City of Newburgh Councilman Omari Shakur will seek re-election this coming fall with first time candidate Odirlei Thomaz and former councilwoman Gay Lee. Each of these candidates will be running on the Democratic line this coming fall, and the addition of these announcements has now added over five names to the current pool of candidates.

Shakur enters the race with a full four year term already under his belt similar to former councilwoman Lee who previously served from 2012 to 2016. Shakur will look to serve again with the current council and Mayor Torrance Harvey, who had announced his re-election bid recently. Councilman Anthony Grice made the decision to not to run for re-election this coming November. Additional candidates recently announced for the at-large seat included Ali Muhammad, Bryan Luna, Anusha Mehar and RD McLymore.
Each candidate had the opportunity to reflect on the upcoming election season, their platforms, work they wish to accomplish or continue while in office and additional words for the community in hopes of receiving their vote.

Omari Shakur - Raised in the City of Newburgh, Shakur is ready once again to serve his city. Over the past several weeks, dialogue and feedback with community members have made Shakur aware that they wanted him to run again for city council. In addition to the Democratic line, Shakur was also seeking the Working Families party line, which has been in discussion over the past several weeks.

For Shakur, dialogue on issues amongst community members and residents that he wishes to continue working on if re-elected to council would address the housing crisis and emphasize workforce development in the city, for which Shakur addresses and advocates for when conversations about development and employment opportunities arise. City infrastructure, such as the sidewalks in the city, are also a priority for Shakur if re-elected. Shakur, who also speaks on the youth relations, is preparing for potential programs for the city youth as the pool, which has been an on-going project for some time, will be closed again.

“We’re definitely in a good place. We’re definitely in a good place on paper. We did our work on paper but we still, the human part of it, we have to make sure that the human, that what we’re doing good in the city reflects on our residents and reflects on the city itself,” said Shakur. “It’s just ongoing work.”

For Shakur, he shared that for residents, he wants to let them know that the city council and city departments are here to help and that people should come out to share their problems in order to fix them. More residents involved can lead to more constructive work, Shakur discussed. While Shakur is aware of those who are critical of him, he welcomes criticism as he uses it to learn as a councilman.
“‘I’ve opened the door for people who have never been to City Hall before, we have given access to people who have never had voices before,” Shakur said. “I was one of the biggest critics of city hall and now I’m one of the biggest supporters of city hall by doing the work right now.”

Odirlei Thomaz - First time candidate Thomaz was born in 1978 in the City of Belo Horizonte, the third biggest city in Brazil, in the State of Minas Gerais. Thomaz came to the City of Newburgh in 1993 at 14 and attended South Middle School and was part of the English as a Second Language program. Thomaz attended Newburgh Free Academy and played soccer, where he also became a captain for the team. Thomaz went on to attend SUNY New Paltz and was pursuing a degree in International Business but put his education on hold to provide and raise his family. He has since had and raised three children who were raised in Newburgh. In 2002, Thomas started his trucking business, ALN Stars Trucking.

Thomaz feels he is ready to step into this leadership role and serve the city that he has grown up in. “I’m running for the city council at-large in the City of Newburgh because I see the city that we all love, the city that gave me – a non-English speaker, immigrant– the opportunity to build a life. I want to help change the stigma our city has. I want the children of this city to have the same opportunities as their peers from nearby towns. The only way for our city to strive is by working together,” said Thomaz. “I’m not doing this to promote any, you know, big aspirations. I’m just doing this because I do love my city.”

Thomaz looks to work closely with the Latino community and the city government improving communication between the two groups, working in the revitalization and improvement of the city parks to foster community and asking for more community input on what their needs may be. Thomaz plans to work closely with the police department, improve the community police relations office, work with the mayor and council to maintain balanced taxes and promote business development if elected to office this fall.

“I am not a politician. I am a working-class immigrant parent, like most of the population in the City of Newburgh, and I noticed that the Latino community feels disengaged with city politics. I believe that being multilingual in Portuguese, Spanish, and English allows me to communicate and educate on the importance of making our voices heard by voting,” said Thomaz. “I want to be the voice of our immigrant families. Quiero que sus voces se escuchen. “Su Voto, Su Voz” “Your Vote, Your Voice.”

Gay Lee - Former city councilwoman Gay Lee will seek a council seat once again this coming November in the upcoming election. Lee previously ran in the race for the city Ward 1 seat against current Councilwoman Giselle Martinez and candidate Shnekwa McNeil.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Lee has been a social worker for over three decades with an office located at 450 Broadway, where she welcomes residents to stop by and speak with her. She went on to attend New York City Technical College and completed her bachelors education at York College. Lee went on to attend Smith College and received her masters degree and then went to achieve a doctorate from Capella University. Lee raised her children on Long Island and later on in life moved to the City of Newburgh and has remained since.

Lee, who served on the city council from 2012 to 2016, was also a part of the transition from a five to seven member council during her term. She shared that she is ready to serve again and continue the discussions concerning issues that are still prevalent in the city and looks to add her experience and her thoughts to the continuing conversation with other council members.

The problems that Lee discussed that are still on-going are the violence amongst the youth, taxes, rent stabilization, evictions, unemployment and lack of opportunities for children. “The issues I raised are still issues that need to be raised. I think the reason people are taking an interest is because I never stopped talking about the problems. I’m not running against anyone. I’m running against these problems that seem to never go away,” said Lee. “I’ve devoted my life to helping people and advocating for them. I see my role as having two really important goals as a council member. One is to keep the constituents happy and you keep them happy by listening to them, and working on the issues that they present. The other one is securing our future. Keep our constituents happy and safe I should add and secure our future as a city, as a safe city. As a city with resources for its residents.”