Council Member Alan Jay Gerson is a lifelong New York City resident. He is a proud graduate of P.S. 41, I.S. 70, and Stuyvesant High School. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude from Columbia College, and was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar from Columbia Law.

Gerson began his civic activism as an aide to Assembly Member William Passannante. He practiced law with Kelley Drye & Warren for 18 years, during which he devoted countless pro bono hours to indigent individuals and not-for-profit organizations. Over two decades, Gerson served in many leadership capacities. His positions included:President of the Chelsea Housing group, President of the Village Reform Democratic Club, President of Congregation Emunath Israel, where he helped organize and maintain the acclaimed Project ORE, a non-sectarian homeless center.

As an officer of the Consumer Council of the Health Insurance Plan of Greater NY (HIP), Gerson issued one of the earliest critiques of managed care abuses. A committed environmentalist, he is a longtime Sierra Club member and has worked with the League for the Hard of Hearing to promote noise reduction efforts.

Gerson contributed to the lives of young people as a member of the Board of the Chinese-American Planning Council, and the Advisory Boards of the Puerto Rican Family Institute's New Arrivals Youth Group, and the St. Anthony of Padua after-school program. A longtime supporter of the Project Open Door Service Center and the Caring Community, Gerson contributed to a better quality of life for seniorcitizens. A supporter of the arts, he is fighting to create a folk music museum and affordable artist workspace.

As Chair of Community Board 2, Gerson launched an unprecedented number of initiatives including: a new youth swim team, an evening teenage center, a free community mediation facility, a heart defibrillator pilot program, new emergency shelters for homeless (runaway) teenagers, starting work on the Hudson River Waterfront Park, the first Arts Committee and Calendar, a new Public Safety Committee and a Community Court Proposal.

Entered City Council: 01/01/2002
Current Term Expires: 12/31/2009

Represents: SoHo, NoHo, TriBeCa, Washington Square area, South Village, Battery Park City, Wall Street area, South Street Seaport area, City Hall area, Little Italy, Chinatown, Lower East Side

Committees: Lower Manhattan Redevelopment (Chair); Economic Development; Finance; Fire & Criminal Justice Services; Parks & Recreation; Waterfronts; Youth Services