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Yuh-Line Niou takes Sheldon Silver’s old state Assembly seat
She plans to zero in on preserving housing affordability
Yuh-Line Niou became the first Asian-American woman to win election to the New York State Assembly for a Manhattan district – and it happens to be Sheldon Silver’s old seat.
The 33-year-old former chief of staff to Queens Assembly member John Kim plans to win more funding for flood protection and schools in Lower Manhattan.
“I think securing FEMA money, securing resiliency funding for Lower Manhattan is a top priority. We know another storm is going to hit us, it’s just a matter of when and we need funding for Lower Manhattan to be prepared,” she told DNAinfo. “Our population is exploding Downtown, but we don’t have enough schools — we need a middle school, we need to alleviate overcrowding.”
Niou also plans to zero in on preserving housing affordability and on ethics reform.
In April, Niou lost a special election for the seat to Alice Cancel, after Silver was convicted of corruption. But in September, she won the Democratic primary, opening her path to Albany. Last night, she won 76 percent of the vote.
Born in Taiwan, Niou lived in Idaho and Texas before moving to New York in 2010 to attend Baruch College. [DNAinfo] — Konrad Putzier