Antonio Reynoso (born May 9, 1983) is an American politician and community organizer currently serving as Borough president of Brooklyn since 2022. He is a member of the Democratic Party, and was elected Brooklyn borough president in the 2021 election.[1] He previously was a member of the New York City Council for the 34th district from 2014 to 2021. The district included portions of Bushwick, Greenpoint, and Williamsburg in Brooklyn and Ridgewood, Queens.
Antonio Reynoso | |
|---|---|
 Reynoso in 2018 | |
| 19th Borough President of Brooklyn | |
| Assumed office January 1, 2022 | |
| Deputy | Diana Richardson Rev. Kimberly Council |
| Preceded by | Eric Adams |
| Member of the New York City Council from the 34th district | |
| In office January 1, 2014 – December 31, 2021 | |
| Preceded by | Diana Reyna |
| Succeeded by | Jennifer Gutiérrez |
| Personal details | |
| Born | May 9, 1983 |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Education | Le Moyne College (BA) |
Early life and career
editReynoso was born in Brooklyn and raised in the Los Sures section of Williamsburg to immigrant parents from the Dominican Republic. He graduated from Le Moyne College with a bachelor's degree in political science.[2]
Reynoso started his political career as a community organizer for NYC ACORN;[2] one of his assignments was to organize childcare providers to join the United Food and Commercial Workers union.[3] In 2009, he became Councilwoman Diana Reyna's chief of staff.[2]
New York City Council
editIn 2013, Reynoso ran for the New York City Council in the 34th Council district to succeed the term-limited Diana Reyna, for whom he previously served as chief of staff.[4] The district included Bushwick, Ridgewood, and Williamsburg.[3] Reynoso succeeded to office after defeating Vito Lopez in the Democratic primary.[5]
During both his terms, Reynoso served as chair of the City Council's Committee on Sanitation & Solid Waste Management.[3] He also co-chaired the Council's Progressive Caucus.
Political positions
editIdeologically, Reynoso is a progressive.[3][6] At age 22, before his election to the City Council, he co-founded New Kings Democrats, a progressive reform-oriented grouping of the Brooklyn Democratic Party; the faction has struggled for control of the borough's party organization, clashing with bosses Vito Lopez and Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn.[6][7][8]
Housing and land use
editIn 2019, as a city councilmember, Reynoso proposed a plan to create new historic districts to limit development in Bushwick, preserve manufacturing zoning, and allow no more than 2,000 new housing units, all at below-market rates (in contrast to a plan by Mayor Bill de Blasio to allow 5,613 new units of housing, including 1,873 units permanently earmarked for below-market-rate).[9]
In November 2021, upon winning election as borough president, Reynoso criticized past mayors for what he called overdevelopment, and that he wanted to "empower community boards to dictate what their communities look like in 10 years."[3] However, in 2023 and 2024, Reynoso supported more housing construction,[10][11] and proposed plans to upzone Brooklyn to permit more housing.[12][13] He also criticized NIMBYism and efforts to block housing construction based on notions of "neighborhood character."[10][11] In November 2023, he criticized Mayor Eric Adams for slow progress on addressing the New York City housing crisis, and suggested that New York City should eliminate single-family-exclusive zoning.[14]
As a city councilmember and as Brooklyn BP, Reynoso has supported initiatives to protect the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists,[8] including Vision Zero.[15] He supports the end of parking minimums and has criticized illegal parking, such as double parking and parking on sidewalks, parks, and bike lanes.[8] In January 2022, six days into his tenure as borough president, Reynoso put an end to illicit parking on the Brooklyn Borough Hall plaza, ending the widely criticized practice of his predecessor Adams, who allowed his employees to illegally park their private vehicles across the plaza during his tenure.[8][16] In 2024, after a series of pedestrian deaths caused by turning cars at intersections, Reynoso and other Brooklyn elected officials called for universal daylighting.[15]
Crime and policing
editOn the Council, Reynoso was the lead sponsor of the Right to Know Act; the act require New York Police Department officers to hand out business cards with their name and rank to persons they stop, and to inform persons stopped by police of their right to decline a consent search.[3][17] The bill, passed in response to NYPD's use of stop-and-frisk, was enacted in 2017 and took effect in 2018.[17]
In 2019, Reynoso voted to support New York Mayor Bill de Blasio's plan to eventually close Rikers Island, the city's long-troubled jail complex, and replace it with newly constructed borough-based jails.[6][18]
Brooklyn Borough President
editIn July 2021, Reynoso won the Democratic Party's nomination for borough president of Brooklyn (formally known as Kings County). He defeated 13 other candidates in the Democratic primary.[6][19] In the final round (Round 11) of the ranked-choice voting election, he defeated Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon, 54.9% to 45.1%.[6][19] In the preceding round, fellow City Councilmember Robert Cornegy was eliminated.[6][19] Other contenders eliminated in earlier rounds included Mathieu Eugene.[19]
Reynoso then easily won the November 2021 general election, defeating against Republican candidate Menachem M. Raitport and Voices for Change candidate Shanduke McPhatter.[3]
In October 2022, Reynoso fired his deputy borough president, Diana Richardson, a former Crown Heights assemblywoman, following a string of staff and constituent complaints about her behavior.[20]
Election history
edit| Election history | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Location | Year | Election | Results |
| NYC Council District 34 |
2013 | Democratic Primary | √ Antonio Reynoso 50.22% Vito Lopez 36.84% Gladys Santiago 7.83% Humberto Soto 5.12% |
| NYC Council District 34 |
2013 | General | √ Antonio Reynoso (D) 95.87% Gladys Santiago (School Choice) 3.93% |
| NYC Council District 34 |
2017 | Democratic Primary | √ Antonio Reynoso 63.92% Tommy Torres 35.87% |
| NYC Council District 34 |
2017 | General | √ Antonio Reynoso (D) 99.20% |
| Brooklyn Borough President | 2021 | General | √ Antonio Reynoso (D) 72.84% Menachem Raitport (R) 20.60% |
References
edit- ^ "ANTONIO REYNOSO CRUISES TO VICTORY IN BOROUGH PRESIDENT'S RACE". Brooklyn Paper. November 2, 2021. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
- ^ a b c "Five Questions with Borough President Candidate Antonio Reynoso". September 30, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g M.E. Lewis (November 3, 2021). "Meet Brooklyn's New Borough President, Antonio Reynoso". Bushwick Daily.
- ^ Campanile, Carl (September 10, 2013). "Antonio Reynoso knocks off Vito Lopez in council race". New York Post. Retrieved August 5, 2014.
- ^ Kuo, Stephanie (September 13, 2013). "Antonio Reynoso Wins the 34th, Vetoes Vito". Greenpoint Gazette. Retrieved August 5, 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f Laura Glesby, Antonio Reynoso is the Likely Next Brooklyn Borough President; Here's What He Ran On, Gotham Gazette (July 5, 2021).
- ^ Jeff Coltin, Velázquez, Reynoso endorse reformist district leaders in yet another strike at the Brooklyn Democratic Party, City & State (April 18, 2022).
- ^ a b c d Ben Brachfeld, Brooklyn beep Antonio Reynoso on community boards, county politics, and emulating his predecessors, (Brooklyn Paper (May 2, 2022).
- ^ Spivack, Caroline (January 13, 2020). "Plans to rezone Bushwick are dead, for now". Curbed NY.
- ^ a b Zaveri, Mihir (February 13, 2024). "They're Starting a New York 'Housing League.' NIMBYs Not Allowed". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
- ^ a b Alena Botros (February 29, 2024). "Brooklyn's new borough president doesn't care about the 'character' of your neighborhood. That's 'not more important than putting people in homes'". Fortune.
- ^ "Antonio Reynoso has big plans for Brooklyn's future". Crain's New York Business. 2023.
- ^ Hogan, Gwynne (October 4, 2023). "Brooklyn Borough Prez's Vision: More Trees and Bike Lanes, Less Parking". The City.
- ^ Janaki Chadha (November 20, 2023). "Reynoso knocks Adams' 'City of Yes'". Politico Weekly New York Real Estate & Infrastructure.
- ^ a b Dave Colon, Seven Brooklyn Electeds Join Growing Calls For Universal Daylighting, Streetsblog New York City (January 17, 2024).
- ^ Kirstyn Brendlen, Brand-new beep Antonio Reynoso bans parking from Borough Hall plaza, Brooklyn Paper (January 6, 2022).
- ^ a b Ashley Southall, Right to Know Is Now the Law. Here's What That Means., New York Times (October 19, 2018).
- ^ Spivack, Caroline (July 9, 2019). "Rikers Island closure and borough-based jail plan, explained". Curbed NY. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
- ^ a b c d 2021 Primary, Official Ranked Choice Rounds - DEM Borough President Kings, Board of Elections in the City of New York.
- ^ "Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso fires deputy Diana Richardson over toxic work environment". New York Daily News. October 10, 2022.