User:Allan J. Fromberg

Allan J. Fromberg Deputy Commissioner, Public Affairs New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission

A published graphic novelist, Allan J. Fromberg authored a number of satirical comic books in the mid-1980s, most notably during the period known as the “black and white explosion.” He followed that experience with almost seven years at Brooklyn’s Courier-Life Publications, a chain of nine formerly-independent community newspapers. Fromberg’s experience there ran the gamut from columnist to reporter/photographer, and from headline writer to managing editor. Fromberg was then hired as the campaign press secretary for former City Council Member Susan Alter, one of seven candidates running in the city’s first-ever Public Advocate race. Following the election, in which Alter placed a strong second, he began his career in City service with an appointment as deputy press secretary to former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, where he served during much of Giuliani’s first year in office.

Transferring to the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT), Fromberg served the agency as director, and later as assistant commissioner for public affairs for several years, where he was the senior spokesperson for a “super agency” responsible for more than 800 bridge structures, towing and traffic enforcement, street and highway reconstruction and maintenance, and the Staten Island Ferry. While there, Fromberg helped to coordinate such major happenings as the launch of the agency’s $5 billion capital bridge reconstruction program, the Williamsburg Bridge reconstruction, the return of cars to the Staten Island Ferry in 1996, the reconstruction of Columbus Avenue, a Papal visit, and several New York City Marathons and Five-Boro Bike Tours. The “high point” of his time at the DOT was climbing the Brooklyn Bridge span with a Discovery Channel documentary crew.

Fromberg joined the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission in the summer of 1996 as its Assistant Commissioner for Public Affairs, and accepted a promotion to Deputy Commissioner for Public Affairs in May 1998. During his tenure, Fromberg has assisted the agency through its foremost period of growth in regulatory scope, encompassing such things as mandatory vehicle retirement, the Industry Reform Package of 1998, the implementation of Operation Refusal, and both the 2004 and 2012 fare increases, among many other examples. He also wrote and recorded 36 of the 38 celebrity messages for the infamous “Celebrity Talking Taxi” program (Jackie Mason and Joan Rivers insisted on using their own material -- I know, how dare they, right?(:-)), which reminded passengers to buckle up and remember their belongings.

Following the 9/11 attacks, which he personally witnessed from an uncomfortably close vantage point, Fromberg was on long-term assignment to the NYC Office of Emergency Management, and was responsible for helping to create the multi-agency Joint Information Center (JIC) that centralized the dissemination of multi-agency information during the most intensive period of the city’s recovery. While there, he helped to coordinate numerous mayoral press conferences and interviews with national and international journalists such as former CBS chief correspondent Dan Rather. He also coordinated and led a number of journalistic visits to Ground Zero.

Fromberg was born, raised and currently resides in Brooklyn, New York with his wife Elyse, his son Jason, 21, their three yappy Yorkshire terriers and one very neurotic and put-upon cat.