5 Questions with Brad Lander

Here is our last installment of 5 Questions with the District 39 Candidates, with Democratic nominee Brad Lander. Don’t forget to vote on this coming Tuesday, November 3rd.

What neighborhood do you live in, and what do you like most about it?

I live in south Park Slope (on 13th Street, between 4th & 5th Avenues), and I love many things about it. I like being able to walk my kids to a great, neighborhood school (they go to PS 107), with an excellent teacher and principal, active parents, small classes, and a commitment to well-rounded education. That is, unfortunately, too rare in our city, and it is something we treasure. We love Prospect Park, where we walk, run, bike, play sports, ice skate, have birthday parties, see our neighbors, and get to have a little taste of natural beauty in the midst of our very urban world. I love the small, locally-owned businesses, where you know the owners and the other customers, that help make it a neighborhood. I love the diversity of our community — our neighbors on 13th Street are teachers, an ironworker, a nurse, actors, a restauranteur, writers and artists, you name it. Finally, we really value living in a neighborhood where so many people share a set of progressive values — where we agree to invest our time and energy and money in strengthening public & civic institutions (public schools, parks, transit, libraries; non-profit and charitable organizations; etc), where we work together to preserve livable communities, and where we try to make sure that genuine opportunities exist for everyone who calls this city home.

Where are you originally from, and how does it compare to Brooklyn?

My wife and I have lived in Brooklyn for the past 17 years. Before that, I lived for a year in Manhattan, a year in London, in Chicago, and originally in St. Louis. I love Brooklyn for its combination of neighborhood & metropolis — for the fact that it can sometimes feel that you’re living in a small village, where you know your neighbors and work to preserve neighborhood quality-of-life, while you’re right in the heart of the world’s most diverse and dynamic city. I don’t think there’s any place quite like it.

How do you, personally, contribute to your community?

I’ve been working together with neighbors to strengthen our community for my entire adult life. I spent 10 years as director of the Fifth Avenue Committee, which works to preserve and create affordable housing, help people find jobs and learn English, and organize residents and workers to come together for a better community. I’m the chair of the Housing & Community Development Committee of Community Board 6, where I’ve pushed for a new responsible contractor policy and worked with others to save the school-based health clinics operated by Long Island College Hospital. For the past two years, I’ve helped organize the BrooklynPTA.org 5k fun/walk for our neighborhood public schools. I’m a little-league coach (basketball right now, previously baseball and soccer), a member of a local synagogue, and active in our PTA. I believe that public service is vital, and plan to put a strong emphasis on promoting & highlighting it in our community.

If you could change one thing in your neighborhood, what would it be?

For the past two decades, I’ve been working to preserve and create affordable housing, so kids who grow up here can stay here, so families can afford to live here, so our neighborhoods can continue to be diverse. We’ve had some successes, but overall rents and sales prices have risen far beyond the reach of too many families. One thing I’d really like to save — that we are lucky to have, but that is unfortunately under real threat — are the locally-owned small businesses that line our commercial avenues. I’ll work hard to address this issue in the City Council.

What is your favorite restaurant/hangout?

Wow, really hard to pick one favorite. For restaurants: Rosewater, Frankie’s 457, Aunt Suzie’s, Anthony’s, Johnny Mack’s, Dizzy’s, Daisy’s, and Jafran (on Church Avenue). For parks: Van Voorhees (where my son plays baseball and football), Washington Park (formerly JJ Byrne), Prospect Park, Greenwood Playground, and the Red Hook Pool. For bars: Commonwealth, Abilene, Union Hall. For only-in-Brooklyn: Buzz-a-Rama (the slot-car racing place in Kensington), the Latin American food vendors in Red Hook, and summer weekends in Coney Island (ok, not quite the 39th District, but still right out the F line).