Andrea Gordillo (District 2 City Council candidate) – Meet the Candidates 2025!

The Murray Hill Neighborhood Association reached out to all the candidates running for office in 2025 that intersect our neighborhood (Mayor, Manhattan Borough President, City Council District 2, and City Council District 4, etc.) with questions sourced directly from our members via our Ask the Candidates questionnaire. See the candidate’s answers below.

How you would improve our streets and quality of life?

In New York City space is at a premium, including space on our streets. As a city, we must put people before cars and reimagine our streets as spaces for safety, connection, and clean air. The ability to efficiently and safely transit our streets is essential. That means building physically protected bus and bike lanes, widening sidewalks, and redesigning intersections to prioritize pedestrians. We must also crack down on illegal parking, placard abuse, and reckless driving and biking through consistent enforcement and automated systems. Slowing traffic, enforcing bus lanes, and assuring that corridors like Second and Third Avenues quieter, smoother, and safer for everyone — especially bus riders, cyclists, seniors, and children. Paint isn’t protection; we need real infrastructure that reflects the value of every life on our streets.

But we also need to go beyond safety and think about livability. That means expanding tree cover, turning curbside parking into public space, and investing in green infrastructure that cools and cleans our air. Community input — especially from longtime residents like yourselves — should drive these changes, with deep outreach and transparency. I’m committed to a vision of our neighborhoods that centers care, equity, and dignity, so that every New Yorker can move through their city with ease, joy, and confidence. We all deserve streets that support health, not harm.

How are you going to handle the illegal migrant situation that has escalated into NYC?

Immigrants helped build New York City. When my parents first came to the United States, they got married and started a new life in Queens. Like many New Yorkers, they worked hard and grueling hours, and my father eventually became a public health official. I believe the American Dream is worth fighting for, that our immigration system is broken, and every level of government has failed to effectively manage the influx of immigration in our City.

The city has wasted millions on irresponsible and expensive vendors, and immigrant families and children have been subject to instability and homelessness, causing lower quality of life for all people. Newly arrived immigrants want to work, and our city has floundered in facilitating and expediting that process. As your Councilmember, I will work with the Mayor and the Government to authorize local work authorizations. More jobs and workforce = lower costs of goods.

I will also work with my future colleagues to identify and survey areas in the city that need city workers and identify longer term housing opportunities, and not shelters, so that immigrants can settle into our city as they have for generations. I will also work with regional governments and localities to coordinate resettlement more effectively.

How can housing become more affordable and not just for low income candidates?

The rent is too damn high — not just for low-income households, but for working- and middle-class New Yorkers, too. I’ve lived that reality. As Chair of my Community Board, I’ve fought to protect and expand affordable housing — from rent-stabilized units and HDFCs to community land trusts — and as your Councilperson, I’ll push even further to preserve and create housing that’s truly affordable, not just on paper, but in people’s lives. We’re living through a historic housing shortage and affordability crisis, and we need to build more housing as NYC has historically in the post war period.

We also need to deploy comprehensive tools that support all New Yorkers — not just the lowest-income, but those caught in the growing gap between too much rent and not enough help. That means expanding homeownership opportunities like Mitchell-Lama and down payment assistance programs, building housing on the public land that we have in our district, and pass the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act.

If elected, I will hire a housing division within my council office to assist tenants repairs, protect tenants from eviction and harassment, and create a registry of vacant units to bring warehoused housing back into use. Middle-income New Yorkers are the backbone of this city, and I’ll fight for a future where they can stay, thrive, and put down roots — without fear of displacement.

How would you address homelessness and mental illness in NYC?

Homelessness and mental illness are not crimes — they are serious public health and housing issues, and as your Councilwoman, I will treat them that way. I believe every New Yorker deserves dignity, safety, and support, no matter their housing status. That starts with lowering the rent and expanding access to permanent housing. I’ve already identified units of 100% affordable housing that I plan to build in my district, and I’ll work with my colleagues to build even more across the city for working families and those most at risk of displacement.

We must also fix our broken shelter and mental health systems. I’ll push the Department of Homeless Services to construct single-room Safe Haven shelters that offer privacy, safety, and a real path off the streets — because shared dorms often deter people from seeking help. As Community Board chair, I have seen individuals refuse shelter for this very reason more times than is acceptable. I’ll fight to reform the CityFHEPS voucher system, eliminate administrative delays, and hold landlords accountable for illegal discrimination, so more New Yorkers can actually use their vouchers.

I support a community-first responder model that sends mental health professionals, not police, to de-escalate crises. I’ll fight to expand programs like B-HEARD and fund community centers, youth programs, and health institutions that effectively prevent homelessness before it begins with thoughtful partnership and analysis. These policies are an urgent and necessary step toward restoring humanity and hope to a city that far too often leaves people behind.

How would you support the Murray Hill Neighborhood Association?

For the last decade, I have led cultural, policy, and democratic institutions in Manhattan, from the Loisaida Inc., to Coalition for a District Alternative, guided by the principle of co-governance. Collaboration with community members and organizations is critical to successfully solving our most pressing problems, and I know through experience that neighborhood groups want to meaningfully contribute to the betterment of our communities. I commit to working with MHNA on legislative and budget priorities that are important to residents.

I am committed to consistently meeting with and sincerely listening to the concerns and perspectives of Murray Hill Neighborhood Association members so that together, we can work to build a safer, more livable, more affordable community.

Bio

Andrea Gordillo is a proud daughter of Peruvian immigrants and a deeply rooted community leader in Lower Manhattan. A former organizer and lifelong advocate for racial and economic justice, Andrea’s path has taken her from unionizing dining hall workers in Boston to leading cultural and community institutions throughout District 2 like Loisaida Inc., Fourth Arts Block, The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural Center, and The Public Theater. Throughout that time, she has marshaled millions in public and community investments, has served hundreds of residents and families through world class community programming, and spearheaded resiliency initiatives. She is the Chairperson of Manhattan’s Community Board 3, where she has led the diverse board through complex challenges the past two years.

Shaped by her family’s sacrifices and her own struggles with housing and healthcare insecurity, Andrea is running for City Council to fight for a more just, equitable, and sustainable New York — one where every New Yorker has the chance to thrive, no matter where they come from.

https://andreagordillo.nyc/