Three Sound Shore Democrats Launch Bids for Parker’s County Board Seat, Running on Environment and Housing Issues

Three area Democrats have launched bids on the Westchester County Board of Legislators, each of them aiming to tackle environmental and housing issues in the district.

January 23, 2025
5 min read
Ballot box and photos of three candidates
From top to bottom: Anant Nambiar, Manny Rawlings, Andrew Regenstreich.

Three area Democrats have launched bids hoping to replace Catherine Parker on the Westchester County Board of Legislators, each aiming to tackle environment and housing issues in the district.  

Two of the candidates, Anant Nambiar and Emmanuel (Manny) Rawlings, come with political experience. Nambiar sits on the Mamaroneck Town Council and Rawlings finished his term on the village of Mamaroneck Board of Trustees in December. A third candidate — property manager Andrew Regenstreich of Larchmont — also has thrown his hat in the ring. All three are running on similar platforms.   

They are seeking to replace Parker, the longtime representative of the Sound Shore’s 7th Legislative District. A Rye resident, Parker is barred from running again because of term limits. She was first elected to the county seat in 2013, and won re-election six times. In 2023, she ran for her final term, easily defeating Republican challenger Katie Manger, of Rye.  

Born in India and raised in Canada, Nambiar and his wife moved to Manhattan in 1996. Five years later they moved north to New Rochelle before heading to Larchmont in 2004, where they raised their three children. Before he was elected to the Mamaroneck Town Council last year, Nambiar was a trustee on Mamaroneck’s school board.  

Nambiar most recently has been involved in discussions about Mamaroneck’s budget shortfalls, saying he supports exploring alternative fees and revenue streams instead of relying on property tax hikes, as reported by local news website theLoop.   

He told The Record his biggest concerns are the environmental and housing issues affecting the Sound Shore.  

“The most important issues that most, if not all, of District 7 faces are flooding-environmental concerns and creating more housing options, including availability, accessibility, and affordability,” Nambiar said. “These issues will require multiple years and communities to solve, so telling the story of what gets solved first and why, and what will be solved in future phases is essential to getting community support.”   

Before he was involved in local politics, he worked as a senior executive at American Express and Mastercard.  

Nambiar said the combination of his corporate and political background, as well as his experience living in multiple countries, makes him well-suited for the position.  

“I know that the largest problems we face in the Sound Shore are ones that no one town or village can solve alone,” he said. “I have always been motivated to solve difficult problems, and I feel like the District 7 County Legislator role is a critical part of solving those problems.”   

Rawlings is also familiar with Mamaroneck politics, having spent his whole life there.   

He told The Record he’s the best candidate for the position because of his familiarity with the area and experience in local community organizations — from working at the summer camp he attended as a kid to helping in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida.  

“I wanted to be that voice in bringing a different perspective and new ideas about what government should look like,” he said.  

If he’s on the board of legislators, Rawlings hopes to bridge the gap between local communities and larger government structures, especially in the pursuit of resources and funding for municipalities.   

Rawlings found himself in some hot water last year when he refused to recuse himself from a Board of Trustees vote on a housing project when the village Board of Ethics said he had a conflict of interest. The vote was to decide between two developers for a local affordable housing project. One of them — West Hab — was the landlord of the building Rawlings was raised in. Additionally, West Hab actually evicted his mother from one of their buildings when she owed rent.  

When asked about the controversy, Rawlings defended his decision to cast his vote, saying the effort to leave him out was a “politically-motivated” move to neutralize his vote. He also said the Board of Ethics opinion was contradictory, since part of its opinion stated that he had no ties to West Hab’s project plans and that there was never a rental arrears case filed against him personally.   

“They really contradicted what their views and their opinions were,” Rawlings said of the Board of Ethics.  

Flooding and housing costs are two of the issues Rawlings wants to tackle at the county level.   

He said flooding is not only an environmental issue, but also an economic and public safety concern. Similarly, Rawlings said affordable housing doesn’t only affect those who are low-income, but also those who work in the service industry, small business owners, seniors looking to downsize, and public servants like fire, police, and sanitation workers. He believes the county is a crucial piece in solving those problems.  

Regenstreich’s run marks his first foray into politics.  

While he grew up in New Jersey, he has lived in many other places, including Boston, Washington, D.C., London, Israel, and Africa. For the last 12 years, he has settled back into New York, moving from the city to Dobbs Ferry and then Larchmont.   

“I moved to Westchester almost five years ago and instantly fell in love with the different towns, the businesses, the nonprofits, the community organizations, the parks, everything,” he said.    

For his entire adult life, Regenstreich has worked in real estate and development in both New York and New Jersey, focusing on projects to promote economic development and affordable and mixed-income housing, he said. Currently, Regenstreich is the regional property manager at Dolphin Property Services, where he oversees nine affordable housing buildings across Westchester, Rockland, Orange, and Dutchess counties.  

“I’ve always worked to move communities forward in one way or another, and real estate is an extension of that,” he told The Record.   

In housing development, Regenstreich said, he has often interacted with government, and now he would like to approach issues from the other side. He also cited flooding as the top concern of his campaign, as well as improvements to infrastructure, housing affordability, and economic development.   

“I thought it was an opportunity to give back on a big level,” Regenstreich said about his bid.   

And while he’s lesser known in the Westchester political sphere and acknowledges he has a lot of work to do, he’s already meeting with community members about what they want to see from the county. He also boasts his ability to reach across the aisle to accomplish his goals.  

“I believe we’re in an interesting time where polarization has never been more acute,” the Democrat said. “My hope is that even though I’m new to Westchester, my experience is transferable.”    

The Rye Democrats are expected to meet on Feb. 4 to endorse one of the candidates. Legislative District 7 includes all of Rye, Mamaroneck, and Larchmont, as well as parts of New Rochelle and Harrison.   

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