James Vacca
Member of the New York City Council
from the 13th district
In office
January 1, 2006 – December 31, 2017
Preceded byMadeline Provenzano
Succeeded byMark Gjonaj
Personal details
BornNew York City, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Children1
EducationEmpire State College (BA)
Queens College (MA)
WebsiteOfficial website

James Vacca is an American politician who served in the New York City Council from the 13th district from 2006 to 2017. He is a Democrat.

The district includes Allerton, Baychester, Bronx Park, City Island, Country Club, Ferry Point Park, Hart Island, Morris Park, Pelham Bay, Pelham Bay Park, Pelham Islands, Schuylerville, Throggs Neck, part of Van Nest and Westchester Square in The Bronx.[1]

Early life and education

Vacca was born in The Bronx and raised in Pelham Bay. He attended New York City public schools, graduating from P.S. 71, J.H.S. 101, and Christopher Columbus High School in the Bronx. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Empire State College and a Master of Arts in Urban Studies from Queens College, City University of New York.

Career

Since 2003 Vacca has served as an adjunct professor at CUNY Queens College, where he teaches a variety of courses in the social sciences. He was appointed as distinguished lecturer in the urban studies department in 2018. In addition, Vacca serves as an executive member of the academic senate at Queens College. He recently founded the college's food pantry to address the needs impacting the school's students. Continuing his work from his days in the New York City Council as chairperson of technology, he is a member of the Queens College Tech Incubator Advisory Board.

Prior to being elected to the city council in 2005, Vacca served as district manager of Bronx Community Board 10 for 26 years, and was appointed to the position in 1980, when he was 25 years old, becoming one of the youngest district managers in the city's history. He had previously served as chairman of the board. For numerous consecutive years under his leadership, board 10 was ranked the cleanest and safest community board in the Bronx.[2]

New York City Council

In early 2005, with Councilwoman Madeline Provenzano term-limited out of office, Vacca announced his candidacy for the 13th Council District seat. Already an established public figure in the East Bronx due to his years as district manager, he was endorsed by Congressman Joseph Crowley and Assemblyman Michael Benedetto, as well as dozens of community and civic groups, and The New York Times.[3]

In the September 13, 2005, Democratic Party primary, he faced four opponents: former Assemblyman Stephen B. Kaufman, Joseph A. McManus, Ismael Betancourt, and Egidio Joseph Sementelli. He won with nearly 40% of the vote; Kaufman captured roughly 25%.[4] In the general election, he defeated Philip Foglia, candidate of the Republican, Conservative and Independence Party lines, with 64% of the vote.[5]

In 2009, facing a little-known challenger running on the Conservative Party line, Vacca was easily re-elected to a second term, winning 92.8% of the vote. He easily won election to a final term in 2013 with over 83% of the vote.[6]

On Council, Vacca was an advocate for responsible zoning laws and for prevention of overdevelopment. In 2007, Vacca was also named co-chair of the council's Working Group on School Governance and Mayoral Control, established to guide the council recommendations upon the expiration of mayoral control in 2009.[7] After months of informal meetings with educators, union leaders, Administration officials, advocates, and parents, the Working Group issued its report in June 2009.[8][9][10] The report suggested a new system of municipal control.[11] Later that month, the New York State legislature passed 8903-A, a bill relating to the management and operation of the New York City School District.[12]

Vacca has also been influential in protecting funding for the Fire Department of New York.[13] He also has been a proponent of congestion pricing.[14]

In August 2017, as chair of the Committee on Technology, Vacca introduced an algorithmic transparency bill, Int. 1696–2017, that would require city agencies "that use algorithms or other automated processing methods that target services, impose penalties, or police persons to publish the source code used for such processing"—a nationwide first.[15][16][17] The bill was influenced by the scholarship of Danah boyd, Kate Crawford, and Cathy O'Neil.[18][19] After public hearings and negotiation with city agencies, an amended bill, Int. 1696-A, passed the City Council unanimously in December 2017.[20][21] The amended bill creates a task force to consider the issue and report to the city in late 2019.[22] Researcher Julia Powles, assessing the amended bill in The New Yorker, predicted that the task force's findings will have significant international and domestic impact, but warned that the bill's lack of reporting requirements for city agencies means the task force will need to rely on agencies' voluntary disclosures, which may be sparse.[23]

During the 2023 New York Council elections, Vacca withdrew his support for Democratic candidate Marjorie Velazquez after she expressed support for the construction of 349 housing units (168 of which were affordable housing) in Throggs Neck.[24]

Personal life

Vacca came out as gay in 2016.[25]

Election history

Election history
Location Year Election Results
NYC Council
District 13		 2005 Democratic
Primary		 √ James Vacca 38.41%
Stephen Kaufman 25.70%
Joseph McManus 20.41%
Ismael Betancourt Jr. 10.15%
Egidio Sementilli 5.33%
NYC Council
District 13		 2005 General √ James Vacca (D) 64.39%
Philip F. Foglia (R) 35.61%
NYC Council
District 13		 2009 General √ James Vacca (D) 94.22%
Frank Dellavalle (Conservative) 5.78%
NYC Council
District 13		 2013 General √ James Vacca (D) 83.23%
William Britt (R) 16.70%

See also

References

  1. ↑ "NYCityMap". NYC.gov. Retrieved 2016-03-21.
  2. ↑ "James Vacca, the King of Clean". New York Times. 1994-08-07. Retrieved 2015-09-23.
  3. ↑ "City Council Endorsements". New York Times. 2005-08-28. Retrieved 2015-09-23.
  4. ↑ "Statement and Return Report for Certification: Primary Election 2005 - Bronx County - Democratic Party" (PDF). Board of Elections in the City of New York. 2015-09-13. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-12-10. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  5. ↑ "Statement and Return Report for Certification, General Election 2005, for Member of the City Council (13)" (PDF). Board of Elections in the City of New York. 2005-11-08. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-12-24. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  6. ↑ "Election 2013 | WNYC". project.wnyc.org. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  7. ↑ "Vacca submits report to Quinn on mayor's school control renewal". Bronx Times. 2009-02-17. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  8. ↑ "New York City Council Committee on Education report: Oversight: Mayoral Control of New York City Schools". New York City Council. 2009-06-04.
  9. ↑ "Report: The New York City Council Working Group on Mayoral Control and School Governance" (PDF). Internet Archive. 2009-06-12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-12-22. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  10. ↑ "Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn's Submission to the Assembly on Education on School Governance". New York City Council. 2009-03-24. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  11. ↑ "City Council's governance group urges more Council authority". Chalkbeat. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  12. ↑ "2009 NYS Assembly Significant Legislation". nyassembly.gov. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  13. ↑ "City Island firehouse stays open despite budget's plan for shutdown". Daily News. 2009-07-01. Retrieved 2015-09-23.
  14. ↑ "Bronx Councilman James Vacca Backs 'Move NY' Congestion Pricing Plan". Observer. 2015-03-16. Retrieved 2015-09-23.
  15. ↑ Dwyer, Jim (2017-08-24). "Showing the Algorithms Behind New York City Services". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  16. ↑ Vacca, James (2017-08-24). "The New York City Council - File #: Int 1696-2017". legistar.council.nyc.gov. *. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  17. ↑ "The media today: Algorithms at City Hall". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  18. ↑ Vacca, James (2017-08-25). "@zephoria's work was very helpful as we researched the issues. @katecrawford's was too!". @JamesVacca13. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  19. ↑ Vacca, James (2017-08-25). "@mathbabedotorg's work was definitely a great resource as we developed this legislation!". @JamesVacca13. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  20. ↑ DataMade, NYC Council &. "Introduction 1696-2017 - NYC Councilmatic". NYC Councilmatic. Archived from the original on 2017-11-02. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  21. ↑ New York City Council Committee on Technology hearing, City Hall, New York City, New York, UA, 2017-10-16, retrieved 2017-12-24{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  22. ↑ "New York City Takes on Algorithmic Discrimination". American Civil Liberties Union. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  23. ↑ Powles, Julia (2017-12-21). "New York City's Bold, Flawed Attempt to Make Algorithms Accountable". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  24. ↑ Custodio, Jonathan (2023-11-09). "Rezoning Vote Shattered Voters' Trust in Defeated Bronx Councilmember". THE CITY - NYC News.
  25. ↑ "Flood of Support After Bronx Councilman James Vacca Reveals on Twitter He Is Gay". The New York Times. January 22, 2016.
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