Brooklyn’s newest assemblywoman is in.
Attorney Jo Anne Simon was sworn in as the new assemblywoman of the 52nd district on Sunday in a ceremony at Saint Francis College in Brooklyn Heights. Simon is replacing the retiring Joan Millman, who held the seat for 17 years, after defeating the Working Families Party-backed Pete Sikora and firebrand building superintendant Doug Biviano in a contentious primary. She was joined at the inauguration by Borough President Adams, Rep. Nydia Velazquez, and Sen. Charles Schumer, among others.
Her district covers Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, Dumbo, Vinegar Hill and parts of Gowanus and Park Slope.
Simon joins an Assembly in upheaval since the bombshell arrest of its speaker, Sheldon Silver, on corruption charges last week.
The new assemblywoman called the charges against Silver “serious and distressing” in a press release on Friday, and asked Silver to step down from his position if he couldn’t “commit this full attention to [the Assembly’s] crucial negotiations.”
Silver didn’t go that far, but did delegate others to take on his duties as speaker, while he fights the charges against him.
