GIOIA CAMPAIGN HQ, Woodside

by Kevin Walsh

The campaign headquarters of Eric Gioia, former Woodside, Queens City Councilman, can still be clearly discerned on Roosevelt Avenue between 52nd and 53rd Streets on the Sunnyside-Woodside border. Gioia (pronounced JOY-a) served from 2001-2009. After losing in the NYC Public Advocate campaign to future Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2009, he became a VP at JP Morgan Chase. In 2007, he lived on food stamps totaling $28 for one week to demonstrate the plight of poor New Yorkers. He introduced legislation to make applying for food stamps easier and persuaded Costco to accept food stamps at two NYC locations and eventually nationwide. Gioia was succeeded in the NY City Council by Jimmy Van Bremer.

The HQ itself is notable because it is next door to a very small dwelling with a barn or stable in the rear that appears unchanged from the early 20th Century, or possibly the late 19th.

12/2/16

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