Kendall Stewart - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Kendall Stewart represented District 45 in the New York City Council

New York City Council

The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of the City of New York. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs. The Council serves as a check against the mayor in a "strong" mayor-council government model. The council monitors performance of city agencies and...

until December 31, 2009. Born in St. Vincent

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is an island country in the Lesser Antilles chain, namely in the southern portion of the Windward Islands, which lie at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea where the latter meets the Atlantic Ocean....

and educated at Caribbean Union College, Stewart began his career as a podiatrist

Podiatry

Podiatry is a branch of medicine devoted to the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disorders of the foot, ankle, and lower leg. The term podiatry came into use first in the early 20th century United States, where it now denotes a Doctor of Podiatric Medicine , a specialist who is qualified by their...

.

He first ran for office in this district-which was designed in order to maximize the political clout of the largely West Indian constituency that lies within this area, i.e. Flatlands

Flatlands, Brooklyn

Flatlands is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The area is part of Brooklyn Community Board 18.One of the original five Dutch towns on Long Island , this neighborhood was originally known as Nieuw Amersfoort, after the Dutch city of Amersfoort, but the name was changed to...

, Flatbush

Flatbush, Brooklyn

Flatbush is a community of the Borough of Brooklyn, a part of New York City, consisting of several neighborhoods.The name Flatbush is an Anglicization of the Dutch language Vlacke bos ....

, East Flatbush

East Flatbush, Brooklyn

East Flatbush is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The area is part of Brooklyn Community Board 17 Though the borders of East Flatbush are highly subjective, its northern border is roughly at Empire Boulevard and East New York Avenue east of East 91st Street, its southern...

, and Midwood

Midwood, Brooklyn

Midwood is a neighborhood in the south central part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, New York, USA, roughly halfway between Prospect Park and Coney Island. The neighborhood is within Community District 14...

- in 1997 against then incumbent City Councilman Lloyd Henry. Although defeated in that race, Stewart went on to successfully contest the seat four years later in a crowded Democratic primary field, which included two other Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

-American candidates, and future State Senator Kevin Parker.

As the incumbent from that district, Stewart would face a tough re-election battle in 2005 when Samuel Taitt, who has become a perennial political rival for Stewart, decided to run against him for the seat yet again. One of the issues raised over the course of the campaign was a comment Stewart made that his opponents, as well as many Haitian-Americans, viewed as being derogatory towards Haitians. In response to an article published in the New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....

, which accused him of being a delinquent landlord, he asserted that the poor condition of his rental properties were the result of the behavior of Haitian-Americans. He also accused them of breaking locks, which he described as a "cultural thing". During Taitt's rematch against Stewart in 2005 Taitt insinuated that Stewart's campaign might have been behind defamatory campaign pamphlets circulated within the district one week prior to Election Day, a charge that Stewart's campaign vehemently denied.

Stewart has also been Democratic District Leader for the 58th Assembly District.

Stewart was defeated in the September 2009 Democratic primary by more than 1,100 votes by a newcomer, Jumaane Williams

Jumaane Williams

Jumaane D. Williams is a Democratic politician who is a member of the New York City Council, representing the 45th Council District which includes parts of Flatbush, East Flatbush, Flatlands, and Canarsie in Brooklyn.-Personal:...

, but ran in the November 2009 general election on the Independence Party line. He was defeated nonetheless by Williams on election day, November 3, 2009.

He is an alumnus

Alumnus

An alumnus , according to the American Heritage Dictionary, is "a graduate of a school, college, or university." An alumnus can also be a former member, employee, contributor or inmate as well as a former student. In addition, an alumna is "a female graduate or former student of a school, college,...

of City College

City College of New York

The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...

and the New York College of Podiatric Medicine.

External links

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