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POWER LUNCH
Rep. Nydia Velázquez, a native of Puerto Rico and current Carroll Gardens resident, this year became the first Latina to chair a full House committee, the Small Business Committee. She is also the only member of the New York City Congressional delegation to represent three boroughs: Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens.
City Hall recently met with Velázquez at the Sunset Park eatery International Restaurant, which specializes in Spanish-American cuisine. Following is an edited transcript.
City Hall: You’ve been a trailblazer for the Latino community. How have your experiences as a Latina informed your work in government?
Nydia Velazquez: First of all, it’s always good when we say that we have a Congress today that truly represents America by the composition and the makeup. And in that sense, legislation that we craft, legislation that we pass, is more representative.
I bring with me the contributions of knowing what works and what doesn’t work. Now when we talk about businesses in America, the reality is that Latina women are the fastest growing economic sector of our economy.
CH: What is a distinctive need of a Latina businesswoman?
NV: One of the main obstacles for Latina woman is access to capital. So I, as a Latina, know that one of the characteristics of Latinas is this entrepreneurial spirit, and I know that for low-income women it’s difficult because they don’t have the credit history to access capital. So what can I do as a Member of Congress to facilitate that? To have a micro-loan program. We start building the credit history for that woman by providing small amounts of capital for her to have a record of paying back her loans so that she can come back and ask for a bigger amount.
CH: Tell me about growing up in Puerto Rico—your father was an activist. Was he your inspiration for getting into politics?
NV: Yes. It was tough. We were nine children living in a three-bedroom, wooden house. A family of 11. And my father at the beginning when he married my mother, he worked in the sugar cane fields. He was always a very strong guy with a tremendous and profound sense of justice. He got involved in talking to the workers about their rights and one thing lead to the other, and that was for him to become an activist within the political party that remained in power for 24 years in Puerto Rico. I used to see all these rallies in my house because we had a farm and a big, big yard. And I was a tiny little girl watching my father climb into a flatbed truck and seeing that powerful guy giving speeches. And this is a person who dropped out of school when he went to third grade because his father died so he had to work and be a provider for his family.
CH: You’re the only member of the New York Congressional delegation who represents three boroughs—and many diverse communities. Is that hard? I imagine that one community’s needs often differ from another’s.
NV: Not really. I think that it doesn’t matter what ethnicity or community. Every part of my district cares so much about providing the best quality education for their children, everyone wants to get meaningful jobs in our communities, and then one issue that cuts across the board is affordable housing. Middle class being squished. There might be some issues that might vary when it comes to foreign policy, and so one community cares more about Latin America and the relationship between the United States and Latin America, but when it comes to issues such as trade, we want to promote trade agreements that are fair not only to workers in America and to businesses, but workers back in those countries.
CH: You, along with nearly all of the New York Congressional delegation, have supported Hillary Clinton for president. Her refusal to recant her vote for the war in Iraq doesn’t bother you, a person who voted against the war from the start?
NV: Well, I always say that you vote your conscience and your district and I guess that based on the evidence that she thought that she had in front of her, that that was the best decision for her to make. I disagreed with her on that.
CH: And that’s not enough to have you think about supporting another candidate?
NV: She said that if she gets elected, the troops will come home and that she will put and end to the Iraq war. Look, there is a primary going on and I think it’s the best thing that could happen for the Democratic Party. These are special times for our country that require a lot of profound, meaningful discussions and debates on certain issues that are important for generations to come. So she will have an opportunity to debate those issues, especially her position on Iraq.
CH: When do you want to see the troops come home? Today? March 2008? Yesterday?
NV: The sooner the better. There’s no role for the U.S. Army to be involved in a civil war.
CH: What do you like to eat?
NV: I love food. And I love everything about food. I think that food is one of the most social aspects of human life and I use it not as a way to sustain myself and be healthy, but as a way to socialize. I love to cook.
CH: What do you cook?
NV: Everything. Italian food, French, Latin. If I go to a restaurant and I love the dish, I just come back home and I try to do it. And I have that ability. And then I love to have people come over the house to have that food, to eat with us. My husband also enjoys food and loves to cook.
[Pours dressing over her salad that she made herself at the table].
And this is just olive oil and lemon—and then if you could add some cilantro to it…
CH: Do you have time to cook during a normal work week?
NV: At night, I do. Sometimes we have so many receptions to go to, but I avoid eating at those receptions. It’s a very difficult life in Washington. You get home so late every night and then there are many receptions you have to attend. But I try as much as I can to cook.
[Food arrives: chicharrones de pollo, or fried chicken]
CH: What is this called again?
NV: Chicharrones de pollo.
CH: Is this a typical Caribbean dish? Or Puerto Rican?
NV: Caribbean. It’s Puerto Rican, it’s Dominican, Cuban.
CH: Do you find good food in D.C.? Carolyn Maloney said food there was not as good as food in New York.
NV: Not so. There’s good fusion cuisine and modern cuisine. Tell Carolyn to talk to me.
CH: You introduced a bill that would encourage bodegas to carry healthier foods in low-income neighborhoods. Why is that the role of the government and not the individual to go out and make healthy choices?
NV: It’s either that, or for the government to have to spend more money when people get sick. [The bill is] not just about food. There is an education component to it. We provide grants for community-based organizations to do what Woodhull Hospital right now is doing. Dr. Fishkin—he has this group of kids from the neighborhood. They go to Woodhull, they exercise, they ride their bicycles in the summer. But then the other component is for them to learn that food is good. And it’s good if you eat the right food.
The problem that we have in the bodegas, when you have parents who are working two and three jobs and they are coming home to cook late, they don’t have time to go to the supermarket. They get off the train and stop by the bodega to buy whatever is there. The problem is that there’s not much variety in terms of the food that they can offer because a bodega is so tiny. You need to invest so that the bodegas can carry more.
CH: What’s the hardest part about chairing a committee?
NV: When I was the ranking [member], it’s much easier, much easier to be in the opposition. Because what we do is to criticize. In my case, we were very proactive and we were always working on legislation and with the other side even though the committee and the committee chairman didn’t exert much oversight. So right now, we are in power, we are in charge and we know we have to produce results, and that’s what we’re doing.
CH: How are small businesses doing in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast post-Katrina?
NV: I can show you all the different press releases that I’ve issued in the last 18 months after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. The federal government, though FEMA and SBA [the Small Business Administration], they are responsible for providing the money, the resources for business to be able to get back on their feet. And the response that the Katrina victims got from the federal government was a disaster. And I held I don’t know how many hearings in my committee. Because of the criticisms—and it was broadly covered by the Washington Post, USA Today, everyone—and so as a result of my relentless criticisms, the administrator of SBA stepped down. A new administrator has been appointed. The new administrator—let me tell you this—SBA approved 422,000 loans. Eighteen months later, only 22 percent of those loans have been given, put into their hands. So over 400,000 were approved and the people have not seen a penny. It’s a disaster. And from what I hear, there are places in New Orleans that look like Katrina happened yesterday. I’m going to be there on Wednesday. I’m going to hold a field hearing.
CH: Do you shop at Costco, Target and other big box stores? Or do you try to focus on small businesses?
NV: My husband does most of the shopping.
CH: What does your husband do?
NV: He works with businesses. And he was a printer and he continues to do printing jobs that are political, for campaigns. But I promote small businesses in my district. Orchard Street has the best shoe stores, jewelry stores, clothing stores and it’s amazing to see the great renaissance of that commercial strip. Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn—one of my main places to shop is Miriam’s clothing. It’s between Clinton and Court Street. It’s great.
CH: Do watch any particular TV shows?
NV: No.
CH: American Idol?
NV: I watch it once in a while.
CH: Do you think it’s appropriate to use luxury housing to fund Brooklyn Bridge Park?
NV: I want for the governor and the Empire State Development Corporation to look at how the previous administration came to the conclusion that luxury housing was needed and the amount of money that is needed to sustain the park. Until there is an answer to those questions, people will be cynical about the process.
CH: You’ve introduced legislation encouraging Puerto Rico to come up with a method of determining its political status. If you had a vote in determining Puerto Rico’s status, would you want it to become a full-fledged state? Its own country? Something else?
NV: I have my strong feelings, but I always thought that my responsibility as a Member of Congress—not a Puerto Rican Member of Congress—as a Member of Congress is to provide for a vehicle for the people of Puerto Rico to empower themselves politically and to take in their own hand their political destiny. What we have today doesn’t work. It needs to be changed, modified, and the only thing I can tell you right now is that statehood, for me, is not an option.
CH: Why is that?
NV: Because the people in Puerto Rico, they want to have their own identity. This is why if you say to the people of Puerto Rico, you cannot have your own Olympic committee, you cannot send a representative to Miss Universe, you will have to adopt English as the official language—that they will never buy into that. I don’t think that Puerto Ricans in any way will want to lose their identity. And they cherish the political relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States. They love this country, they’re proud of being Americans, but they are also proud of being Puerto Ricans.
CH: Do you have any guilty pleasures when it comes to food? Do you love sweets, for example?
NV: No, I suffer from low blood pressure, so I love salt.
CH: You’ve also worked to bridge the digital divide. How digital a person are you? Do you have an iPod?
NV: Yes, I have a BlackBerry. I have a Nano.
CH: What’s on it?
NV: Like 2,000 songs. I love music and I’m a great dancer. My holiday party is very big in Greenpoint. We’ve got like 300 people with a lot of music and good food and the entire community from the Lower East Side, Ridgewood, Maspeth to Sunset Park, Red Hook, Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope.
CH: Is your husband a good dancer?
NV: He thinks he is. Don’t write that! He tries.
CH: How do you take a break? Do you ever go on vacation?
NV: Saturday night, I went to see a movie: “Namesake.”
CH: Was that good?
NV: Oh, it was great. Oh my god, it was so good. It’s about an Indian family moving into New York. I try to balance it out. I try to take one day off, or at least half a day off. But you just can’t say, “I’ll take a day off.” There’s always something happening in the district. And especially in the summer. We are in session five days a week. When you come back, you have to show your face.