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Ede Fox
Ede Fox was a Democratic candidate for District 35 representative on the New York City Council in New York. Fox was defeated in the primary election on September 12, 2017. Click here to read Fox's response to Ballotpedia's 2017 municipal candidate survey.
Biography
Fox earned her B.A. in anthropology from the University of Michigan. She later received her master's degree in anthropology from UCLA. Fox was an aide to Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and served later as the chief of staff to Councilman Jumaane Williams.[1]
Elections
2017
Incumbent Laurie Cumbo defeated Ede Fox in the Democratic primary election for the District 35 seat on the New York City Council.[2]
| New York City Council, District 35 Democratic Primary Election, 2017 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Laurie Cumbo Incumbent |
57.43% | 10,421 |
| Ede Fox | 41.60% | 7,549 |
| Write-in votes | 0.97% | 176 |
| Total Votes | 18,146 | |
| Source: New York City Board of Elections, "2017 Primary: Certified Results," accessed September 28, 2017 | ||
Campaign themes
2017
Fox participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of municipal government candidates.[3] The following sections display her responses to the survey questions. When asked what her top priority would be if elected, the candidate made the following statement:
| “ | Affordable housing is the number one issue I hear around the district so my top priority will be to introduce legislation and direct my budget priorities toward the creation and preservation of affordable housing. I will also take a leading role on criminal justice reform as well as improving our local public schools that are increasingly segregated as our neighborhoods change.[4] | ” |
| —Ede Fox (August 10, 2017)[1] | ||
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues by importance in the city, with 1 being the most important and 12 being the least important: city services (trash, utilities, etc.), civil rights, crime reduction/prevention, environment, government transparency, homelessness, housing, K-12 education, public pensions/retirement funds, recreational opportunities, transportation, and unemployment. This table displays this candidate's rankings from most to least important.
| Issue importance ranking | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking |
Issue | Candidate's ranking |
Issue |
| Housing | Civil rights | ||
| Homelessness | Government transparency | ||
| K-12 education | City services | ||
| Transportation | Environment | ||
| Crime reduction/prevention | Public pensions | ||
| Unemployment | Recreational opportunities | ||
Nationwide municipal issues
The candidate was asked to answer questions from Ballotpedia regarding issues facing cities across America. The questions are in the left column and the candidate's responses are in the right column. Some questions provided multiple choices, which are noted after those questions.
| Question | Response |
|---|---|
| Very important | |
| Local | |
| Focusing on small business development | |
| I’m most proud of the resiliency of our city and New Yorkers. Whether it was post-Hurricane Sandy, post-9/11, or a major blackout, the ability for our communities to come together, help each other and give selflessly of themselves in times of crisis can’t be beat. | |
| I’d really love to see voter participation in New York City improve. Increasing participation and transparency are essential to return faith in the electoral process and in the legitimacy of our government. I believe we can definitely improve the ease of voter registration at the DMV and implement more responsive tools like instant run-off voting and consolidating Federal, State and local primaries. Most importantly, I would like to see a continued increase in voter participation by formerly incarcerated people; it’s our responsibility as a society to aid re-entry so people fully exercise their rights as voters and citizens. | |
| I want to eliminate broken windows policing because it disproportionately impacts communities of color, especially in immigrant communities. I see broken windows policing as criminalizing poverty and does nothing to assist people of color in this City. Our communities deserve the protections in the Right to Know Act, which requires police officers to identify themselves and explain why they are approaching you and protects New Yorkers from unconstitutional searches. If elected, I will advocate with Council colleagues to pass the Right to Know Act. We must also pass much needed bail reforms. | |
| New York City must live up to its promise of a “sanctuary city” in order to protect immigrant workers by eliminating “broken windows” policing. The intersection between the criminal justice system and deportation significantly affects our city’s immigrant worker population. Broken windows policing in our immigrant communities places immigrant workers at risk of deportation, for minor infractions which destabilizes our immigrant families. In addition to eliminating “broken windows,” our city needs a true sanctuary plan requiring each city agency to develop guidelines for its members on protecting immigrants’ personal data and safety and guidance for nonprofits providing services to immigrants. | |
| Accessibility and equitable access are the highest priority needs for the MTA to address. The MTA should not wait until being sued to address our city’s urgent accessibility concerns. In 2015, less than 100 out of 490 subway stations were wheelchair accessible. This is unacceptable -- all new capital projects on any subway lines must provide for making stations wheelchair accessible. To improve equitable access, continued investments to implement SBS service in more neighborhoods, like the 35th district, and restoring previously cut bus and subway service are necessary.
In addition, the MTA needs to expand services while capping fares. There are still many parts of the outer boroughs that are underserviced extending commute times for many riders. Lastly, the derailments and delays seen this summer are unacceptable. We must demand the State put the necessary funds into the TA for track maintenance rather than diverting funds to upstate ski resorts so that we can rely on our public transportation system. | |
| The city’s housing policy is based on partnerships with the private real estate development industry and Mandatory Inclusionary Housing rezonings. Without commitments to union labor and affordability levels pegged to the local average income, these rezonings only accelerate displacement and homelessness. I believe any projects built using public subsidies of any kind (including density bonuses) must pay prevailing wages and must meet the local need for affordability. That may mean a more expensive project (though not always), but it ultimately has greater economic benefit for New York City residents. We must rethink our approach to housing policy or we will only see an increase in struggling New Yorkers. We must refocus our budget on creating and preserving affordable housing and investing in our largest stock of affordable housing, NYCHA. |
Endorsements
2017
Fox included the following endorsements in her response to the municipal candidate survey:[1]
- Mason Tenders District Council
- New York State Laborers
- Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats
- New Kings Democrats
- Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Ede Fox New York City Council. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| New York, New York | New York | Municipal government | Other local coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Ballotpedia's municipal government candidate survey, 2017, "Ede Fox's Responses," August 10, 2017
- ↑ Ballotpedia staff, "Email correspondence with the New York City Board of Elections," July 14, 2017
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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