Marty Markowitz

Martin Markowitz (born February 14, 1945) is an American politician who served as the borough president of Brooklyn, New York City.

Markowitz graduated from Wingate High School in Brooklyn's Prospect Lefferts Gardens section in 1962.

He took night classes at Brooklyn College for nine years, and received his bachelor's degree in political science in 1970.

Markowitz began his public service career in 1971, at the age of 26, by forming the Flatbush Tenants Council in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Flatbush.

The organization grew into Brooklyn Housing & Family Services, which is the largest tenants advocacy organization operating in New York State today.

He was a member of the New York State Senate from 1979 to 2001, sitting in the 183rd, 184th, 185th, 186th, 187th, 188th, 189th, 190th, 191st, 192nd, 193rd and 194th New York State Legislatures.

He was known for creating a series of oceanfront concerts and other festivals rather than drafting legislation.

He founded and hosts the Seaside Summer Concert Series (begun in 1979), New York City's largest free weekly concert series, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Concert Series (started in 1983), the nation's largest free public concerts for African American and Caribbean audiences.

He has supported Brooklyn's cultural community, including the BAM Cultural District and Issue Project Room, and worked to restore the Loew's Kings Theatre in Flatbush.

He hosted annual heritage events at Borough Hall celebrating Brooklyn's diversity, including celebrations of the Turkish, Asian, Latino, African-American, Jewish, Caribbean, Italian, Greek, Russian, Polish, Lebanese and LGBT communities.

Markowitz has worked to establish Brooklyn's first-ever LGBT Center for Brooklyn.

The Brooklyn Community Pride Center board has been formed to determine a location and gather support for the project.

As borough president, he founded initiatives to promote and improve the quality of life in Brooklyn, including Shop Brooklyn; the Lighten Up Brooklyn and Take Your Man to the Doctor campaigns; Camp Brooklyn; the jobs-for-youth Summer HEAT program; Dine in Brooklyn restaurant week; the Brooklyn Book Festival; the smART Brooklyn Gallery Hop; and a tourism organization called Brooklyn Tourism.

Former Brooklyn female district leader Renee Collymore worked for him as an executive assistant.

Markowitz first ran for borough president in 1985, but failed to unseat the incumbent Howard Golden.

Markowitz subsequently pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for failing to disclose a campaign contribution; he was fined and performed community service.

At one such concert, in 1990, soul legend Curtis Mayfield was left paralyzed from the neck down after a lighting fixture that had been knocked loose by wind fell on him, crushing several of his vertebrae.

Markowitz had insisted on continuing the show, despite the hurricane-force winds buffeting the stage.

He was first elected in 2001 after serving 23 years as a New York State Senator.

During the Blackout of 2003, he stood on the Brooklyn Bridge as throngs of fellow Brooklynites trudged home from work in Manhattan, holding a megaphone and cheering "Welcome home to Brooklyn!"

to thunderous applause.

His desire to bring an NBA team to Brooklyn had been known since his campaign for borough president, and he was instrumental in persuading Bruce Ratner to purchase the Nets in 2004.

He was elected to the borough presidency in 2001 as the Democratic candidate, and was re-elected on November 8, 2005, with 79% of the vote, compared to 13% for Republican challenger Theodore Alatsas, and 7% for Green Party candidate Gloria Mattera.

As borough presidents have little real power within city government, Markowitz used the office to be an aggressive advocate for Brooklyn, promoting mainstream tourism and events.

In the 2005 New York City mayoral election, he also endorsed Republican incumbent Michael Bloomberg, as did many other Democrats including Ed Koch.

He repeated this during the 2005 New York City transit strike, inviting Brooklynites into Borough Hall for warm drinks and a chance to call loved ones.

He frequently spoke at public schools in Brooklyn on occasions such as performances and graduations.

Markowitz continued promoting affordable housing, as he had in the Senate.

Through capital funding and use of the borough president's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) authority, thousands of affordable housing units have been created, including inclusionary zoning in Greenpoint/Willamsburg and the Habitat for Humanity project in Ocean Hill/Brownsville.

He agitated to save Starrett City, the nation's largest federally-subsidized housing complex, and keep it "affordable forever".

His efforts to expand Brooklyn's economy include gentrifying Coney Island; rezoning Greenpoint, Williamsburg, and downtown Brooklyn; cleaning up Newtown Creek; encouraging development of the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal; and attracting regional corporate headquarters, large manufacturers and retailers, startups and green businesses.

As a longtime advocate for seniors, Markowitz campaigned to keep Brooklyn senior centers open when they were threatened with closures due to budget cuts.

His efforts to save Brooklyn's financially troubled medical institutions resulted in the preservation of maternity and pediatric units at Long Island College Hospital as well as the critical services provided by school medical clinics.

He also called for increased parental and community engagement in schools and has supported policies that improve graduation rates and prepare Brooklyn students to compete and succeed in the global economy.

His office was instrumental in creating two new schools in Brooklyn: the High School for Innovation in Advertising and Media and the Brooklyn Academy of Global Finance on Stuyvesant Avenue.

His third and final term ended in December 2013.

He was born and raised in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in a Jewish family.

His father, Robert, was a waiter at George & Sid's, a kosher delicatessen, but died when Marty was nine years old; his mother, Dorothy, moved the family to public housing in Sheepshead Bay.

Markowitz has been a supporter of the controversial Atlantic Yards complex (renamed Pacific Park since 2014).

The arena, now known as the Barclays Center, houses the NBA's Brooklyn Nets and served as a temporary home for the NHL's New York Islanders before they moved to UBS Arena in 2021.