About

My name Phelan Dante Fitzpatrick and I am running to be the NYC Council Person for District 3.

As the operator of two small businesses in my district, I know first hand the economic uncertainty facing working people and the small business community. On March 13, I had to close 3 locations and furlough 36 employees.  Learning to navigate the complex web of social services for myself and for my daughter was difficult and I was scared. I knew my employees would face many of the challenges I experienced and I worked with them to secure unemployment and SNAP benefits, for which many never qualified. The wellbeing of the workers that enable our business to function is my top priority. Listening to them, focusing on their needs, and helping them navigate through our shared uncertainty gave me a sense of purpose–I felt a kind of awakening.

In the midst of one crisis, another lingering and ever-present set of social tensions were exposed, yet again, on May 25 when George Floyd was gruesomely murdered at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department. George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and most recently Jacob Blake are just the most recent demonstrations of police brutality and racial discrimination. The specter of violence is often ever-present in the lives of people of color in the US. We experience violence at the hands of the police in our neighborhoods and we experience the violence intended and caused by systemic racism, generational poverty, and decades of underfunding public schools.

The day before my nineteenth birthday, my father was targeted and murdered. An openly gay, black man killed senselessly in the parking lot of a gay bar in Akron Ohio. Brian Keith Fitzpatrick’s assailants were never arrested and it remains a cold case to this day. I know first hand the pain experienced by those who have suffered from gun violence. As a gun-violence survivor, I am committed to working with community leaders and law enforcement officials to ensure that our community is a vibrant, welcoming, nurturing space for my three-year-old daughter, my neighbors, and all New Yorkers. I am running to make a difference for District 3.