Marcos Crespo

Marcos Crespo
Member of the New York Assembly from the 85th District
Incumbent
Assumed office June 3, 2009
Preceded by	Rubén Díaz, Jr.
Personal details
Born	(1980-07-29) July 29, 1980 Guayama, Puerto Rico
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Religion	Catholic
Website	Official website

Marcos A. Crespo (born July 29, 1980)^[1][2] is a Democratic member of the New York State Assembly representing the 85th Assembly District, which includes the Soundview, Clason Point, Longwood, and Hunts Point sections of the South Bronx.

Born in Guayama, Puerto Rico, Crespo and his family moved to New York City when he was a young child. Crespo also spent some time in Lima, Peru, in his young years, thus shaping Crespo's views about the conditions of other countries.

He enrolled in John Jay College in 1996, pursuing a degree in government studies. In 2003, he participated in the State Assembly's internship program, where he was assigned to work with Assemblyman Rubén Díaz, Jr. Crespo earned his B.A. degree in 2004, after which he got a position as assistant to New York State Senator Rubén Díaz, Sr.^[1]

Crespo was first elected to the State Assembly in a June 2009 special election to replace Rubén Díaz Jr., who became Bronx Borough President in 2009.

Extended Bio

Assemblyman Marcos A. Crespo was born in Guayama, Puerto Rico, on July 29, 1980, one of four children of Ivette Fontanez and Alberto Crespo. At a young age, Marcos moved with his family to New York City, where he began his elementary studies in the New York City Public Schools System. Marcos would also spend three years living in Lima, Perú, where he completed his fourth and fifth grade studies while attending Santa Tersesita. He returned to Puerto Rico with his younger sister and his mother and completed High School at Carmen Bozello de Huyke High School, but soon thereafter, returned to New York to live with his father. His time living in Peru, Puerto Rico and New York allowed Marcos to broaden his views about the living conditions of people in other parts of the world.

Crespo's hard work and outcome proven approach has allowed him to quickly move into a leadership positions. In April 2013 he was appointed to the Chairmanship of the Assembly Task Force on New Americans. In his new post he has moved diligently to address major issues facing the 4.3 million immigrants that call New York their home by holding statewide forums on health and education issues to help improve the lives of tens of thousands of our fellow residents. Assemblyman Crespo has used his Chairmanship to highlight the enormous contributions of immigrants to New York Immigrants are responsible for $229 billion in economic activity in New York State and comprise 27.3 percent of our labor force. He authored and both houses of the legislature passed the most comprehensive anti-fraud measure to protect immigrants in over 50 years. He has translated his personal experiences and international travel into a dynamic list of legislative priorities that are focused on community and economic development based on social justice principles.

In March 2015, he was appointed by Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie to the Chairmanship of the Assembly Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force and the Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment. Both are tremendously important government entities with far-reaching policy influence.Assemblyman Crespo diligently focused on the chart-topping high rates of Latino child and elderly poverty rates throughout the New York, issued two reports on the problem and jointly with his three other Assembly Committees began the planning process for state-wide hearing to examine the problem and identify tangible solutions. In major Upstate cities, Latino child poverty rates is closing in on 60% and in September 2015 the federal government ranked Syracuse, New York as the number one city in the nation with the highest concentration of Latino poverty overall.

Chairman Crespo also worked diligently to restore budget cuts to education, housing, health and legal services and was successful in expanding legal services to undeserved communities outside New York City. His work on improving college retention and graduation rates for Latino youth and improving diversity of college professional staff yielded excellent results as the State University of New York announced major diversity policy changes. They incorporated Assemblyman Crespo’s concerns and were adopted by the SUNY Board of Trustees in September 10, 2015. The extensive new policies on diversity will place a chief diversity officer (CDO) on each of the 64 SUNY campuses, gives the CDO direct access and reporting requirements to campus presidents, requires the CDO have input into student success, retention and graduation improvement plans, is involved in campus human resource decisions to improve diversity in hiring of staff and faculty and requires annual reporting by each CDO and each campus president on diversity goals. This will allow the Task Force to monitor progress or need for more action. Assemblyman Crespo will outline in late 2015 the anti-poverty policy priorities of the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task force to counter the proliferation of poverty in New York.

In addition to his statewide official responsibilities, he has worked to ensure that the Bronx finally has Metro North train service that will cut commuting time into Manhattan by an hour for working families. He has diligently worked on improving traffic congestion and air quality for the neighborhoods near Hunts Point Terminal Market by building an additional ramp to the Bruckner Expressway, thereby removing hundreds of trucks from local roads. He has fought to secure the remaining funding needed to finish the last phase of the Starlight Park trail to improve open space option for Bronx residents. In addition, he has taken on powerful foes in his work to remove tons of garbage trucked into the Bronx each day from Manhattan. This process pollutes Bronx neighborhoods and sickens its residents with severe respiratory diseases. He is one of the strongest voices in State government calling for the building of the Ganesvoort Recycling Facility in Manhattan. This will tremendously improve living conditions for Bronx residents and make Manhattan residents responsible for their own garbage.

He is one of the youngest members of the New York State Legislature and in his relatively short 4.5 years as a State legislator, Crespo has authored major pieces of legislation now law. His proposal to create an emergency energy backup system for the State’s critical state health and safety infrastructure during a natural disaster was included in the 2013-2014 State Budget. The new law will begin the process of rolling out micro-grid technology to ensure hospitals, nursing homes, police headquarters, water and sewage treatment plants stay operational in case of a natural or man-made disaster. Super Storm Sandy proved how vulnerable New Yorker's, especially children and the informed elderly are to power loss that can put their lives in danger. His hard work has produced major new laws to: protect children from carbon monoxide poisoning; increase protection for victims of domestic violence; reduce underage drinking and youth gambling addiction, increase State and nonprofit organizations ability to respond to natural disasters; expand anti-obesity and wellness programs administered through the Department of Health; increase access by landlords to small loans to improve substandard housing conditions in their rental units, implementation of new technologies to increase energy monitoring efficiencies. Most recently, he has authored a new law to incorporate youth financial literacy training in the Summer Jobs program, authorizes insurance companies to offer rate discounts for homeowners who actively make their homes or property more resistant to natural disasters, provide tax incentives to families looking to adopt children in Foster Care, and to combat rising rates of obesity and asthma a new law he authored will require the NYS Department of Health to focus on these two chronic diseases via all its public health programs. He is a prolific bill drafter with dozens of bills passing one or both houses of the legislature during his tenure.

Marcos is a graduate of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, is married and has two young daughters.^[3]

Committee Membership

· Chair, Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force

· Member, Committee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse

· Member, Committee on Cities

· Member, Committee on Energy

· Member, Committee on Environmental Conservation

· Member, Committee on Insurance

· Member, Committee on Transportation

· Member, Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian Legislative Caucus

· Co-Chair, Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment ^[4]

Election results

• November 2014 general election, NYS Assembly, 85th AD^[5]

Marcos Crespo (DEM)

...

9,408

- | Janelle M. King (REP)

...

357

• June 2009 special election, NYS Assembly, 85th AD^[6]

{| class="Wikitable"

| Marcos Crespo (DEM - WOR) || ... || 1,331 |- | Leopold L. Paul (REP) || ... || 106

|}

• November 2010 general election, NYS Assembly, 85th AD^[7]

Marcos A. Crespo (DEM)	...	11,213
Leopold L. Paul (REP)	...	438
Arturo Santiago, Jr. (CON)	...	305

References

External links

• Assembly website