Bronx City Councilmember Althea Stevens is apparently upset with City Council Speaker Julie Menin.
Stevens was the lone Democrat to vote against the $126 billion budget last month because, as she put it, her district, which is one of the poorest in New York City, received an inequitable amount of discretionary funding: just $1 million, some $2 million less than what one of her Bronx colleagues received.
"When it comes to discretionary, that's up to the speaker and her team, and my district wasn't prioritized, and I'm not going to pretend like that's okay," Stevens said in an interview with Politico. "People are being punished."
Menin's office told the outlet that there are reasonable explanations for the discrepancies, and that they attempted to reach out to Stevens to get her input on discretionary funding, but that Stevens never returned their emails.
The communication breakdown is all the more remarkable considering how close Menin and Stevens used to be: Back in January of 2024, the two traveled to Miami to celebrate Stevens's birthday. Four other councilmembers, all from Queens, joined them on the trip: Shekar Krishnan, Linda Lee, Sandra Ung, and Nantasha Williams.