Markeshia Ricks Photo
Resident leader Brenda Harris at the groundbreaking for the first phase of the Farnam Courts redo.
A longtime public-housing tenant leader is looking to bring her talents downtown to City Hall, at least for a while.
The leader, Brenda Harris, has won her Democratic ward committee’s endorsement for a seat on the Board of Alders in a special election.
The election was been called to fill the Ward 8 seat after incumbent Aaron Greenberg resigned earlier this month to take a teaching job in the California desert.
So far no one else but Harris has filed papers to seek the seat. If that’s still the case by May 3, no election will take place. The seat will be hers through 2019. If a last-minute candidate emerges, the special election is scheduled for May 17.
Another election takes place this fall for the seat — the regular general election.
The ward includes Wooster Squasre and the part of the largely industrial but also increasingly residential “Mill River” district west of the Mill River along Grand Avenue, East Street, Chapel, and Hamilton.
Harris said she’s not sure she plans to run again in the fall. She said she agreed to run to succeed Greenberg for now at the urging of her ward committee, as her civic duty.
“I’m just doing it for now. I don’t know yet” about the fall, she said in an interview.
Harris works as a part-time school bus monitor. She has worked on election campaigns for years.
She has also served for years as residents council leader at what used to be called the Farnam Courts public-housing development on Grand Avenue and Franklin Street. Like other tenants, she had to leave while the housing authority razed old buildings and constructed a new mixed-use complex called Mill River Crossing. Now she has moved back in and remains head of the residents council.
Brenda supported Aaron and has been a tireless advocate for tenants and families in her neighborhood. She is the personification of courage, honesty, integrity, and resiliency.
She is not afraid to challenge other Democrats and has enough wisdom and energy to make a great addition to the BoA.
She is a version of the many great women in our history who places service above politics. Fannie Lou Hamer, Viola Liuzzi,, and Constance Baker Motley are a few that come to mind. She is a wonderful human being that deserves a chance to add her voice to the chorus of voice in the city's legislative branch.