Forever Brooklyn: A Q&A With Marty Markowitz

Borough President Eric Adams was the featured speaker at City & State’s event unveiling our special Brooklyn issue, but no appraisal of the borough’s recent history would be complete without catching up with his predecessor, Marty Markowitz. Over his 12 years in office, Markowitz became a highly visible cheerleader for the borough and a living symbol of both its proud history and its bold new direction. C&S’s City Hall Bureau Chief Nick Powell spoke with Markowitz about whether he misses his dream job and what advice he offered Adams.

The following is an edited transcript.

C&S: Do you miss being borough president now that you’ve had a little bit of time to step away from the job?
Marty Markowitz: I made no secret of the fact that if we didn’t have term limits, I definitely would have run again for borough president. Being borough president was my life’s work. It is what I aspired to be professionally. I did not aspire to be anything beyond or besides Brooklyn borough president, so I would have run again for sure. Now do I miss it? There were some positive things that I experienced. I have more time now to be with my wife and my son, who happens to be an African Grey parrot. I don't have to worry about reading about myself the next day in some of the tabloids that frankly don’t always tell the truth. So, those parts I don't miss. The parts that I do miss are being in the center of the job of borough president. We know it’s not the most important position of city government, but nonetheless you are in the middle of almost everything that goes on particularly as it relates to your borough; that part I miss.

C&S: You said that borough president is a position you aspired to be as a young man. What was it about the job that so inspired you?
MM: What motivated me is I love Brooklyn—and I really do. I saw that Brooklyn was a gem that needed to be polished and needed promotion for all the good that is here. I also knew what Brooklyn needed, in my opinion, to move it forward. And, now we know, it's the coolest city on the planet. I really believed that in many ways, while I don't reflect obviously everyone in the borough, I do believe that for the time I served, I reflected the majority’s opinion and how they see themselves as Brooklynites and the pride they have in our borough. Sort of like, as I’ve said many times, that they can sweep you off your feet and be in your face at the same time.

C&S: Was Brooklyn’s transformation over the last decade something that happened organically or was it related to the role you played?
MM: Well, actually, I think it happened both ways. The change began with my predecessor Howard Golden, when the Marriot hotel opened; when MetroTech was built by Bruce Ratner; when the Brooklyn Cyclones built their stadium and came to play in Coney Island. So I think that was the beginning of it. Plus, I think that artists and the creative community began to see Brooklyn having the kind of housing, the proximity to Manhattan, the unique kind of housing we have and kindred souls, meaning other young people who have similar interests in the creative fields, began to gravitate to Brooklyn and also the growing LGBT community. In other parts of Brooklyn, there’s no question that the Russian population and the Chinese and the Caribbean and Turkish community have added to the mix. Each of them contributed. I think part of it was organic. I can lay claim legitimately to marketing and promoting Brooklyn, not only throughout America and in many places of the world, but also right here at home. Reinforcing being proud of Brooklyn, feeling good about living in Brooklyn, looking at all the opportunities and the cultural attractions, business opportunities, higher education. We have so many things that most cities would give their left arm for. So my job was bringing it together, promoting it, and frankly being proud of it.

C&S: There are some people who think that development is great, while there are others who point out its unfortunate byproducts, like gentrification and pushing poor and middle-income Brooklynites to the fringes of the borough. Where do you weigh in on this debate?
MM: First off, I think that the development has had a healthy impact on the borough; I hope and expect it will continue for the many years to come. Secondly, we obviously always have to be mindful of preserving affordable housing; I grew up in part in public housing so I know the importance of housing and good solid safe housing for folks of low income. We have to preserve our rent control to preserve that moderate middle income. All the new buildings, including around Atlantic Yards, overwhelmingly have at least 20 percent required affordable housing. Now that we have Mayor de Blasio, there is no question he made one of his priorities the building of more lower- and moderate-income housing, which we need because we can’t have a borough or a city that is only wealth and poverty. That is not healthy for the economy; it’s not healthy for either rich or poor. There’s no question that there are places in America where your dollar goes further. Having said that, there is not a place in America more exciting to live than in New York City and in my opinion Brooklyn is where the city begins. So overwhelmingly, the development has been positive. It has created new jobs, and Brooklyn has the fastest growing job pace in the city. We’re also outpacing the city in terms of population growth and the fact that people want to move here as opposed to leaving here shows you that, in my opinion, we’re on the right track. We’re going in the right direction, but we always have to be mindful of ensuring that folks of low and moderate [incomes] have an opportunity to continue to live in Brooklyn.

C&S: You had a very inimitable style as a borough president. You were both indefatigable and ubiquitous, seemingly showing up at every ribbon cutting, graduation, and community event. How did you develop that style? And how did you sustain that pace?
MM: Keep in mind that I grew up pre-Facebook, pre-viral, and pre-everything computer. So I grew up letter to paper and to personal handshakes and to personal conversation and one person at a time. That's the best way to put it, that's the way I grew up. I think that most folks that are my age—I’m 69 now—and people older, grew up the same way I did. I was elected in 1978, but I ran for office even before that (I lost in 1973 when I ran for City Council—300 votes I lost by, but I came in second). Even before that in college and high school, I held office in school government. I did that by one person at a time so I grew up on that, I didn't know anything else but that. Nothing equals personal appearances and when I became borough president, the only way you can keep yourself relevant or to be relevant, is to be seen. Let’s face it, the press covers the mayor everyday, every moment, but when you get to positions lower than mayor, governor or a president, the interest among the media begins to fall off and sadly in the last 15 years or so, some of the press, some only report “gotcha.” All they look for is “gotcha”. They have no interest in covering the good things you do; they only look for what they can get a story out of, which overwhelmingly has to be negative for them. There were a number of reporters and bureau chiefs whose job it was only to cover that which they could make a mockery of or imply negative things. That's all they cared about, sadly. So the way to overcome that is that when folks know you, they knew what they had with me, and no matter what tales were spun by these particular media outlets they knew me, and they trusted me, I never let them down. Listen, we all have different styles, I was different than Howard Golden, Howard Golden was different than Sebastian Leone, Sebastian Leone was different than Abe Stark, and Eric Adams is different than me, and I am different than him, and he will be different than the next person in, so we all have our own styles and we all make our own contributions so that was my style and, you know, is it needed today? Is it wanted? No, things change. I make a joke, I make a joke with me, and now you have a borough president who has exercise equipment where my refrigerator used to be, so there you go. Everything changes.

C&S: On that note, your successor Eric Adams, did you give him any advice? Was there anything you wanted him to know before he stepped into your sizable shoes?
MM: Actually his shoe size is bigger than mine by the way, but my waist was bigger than his so we’re equal. I shared with him just a few items; it was not as if he asked me, “Marty, tell me how to be borough president.” It wasn't anything like that. He served a number of years as a state senator, but something tells me he won’t need it. He has an idea of what he wants to do, and that's it and he’s off. Brooklyn is on automatic pilot in many ways, the work is ongoing now, and having a mayor from Brooklyn—I must say Bill De Blasio, I never realized, or maybe I should have, how much he truly loves Brooklyn. In fact, most of his [administration] appointees are Brooklyn men and women. Brooklyn is in capable hands both with our mayor and our borough president and of course the members of the City Council; we have some fabulous ones there, both the older ones and the new ones. Brooklyn is going in the right direction, we’ve got leaders that are representative of the Brooklyn we have today in 2014. I am confident we’re okay.