No one works harder for all 2.5 million-plus Brooklynites than Marty Markowitz. Since entering Borough Hall in January 2002, Marty has reinvigorated the office of borough president, serving as the tireless chief advocate for Brooklyn’s economic, social, and cultural interests, while initiating and promoting efforts to improve Brooklynites’ quality of life.

His goal is to ensure that all Brooklynites have the opportunity to share in the historic renaissance sweeping across the borough — and if he puts a smile on your face while he’s at it, even better!

Born and raised in Crown Heights, Marty graduated from Wingate High School in 1962. He received his B.A. in Political Science after attending night school at Brooklyn College from 1962 to 1970.

Marty began his career in public service in 1971, at the age of 26, by organizing the Flatbush Tenants Council, which grew into Brooklyn Housing and Family Services, the largest tenants’ advocacy organization in New York State. He is also widely known for creating two of New York City’s largest and longest-running free concert series: the Seaside Summer Concert Series in Coney Island, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Concert Series, in Flatbush.

Marty was elected to the New York State Senate in 1979, where he served 11 consecutive terms representing Central Brooklyn. But he always dreamed of serving all of Brooklyn, a goal he achieved as the first borough president elected in the new millennium. He was honored to be re-elected to a second term in 2005.

As borough president, in addition to setting an ambitious agenda focused on the core issues of his more than three decades in public service — housing, neighborhood preservation, and community development — Marty has enacted programs to boost civic pride, improve health, empower young Brooklynites, and generate more resources for the borough’s businesses and residents.

When the NBA Nets were put up for sale in 2002, Marty saw a chance to fulfill his campaign promise of returning a national sports team to Brooklyn for the first time since the Dodgers left for Los Angeles in 1957. Marty has actively supported moving the team from New Jersey to a new Downtown arena at Atlantic Yards. The team hopes to play its first game in Brooklyn in the fall of 2009. Combined with comprehensive plans for Downtown Brooklyn’s additional development, and the burgeoning BAM Cultural District, Marty is helping to establish a vibrant new center of life for Brooklynites and all New Yorkers.

Bringing a pro sports team here is just one way Marty is working to make sure that no one ever has to leave Brooklyn for anything. With the goal of maintaining Brooklyn’s ethnic and economic diversity, he consistently seeks to maximize the amount of affordable housing for lower- and middle-income Brooklynites in every residential project that comes before him for review. More than 2,200 of the rental units planned at Atlantic Yards will be affordable housing, as will an estimated 3,000-plus of the new units resulting from the 2005 Greenpoint-Williamsburg rezoning. In addition, Marty’s own Brooklyn Housing Development Fund has helped create hundreds of affordable-housing units to date.

Marty also works with Brooklyn communities to preserve their historic character and prevent out-of-scale development. Sections of Park Slope, Sunset Park, Midwood, Bay Ridge, and Bensonhurst have all been down-zoned by the City Planning Commission, and similar plans are moving forward in Canarsie, Dyker Heights, Sheepshead Bay, Plum Beach, Homecrest, Greenpoint-Williamsburg, and Fort Greene-Clinton Hill.

Through efforts large and small, Marty also helps create the jobs Brooklynites need. He oversaw an historic community benefits agreement for Atlantic Yards, guaranteeing that the majority of the new jobs generated by the project will go to Brooklynites who need them most, including residents of nearby public housing. He has been a tireless advocate for bringing the cruise-ship industry to Brooklyn, and in April 2006 the Queen Mary 2 will begin docking in Red Hook, followed by the Crown Princess in June, creating new jobs and introducing thousands of visitors to our great borough. Marty also chairs the Initiative for a Competitive Brooklyn, an innovative partnership to expand core economic sectors in Brooklyn, including health services, real estate and construction, the food industry, and tourism.

Marty is Brooklyn’s biggest cultural booster, extolling our world-renowned character, and cast of characters, while putting the borough back on the national and international maps. In February of 2004 he launched the Brooklyn Tourism & Visitors Center, making Brooklyn the first borough with its own tourism center. Also in 2004, he launched the annual “Dine In Brooklyn” restaurant week, which attracts thousands of diners to the hundreds of restaurants that are fast making Brooklyn the culinary capital of America. And Marty’s vision of restoring Coney Island as “America’s Favorite Playground” will be realized as the plan for its redevelopment takes shape.

On quality of life issues, Marty has been pro-active and aggressive. In August 2005, a law introduced on his behalf by Council Member David Yassky to wipe out no-fault insurance “medical mills” and reduce sky-high auto insurance rates for Brooklynites and all New Yorkers The bill was passed unanimously by the Council and signed into law by Mayor Bloomberg in May 2006. Also in 2005, Marty became party to a lawsuit to force ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco to clean up an oil leak under Newtown Creek that has contaminated Greenpoint for decades. In 2004, he founded the Brooklyn Center on Health Disparities, fulfilling a pledge he made with Deputy Borough President Yvonne Graham to help reduce rates of cardiovascular disease, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, infant mortality, asthma, and diabetes among Brooklyn’s minority communities.

Marty’s office acquired two state-of-the-art graffiti-removal trucks in 2002, which have since cleaned more than 1000 sites across the borough. In 2004, Marty launched the Neighborhood Beautification Fund, which distributed $1 million in its first year to Brooklyn block associations for the purchase of hundreds of new street trees and tree guards. In 2005, he increased the fund to $3 million to further green our neighborhoods. Each year, Marty’s Camp Brooklyn sends hundreds of young Brooklynites to summer camp in upstate New York, while his Summer HEAT (Help Employ Ambitious Teens) program gives hundreds of teens their first job experience.

Marty married his wife, Jamie, in 1999. They are the proud parents of Beep, an 8 years old African Grey Parrot.