Meet Brooklyn’s New Borough President, Antonio Reynoso


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The people have spoken: Antonio Reynoso, who served as the City Council representative for North Brooklyn’s 34th District in his previous role, will succeed Eric Adams as Brooklyn borough president. 

Reynoso, a south side Williamsburg native and organizer-turned-elected-official, beat out 12 other candidates in the June primaries after 11 rounds of ranked-choice voting to become the Democratic nominee. In the race for borough president, he won (by a landslide) against Shanduke McPhatter, an activist and Voices for Change candidate, Republican Menachem M. Raitport and Anthony T. Jones, who ran under the Rent is 2 Damn High party. 

As the two-term 34th District City Council member, Reynoso focused on quality of life issues throughout Bushwick, Ridgewood and Williamsburg, serving as Sanitation Committee chair and successfully championing legislation concerning waste in overburdened districts, policing, tenant safety and more. 

The North Brooklyn progressive spoke with Bushwick Daily to lay out his agenda as the borough’s new leader. 

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Reynoso standing with U.S. Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez. Image from Reynoso’s IG page.

The Record

Reynoso, a first-generation American and son of Dominican immigrants, brought an organizer’s spirit to the New York City Council, pushing action on issues affecting the day-to-day lives of his constituents. 

“I voted my conscience, my heart was in everything I did,” he told Bushwick Daily. 

As an organizer: Reynoso has worked for Catholic Charities, founded the mentorship program Brothers on a New Direction (BOND), ​​secured union protection for early childhood educators with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), and cut his teeth in political organizing under former Deputy Brooklyn Borough President Diana Reyna. 

“When I came out of college and started working for ACORN, that was a very special time. My job was organizing childcare providers to be part of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union. There was almost no dignity in the work they were doing. They were treated like glorified babysitters instead of what we thought they were, which was early childhood educators. The childcare providers, who are mothers that take care of kids in their homes, became part of the union, they got better health benefits, pension options and professional development opportunities. That was the first job I ever had, and it taught me how to organize.” 

As 34th District Representative: The North Brooklyn rep and two-time Sanitation Committee chairman sponsored legislation to limit the amount of trash handled by overburdened districts throughout the city, implementing a commercial waste zoning system that placed labor and sustainability standards on the city’s unchecked private industrial carting industry. It’s the most significant reform to the city’s waste management system since a special commission sought to remove criminal enterprise from the industry more than 20 years ago. 

In addition to waste equity legislation, Reynoso’s record reflects leadership in efforts to tackle socio-economic and racial issues, land use and transportation alternatives. He touts the passage of the Right to Know Act, which makes it a requirement for NYPD officers to carry business cards and inform civilians of their right to refuse a consent search. He was also a key player on the Tenant Safety Act, which criminalized the use of construction to harass tenants. 

“North Brooklyn has 40% of the city’s trash. We were able to reduce the amount of tonnage in North Brooklyn by almost 50%. We were also able to help communities in southeast Queens and the South Bronx, which have the highest asthma rates and a significant amount of trash, reduce their tonnage 33%. So citywide, we reduced trash significantly in overburdened communities with high asthma rates — it was a very proud moment.”

Borough President

Looking toward his new responsibilities as Brooklyn borough president, Reynoso said he plans to continue advocating for environmental justice, comprehensive planning for Brooklyn and protections for tenants and underserved people. 

“I want to be a gracious successor to Eric Adams. I think people are going to be really surprised with the creative things that are going to come out from us,” he said. 

In terms of new items, he hopes to make Brooklyn the safest place for Black women to have babies. In New York City, Black women are about eight to 12 times more likely to suffer bad outcomes and death during childbirth compared to their white counterparts. Reynoso, a father to two young boys, wants to address that by equipping public hospitals with state-of-the-art birthing centers, legitimizing midwives and creating a committee for pre-, during- and post-pregnancy work. 

“We’re going to invest heavily. It’s going to be a top agenda item for the first year and my entire time in Borough Hall. But the first year, all resources are going to go into making sure that we start building infrastructure to bring that number down long term.”

Reynoso also has his sights set on advancing rezoning plans that address equity and infrastructure in low-income communities. While he understands the importance of expanding development, he stressed the urgency of separating infrastructure priorities from expansion, especially in the wake of increasing crises due to extreme weather. 

“We want to empower community boards to dictate what their communities look like in 10 years,” he said. “Past mayors over developed, and poor communities suffering with poor infrastructure are not going to see improvement in quality of life without rezoning.”

More information on how Antonio Reynoso plans to govern as Brooklyn Borough President is available here. 


Featured image: Jackson Schroeder

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Mary Ellen Cagnassola
Mary Ellen Cagnassola
Mary Ellen Cagnassola is an award-winning reporter with a flair for creative nonfiction and a love of all things strange and unusual. Born and raised in the Garden State, she is currently trying to have it all in New York City.

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4 Comments

  1. I would like to know why there isn’t any covid-testing mobile site in Coney Island-We have plenty of space and it’s a shame that this community that has many elderly people have not had a place where they can walk to to get tested. We are more than just the amusement park we are a community that for many years has been forgotten-I would like to see more accessibility for Covid-testing in my community at once. I called 311 and they told me we are sorry Covid-testing isn’t offered in Coney Island anymore. That answer is UNACCEPTABLE!!! I would appreciate it if someone called me with a solution as I went to Bay Parkway and I saw not 1 not 2 but 3 different vans on each corner giving out PCR tests. It’s something really wrong with this narrative.

  2. Why can’t the Brooklyn Borough President ensure that my 3 & 7 year old grandchildren have heat at 1734 St Johns Pl Brooklyn NYC during this cold New York winter? Concerned Grandparent in Tanpa Florida.

  3. I am Jacques Henri Bien Aime – I am trying to reach the Borough President office to explain how yesterday the deposit was not come on my account SNAP BENEFITS and I went to the office Atlantic Avenue to find out and I was told that case closed. It is a terrible for me since I am not working for longest time and the SNAP was a great support for me financially. Now I am trying to reach the office to help restore the account or to activating the application I was fill. This is an issue for me – I will give the details if any more is in need – Thank You Jacques Henri Bien Aime.