| Brad Lander | |
|---|---|
| Lander in 2010. | |
| Member of the New York City Council from the 39th District | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office Jan 1, 2010 |
|
| Preceded by | Bill de Blasio |
| Personal details | |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Democratic, Working Families |
| Spouse(s) | Meg Barnette; 2 children |
| Residence | Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Politician, educator, academic |
| Religion | Jewish |
| Website | http://bradlander.com |
Brad Lander is a member of the New York City Council, representing the 39th Council District in Brooklyn, which covers Park Slope, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Windsor Terrace, Kensington, and Borough Park.[1] He came to public notice as an affordable housing advocate that has negotiated important affordable housing concessions from the administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg in major development projects.[2] He directed the Pratt Center for Community Development (formerly PICCED) and the Fifth Avenue Committee.
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Lander is the former Director of the Pratt Center for Community Development.[3] He stepped down after six years as head of the organization to seek a seat in the New York City Council.[4] He still teaches community planning, housing, and urban policy in Pratt's graduate city planning department and is an adjunct professor at Brooklyn Law School.[5]
Brad served for a decade as executive director of the Fifth Avenue Committee,[6] a not-for-profit community-based organization in Brooklyn that develops and manages affordable housing, runs economic development and job training programs, and organizes tenants and workers. As a director, Lander won local and national recognition for his work at FAC including the 2000 New York Magazine Civics Award,[7] and the 2002 Leadership for a Changing World award, sponsored by the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Sustainable Communities.[6] In 1999 Rolling Stone Magazine awarded Lander the "Do Something Brick Award" for his community work in affordable housing. Other awards from the Ford Foundation, the Fannie Mae Foundation and the University of Chicago were granted throughout his tenure as a director.
He served as the Housing Chair of Brooklyn Community Board 6, serves on the board of directors of the Jewish Funds for Justice, and is a little league coach in the 78th Precinct Youth Council. As the director of the Pratt Center,[8] Lander has been a critic of the Bloomberg administration's development policies.[9] He has also been a critic of the Atlantic Yards project,[10] directing a Pratt Center study in 2005 that questioned the project's subsidies, neighborhood impacts, and lack of community involvement in the original plan.[11] Lander's work in 2003–2005 on the Greenpoint-Williamsburg rezoning led to the first New York City inclusionary housing program to create affordable housing in new development outside Manhattan[12] Lander was a key leader in forming a coalition that repealed the 421-a tax break for luxury housing and required that new development in many parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens include affordable housing to qualify.[13] He recently co-led the completion of the One City One Future platform,[14] which is a progressive vision for economic development in New York City.[15]
Lander was elected to office on the Democratic Party and Working Families Party lines on November 4, 2009, with 70% of the vote. Lander won a hotly-contested Democratic Primary on September 15, 2009 with 41% of the vote in a field of five.[16] His term runs from Jan 1, 2010 to December 31, 2013.
Lander is the co-founder of the newly formed Progressive Caucus in the New York City Council, a group that was described by the New York Times as "the City Council’s most liberal members." Brad shares the title of co-chair of this caucus with his Manhattan colleague Melissa Mark-Viverito.[17]
Brad is a graduate of the University of Chicago where he received the Harry S. Truman Scholarship and he attended the University College London on a Marshall Scholarship, and Pratt Institute.
A Brooklyn resident of nearly two decades, he lives in Park Slope with his wife, Meg Barnette, the Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at Planned Parenthood NYC, and their children.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Bill de Blasio |
New York City Council, 39th District 2010–present |
Incumbent |
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