Helen K. Rosenthal (born October 24, 1960) was formerly an American politician who served as a member of the New York City Council for the 6th district. The district includes the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

Early life and education

Rosenthal was born in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

, and received a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in socio-economic policy and political theory from Michigan State University in 1982. She earned a

Masters in Public Health The Master of Public Health or Master of Philosophy in Public Health (M.P.H.), Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH), Master of Medical Science in Public Health (MMSPH) and the Doctor of Public Health (Dr.P.H.), International Masters for Healt ...

from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

in 1987.

Career

From 1988 to 1995, Rosenthal served as an Assistant Director of the

New York City Mayor's Office of Management and Budget The New York City Mayor's Office of Management and Budget (OMB), formerly New York City Office of Management and Budget, is the New York City government's chief financial agency, organized as part of the New York City Mayor's office. OMB staff, ...

, where she managed the city's healthcare budget under Mayors

Ed Koch Edward Irving Koch ( ; December 12, 1924February 1, 2013) was an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, film critic, and television personality. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and was ma ...

David Dinkins David Norman Dinkins (July 10, 1927 – November 23, 2020) was an American politician, lawyer, and author who served as the 106th mayor of New York City from 1990 to 1993. He was the first African American to hold the office. Before enteri ...

, and Rudy Giuliani. Rosenthal is a longtime member of Community Board 7, having served as Strategy and Budget Committee Chair, Vice Chair, and eventually board chair from 2007 to 2009. During this time, she advocated for additional public school seats on the

, using data collection to dispute the city's assertion that the district had 1,500 empty school seats. This resulted in the creation of P.S. 452 in 2010.

New York City Council

In March 2012, Rosenthal announced her candidacy for District 6 of the New York City Council, whose incumbent,

Gale Brewer Gale Arnot Brewer (born September 6, 1951) is an American Democratic politician from the state of New York who has represented the 6th New York City Council District since January 2022, a position she previously held from 2002 to 2013. From Janu ...

, was term-limited out of office. Rosenthal focused her campaign on issues including public school education, affordable housing, budget expertise, and mass transit improvements. Her bid was endorsed by organizations including the Sierra Club, the National Organization for Women-NYC, and TenantsPAC, a group which advocates for rent-regulated tenants. Other supporters included

Gloria Steinem Gloria Marie Steinem (; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Steinem was a c ...

, Michael Moore, former City Councilwoman Ronnie Eldridge, State Senator Liz Krueger, and State Assemblywoman

Deborah Glick Deborah J. Glick (born December 24, 1950) is a member of the New York State Assembly representing the 66th Assembly District in Lower Manhattan, including the neighborhoods of Alphabet City, Greenwich Village, Noho, the East Village, the W ...

. Rosenthal speaking in 2021 as a memorial plaque is unveiled to accessibility activist Edith Prentiss In September 2013, Rosenthal won the Democratic nomination for the District 6 City Council seat, defeating six other candidates. She went on to win the November general election with 78% of the vote, and her vote total was the highest of any candidate running for City Council throughout New York City. Pedestrian safety emerged as a key issue for Rosenthal when three pedestrians were struck and killed on the

over a ten-day period in January 2014. She also advocates for better transportation services meeting the needs of all New Yorkers. In 2017, Rosenthal won the Democratic primary to become the Democratic nominee, with 65% of the vote over closest competitor Mel Wymore with 31%. Rosenthal defeated Republican Candidate Hyman Drusin and Independent Candidate William Raudenbush in the general election on November 7, 2017. Rosenthal's support of a controversial school desegregation plan in her district was cited in endorsements received from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', the ''New York Daily News'', and the ''

Amsterdam News The ''Amsterdam News'' (also known as ''New York Amsterdam News'') is a weekly Black-owned newspaper serving New York City. It is one of the oldest newspapers geared toward African Americans in the United States and has published columns by s ...

''. Rosenthal was ranked first (tied with

Keith Powers Keith Tyree Powers (born August 22, 1992) is an American actor and model. He is best known for his roles as Ronnie DeVoe in BET's miniseries ''The New Edition Story'' and Tyree in the film '' Straight Outta Compton''. Career After graduating ...

) as top lawmaker on New York City Council. In January 2019, Rosenthal announced her candidacy for

New York City Comptroller The Office of Comptroller of New York City, a position established in 1801, is the chief financial officer and chief auditor of the city agencies and their performance and spending. The comptroller also reviews all city contracts, handles the s ...

in the

2021 New York City Comptroller election The 2021 New York City Comptroller election consisted of Democratic and Republican primaries for New York City Comptroller on June 22, 2021, followed by a general election on November 2, 2021. The primaries were the first NYC Comptroller electio ...

, but she dropped out of the race in July 2020.

Election history

References

External links

Official website

New York City Council page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenthal, Helen 1960 births New York City Council members American community activists Living people Yale School of Public Health alumni Michigan State University alumni Women New York City Council members 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians New York (state) Democrats