Eric 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.
