Columbia Spectator - In Perkins� Shadow, Inez Dickens Appointed Majority Whip, Ethics Chair for City Council

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In Perkins� Shadow, Inez Dickens Appointed Majority Whip, Ethics Chair for City Council

By Sara Vogel
Spectator Staff Writer

January 23, 2006

As a long-time representative of Morningside Heights and Harlem exits the political arena, a well-known community activist has stepped in to continue the advocacy work of her predecessor.

Inez Dickens, a high-ranking member of the New York State Democratic Committee and a lifelong resident of the 9th District, has assumed the office of term-limited City Councilman Bill Perkins, a neighborhood figure elected to the council for the first time in 1997.

In her first few weeks in office, Dickens, who was appointed majority whip and chair of the Ethics Committee by the council speaker last week, met with neighborhood leaders to start the legislative term by picking up where Perkins left off.

�Bill Perkins and I have been political allies for many years,� Dickens wrote in an e-mail. �We are Democrats and we do not differ greatly on issues. Rather we have always found ways to use our collective resources to empower and enrich our community.�

�I think [Dickens] will do a very good job,� Perkins said. �I want to help her in any way I can. She�ll be the greatest councilperson that this city has ever had.�

Perkins was an outspoken opponent of Columbia�s possible use of eminent domain in Manhattanville. Dickens also expressed her concern about gentrification and the effects of development on surrounding neighborhoods. �While I welcome ... a revitalized economy, I hope that the long standing residents of the Ninth Council District will not be displaced or adversely affected by economic development activities going on throughout northern Manhattan,� she wrote.

Dickens has already met with representatives from Columbia and Community Board 9 to begin learning both parties� views on expansion.

�We�re looking forward to having an opportunity to sit with her, brief her on Manhattanville plans, and also to hear her concerns and offer to be of assistance where her legislative agenda overlaps with the University�s agenda,� said Maxine Griffith, Columbia�s vice president for Government and Community Affairs.

CB9 is also optimistic about relations with the new councilwoman. �She is a very savvy person who has been around a long time,� Jordi Reyes-Montblanc, chair of CB9, said. �I have no doubt that what we discuss will be fruitful.�

�I think [Perkins�] greatest accomplishments was what he did around the Central Park jogger cases and keeping alive the issue of wrongly convicted black and Latino young men,� said Juan Gonzalez, who has covered Perkins extensively for the Daily News. �I think it was a huge and very unpopular cause, but he stuck to it and was able to get several young men released from jail.�

While Perkins often sparred with the mayor and fellow councilmembers while in office and was often at the forefront of many controversial issues in city politics, he may be best remembered for many of the initiatives he introduced and championed to enfranchise minority groups and the poor.

�My sense is that Councilman Perkins has been one of the most effective councilmembers in terms of raising issues and getting legislation designed in order to confront major issues of concern, not only to minority communities but all communities,� Gonzalez said.

Dickens hopes to follow in this tradition by focusing on constituent services. �I want to be remembered as someone who spoke out against the pain, suffering, and injustice we see everyday,� she wrote in an e-mail. �Listening, I learn, I can then respond even if I can�t do all that I may wish to do.�

Perkins has many plans for his post-City Hall life, which may include teaching at the college level and heading up a progressive activist think tank. Though his campaign for Manhattan borough president was unsuccessful last November, Perkins did not rule out running for another elected position, including �something on the federal level.�

Alli Yang contributed to this article.