After two unsuccessful attempts to run for City Council in 2001 and 2003, Rodriguez won in 2009, winning the Democratic primary election by over 60 percent against seven other candidates. In January 2010, Rodriguez was appointed as the chairman of the Higher Education Committee, and as Chair, Rodríguez called for more diversity in the faculty of CUNY, more childcare programs for student-parents, and successfully fought to keep CUNY's budget intact during the economic recession. As Chair, Rodriguez focused on working to improve the number of New York City high school graduates who are college-ready, particularly the lack of Black and Latino students deemed "college-ready", using test scores, grades and practical application of curriculum. As a former co-founder and teacher in one of the schools in his district, Rodriguez took a personal interest in the role education plays in the community. Rodriguez focused on education, affordable housing, community health, immigration reform, curbing the NYPD stop and frisk policy and bringing jobs to the northern Manhattan community. Rodriguez also advocated for affordable housing in Northern Manhattan, which has received less than 1% of all new affordable housing units built since 2004. Rodriguez worked with the tenants of 552 Academy St. in Manhattan and local community groups to have the building turned over from a negligent landlord to CLOTH, a local community organization. He helped secure funding for a $21.1 million renovation for the building so that residents can finally live comfortable. The building reopened to the public after the renovation, welcoming home the 32 original families to return as well as 42 new tenants. Also thanks to funding from the New York City Council, the building has one of the fewgreen roofs in Inwood. In 2016, he sponsored a bill that was signed into law that eliminated the requirement that New York City taxi drivers take an English proficiency exam. In 2017, he and several other politicians expressed outrage at the MTA's practices and lack of regard for their ridership, urging the agency to offer better service.
A controversy attended the 2014 hiring by Department of Design and Construction Commissioner Feniosky Pena-Mora of the wife of Rodriguez, Christina Melendez, as a special assistant to with a $150,000-a-year salary. Employees at the DDC twice complained in writing to Mayor Bill de Blasio that the commissioner was engaging in patronage and hiring "cronies". The commissioner and Rodriguez had a prior relationship, inasmuch as in 2012 when the commissioner was threatened with removal as Dean at Columbia University's engineering school, Rodriguez had led a campaign to keep the commissioner in his job. Rodriguez's wife didn't have a background in either engineering or architecture, areas associated with the DDC, but her new position with the DDC position paid her $48,000 more than her prior job. In February 2016 residents of his district expressed upset that Rodriguez asserted that he needed to be paid at least $175,000 to support his family, rather than the then-current base salary of $112,500, which was already being raised 32% to $148,500. The median household income was $39,500 in Rodriguez's district.
