Linares hopes to build on Marble Hill credentials

Assemblyman Guillermo Linares may have his eye on the U.S. Capitol, but he feels right at home in Marble Hill.

He has lived in the northernmost part of Manhattan since 1994 and says he has witnessed changes for both better and worse over the years.

“The biggest shift that I would say is the majority of people, you ask them where do you live, they say in the Bronx but they actually live in Manhattan,” he said over coffee at Malecon Restaurant at 5592 Broadway. “All services from postal to police to sanitation are Bronx services. The shift in the services reinforced the people believing…  that notion that Marble Hill is in the Bronx. But Marble Hill is represented by all Manhattan elected officials.”

The assemblyman was living in Washington Heights when he made the decision to relocate north. He chose to settle with his family in Marble Hill because of the low rent and the appeal of becoming a homeowner. His 72nd assembly district covers Upper Manhattan with part of Marble Hill.

“I’ve always seen it — as a councilman in the ’90s, and I still do — that if we approach it the right way, we get the best out of the two boroughs,” he remarked.

Mr. Linares represented the 72nd district from 2010 to 2012, stepped down to launch an unsuccessful challenge against state Sen. Adriano Espaillat for his seat and then came back in a special election after Gabriela Rosa stepped down amid charges she faked her marriage in 2014.

Marble Hill’s status as part of both Manhattan and the Bronx — with elected officials covering both parts of the neighborhood — has made it difficult for a unified vision to come to the area. Mr. Linares, 65, does what he can to represent the neighborhood he calls home. 

He said he recently reached out to the city’s Department of Transportation about preventing drivers from speeding down Adrian Avenue to escape Broadway traffic. He also remarked that a drug presence in Marble Hill has become hard to ignore.