NYC Council Elections 2021: David Gold Seeks UWS Seat

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Voters in New York City's 6th Council district, which includes almost the entirety of the Upper West Side, will see six names on their ballots when they vote in the June 22 primary election.

One of those names will be David Gold, a lawyer and nonprofit leader, who is among the Democrats seeking to replace the term-limited incumbent Helen Rosenthal.

Patch reached out to all candidates in the election to create these profiles. Gold's responses are below.

Answers have been lightly edited for clarity.

David Gold

Age (as of Election Day)

53

Position Sought

City Council, District 6

Party Affiliation

Democratic

Neighborhood of residence

Upper West Side

Family

My wife, like me, is a life-long New Yorker who grew up on the Upper West Side. Our older son attended NYC public schools and is now a college student. Our younger son is a junior at a NYC public high school downtown. Their grandparents all still live in the neighborhood and are good friends.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

My wife works for the City.

Education

BA, Brown University. JD, Columbia University. MA, PhD, University of Pennsylvania.

Occupation

I run Democratism, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that seeks to make our federal election system more democratic. I’m also a lawyer, for close to twenty years.

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

New to politics

Campaign website

davidgold.nyc

Why are you seeking elective office?

Our community is at a critical juncture, a moment of rare opportunity as we recover from the pandemic. I’m running because there’s a need for real change, and also a hunger for real change, and we have to think big and creatively about it, because now’s our chance.

I’ll fight in every way for affordable housing; excellent public schools; aid to local businesses; fair, effective law enforcement; environmental sustainability; better public transit; and a resurgence in the arts.

But it’s not enough to fight for these things in the same old ways. Our problems aren’t new, and the old ways haven’t solved them. As a Member of the City Council, I’ll work for two improvements to our democracy that would dramatically improve our trajectory.

One is a hyper-local voting system that allows neighbors to decide together what’s most important to us and shift resources accordingly. It can address many long-standing problems, including empty storefronts, affordable housing, and more.

The other is called the Democracy Decree. It’s legislation I’ll introduce in the City Council so New Yorkers can join a national vote to end the Electoral College and create fair representation in Congress. Our current system is anti-democratic and anti-city. To create the city we want, we need to claim our fair share of power in Washington—and local legislatures must lead the way.

The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

The most pressing issue facing the Upper West Side and New York City is the bias in the federal election system that prevents us from creating the neighborhood and the city we want. Until we fix our election system, we will never achieve our goals on any of the issues that are most important to us—affordable housing, protecting local businesses, reducing violent crime, police reform, and climate change, among others. The federal government is never going to change of its own accord. We need to demand change. That’s why, if I’m elected, I’ll introduce the Democracy Decree in the New York City Council, so New Yorkers can join a national vote to end the electoral college and create fair representation in Congress.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

I am the only candidate focused on the central political issue of our time—that to build the future we want we must claim our fair share of power in Washington.

I am also the only candidate to offer genuinely new and creative solutions to problems that have flummoxed our elected officials for decades. One of the other candidates has actually been one of those officials (for decades). The others don’t offer new approaches, either.