Alan Gaynor for Rensselaer County District 5 Legislator
My name is Alan Gaynor and I’m proud to be a conscientious, working- class citizen living in Petersburgh, New York. I’m running for the Rensselaer County Legislature because I care deeply about our community and want to do my part to make life better and fairer for the people who live here.
In 1953, in Mt. Kisco, New York, I was born a full-term baby weighing less than 4 pounds. In 1982, in Hoosick Falls, New York, my father died of lung cancer. While separated by 29 years these two events are related because they were both caused by the profits of R. J. Reynolds and the titans of tobacco. Being aware of the consequences—for mortals—of the practices that legislative policies permit is what I mean by being conscientious.
After 1959, I grew up poor in a single-parent home in Westchester County. Our front door was featured in a Poverty in Westchester special in the local paper. Our landlord refused to put glass in the multi-pane front door. So, in the middle of winter, we used plastic bags to keep out the cold. I learned firsthand the difficulties families face because of substandard housing stock and the lack of common sense policies that help people struggling to pay their bills. Despite these challenges, by the time I got to 9th grade (1968), I had overcome them to win first prize in the Somers High School science fair with an entry of an 8-bit binary calculator that I built according to the designs in Popular Electronics magazine.
Since my early years, I have been passionate about the importance of educational opportunities and environmental justice for all. My 30-year career in the private sector was as a technical writer and best- practices business consultant, where my focus was on helping organizations communicate truthfully and concisely.
Currently, I am retired and working as a part-time cashier and union steward at a food coop in Williamstown, MA. As a union steward, I began publishing the Union Chronicle newsletter, re- established the Worker-Management Committee, and just completed contract negotiations. The new contract gives an average 13% wage hike to the workers at the food coop over the course of the 3-year contract. In recognition of those accomplishments, I was presented with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Steward of the Year Award for 2025 at the annual Steward's Seminar on 22-Oct-2025!
I am also writing the biography of Sam Smith, one of the founders of Caretaker Farm, to celebrate his work in caring for the land, mentoring new farmers, and helping to build a locally-based food system – all issues I care about deeply.
I’ve taught myself Italian and Spanish and have traveled widely. I’ve lived in a number of places but New York was always the center of my universe. In 1997 and 2002, while living in Queens, I traveled to China to adopt my precious daughters. I now live with my partner Jackie Monette in Petersburgh. Miss Jackie—as she is known to her former students, their parents, and their children—is a well-known and beloved art teacher who taught for 30 years in Berlin, Grafton, Petersburg, and Stephentown.
My background in writing, computer science, technology, engineering, and the media gives me a wide, strong basis for confronting the issues that face our communities. My goal, in serving in the Rensselaer County legislature, is to give a voice to those who share my values: caring for our environment, investing in our schools, improving fairness in taxation and governmental policies, and providing support for our neighbors in need, while celebrating the diversity that is our country.