By Viviane Faver
Phelan Fitzpatrick competes to be the first black and queer representative for New York City’s District. He is a survivor of armed violence, a small businessman, and a single father. His experiences strongly shaped his current candidacy to succeed city council president Corey Johnson (D-Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen, Greenwich Village, West SoHo, Hudson Square, Times Square, clothing district, Flatiron, Upper West Side) as representative of the council District 3.
To learn more about this candidate, read the exclusive interview in the New York Beacon.
New York Beacon: How can you describe your political journey so far?
Phelan Fitzpatrick: As a first-time candidate, my experience is unique compared to others in the race. I am not a political insider, and I have never held public office. I moved to New York City over 20 years ago. The year before September 11, I came here for opportunities that a queer, Black, 19-year-old would not find in Cleveland, Ohio.
For the past 16 years, I have been a small business operator in District 3, and I am also a single father to an amazing three-year-old daughter named Artemis. I decided to run for office because I felt that I had to.
In our democratic society – when your representatives do not understand your struggles, do not share your values, and make decisions that affect your life – you need to stand up and do something about it. The opening of the council seat in District 3 was not only a sign that it was time for me to get involved. It was my responsibility.
NYB: What can you offer New York City that your competitors cannot?
Phelan Fitzpatrick: While I might not be a politician, I come to this arena armed with personal experiences and history that make me a qualified representative for my neighbors and community, and therefore a qualified candidate for City Council. Some of these experiences are positive. I have the insights of raising a wonderful daughter, keeping a small business afloat and supporting my hard-working employees, and understanding the rewarding challenge of moving to NYC and picking yourself up by the bootstraps to be successful.
However, there are also difficult experiences that drive me to public office. I was raised by a single white mother who worked three jobs to support me, and I had an openly gay, Black father.
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When I was 19, he was targeted outside of a gay bar in Akron, Ohio, in an attempted mugging. He refused to give up his wallet, and two men shot him and left him dead in that parking lot. Because of my father’s race and sexual orientation, finding my father’s killers was never a high priority for law enforcement, and it remains a cold case to this day.
Being a gun violence survivor, enduring racial and homophobic discrimination my entire life, allows me to find my role and purpose in this City, that has been hit hard by the pandemic. I have perspective on the difference between what is right and wrong, what is suitable for a few versus what is right for the many. Now more than ever, everyday citizens need to get involved in the decisions that affect our everyday lives. The less entrenched someone is in politics, the more effectively they can serve their communities. However, right now, we have people in office who spend more time politicizing movements, virtue signaling on their social media accounts, and campaigning for office than actually legislating for real change that could impact the lives of countless New Yorkers.
NYB: In your opinion, as a small business owner, what would be the best first step in helping small business owners in NY?
Phelan Fitzpatrick: COVID-19 has changed everything. Thousands are out of work, the balance of our NYC economy has collapsed, and we are left without leadership. As a small business owner-operator in my district for the past 16 years, I can tell you firsthand how devastating the mandatory closures have been for myself and the 40 young, diverse staff who have been working for me over the years.
As of January 1, we have been forced to close our Chelsea store. Our landlord is not only suing for every month we were closed but is also adding thousands of dollars in late fees on top of it.
NYB: What was the response from our current District 3 Council member Corey Johnson, and his chief of staff Erik Bottcher, who is also a lead opponent?
Phelan Fitzpatrick: They were campaigning for office, fundraising hundreds of thousands of dollars to secure jobs for themselves while the rest of us were losing ours. The Small Business Jobs Survival Act (SBJSA), which has been sitting in committee for over two years, has yet to be brought up for a vote due to City Hall’s unwillingness and Council Speaker Corey Johnson to bring it to the floor.
New Yorkers cannot continue to run successful small businesses under the current system that gives too much power to landlords and places tenants at their mercy. As a Council Member, I am committed to ending the political theater of never-ending hearings and insist that the SBJSA be brought for a vote. This bill protects not only small business owners but in turn, the jobs they create as well. Each month over 1,000 NYC businesses like mine are forced to close their doors, most often because they lost their lease. By protecting these small businesses, the City can also protect the New Yorkers that keep them running every day.
NYB: What message would you like to send to the reader who is suffering the consequences of this crisis?
Phelan Fitzpatrick: Racial injustice and income inequality in my community have reached critical mass. As an openly gay, Black citizen of this great City, I have worked hard to build a life for myself and my family, facing adversity at every turn. Now more than ever, my fellow Black and Queer community’s voice needs to be represented in City Council, something that has never been done in District 3. I have experienced racial, sexual, and housing discrimination for over 20 years in NYC.
I’ve always wrongly assumed that the offenses and struggles I have endured to live here were sacrifices someone like me had to make to stay here. Now, at 39, I am a father of an incredible 3-year-old daughter of my own, and I’m committed to raising her in the City where she was born, the City that we love and call home.
I can no longer sit idly by and let others decide about her life that don’t have our best interest at heart. I have hope that things won’t just return to normal with time, but instead can become better than we ever imagined. My political aspirations are not grand. They are built on a desire for my daughter and so many young future New Yorkers like her to lead a happy and fulfilled life, to not have to expect the same kinds of social injustices that thousands of New Yorkers have endured, myself included. It is my responsibility, obligation, and privilege to do everything I can to ensure that happiness – as a father, as a small business owner, as a Black man, as a gay man, as a New Yorker. Our world is changing, and I am running for a City Council to ensure that change continues in the right direction.
