Paul Gertner ’66 has always been fascinated by how people move through New York City. The building industry executive and former city planner recalls how as a child he rode his bike all over Brooklyn, from his Midwood neighborhood to Marine Park, Prospect Park, and beyond. When he wasn’t biking, he’d ride public transportation, mainly the subway, far and wide. Gertner also loved geography, an atlas being his top pick at a grade school book fair. It is no wonder that when he reached Brooklyn College, he was one of the first students to graduate with a degree in urbanism, or what is now known as urban sustainability. Today, Gertner is a passionate advocate and supporter of sustainability efforts in New York City. His dedication to improving New Yorkers’ quality of life includes substantial gifts to his alma mater. One such gift, initiated in 2021, is the Paul S. Gertner Student Internship Fund, which places sustainability students into internships at organizations in the field. Another, the Paul S. Gertner Fund for Urban and Environmental Studies, funds a full-time director and part-time college assistant at the college’s Center for the Study of Brooklyn, where interdisciplinary research about Brooklyn is conducted. These investments have allowed students to enter the world of urban and environmental advocacy, preparing them to be leaders in the field. Becoming His Own Boss After graduating from Brooklyn College and earning a master’s in regional planning from Cornell, Gertner became a county planning director in rural Colorado. Moving to the West Coast, he worked as an energy planner for the California Energy Commission, assessing emergent energy technologies and electric cars long before they became commonplace. After nearly a decade, he returned to Brooklyn and took the helm of the family business, Starborn Industries, a manufacturer and distributor of fasteners and other building-related products that his parents started in 1961. “I loved my career in California, but I wanted to come back to Brooklyn and be my own boss,” says Gertner. Under his direction, the business grew. Patents were filed for new products, always with an aim, he says, to help people build better dwellings and to provide contractors with better ways to do things. The company became increasingly successful, and Gertner found that he had time to get involved in nonprofits. Besides his interest in urban planning, he has, for the last two decades, been a board member of Roulette Intermedium, a Brooklyn based organization dedicated to supporting emerging musicians and dancers. He also turned to something that had always been on his mind: transforming New York City streets into more walkable, bikeable, sustainable spaces. “Transportation connects everybody to the environment and our life in the city,” says Gertner, who believes a livable city goes hand in hand with sustainability. An idea he had to build a bike path over the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge grew into a plan to open a 60-mile route around New York Harbor. To accomplish that, Gertner founded Harbor Ring, an advocacy group dedicated to this goal. Today, the route integrates more than 28 miles of existing shared-use paths and bikeways and more than 20 miles of bicycle-friendly streets. Bringing in Brooklyn College Starting in 2020, Gertner, as a board member of the tri-state Regional Plan Association (RPA), an organization that focuses on quality of life and the economic health of the New York metropolitan area, funded three important studies for the association. He turned to his alma mater for the third, an extensive study of the effects of e-commerce, bringing Brooklyn College students on board to work as interns for RPA. “It was a class project amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and they did a marvelous job creating a presentation; it was a great contribution to the RPA conference on e-commerce issues,” says Gertner. Out of that emerged the idea for an internship fund to support Brooklyn College students studying transportation, the environment, and urban sustainability. Gertner turned to Professor of Sociology and Urban Sustainability Ken Gould, then director of the Urban Sustainability Program, to help establish the Paul S. Gertner Student Internship Fund. Seeing a need to supplement the school’s Center for the Study of Brooklyn, Gertner worked with the center’s director Sociology Professor Gregory Smithsimon to establish the Paul S. Gertner Fund for Urban and Environmental Studies. “My first love has always been to try to make the world a better place to live. ” says Gertner. “Coming back to Brooklyn College after all these years, it’s emotional for me, especially seeing the students and how much they want to serve society, not just themselves—how they want to make the borough, the city, our country a better place.” In just a few short years, the internship fund has provided students with opportunities to gain experience at organizations devoted to sustainability, such as Harbor Ring, RPA, Transportation Alternatives, Riders Alliance, the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative, and Open Plans. “Mr. Gertner’s support has been transformational in connecting me with an internship at Open Plans, where I was able to engage in safe streets advocacy and public space management through tabling and public presentations,” says senior Wil Kitcher. “It allowed me to engage with the community in spreading awareness for environmental justice issues. I’m thankful for his invaluable support.” “It’s a very exciting time to be working on sustainability issues in New York City. Paul’s support allows students to gain real experience with some of the city’s most important planning issues and new initiatives,” says Professor Smithsimon. “We’ve been fortunate that Paul had developed relationships with environmental, planning, and transit organizations; that has allowed us to have access. He is passionate that our students have these experiences.” Addressing Real-World Challenges Gertner knows how valuable paid internship opportunities can be, for students’ career prospects and the city’s future. “It’s important that our students get out into the environment, not just seeing what an urban planner does, but doing things like testifying in front of the MTA or attending hearings to see what happens when you’ve done the research, have a plan, and present it,” says Gertner. “What are the real-world challenges? While I loved my career in urban planning, I would have liked the kind of exposure to real life planning work environments we’re trying to give students now.” As a Brooklyn native, Gertner says that his deep love of the borough underpins his extensive commitment to the college’s sustainability programs. “Our students are from here. They have families here. They have a vested interest. So many want to find solutions to problems such as congestion, air pollution, and flooding,” he says. Significant strides have been made to convert Brooklyn’s former industrial waterfronts into green spaces, yet Gertner is keen on getting those kinds of “amenities” deeper into the borough. He is enthusiastic about students leading the way. “[Brooklyn College students] can be a bridge from the advocates to the residents and the politicians.” When asked about the next big thing that will improve the quality of life and contribute to sustainability in New York City, Gertner does not hesitate. “One thing I’ve been trying to bring attention to is this idea of eVTOLs—electric, vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. They are about to come to New York and displace a lot of very noisy helicopters that are taking off from downtown. But if the technology becomes widespread there could be concerning unintended consequences.” And about the future? Gertner is confident the city will be in good hands with Brooklyn College students at the helm. “Hopefully, one of our students will become the head of the Department of Transportation or the Parks Department,” he says. And with supporters like Gertner, this vision can become a reality, enabling New York City to thrive, sustainably, for a very long time.
