Marty Markowitz begins the new year as a borough president, minus the “p.”
Markowitz’s spent Dec. 31, his last day in office, accepting a steady stream of well-wishers, packing up his plentiful tchotchkes, and, yes, shedding a few tears.
“It was a very emotional moment for me,” said the 68-year-old who has worked the last dozen years as the borough’s biggest booster.
Markowitz spent hours cleaning out his office and taking any personal items that would not be of use to brand-new Beep Eric Adams, of which there are many, including silver ground-breaking shovels, seats from Ebbets Field, sticks of Brooklyn-branded chewing gum, and much more. Markowitz had to hand over a huge amount of promotional swag to a municipal warehouse rather than auction it off for his Camp Brooklyn charity because the city barred the sale, saying that the gifts he accrued over three terms were city property, the Daily News reported.
The final clean-out took him hours because of constant interruptions by staffers and friends dropping by to bid him farewell, he said.
“They all wanted to wish me well or say goodbye,” he said. “It was nice to be remembered by so many people.”
The longtime cheerleader of big development projects signed off on the Domino Sugar factory mega-development, planned for the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge, as his last official act in office. In his approval, Markowitz asked that developer Two Trees Management come up with a process to make sure that most below-market-rate apartments are reserved for local residents and that the the project include more two- and three-bedroom units so that more families can live there.
The thumbs-up passes the project along to the Council for a vote.
At the end of the day, Markowitz walked out into the rotunda of Borough Hall to find a surprise goodbye party waiting for him.
He rounded out the evening with a trip to Grand Army Plaza to catch the fireworks with his wife Jamie and pass the baton to Adams at a ceremony.
