{"id":358787,"date":"2026-09-28T13:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T13:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/358787\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T13:46:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T13:46:10","slug":"kristen-burkes-campaign-statement-pelham-is-at-its-best-when-neighbors-step-forward-to-serve-one-another-solve-problems-together-and-support-the-community-we-all-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/358787\/","title":{"rendered":"Kristen Burke\u2019s campaign statement: \u2018Pelham is at its best when neighbors step forward to serve one another, solve problems together, and support the community we all love\u2019 \u2013 Pelham Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Screenshot\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note: This campaign statement was provided by Kristen Burke, candidate for the Village of Pelham Board of Trustees. The Pelham Examiner publishes campaign statements in the form received as a service to the community.<\/p>\n

Dear Pelham Friends and Neighbors,<\/p>\n

I am excited to announce that I am running for Village of Pelham Trustee.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Inserviendo Consumere is the motto of Mercy University, where I work, and it means \u201cconsumed in service.\u201d\u00a0 This phrase is more than just words to me\u2014it\u2019s a guiding principle in my daily life, both as a lawyer, and in my service to Pelham. It\u2019s also why I\u2019m running for Village Trustee: at a time when core democratic values and effective governance face ongoing challenges, our priority must be ensuring Pelham remains sustainable, resilient, and livable amidst pressing financial and environmental needs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the past six years, I have served on the Town Council. I have loved my work for the Town, and I am proud of our Board\u2019s accomplishments, including securing and contracting services for Pelham\u2019s own in-house ambulance within just one year in response to strong community advocacy for the ambulance. My service to the Town Board during most of my tenure is also particularly noteworthy because we worked successfully across the political aisle for the betterment of the Town\u2014I believe a shining example of good government.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I am now seeking the Village Trustee position for three reasons:\u00a0<\/p>\n

I believe my experience as both a lawyer and Town Councilwoman (as the legal and courts liaison) can be a valuable asset to the Village and its Board. I have worked as the General Counsel at Mercy University for over 11 years (before that as Associate Counsel at CUNY and as a Rackets prosecutor in the Bronx). While there are currently three attorneys serving on the Town Board, there are none on the Village Board. My expertise will enable me to advise the Village in key areas, most significantly on the complex flood mitigation project, and also with labor and employment matters, contracts, and policy review. These are areas I deal with daily, navigating the milieu of federal, state and local laws that are often conflicting and ever-changing and ensure our community continues to thrive.\u00a0
\nThe crucial work underway in the Village (downtown improvement, maintaining services at the highest level, mitigating catastrophic flooding) is at a critical juncture, when we are facing rising costs and funding cuts. Successful completion requires community support. As a Town board member, I\u2019ve spent years listening to constituents and incorporating resident feedback into fiscally-responsible policy. I believe the same is needed to guide the Village through these challenging times.\u00a0
\nMy Town Council experience provides a valuable platform for improving quality-of-life issues we all face. I intend to continue my work on pedestrian safety, parking and traffic congestion, and sustainability, on the more granular, Village level. Specifically, I hope to continue the work funded by the $100k NYSERDA grant I sought and received, which resulted in a Town Mobility Study, as a step towards a local ride-share program. This community improvement will help make it much easier to access the train station, allow greater mobility for seniors and other individuals with mobility challenges, and would reduce traffic congestion and parking issues. I\u2019m also leading a project to improve pedestrian safety near the Glover Field complex, which has involved collaboration from numerous municipalities. It\u2019s a complicated project, but it\u2019s work I\u2019m deeply committed to seeing through so our children have safer access to our athletic fields.<\/p>\n

In addition to my work on the Town board, I have coached my daughter Hannah\u2019s travel soccer team, the Pelham Wolfpack (U15), and my son Henry\u2019s travel teams since the kids were all in Rec Soccer.\u00a0 Previously I served as PTA President of Colonial and head of the Huguenot Parents Committee (both for 2 years). I also co-led the COVID Return-to-School Task Force with Dr. Champ, and am a five-time Pelham Together Summer Intern Mentor. In my free time, I enjoy running and biking around town, playing mediocre golf and tennis, going to the Pelham Market on Sundays, getting great book recs from my Pelham book club, and walking our dogs Cocoa and Willa.\u00a0<\/p>\n

My husband Sid [who is also a lawyer and a second-term Board of Education member] and I have lived in Pelham for over 16 years. I firmly believe that Pelham is at its best when neighbors step forward to serve one another, solve problems together, and support the community we all love. I am ready to bring my experience, judgment, and commitment to that work as a Village Trustee, while doing all I can to bring the community together to work collaboratively, because \u201cnone of us is as good as all of us.\u201d\u00a0 To make this happen, I am seeking your support and your vote on November 3rd.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To learn more, please visit the Town of Pelham Democratic Committee website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Editor\u2019s note: This campaign statement was provided by Kristen Burke, candidate for the Village of Pelham Board of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-358787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}