Gale Brewer
Current Position
Council Member Gale A. Brewer has been representing the Upper West Side and Clinton in the New York City Council since 2002. She was re-elected in November 2005 general election with over 80 percent of the vote, receiving nearly 10,000 more votes than any other incumbent. In the November 2003 election, she received 86% of the vote. Her service in the Council is a continuation of nearly 30 years of public service.

Brewer chairs the Committee on Technology in Government, where she works to make better use of technology to save money, improve City services, and make government more open and accessible to residents, businesses and non-profits. Other committees on which Gale Brewer serves include: Aging; Finance; General Welfare; Higher Education; Mental Health, Mental Retardation, Alcoholism, Drug Abuse and Disability Services; Oversight and Investigations, and Waterfronts. In addition, she co-chairs the Manhattan Delegation and sits on the Council's Rules Reform Task Force and the Budget Negotiating Team. Brewer has been instrumental in passing numerous laws, including legislation establishing a citywide Broadband Advisory Committee; a bill protecting domestic workers; two bills aimed at eliminating graffiti and unwanted stickers; and legislation requiring City publications as well as all 311 data to be made available via the Web. She also brokered an historic Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and the Association of Neighborhood Housing Developers (ANHD) to pilot a program to conduct roof-to-cellar inspections on buildings known to have multiple serious violations and dated inspections.

Background
Prior to her election, Brewer served as Project Manager for the NYC Nonprofits Project and worked with the Telesis Corporation, a private firm that builds affordable housing. As Deputy Public Advocate for Intergovernmental Affairs (1994-1998), Brewer promoted legislation, wrote policy, and monitored the implementation of the National Voter Registration Act. Her web site, the first in City government, won an award from New York Magazine. As director of the Mayor's Federal Office in New York City (1990-1994), she assisted the Dinkins Administration with its legislative agenda and initiated private funding for a technical assistance program for community-based organizations seeking federal funds. On the West Side she served for over a decade as Chief of Staff to Council Member Ruth Messinger.

Brewer has received numerous awards for her service on over two dozen neighborhood and nonprofit boards as well as her work in the City Council. In 2000, she was cited by the Daily News as “One of 50 New Yorkers to Watch.” She has taught urban policy at Barnard, Baruch, Brooklyn, Hunter, and Queens Colleges.


Education
Gale has an MPA from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and did her undergraduate work at Columbia University and Bennington College.