Jamaica-born Everley Brown seeking NY State Assembly seat

Lester Hinds, Gleaner Writer 

Everley Brown is seeking to become the second Jamaica-born person to sit in the New York State Assembly.

Brown is running in Assembly District 29, which encompasses the neighbourhoods of Laurelton, Rosedale, St Albans, Addisleigh Park, Hollis, Springfield Gardens and Jamaica.

The sitting assembly person representing the district is Alicia Hyndham, who also has Caribbean roots.

Should Brown wins, he would follow in the footstep of N. Nick Perry who sat in the Assembly for a number of years representing the 58th assembly district before he was recently appointed United States Ambassador to Jamaica.

With the departure of Perry, there is currently no Jamaica-born person in the State Assembly.

Brown has secured a spot on the ballot running as a Democrat in the district.

The New York Primary takes place on June 28.

This is Brown's second attempt for a state assembly seat having tried and failed in the past.

He was born in Clarendon, Jamaica where he attended school.

He is a graduate of Walgrove High School and what is now the University of Technology, Jamaica.

He migrated to the United States in 1974, settling in Rosedale, Queens.

In the US, he attended St. Francis College in Brooklyn and John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

The real estate developer has centred his campaign on seeking to end foreclosure in his district.

According to Brown, several people in the district have lost their homes because of foreclosure due to the COVID pandemic.

“Middle and lower class homeowners in the district are losing their homes and no one is paying attention to their plight. I want to end foreclosure so people can remain in their homes and not become homeless,” he said.

According to the candidate, there are some 67,000 homeless people in New York with 40 percent being children.

No one, he said, is fighting for homeowners.

Brown proposes that homeowners should be allowed to set aside three percent of their mortgage payments that could be used to offset foreclosure when the economy takes a downward turn.

“I don't want to see children either on the streets or have their lives impacted negatively because of parents losing their homes,” said Brown.

He further believes that a black-owned bank should be opened in the district to help homeowners and small business owners whom he said are mostly immigrants.

His other focus is education.

According to Brown, more must be done to fund schools with after-school programmes provided to assist children.

The population of the district is listed at just under 135,000 with females making up 54 percent and males 46 percent.

The majority of the population, 57 percent, is black and the median income for the district is US$79,000 yearly.

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