service because I love helping people. Derek, I'm going to give you my district office. Can you please reach out and ask for Cynthia Prisco and she will be able to help you out. That's another concern that we have on the lack of senior housing that we have in our community. Although we do have Co-Op City, a lot of people usually don't leave Co-Op City, so it's very difficult for us to get senior housing for members in there, but I'm going to give you my office number, Derek. Are you ready to take it down?

Derek: Yes, I am.

Kevin C. Riley: It is 718-6684-5509.

Derek: Okay. It's 718-6845-509 and ask for Cynthia Prisco?

Kevin C. Riley: Yes. You're going to ask for Cynthia Prisco. Now, we're going to probably give you some information for Bronx Neighborhood Housing Services, which is located on Gun Hill Road. They really help out and they'll give you some information on how you can address that issue. Cynthia can also give you some information about senior housing within the Bronx, if you're trying to stay in the Bronx

Brian Lehrer: Derek, definitely tell them when you call that you spoke to the Councilmember here on WNYC on the Brian Lehrer Show, in case that helps. Derek, thank you. Good luck to you. Thank you for calling.

How does it feel a Councilmember when you get calls like that guy anticipating being homeless in a few months and unfortunately, that story is not rare?

Kevin C. Riley: Well, it is disheartening because that's the reason why I got into public office because how I met, at the time Assembly Member Heastie, who's now the Speaker of the New York State Assembly, I used to love helping people. I met my fraternity brother, Jonathan Hicks, got rest soul and he introduced me to Speaker Heastie and Bronx Borough President who was the assembly member at that time, Rubén Díaz Jr. and just having the conversation with them, learning what they do and realizing that there's a lot of issues that are going on in your community. I think a lot of times when you see people in the community, they're usually smiling, nobody really wants to share the adversity that they're facing on a daily basis.

In this profession that we are in, in public service, we get to see the disheartening issues that are happening within our community, the lack of housing, the issues that are happening within the homes, domestic violence, a lot of issues are plaguing our community. When you hear these issues, it really breaks your heart, but it really fuels you to help these people out. I know when Derek contacts our office, we'll help him out to the best of our ability.

It's really disheartening, Brian, to hear what our community and people in our community are going through on a daily basis.

Brian Lehrer: We are going to run out of time- [crosstalk] Go ahead.

Kevin C. Riley: I'm sorry, Brian. Before I had this interview, I actually was walking in the house and my neighbor was dealing with a Access-A-Ride issue. It actually worked out that we started a little bit later because I was helping out with that, but yes, there are a lot of issues that are going on in our community.

Brian Lehrer: I know you've got to go and I've got to go in two minutes, but at the end of this, getting to now interview and I think it's been good for people around our area to get to hear your voice, in many cases, for the first time now that you're in City Council in your first months. I just want to give you an opportunity to talk about one other thing that you've done because I see you've been involved in Barack Obama's initiative called My Brother's Keeper, which is about breaking down barriers for boys and young men of color and encouraging their success. Just tell everybody what you did with My Brother's Keeper and then we're out of time.

Kevin C. Riley: My brothers keeper was an initiative that we worked out of Speaker Heastie's office, where we worked with four students, four Black males or men of color, that went to schools in the Bronx. We usually get people from Eagle Academy and different high schools in Bronx, but just giving them a positive role model to be around and dealing with being emotionally incarcerated.

A lot of the times as being a young Black man or a young man of color, we're sometimes emotionally incarcerated and deal with masculinity a little bit too much and don't teach our young Black boys and men to be more comprehensive men. I think My Brother's Keeper really highlighted issues that these young men were going through within their communities and they wanted to address these issues. It helps empower them to make them realize that they could do so much more.

The mission that we always gave each of our mentees was to lift at as you climb. That's something that we need to continue to do in communities of color. As you get up the ladder, reach down and pick someone else up. Once you continue to do that, then it will continue and continue and continue and our communities will be better. I appreciate this time that you gave me today, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Kevin C. Riley, he was a staffer for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie. Now he's a City Councilmember representing District 12 from the Northeast Bronx. Thank you, we really appreciate it. We look forward to talking to you again as you serve.

Kevin C. Riley: Thanks, Brian. Have a good one.

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