Melissa mark viverito biography samples images

At the age of eighteen, she moved to New York to attend Columbia University, from which she graduated in with a bachelor of arts degree. After running unsuccessfully against Phil Reed for City Council in District 8 in , Mark-Viverito was elected to the position when Reed reached his term limit in In January , she criticized the voting record of newly appointed New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand on immigration.

Melissa mark viverito biography samples images: Now: President, HCN Previously: Interim

During Mark-Viverito's second term in the Council, she served as chair of the Parks and Recreation Committee and as founding co-chair of the Progressive Caucus. In November , she won re-election to her third term in the Council, and her close ally Bill de Blasio was elected mayor. Her first "State of the City" speech emphasized reform of the criminal justice system.

In January , Mark-Viverito introduced a collection of eight bills known as the "Criminal Justice Reform Act" to reduce the penalty for acts such as violating park rules, littering and public urination from misdemeanors to the civil process. In addition, the Criminal Justice Reform Act also suspended enforcement for "excessive noise," which resulted in a sudden spike in noise complaints around the five boroughs, according to data compiled by , New York City's complaint submission platform.

Mark-Viverito sponsored the bills so that young people in communities of color could "fulfill their potential" by incentivizing officers to give verbal warnings and fines but not remove the option of making arrests. As of , the lawsuit is still pending and the City of New York's motion to dismiss the lawsuit was denied. Serrano as representative of New York's 15th Congressional District, but lost in the primary to Ritchie Torres, receiving 4.