Helen Rosenthal, Council Rep, Bids Farewell To UWS After 8 Years

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — In a recent email, Helen Rosenthal bid farewell to the Upper West Side after eight years of representing the neighborhood in the city council.

"For the last eight years, I’ve had the privilege of serving District 6 on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and the City of New York. I’ve been humbled by the experience," Rosenthal wrote. "They say that Upper West Siders are opinionated and passionate: this is true!"

The longtime elected official went on to thank the people who would walk by her office on Columbus Avenue and check-in with a friendly wave. She also thanked by name many members of her inner team and the interns and volunteers who worked for her office.

"I’m proud of what we accomplished together," Rosenthal wrote in her farewell email.

7 Bills Rosenthal Passed In 2021

• Salary Ranges for All Job Postings: Requires that advertisements for private or public sector jobs include a minimum and maximum salary.
• Open Captions in Movie Theaters: Requires open captioned (subtitled) film screenings in NYC movie theaters.
• Video Voter Guides: Requires that printed voter guides include the top ten spoken languages in NYC and braille/large print. It also requires that candidates participate in video voter guides, which will include close captioning and ASL.
• Student Loan Forgiveness Notification: This bill ensures that the City's 330,000 employees are automatically informed that they may be eligible for public service loan forgiveness.
• Street Harassment Advisory Board: This bill requires the City to establish a street harassment prevention advisory board, with a broad membership, to study harassment (including an annual survey), provide public education, and identify more effective, community-based responses.
• Victim-centric Training for NYPD: All police officers who interact with the public will be required to receive comprehensive victim-centered, trauma-informed questioning training.
• Building Light Restrictions to Protect Birds: This bill requires all City-owned buildings to turn off non-essential outdoor lights from 11 p.m.-6 a.m., during peak avian migratory periods.

Rosenthal's Road To The Upper West Side

Rosenthal, who was born in Detroit, Michigan, graduated undergrad from Michigan State and earned a Masters in Public Health from Yale University in 1987.

She moved to New York City to serve as an Assistant Director of the New York City Mayor's Office of Management and Budget, where she oversaw the city's healthcare budget under Mayors Ed Koch, David Dinkins, and Rudy Giuliani.

Rosenthal was a longtime member of the Upper West Side's Community Board 7, eventually serving as the chair from 2007 to 2009. In 2012, she announced her candidacy for the District 6 Council position to replace the term-limited Gale Brewer.

Rosenthal would go on to defeat six other candidates in the 2013 Democratic primary and receive the most amount of votes of any candidate running for a council position in the November election.

In 2019, Rosenthal, along with Keith Powers, was ranked as the top lawmaker in the New York City Council.

She announced her candidacy for New York City Comptroller in 2020, but dropped out a short time after.

To bring it full circle, the term-limited Rosenthal has been replaced by the returning Brewer.