Weisbrod brings wealth of experience to de Blasio team

From left: Carl Weisbrod and Bill de Blasio
From left: Carl Weisbrod and Bill de Blasio

City government veteran and real estate pro Carl Weisbrod says he plans to bring his “one real skill” of identifying talent to Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio’s transition team, but his lengthy resume hints at plenty more.

Weisbrod, who began his career as an anti-poverty lawyer suing the city on behalf of squatters and families in welfare hotels, was soon recruited to the John Lindsay administration to work from the inside, the New York Times reported. He followed that up with a spot heading up Mayor David Dinkins’ New York City Economic Development Corporation, before working on Mayor Ed Koch’s Midtown Enforcement Project, starting the city’s first business improvement district, working with Mayor Rudy Giuliani to refresh a Financial District in decline and presiding over Trinity Church’s real estate division.

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“I think that he will be able to help the mayor-elect both keep his ideals but at the same time run the city in a practical way,” Senator Charles Schumer, D.-N.Y., told the New York Times. “It was a very wise choice.”

Weisbrod’s appointment drew a collective sigh of relief from some observers who questioned the relatively inexperienced mayor, the Times said. And the 69-year-old partner at real estate consulting firm HR & A Advisors told the Times he aims to bring the de Blasio administration a wealth of new folks who will spend a long time in government, “and help it not only through the de Blasio administration of the next eight years, but beyond and beyond and beyond.” [NYT]Julie Strickland