Canarsie

In Public Service: Persaud leaps from Assembly to state Senate

March 23, 2016 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Roxanne Persaud is busy settling into her role as the state senator for the 19th District. Eagle photo by Paula Katinas
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Roxanne Persaud was a freshman member of the New York State Assembly in 2015 when, at the urging of Brooklyn Democratic Party Chairman Frank Seddio and members of the Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club, she decided to run for the state Senate seat left vacant when former assemblymember John Sampson was convicted of corruption charges.

Persaud, who had won her seat in the 59th Assembly District in 2014, easily won election to the state Senate’s 19th District in November of 2015 and is currently settling into her new job. Technically, she is finishing out the remainder of Sampson’s term in office. She said she plans to run for her first full term in the Senate when the current term is up.

Persaud said she is looking forward to running.

The political blog Kings County Politics recently reported that Persaud is likely to face a challenge in the Democratic primary from Mercedes Narcisse, a longtime Canarsie community leader, who has the backing of Councilmember Inez Barron (D-Brownsville).

Persaud said she is undaunted at the idea of having to run in a primary.

“I always expected a challenge. I always thought someone is going to challenge me,” she told the Brooklyn Eagle in a recent interview in her district office on East 96th Street.

The office was busy on the day the interview took place. Phones were ringing, aides were assisting constituents and a long line of people waited to apply for IDNYC cards. Persaud had agreed to have her office host a pop-up IDNYC center.

Persaud said she will face the primary challenge by simply doing what she has been doing. “I always make sure I am doing what is right,” she told the Eagle.

While going from the Assembly to the Senate is a big leap, Persaud seems impervious to the pressure.

“So much has remained the same from my time in the Assembly to now,” she said. “My underlying theme is working hard and doing the best I can for the people in my district. That has not changed.”

Persaud said strives to get along with everyone in the Senate, Republican or Democrat. “I speak with everybody on the Senate. It does not matter which party affiliation they have,” she said.

When she first arrived on the Senate side of the state Legislature, GOP senators were friendly and offered her assistance.

Many Republican senators told Persaud privately that they disapproved of the tactics of the National Rifle Association (NRA), which targeted her and Assemblymember Joanne Simon in its online publication America’s 1st Freedom at the beginning of this year.

In an editorial, the publication featured photos of Persaud and Simon with bullets next to them.

The shocking images were a reaction to a bill championed by Persaud and Simon in 2015 to prevent individuals from buying large amounts of ammunition within a 90-day period.

Persaud, who said she was outraged at being targeted, added that the NRA “is not willing to have a discussion on the issue of gun violence.”

As a result of the NRA controversy, Persaud said she has received venomous phone calls from NRA supporters.

The problem of gun violence in America is overwhelming, she said. But she quickly added that she intends to keep fighting for legislation. “Just because a problem is hard to solve does not mean we shouldn’t present something,” she said.

Sometimes, it takes outside-of-the-box thinking, she said. She recently met with dozens of clergy members at a breakfast event to try to come up with programs to reach out to young people. Public Advocate Letitia James also attended the session, which took place at Brookdale Hospital.

Persaud asked the clergy members to invite young people into their churches.

“Talk to them,” she advised the clergy.

There are many people who run churches or businesses in a neighborhood but don’t live there and therefore don’t feel a connection to the community, according to Persaud, who said they leave at the end of the day and don’t invest themselves in the neighborhood.

That’s the wrong attitude, she said. “Whether you live here or have a business here, you are part of this community,” she said.

The 19th Senate District includes all or parts of several Brooklyn neighborhoods, such as Brownsville, East New York, Starrett City, Canarsie, Flatlands, Mill Basin, Marine Park and Sheepshead Bay. 

Persaud is a proud Guyanese-American but said that she does not work solely for the benefit of the Guyanese. “I am here to work for all of the people of my district,” she said.

Her district is diverse and is becoming more diverse by the day. There is a growing community of immigrants from Bangladesh in East New York, she said.

When her family moved to Canarsie from Guyana years ago, they made an effort to become involved in the community, Persaud recalled.

“We always believed that you should work to make your community a better place,” she said.

There are major differences between being an assemblymember and becoming a state senator, Persaud admitted.

“The Senate is all business,” she said.

It is harder to get a bill passed in the Senate because she is a Democrat, she said. Republicans hold the majority of seats. “We’re in the minority,” she said.

The state Legislature is currently engrossed in the state budget, which is due on April 1. “We want to make sure there is additional funding for education,” Persaud said.

New York City still hasn’t received all of the funding from the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit, she said. In the aftermath of a lawsuit filed against the state several years ago by a nonprofit group Campaign for Fiscal Equity over shortfalls in education funding for New York City public schools, a judge ordered the state to provide billions in annual operating funds as well as billions in capital funds to city schools.

“We haven’t received all of the money,” Persaud said.

It’s important, she said, because “education and health are the largest parts of the budget.”

Brookdale Hospital is the only large hospital in Persaud’s Senate District.

Brookdale provides important services, according to Persaud, who said the hospital recently opened a breast health center.

While there is a movement in health care toward urgent care centers, as opposed to hospitals, “an urgent care center is not a substitute for a hospital,” she said.

Persaud’s former Assembly District had two public housing projects. By contrast, her Senate District has 17, including NYCHA developments and Mitchell-Lama housing.

Persaud said she meets regularly with leaders of tenant associations around the district. She recently visited the Louis Pink Houses, a NYCHA development in East New York.

“I’m a worker. I’m not just here as a senator in name only,” she said.

One of her goals is to set up a mobile office at various locations throughout the district so that constituents could receive assistance closer to home rather than having to visit her office.

The first mobile office will be set up at the New Lots Library in East New York. “We will have a few of them around the district,” Persaud said.

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