City Council chambers (photo: Emil Cohen/NYC Council)

In a near-unanimous vote on Wednesday, Adrienne Adams, a Queens Democrat, was elected the new Speaker of the City Council, making history as the first ever Black leader of the 51-member legislative body. The Speakership gives her a citywide purview with all its incumbent challenges, made even more pressing by the covid pandemic and the city’s ongoing recovery attempts. Rates of both gun violence and unemployment remain high, and the city is facing a number of other crises related to housing, education, and