Rebecca Edwards: Poughkeepsie's New Supervisor Bringing Fresh Ideas & Leadership to Town

“Ultimately, yes, it matters who you vote for for president, but it also really, really matters when people vote in local elections,” says Dr. Rebecca Edwards, current supervisor of the Town of Poughkeepsie. 

After nearly thirty years of teaching history and global nineteenth-century studies at Vassar College, Edwards has shifted the full scope of her attention toward involvement in local politics. She became inspired to run for the Town Supervisor position after her previous tenure as Dutchess County Legislator where she “got really passionate about the role of local government in restoring our democracy.” In this position, Edwards co-founded the Dutchess-Poughkeepsie Land Bank and organized the coalition We Are the Town of Poughkeepsie, both groups with a broad goal of increasing housing accessibility and affordability, especially for young people and seniors. 

Edwards’ priorities lie not only in finding sustained, long-term solutions to issues, but also in providing short-term relief to those struggling against the rising tides of housing costs. “It's very hard to tell people, well, we might have a solution to this in five or ten years if we plan ahead. That's really not going to help people now.” As such, she plans to explore the possibility of introducing the program Nesterly to the Poughkeepsie area in the near future. This is an initiative that seeks to pair seniors who have a spare bedroom with younger people who may need a short-term rental, staying in the area for the timeframe of a semester or a summer. “We have a lot of spare bedrooms that are going to waste right that are not being lived in and we have people: seniors and other homeowners who need that extra economic security, they could use that extra income,” says Edwards, in reference to this program that serves to bridge a gap between generations. 

Furthermore, Edwards intends to spearhead projects towards the creation of more affordable housing units throughout the Town of Poughkeepsie. As a suffocating housing market places the dream of home ownership further from the reach of young buyers, Edwards is determined to not give into the idea that home ownership is a luxury reserved for the upper class, declaring that home ownership is a “very important form of security that's helped people get into and stay in the middle class and we can't just sort of go, okay, well, we're not going to do that anymore.” Her work with the Dutchess-Poughkeepsie Land Bank involves the revitalization of vacant and abandoned properties into affordable housing units for families. This is work she plans to continue in her role of Town Supervisor. 

Beyond her work in increasing housing affordability, Edwards is also striving to encourage more bipartisan agreement on other hot-button issues, such as climate change policy. She highlighted a program called Community Choice Aggregation that could be used to shift residents, and ultimately the rest of the town, toward greener energy consumption to decrease the Town of Poughkeepsie’s carbon footprint. She also is working to improve parks and expand youth services programs. 

She strongly encourages her constituents, especially the young people in the Town, to involve themselves in the local political initiatives of the community, especially through the Town Board Meeting. Members have the opportunity to come to Town Hall in person or to watch a video of the meetings over YouTube. Edwards says that Town Hall is looking for volunteers and to hire interns from Vassar, Marist, and Dutchess Community College. 

“I would love to have people from the campuses come to town hall and introduce themselves and say hi and see if we can find ways to get people involved because that would also foster connections.”

The next town board meeting will be on Wednesday, March 6th at 7 pm.

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