MERYL BRODSKY
FOR CITY COUNCIL 2025
Background-Motivation-Leadership
Make Democracy Work,
Build the City for People Now
ABOUT MERYL
Meryl Brodsky, an advocate for community engagement and social justice, is running for the New York City Council in the 4th District. With roots in Long Island and Manhattan since attending Columbia University as an undergraduate. Meryl’s journey has been fueled by a passion for politics and a commitment to public service. Her educational background includes a consortium of courses from several universities and a master's degree in economics and policy as well as PhD studies at CUNY Graduate Center and Harvard Graduate School.
CAMPAIGN BUZZ
NEW YORK CITY ELECTION
JUNE 24, 2025 TUESDAY
6:00 am - 9:00 pm
Voter registration deadline: Saturday, June 14 (applications must be received by this date)
• Absentee ballot request deadline:
Saturday, June 14
• Early in-person voting:
Saturday, June 14 through Sunday,
June 22
• Absentee ballot return deadline:
Tuesday, June 24, 9 p.m.
(postmarked or in person)
* www.vote.nyc Find Your Poll Site
FIND COUNCIL DISTRICT 4 AND YOUR COMMUNITY BOARD
Council District 4 includes Community Planning Districts 5, 6, 8
20221006-Final-Plan-Manhattan-Districts-c.pdf
Let’s build a stronger community, one step at a time. Stand with us—donate now and drive the change!
PROBLEMS AND POLICIES
Land Use and Development
Historical Context: The East Side of Manhattan has experienced significant changes in land use and development over the years. Overall, we have to work together on projects addressing housing, resiliency, and community needs.
In the 19th century, the Upper East Side transitioned from farmland and market gardens to commercial development, particularly around the New York and Harlem Railroad station. Characterized by five-story tenement buildings until the 1920s, a housing code curtailed their construction but some still remain. Demolition of elevated railways in the 1950s paved the way for high-rises exemplified by developments like Manhattan House and Sutton Terrace.
Today, there are plans to extend Manhattan into New York Harbor to create housing and protect against rising sea levels through landfill and shoreline reshaping. Further, the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project aims to mitigate flood risks from storms and rising sea levels by renovating East River properties and enhancing coastal protection.
As the Land Use chair of the Turtle Bay Association (TBA) https://turtlebay-nyc.org/, I share the desire to maintain the quality of life. In 2017, Turtle Bay was to become the home of a plethora of private development projects, generally referred to as Vanderbilt One, the 77-story skyscraper occupying a full-block parcel immediately to the west of Grand Central Terminal. In exchange, developers would provide a Public Realm Improvement Fund to support the infrastructure. A dubious proposition, such fund would provide upward of $50 million to improve streets, subway entrances and access for the disabled, electric facilities and more.
When the City Council in 2017 approved an extensive rezoning for 73 blocks of the neighborhood, it cleared the path for 6.5 million square feet of new office space. The rezoning was meant to encourage landlords to demolish their older buildings for new commercial properties. Although we were included in the rezoning map, “Greater East Midtown,” five or more Turtle Bay blocks east of Third Avenue were exempted due to the diligent efforts of a former TBA land use chair. It became our mission to down scale development. Thus, we are watching several projects in the area hopeful that, given the huge surplus of commercial space and increase of homeless, overdevelopment can be averted.
OUR CAMPAIGN GALLERY
