Daniel Garodnick

Daniel R. Garodnick
Member of the New York City Council from the 4th District
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 1, 2006
Preceded by Eva Moskowitz
Constituency Manhattan: Upper East Side, Central Park South, Grand Central, Tudor City, Waterside, Peter Cooper Village, Carnegie Hill, Stuyvesant Town, United Nations; part of Yorkville, Turtle Bay
Personal details
Born May 5, 1972
Manhattan, New York
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Zoe L. Segal-Reichlin; one child
Alma mater Dartmouth College
University of Pennsylvania Law School
Profession lawyer, politician
Website NYC Council: District 4

Daniel R. "Dan" Garodnick (born May 5, 1972) is a New York City Councilman representing Manhattan’s 4th District since 2006.

Biography

Prior to running for elected office, Garodnick practiced as a securities litigator at the New York law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. While there, he represented the Partnership for New York City in the successful Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit regarding public school funding. He also represented 13 same-sex couples seeking the right to marry in New York State. Prior to joining the firm, he served as a law clerk to Judge Colleen McMahon of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. He spent two years working for the New York Civil Rights Coalition as the director of a program to teach New York public school students nonviolent ways to combat racial discrimination, and to use government to effect social change.

Garodnick is a graduate of Trinity School (1990), where he was president of the student senate and the model congress. He received his B.A. from Dartmouth College (1994)[1] where he served as class president for each of his four years. He earned a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School (2000),[2] where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review.

In May 2008, Garodnick married Zoe Segal-Reichlin, associate general counsel of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.[3] They have two children.

City Council

Garodnick was elected to New York City Council in 2005, winning 63 percent of the vote in the general election and defeating both the Republican and Libertarian candidates. In the five-way Democratic primary that year he won 59% of the vote.

The 4th District

Garodnick represents the 4th district, which comprises the Upper East Side, Central Park South, Grand Central, Tudor City, Waterside, Peter Cooper Village & Stuyvesant Town, Carnegie Hill, United Nations, and parts of Yorkville and Turtle Bay.

Tenants' Rights

In 2007, Garodnick, along with Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn and Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito, introduced the Tenant Protection Act. The bill, signed into law by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in March 2008, made harassment of tenants by landlords a violation of the housing code.[4]

The Bid for Stuyvesant Town

The creation and preservation of affordable housing is a priority for Garodnick, which was most clearly demonstrated during the sale of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. In 2006, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company put up for sale the 110-building complex, which opened in 1947 to house soldiers returning home from World War II. Garodnick spearheaded a $4.5 billion tenant-backed bid to purchase Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village on behalf of the residents in order to preserve the properties as "affordable housing". Met Life sold the properties to Tishman Speyer in a highly leveraged deal for $5.4 billion.[5]

Aftermath and Tishman Speyer

After its purchase of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, Tishman Speyer moved to deny lease renewals to tenants it viewed as illegally possessing rent stabilized apartments. From 2006 to 2008, Tishman Speyer challenged tenants’ legal right to a lease renewal in approximately 870 cases. The landlord was successful in only half of the court cases it brought against tenants, supporting Garodnick's claims that the practice was an overbroad challenge of residents' legal rights in an attempt to force rent-stabilized apartments to market rate rents.[6] Garodnick established free, monthly legal clinics for tenants and set up a “tenant hotline” for residents to get legal help, and called for a moratorium on the challenging of lease renewals.

Infrastructure Task Force and Energy Policy

Garodnick was appointed by Council Speaker Quinn to co-chair the Council's Infrastructure Task Force. In that role, Garodnick has advocated for infrastructure investments as a means of stimulating the economy, and explored measures to encourage the use of alternative energy.[7]

Committee assignments

Consumer Affairs, Chair; Education; Land Use (Zoning & Franchises); Public Safety; Transportation.

2013 New York City Comptroller Campaign

On April 3, 2012 Garodnick announced that he would seek the democratic nomination for New York City's Comptroller.[8] On November 28, 2012 Garodnick dropped out of the Comptroller race, and immediately endorsed Scott Stringer, while pledging to run for re-election in District 4. Stringer had previously been running for Mayor of New York City.[9] Garodnick was opposed in his bid for re-election by attorney Helene Jnane.[10]

References

  1. ↑ Campus Journal: "Dartmouth Seeks Ethics for the Age of Computers". New York Times. January 5, 1994.
  2. ↑ Alumni Briefs. Penn Law Journal. Fall 2008.
  3. ↑ "Weddings: Zoe L. Segal-Reichlin and Daniel R. Garodnick". New York Times. May 11, 2008.
  4. ↑ Groundbreaking Tenant Protection Act Becomes Law. New York City Council. March 13, 2008.
  5. ↑ New York Times coverage of Stuy Town/Peter Cooper Village imbroglio
  6. ↑ "Stuyvesant Town Revenues Have Fallen, Report Says"
  7. ↑ "Rebuilding New York", July 1, 2008, The New York Sun
  8. ↑ http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/158716/manhattan-councilman-sets-sights-on-2013-comptroller-s-race
  9. ↑ http://politicker.com/2012/11/dan-garodnick-exits-stage-right/
  10. ↑ http://town-village.com/2013/08/22/attorney-running-for-council/

External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Eva Moskowitz		 New York City Council, 4th District
2006–present 		Incumbent