New Yorkers remain anxious for new leaders to address the city’s issues with policing. After it was revealed that de Blasio’s NYPD budget cut might not have been as significant as he claimed it was and some communities feeling warier than ever following violent clashes with police during last year’s peaceful protests, the city is reckoning with new tension in police and civilian relations. But this month’s primary offers an opportunity for the incoming class of politicians to do what their predecessors did not: assess the needs of individual communities and the role and scale of policing within them. 

In Bushwick, two major city council races could decide the political temperature of the neighborhood and the city as a whole. In the city’ 37th district, a hotly contested race is barrelling towards its conclusion as incumbent Darma Diaz goes head-to-head with Sandy Nurse and Rick Echevarria, both of whom were unceremoniously kicked off the ballot last year. And in the 34th district, Jennifer Gutierrez says she’s hoping to win in an area that encompasses Williamsburg, Ridgewood, and north Bushwick.

The city council hopeful was among the first residents of Hope Gardens, one of two NYCHA complexes in Bushwick. The background is integral to his approach, as he details not only how he would work towards harm reduction within policing, but how that plays a larger role in housing and housing injustice, specifically here.