Antirson Ortiz, a long-time resident of Hunts Point and Longwood, has served the public as a youth counselor, auxiliary police officer, and staff for former Assembly Member Marcos Crespo and mayoral candidate Scott Stringer. He is currently the Director of Constituent Services for Comptroller Brad Lander. Now Ortiz is making his bid for City Council. Ortiz, who immigrated from the Dominican Republic when he was 10, is running as a Democrat. He is also endorsed by the Working Families Party.
Why are you running for the District 17 seat?
“Too often we have – I want to say candidates and other people that represent us that perhaps haven’t been living here for the longest or not have longtime residence, and I think the proper representation is needed. That the working families in this district deserve someone who knows the district, believes in the district, hasn’t left – doesn’t plan on leaving anytime soon – and has dedicated his life to the district.”
Why should Bronxites vote for you?
“The district here had a high percentage of individuals that unfortunately lost hope in the Democratic party and voted Republican in the last election. And we see that people continue to lose this hope in government and the services the government is supposed to provide. I believe that with my experience […] making sure that families in The Bronx and across the entire city continue to receive the proper services that they deserve is something that speaks volume to a lot of the people here in the district.”
What are the important issues in your district?
“We have five key topics that we want to focus on our platform. The first one is building a safer community. Crime continues to be high in the South Bronx. We want to make sure that we continue to invest in intervention and prevention programs that would not allow our youth to go through bad paths and bridge the gap between community and policing. The second will be building a better educational system. […] As a former graduate from a trade school, I believe that we have to continue to invest in different approaches like trade, where our kids can learn about trade, union jobs, etcetera. We want to make sure that there’s more affordable low income housing, but besides that there are also homeowner opportunities for all. […] Jobs, careers and entrepreneurship is something that we definitely want to develop. And lastly, it will be our health and seniors. […] One of the platforms we have is to create a main health hub in the Hunts Point community – an entire building just dedicated to health.”