Councilman Eric Dinowitz Swearing In Ceremony

Councilman Eric Dinowitz Swearing In Ceremony

By Robert Press

Sunday afternoon in the Lovinger Theater at Lehman College hundreds of people jammed the seats including countless elected officials to be a part of the swearing in ceremony of Councilman Eric Dinowitz. Midway into the ceremony there was a musical interlude from members of the Woodwind instrument section of the Celia Cruz High School, where Eric taught. 

This was the culmination of 2021 for candidate Eric Dinowitz. First he won a Special Election in March that was not official until mid April due to Rank Choice Voting. He then won the Democratic Primary, which again took weeks to become official, again thanks to Rank Choice Voting. Then as the Democratic candidate he won the November General Election for the 11th City Council seat. Now Eric was going to have the man who he took over for, former Councilman now Supreme Court Justice Andrew Cohen swear him in as the Councilman from the 11th council district. 

Elected officials such as U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, New York State Attorney General Letitia James. New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, Congress members Adriano Espaillat and Ritchie Torres, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and several members of the New York State Assembly, State Senator and Bronx Democratic Party Leader Jamaal Bailey, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and several current, Newly elected, and former city council members, Bronx DA Darcel Clark, current Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., and Bronx Borough President Elect Vanessa Gibson were among those who were on hand.  

Bronx DA Darcel Clark, State Senator Jamaal Bailey, and Newly Elected 86th Assemblywoman Yudelka Tapia.

Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Congressman Adriano Espaillat, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie.

U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer was the first elected official to speak.

 

City Council Speaker Corey Johnson spoke about Councilman Eric Dinowitz’s short tenure in the city council. 

Former Congressman Eliot Engel who was known to Councilman Eric Dinowitz as Uncle Eliot, spoke of watching Eric grow up, and seeing that Eric had a bright future as a leader.

The one elected official to speak longer than U.S. Senator Schumer was Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, Eric’s father who also spoke of Eric’s leadership ability as he grew up.

 

It was time to be sworn in by Judge Anny Cohen, the councilman Eric took over for when he won a special election in March of this year. Eric’s wife and twin sons are with him as he takes the oath of office.

As Eric gave his inauguration speech his son Alex became part of the ceremony, similar to former Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s son Andrew who became part of his fathers inauguration speech. Could we be looking at future Mayor Eric Dinowitz?