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?
In a royal blue button down shirt with an open collar and no tie, Gary Reilly greeted me warmly at Joe's Restaurant on Court Street in Carroll Gardens. He has a well-scrubbed, open face and smart, penetrating eyes.
Gary ordered a big breakfast of pancakes, fried eggs over-easy and bacon. I had eggs over-easy with rye toast. "No potatoes, no meat?" the waitress asked. "That's right," I said.
When I complimented Gary on his attractive shirt he told me it was from the Goodwill. "I love thrift shops," he told me. "I love bargains."
Born in 1974 and raised in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, Gary is a young, small town guy with a blue collar background. His dad was a glass truck driver, his mom a waitress, who later got a certificate in cosmetology. His parents were Ronald Reagan Republicans and Gary took on that perspective without question until he went to Rutgers University (the first member of his family to attend college), where he studied economics and started to take a closer look at the politics he took for granted as a child.
After graduating from college, Greg worked in banks in southern New Jersey but decided to go to law school after 9/11 changed his way of thinking. He realized that he wanted to do something more meaningful with his life and was outraged by the Patriot Act and other changes enacted by the Bush administration.
Gary went back to Rutgers to get his law degree and worked in the Environmental Law Clinic, which also had a profound impact on his future direction. It was there, he says, that he learned that "government is a place where you have the levers to affect change. Being outside you can make a lot of noise to try to influence people in power," he told me. "But if you have a vision for the way you'd like things to be, you have your best chance of implementing it from within."
In late 2004, after graduating from law school and passing both the New York and New Jersey Bar, Gary moved to Carroll Gardens with his wife Mia (they were married in 2005). He knew he wanted to work for the public good but a job at the Department of Environmental Protection didn't pay enough to cover his bills and his school loan payments, so he became a freelance attorney. "I hire myself out to work for firms on big cases," he says. "My interests are in land use and environmental law, but most of my "day job" is corporate."
Living in Brooklyn, Gary immediately felt at home. "Sometimes you don't know what you're missing till you get home and say, 'This is what I've been looking for.'"
He liked the strong community feeling of Brooklyn and life without a car. But Gary still wanted to serve the public somehow. He decided that neighborhood activism in Carroll Gardens might be the best way "to satisfy the itch for doing something that I love."
Gary attacked his breakfast with gusto. He ate the pancakes first (they looked delicious) and then went on to the fried eggs and the bacon. The waitress kept checking in to see how we were doing, to see if we wanted refills on the coffee. Gary knew an elderly woman who was eating breakfast and waved at her when she got up to leave.
So it was in Brooklyn that he recognized his passion for public transportation. It all started when he noticed that there was work being done on the middle tracks at the Smith and Ninth Street F-train station. It piqued Gary's interest: he wondered optimistically if they were making improvements, adding an express line. But nothing came of it.
Then he attended a neighborhood association meeting to share his thoughts about restoring express service to the F-train. At that meeting, he decided to start a petition, the beginning of a campaign for improved service on the F
line, including full local and
express service on the F/V lines and improved G train service.
Thousands of F-train commuters signed Gary's petition. Later he testified before the MTA Board and at City
Council and State Assembly hearings on transportation issues.
As an advocate for public transportation, Gary found his issue and his voice. This powerful experience also cemented his belief that public transportation is an equalizer and an important engine of democracy. "It creates mobility which equals opportunity," Gary told me. It also ties in with environmental sustainability, another issue close to Gary's heart.
"Transportation policy dovetails with development policy, land use, how we view our streets, how we share our space and making the city safe for pedestrians and cyclists," he said. The F-Train petition experience also convinced Gary that he would one day run for office. But he didn't think it would happen quite so soon. It was when he realized that Bill deBlasio was at term limit that he decided to jump in. But not before asking his wife how she felt about it. "Let's do it," she said. And that was that.
So why does Gary think he's your man for City Council in the 39th district, even though he's only been in Brooklyn since late 2004 and has never worked in government? "I have good ideas and enthusiasm," he told me.
And what else?
— "I have a skeptical way of looking at things with a skeptical eye as to what is put out there."
— "I will focus on transit issues, a priority that is missing on the City Council right now; I will be a solid pro-transit voice."
— "I believe that investing in infrastructure is vital."
— "I will push for livable streets."
— "I want to get rid of the Gowanus Expressway and replace it with a tunnel."
Some might say it's audacious for such a newbie to run for a City Council seat but I found it compelling. Breakfast with Gary convinced me that he's very determined and thoughtful and he's not doing this in a casual way. A quick study, a good researcher, and a strong people-person, Gary is a smart, ambitious and principled candidate. While this year may or may not be his moment for the City Council, Gary clearly has a political career ahead of him. So it's worth taking a close look at his website and to be open minded when he knocks on your door in the coming weeks. (Like many of the candidates, Gary will be going door-to-door, introducing himself to voters and getting his name out there.)
Gary and I went 50/50 on breakfast. We said our goodbyes but less than five minutes later Gary returned to Joe's out of breath. He'd run back from 2-3 blocks away. "I didn't give you enough change," he said and handed me a $5 bill. He may have been right but I didn't notice. But it told me something else about Gary: he's a very honest guy.
