Community Involvement: Gerald Walsh is the president of the Dutch Kills Civic Association, where he has been volunteering since 1986. He works constantly to improve the quality of life for the Dutch Kills community as well as other parts of Long Island City, including fighting for zoning changes so that more residential homes can be built, for parks to be built, and for overall positive changes. However, he stresses that this is not a one-man effort, and that the entire Dutch Kills Civic Association works as a supportive, dedicated group. The organization has 175 volunteers, and will often meet with city and state agencies, the federal government, local schools and assemblymembers to continue improving the community.
Personal: Walsh is 60 years old with two daughters, ages 31 and 28, both of whom are married and have children. His wife is Diane Walsh.
Job: Walsh has been working for a financial information services data center for 33 years. He primarily works with mainframe computers.
Biggest Challenge: The biggest challenge – and accomplishment — for Walsh and the organization was zoning. Walsh worked hard to change the zoning of Dutch Kills so that the community could become less commercial and more residential.
Favorite Memory: Walsh considers his favorite memory to simply be the feeling of dedication from the community. The people he works with are very proactive and supportive, and he notes that many of them are not young, even older than him.
Inspiration: Walsh draws inspiration from the people’s support and overall enthusiasm, as well as the feeling that he is battling to improve the quality of life for the Dutch Kills community. The Civic Association currently has a mailing list of 185 families, and 175 volunteers, something Walsh is happy about.
