East Harlem.Com

Its official!. Miriam Falcon Lopez, has redrawn from the 8th Councilmanic District Race in El Barrio sighting a lack of funds for candidacy.  Ms. Lopez collected the required number of signatures for her petitions, but was only able to raise around $6,000 dollars. Fellow candidate Felipe Luciano has collected over $23,000 and incumbent Phil Reed $76,000.

With Ms. Falcon’s departure from the race, only two candidates remain, Felipe Luciano and incumbent Phil Reed. This is a race which many Hispanics have wanted. A one on one against Phil Reed, whom they feel has not represented their interests at the city council. But political insiders warn that it will not be so easy to beat Councilman Reed. They site his larger funds and the fact that African-Americans vote in higher percentages than Hispanics do. Regardless, it will be a more interesting race with just two candidates running.

The photo above shows East Harlem Democratic District Leader, Mr. Harry Rodriguez reading about Miriam’s withdrawal from the City Council Race in the newspaper.