| | | Her heart is not in The Bronx’: AOC’s own district turns against congresswoman
By Isabel Vincent March 30, 2019 | 9:49pm | Updated
Alexandria Ocasio-CortezGetty Images
Amid her zeal to save the world with the Green New Deal, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has ignored residents in her own Bronx back yard.
“I thought AOC would be our savior, but that’s not the case,” complained Roxanne Delgado, a local activist who said she has tried for months to get in touch with the congresswoman for help saving an animal shelter and to clean up parks in the district.
Delgado, 40, says she has made numerous calls to Ocasio-Cortez’s offices in Washington and Queens and sent a barrage of tweets after the freshman lawmaker encouraged residents during a recent visit to a Bronx public library to hit her up on social media.
But she’s heard nothing back.
“NO email or contact on @AOC’s page except DC number which has full #voicemail and no one picks up,” Delgado tweeted on Monday.
The Post made several calls to both the Washington and Queens offices last week. The same recording at both numbers gives Ocasio-Cortez’s Web site and doesn’t allow a caller to leave a message.
The website includes a “scheduling request” form that visitors can fill out to ask for a meeting.
Another Bronx constituent told a community gathering last month that they needed Ocasio-Cortez for a sitdown with post-office officials to sort out difficulties he was having with mail delivery.
“I want AOC or a representative from AOC to be there,” Anthony Vitaliano, a former cop and Community Board 11 member, said at a Feb. 28 board meeting.
Vitaliano, 78, also wants Ocasio-Cortez to pressure Amtrak to clean up graffiti at property it owns on Tremont Avenue.
“You know, I appreciate what she’s doing, but she has to represent us,” he told the board gathering, where other elected officials — from the city and state but not AOC’s office — sent staffers.
Enlarge ImageRoxanne DelgadoAngel ChevresttVitaliano told The Post: “She has to address these local issues. Her district is everywhere else in the US. Her heart is not in The Bronx.”
By contrast, he said, residents’ needs received much more attention under Rep. Joe Crowley, whom Ocasio-Cortez unseated in a surprise primary upset last year.
The longtime congressman’s Bronx district representative, Thomas Messina, regularly attended community board meetings, according to Vitaliano.
“Tommy cared about us,” Vitaliano said.
Although Ocasio-Cortez tweeted about improving mail service in The Bronx this month, Vitaliano said he was still experiencing problems and waiting for her office to arrange a meeting with post-office management.
And although a Bronx community rep for Ocasio-Cortez visited the graffiti site, nothing has happened, he said.
Meanwhile, Delgado noted the animal-shelter site was spared — thanks to help from the City Council and the mayor’s office.
Making access all the more challenging for her constituents, Ocasio-Cortez has yet to open an office in The Bronx.
A rep for her told a Bronx community-board meeting in January that the congresswoman was having difficulty finding space.
“If you have any leads, please send them our way,” said Naureen Akhter, a deputy district director for Ocasio-Cortez’s office.
FILED UNDER ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ , THE BRONX |
|
