I love to hear about the trajectory of people's  lives and how they
came to do what they are doing. That's why it's been so interesting to
talk one-on-one with the democratic candidates for City
Council in the 39th district for OTBKB's Breakfast-of-Candidates
series. I also wanted to learn more about these people who are
asking for our votes. What are they all about? What are they like to
have breakfast with (for that matter what do they eat for breakfast)?
Most importantly, should they get my vote for the City Council?

Brad Lander was already seated at Sweet Melissa's when we met for breakfast one morning in late February. In our emails, we decided to meet "after drop off," which is parent parlance for after dropping your kid at elementary school. 

With two kids at PS 107 on 8th Avenue in Park Slope, Brad comes across as an engaged advocate for public education. He admires PS 107's principal Cynthia Holton because, he says, "she hires great teachers and the school has a welcoming, nurturing atmosphere that embraces parent participation."

In a suit and tie, Brad, age 39, looked like the politician he wants to be. He handed me a stack of campaign materials, including a survey about the issues that matter most to voters in the 39th District; "We're not releasing this until tomorrow. I'm giving you a sneak peak," he said. Taking a quick look, I saw that strong public services, quality of life, smarter development and a fair share approach topped the list of voter concerns.

We talked about his campaign blog, which featured a touching story (written by Brad) about the memorial for soldier Julian Brennan, the Park Sloper who died in Iraq last year.

But there was also tremendous inspiration, both in Julian's life,
and in how his parents are responding to their almost unimaginable
tragedy. Julian was a remarkable person, a gifted actor, who felt a
call to service at the funeral for his grandfather, a Marine who fought
in WWII.  "The only way I think I can describe myself,” he wrote, “is
as a guy who will go out of his way to make someone laugh, write a
great song, find a reason to dance, and watch the sun rise every chance
he gets."

Brad has a serious face, which breaks into a warm and friendly grin with frequency. He thanked me for republishing his post about Julian on OTBKB. I  told him that personal writing like that really fills in the dots about a candidate.

And then I launched into the interview. It was my first Breakfast-of-Candidates and I was a little nervous so I jumped right in with my long list of questions. .

After we talked for a half hour or so Brad asked: "So are you going to order breakfast?"That stopped me short.  The candidate was hungry and in my blog-reporter haste, I'd forgotten to stop to order breakfast. Duh. Immediately I flagged down my favorite waitress at Sweet Melissa's.

"Bring this man something to eat. He's starving," I told her.

Waiting for breakfast to arrive, I asked Brad questions about his early life. He told me about growing up in a Jewish liberal home in the mid-west, where the ideals of the civil rights movements and "the idea of fairness in society" was always emphasized by his public school teacher mom and Legal Aid lawyer dad.  

While an undergrad at the University of Chicago Brad became engaged with the idea of the city. He was studying Greek, anthropology and urban sociology, but it was his fascination with the African American neighborhood around the university that ignited his passion for community activism.

Harold Washington, the African American mayor of Chicago at the time, was another major influence for creating a coalition of African Americans, Latinos and whites. "It was an Obama-like moment in Chicago," Brad remembers. 

 In 1994 Brad moved to Brooklyn when he got a job at the Fifth Avenue Committee, a group that develops and manages affordable housing, creates economic opportunity, and combats gentrification-induced displacement.  

A policy wonk with a deep interest in community organizing, Brad lit up when he talked about the people he helped at the Fifth Avenue Committee.

He tells me about one person in particular, who grew up in the Gowanus Houses. This young man spent time in prison with a felony conviction. When he came back to the neighborhood he showed up at the Fifth Avenue Committee ready to turn his life around. He got a job through First Source Staffing, an employment service run by the Fifth Avenue Committee and is now employed and a husband and father in Brooklyn..  

Brad's bio on his website also includes the tale of Carmen
and Felisa Soto,two 89-year-old sisters  who were able to stay in their apartment after the Fifth Avenue Committee launched the Displacement
Free Zone, a way to prevent landlords from evicting families and
seniors.

This kind of success seems particularly meaningful to Brad. But friends and colleagues have always wondered when Brad, with his obvious smarts and leadership qualities, was going to run for office.

"I was in denial. People said 'run,' But I said, 'No, I will never run,'" he told me. This was largely because he liked the ground work. "It's very tangible  I like to be close with people from all walks of life." he told me.
He'd also learned through his work with the Fifth Avenue Committee that city government is often "a barrier to getting things done."

After ten years at the Fifth Avenue Committee, Brad decided it was time to move on. He became director of the Pratt Center for Community Development, with its focus on sustainability, affordable housing and community development. .He also
teaches community planning, housing, and urban policy in Pratt's
graduate city planning department.

Brad spoke about what may be his proudest accomplishment at Pratt: working with housing advocates and members of the City Council members and State Legislature to require that developers who claim tax
breaks set aside 20% of units for affordable housing and pay their
building service workers a living wage. "This will help save the city millions of dollars and generate over 20,000 affordable housing units in coming years," he said.

But then something changed. Brad came out of denial and recognized that his unique set of experiences would appeal to a City Council district that, he says, places a high value on core values.  "The people in this district want smarter development, quality of life and open spaces; they believe that everyone deserves a fair share," he said echoing the results of his survey.

Brad admits that he has yet to learn the ropes of electoral politics and that he will have to learn to do things in a different way if he makes it to the City Council. But he's quick to add that he has "an instinct for exploration and new ideas."

Brad, who was endorsed by the Working Families Party and is often cited as the front  runner, strikes me as the intellectual of this group of candidates. With two master's degrees: one from Pratt in City Planning and the other in social anthropology from the University of London, he's a deep thinker with a wonky streak. Coalition building and civic activism on behalf of the dispossessed is a strong streak, too. He cites Ron Shiffman, a professor of architecture and urban planning at Pratt
Institute's School of Architecture, who was once the New York City Planning
Commissioner as an important mentor. With one foot in academia and the other in community activism, Brad is ready to take this big step to become a part of the city government he once  found to be a barrier to change.