About Michael
Before his election to the United States Congress in 2008, Michael E. McMahon was elected to the New York City Council in 2001. He won election to the City Council building on his career in public service where Michael had been a tireless advocate for the residents of Staten Island and Brooklyn. Michael’s years of public service in a variety of diverse civic organizations and parenting of two school-aged children have made him an active presence in his community. Through hard work and creative thinking, Michael has found ways to address the needs of his North Shore district and to improve the quality of life for all New Yorkers.
Fighting Against Traffic Congestion
With an average commute time of 40 minutes and as high as 2 hours, every Staten Islander and Brooklynite can attest to the congestion of the boroughs’ road systems. After being elected to the City Council Michael committed himself to finding ways to get people to work and home more quickly and efficiently. As part of this effort Michael helped convene a Traffic Mitigation Task Force that brought together City, State and Federal agencies to conceptualize and implement solutions to the growing congestion problem. Implemented strategies include eliminating left turns on Hylan Boulevard, creating more “Park and Rides”, establishing the S-89 bus service over the Bayonne Bridge and reconfiguring dozens of intersections and increased right turns on red.
Fighting for Expanded Ferry Service and
Mass Transit
With an average commute time of 40 minutes and as high as 2 hours, every Staten Islander and Brooklynite can attest to the congestion of the boroughs’ road systems. After being elected to the City Council Michael committed himself to finding ways to get people to work and home more quickly and ef
ficiently. As part of this effort Michael helped convene a Traffic Mitigation Task Force that brought together City, State and Federal agencies to conceptualize and implement solutions to the growing congestion problem. Implemented strategies include eliminating left turns on Hylan Boulevard, creating more “Park and Rides”, establishing the S-89 bus service over the Bayonne Bridge and reconfiguring dozens of intersections and increased right turns on red.
Fighting Overdevelopment to Preserve Neighborhoods and Communities
Over the last decade Staten Island and Brooklyn have experienced unprecedented growth and development threatening the very nature of the neighborhoods that makes them desirable places to live. To protect these communities and others like them around the City, Michael has fought to strengthen landmarks laws and to preserve open spaces. Michael also helped spearhead the 2003 Staten Island down-zoning, which protects our communities from over development by preserving their character and density. In additional, he supported the Brooklyn down-zoning in the City Council and has led the fight against illegal curb cuts.
Fighting for the Environment
Michael’s ability to find solutions to complicated problems is no more clearly seen than through his forceful leadership on sanitation, responsible waste and recycling policies. As Chair of the New York City Council’s Committee on Solid Waste and Sanitation, Michael led the fight to keep the Fresh Kills Dump in Staten Island closed and to ensure that it will be transformed into a 2,200-acre public park. Michael has also been at the forefront of the development of a responsible, long-term solid-waste plan that does not over burden those communities that have historically borne the brunt of our City’s complicated waste disposal needs. However, Michael is committed to finding a better option to the Southwest Brooklyn Transfer Station or to fully mitigate it. Recognizing the need to reduce our City’s overall trash and the importance of solid-waste management from both a health and environmental perspective, Michael has been a leading voice in the City for the preservation and expansion of recycling programs. In addition to saving residential recycling, Michael has also fought for new recycling laws that cover plastic bags, batteries and electronic waste.
Fighting for Healthcare Access
When local parents and neighbors told Michael that their school nurses were being removed Michael sprang into action and committed himself to this important and basic health care access issue. In typical style, Michael threw himself into the issue, becoming an expert in school-based health care programs. Through his research he learned that while school nursing services had been offered in both public and parochial schools since the mid 1990s, there was actually no legal requirement that they be provided in either. Thanks to his legislative and community organizing efforts, Michael McMahon’s School Nursing Bill was made law on June 7th, 2004 and today the City’s Department of Health is required to provide at least one full time, onsite nurse to any school, public or parochial, with over 200 students. The health and well being of our community’s children made anything less, simply unacceptable to Michael.
Michael’s concern about his community’s access to health care has not stopped at the walls of our children’s schools. Rather, Michael has been a leading voice for expanded services for New Yorkers of all ages. Since Staten Island is the only borough without a pubic hospital, Michael has advocated for the development of new models to ensure the delivery of critical health care services. As part of this approach, Michael has expanded funding for mobile health services, such as mammography vans, and ensured that local community-based organizations receive their fair share of city funding. As hospitals have been closing throughout Staten Island and Brooklyn, Michael has worked with the City’s public hospital system to develop a Federally Qualified Health Care Center that would ensure access for thousands of New Yorkers to affordable, quality health care. Michael has also worked to increase government funding for the Richmond University Medical Center and Staten Island University Hospital. He will also partner with his colleagues to address the access issues raised by the closing of Victory memorial Hospital.
Michael’s Education & Work History
Michael is a proud New Yorker and Staten Islander. Born in raised in the Stapleton section of Staten Island, Michael is the middle child of seven kids. He is the product of the parochial school system, attending both Saint Joseph Hill Academy in Arrochar and Monsignor Farrell High School. Michael graduated from New York University and received his law degree from the New York Law School. While still in law school, Michael began his career as an advocate for his community, first working for Assembly Member Eric Vitaliano, and then as an aide to Assembly Member Elizabeth Connelly. He followed that by joining the staff of then Council Member Jerome Donovan whom, on November 6, 2001, he was elected to succeed.
Michael has also been active in a variety of civic organizations, including as president of the Randall Manor Residents' Association and on the board of directors of Meals On Wheels of Staten Island, Inc., the Goodhue Center of the Children's Aid Society, the Catholic Youth Organization, Neighborhood Housing Services, Inc., and the Dr. Theodore Atlas Foundation. Additionally, Michael was a lector at Blessed Sacrament Church. He also served as pro bono legal counsel to the Sailor's Snug Harbor Little League, where he managed a boys' team. Michael also coached the Blessed Sacrament Titan League Soccer Club and the St. Joseph Hill Soccer Club. Michael also was the head of the Friends of Alison Pond Park and was the NYC Parks Department Volunteer of the Month in May of 1998. Michael continues to be a “son” of the Granito-Smith American legion post. McMahon is also a former partner in the law firm of O'Leary, McMahon and Spero.
Michael’s Family
For over 20 years Michael has been married to Judith Novellino McMahon, judge of the Civil Court and acting Supreme Court Justice. They have two children, Joseph who currently attends the University of Notre Dame where he serves as an editor of the Observer Daily Paper and Julia, who is a student at Poly Prep in Bay Ridge and was recently named a Staten Island Advance All Star for track.
