Meet the City Council’s New Members: Vanessa Gibson

Vanessa Gibson is one of four members of the Council’s freshman class, who was already serving as a legislator as a member of the State Assembly. Though she enjoyed her work in Albany, Gibson decided to run for the Council because, “It was an opportunity to serve my district on a local level [and] to be a part of the new wave of government coming in to the city of New York.”

Gibson was sworn into office in December ahead of the rest of the incoming members because the incumbent, Helen Foster, vacated the seat to become Gov. Cuomo’s human rights commissioner. In the Council, she will be taking on the challenge of representing one of the poorest Council districts in the city.

“The fact is that many residents … are living at the poverty level—they’re making minimum wage, they’re uninsured and they’re underinsured,” explained Gibson. “A lot of the statistics that are used to define the Bronx, I want those numbers to turn around and move in the opposite direction.”

Despite her district’s hardships, Gibson is optimistic about its future, as well as that of her borough.

“I do think that the next Renaissance that will take place over the next several years will be the Bronx,” Gibson said. “There’s a lot of potential, a lot of opportunity, but we have to get people investing more in the Bronx, because that has not happened, because of the stigma, because of the stereotypes, and because of the fact that people don’t necessarily look at the Bronx as a vibrant place to live. But there are a lot of people in the Bronx who have lived here all of their lives, through the thick and thin, through the good and bad, and they’re still here. They deserve to stay here if they want, but we also have to recognize that this is about balance, this is about making sure that we have middle incomes, we have housing for working families, for low-income families. We have to really make sure that we create a mixture. That’s the only way people are going to start investing in the Bronx. I think they have started, I think they will continue, and I am going to be one of those that’s going to make sure that my district is not shortchanged.”