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  Gioia, Eric
CANDIDATE DETAILS
AffiliationDemocratic  
 
NameEric Gioia
Address39-41 49 Street
Queens, New York , United States
EmailNone
Website [Link]
Born April 27, 1973 (50 years)
Contributornystate63
Last ModifedRBH
Feb 16, 2013 11:48pm
Tags Italian - Married - Union Member - Straight -
InfoEric Gioia has distinguished himself as a tireless worker and a tenacious advocate for all New Yorkers.

A native of Woodside, Queens and a product of local public schools P.S. 11 and I.S. 125, as well as St. Francis Prep, Gioia worked his way through NYU and Georgetown Law School working nights as a janitor, doorman, elevator operator, and member of SEIU Local 32BJ. He served in the Clinton White House and practiced law at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy.

As Chair of the City Council’s Committee on Oversight and Investigations, Gioia has exposed inefficiency, waste, and mismanagement, and worked to make government cost less and work better. His investigations have focused attention on persistent hunger in New York City and helped cut the bureaucratic red tape keeping hungry children and families from receiving food stamps. He has uncovered deplorable living conditions for homeless New Yorkers with AIDS, excessive wait times for mammogram screenings, and the limited availability of emergency contraception for victims of sexual assault. His investigations have discovered defective bulletproof vests sold to the NYPD and exposed the unlawful charging of sales tax on clothing. Gioia’s hard-hitting hearings have shined light on egregious worker safety violations and have resulted in a massive whistleblower education program for City workers and more diverse hiring practices for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.

Called “energetic” by the New York Times, Gioia visits every public school in his district each year, and each year gives every graduating elementary school student a real, hardcover dictionary. With innovation and hard work, Gioia has made education his top priority, securing over $4 million for computers and technology in his district’s schools to ensure that each school is wired for the Internet and prepared for the 21st Century. Gioia has worked to increase access to higher education by supporting free college counseling and SAT preparation classes, and he successfully expanded extracurricular opportunities by founding a the first ever youth baseball league in Queensbridge, New York’s largest public housing development.

Councilmember Gioia is a prolific lawmaker. He wrote and passed the Young Adult Voter Registration Act, a law that will introduce thousands of New Yorkers to the rites of citizenship by providing a voter registration form to every graduating high school senior. Over the next decade, his legislation will register an entire generation of New Yorkers. Gioia has also written legislation that would drive down the high cost of prescription drugs by creating an easy-to-use website to notify seniors and other consumers of the lowest prices for needed medications.

Using the findings of his investigations, Gioia worked with his colleagues to pass laws ensuring the wide availability of emergency contraception to all women in New York. He wrote a bill to strengthen the Tax Payer Bill of Rights, which forces tax preparers to provide important information to their clients, and he has introduced legislation to make it easier to collect child support from deadbeat parents. He has also authored clean beach legislation to give the public better information about sanitary and health conditions on the City’s beaches.

In addition to chairing Oversight and Investigations, Gioia serves on the Finance Committee, the Land Use Committee, and the Subcommittee on Zoning & Franchises, as well as the committees on Cultural Affairs & Libraries and Fire & Criminal Justice Services. Councilmember Gioia also serves (ex officio) on the boards of the Museum of the Moving Image, the P.S. 1/MoMA Contemporary Art Center, and City Year New York.

Eric Gioia was reelected in 2005 to represent Woodside, Sunnyside, Long Island City, Astoria, and Maspeth. He and his wife Lisa Hernandez Gioia were married in October 2004, and recently celebrated the birth of their first child, Amelia. The Gioias live in Queens with their dog Charly.


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  11/08/2005 New York City Council 26 Won 83.39% (+70.34%)
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  09/25/2001 NYC Council 26 - D Primary Won 43.21% (+24.95%)
ENDORSEMENTS
NY State Senate 12 - Nov 02, 2010 D Michael N. Gianaris
NYC Public Advocate - D Runoff - Sep 29, 2009 D Bill de Blasio
NYC Council 25 - D Primary - Sep 15, 2009 D Daniel Dromm