Kiana Bierra-Anderson, a progressive candidate for the 4th Congressional District, is challenging the incumbent Democrat Rep. Laura Gillen.
She said her first-hand experience with the affordability crisis and her time as a union leader, community organizer, and small business owner have led her to seek a further role in representing the place she loves for its diversity in race, class and religion.
“Progress is affordability. Affordability is progress,” Bierra-Anderson said. “For me, progress is not just working across the aisle, but it’s working across all levels of government and being responsible for how money is being managed.”
The 32-year-old was born in Baldwin, raised in Freeport and lives in Hempstead with her grandparents.
She said she has 14 years of experience in government, political, and community advocacy. She was a union captain at New American Leaders and previously worked at the Long Island Civic Engagement Table. She was a constituent liaison and then chief of staff for Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages (D-Elmont).
According to her campaign website, Bierra-Anderson’s main issues are increased affordability, accessible housing, dignified immigration, infrastructure investment, financial accountability, healthcare for all, fully funded education and climate justice.
“We’re living in one of the most expensive counties in the nation, and we barely have anything to show for it,” she said. “We need to make sure that our taxpayer dollars are going towards the things that the community really cares about.”
She said that because of high property taxes, high rents and scarce housing, the county has lost residents of all ages at a high rate over the past decade.
“Housing should be as diverse as the district that we live in and housing should be everywhere,” she said. “I’m interested in seeing property taxes, not only loweredbut our property tax grievance system reformed and restructured so that people who are not paying their fair share are held accountable.
“We have to deal with the NIMBYism on Long Island,” she said, “and come to terms with the fact that the more people move out, it impacts our tax base, our political influence and the future of the region.”
“NIMBYism” is defined by the Department of Housing and Urban Development as the mentality of residents who don’t want their community to change with development, including new housing.
“Often fears of increased crime, decreased property values, and other negative impacts on the community underlie objections to developing supportive housing,” the department’s information website said.
Bierra-Anderson also said immigration is a core issue for her. She emphasized the need for an equitable and accessible path to citizenship and opposes Nassau County law enforcement’s participation in federal-level immigration enforcement.
“I’m a firm believer that ICE cannot be reformed. ICE and [Customs and Border Patrol] need to be abolished,” she said. “We need to reinstate dignity and humanity into our immigration policies.”
She said policies have whittled away the pathways to legal citizenship and that leaders at the federal level over the years have brought us to the most dangerous point in our immigration history.
“People are being taken off the street, and people are being killed,” she said. “We don’t know what’s happening in these detention centers. We’re not even following our own laws of due process.”
She said policies need to protect workers and small business owners, and create a dignified way to build their businesses without exploitation.
