High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Ydanis Rodriguez (born June 18, 1960)is currently a Democratic New York City Council member from the borough of Manhattan and Chair of the Higher Education Committee. Born in the Dominican Republic, when Ydanis was 18 years old, he moved from his hometown of Licey al Medio to New York City. While working as a taxi driver, Rodriguez earned his Bachelor's Degree in Political Science at the City College of New York. He eventually earned his Master's degree in Bilingual Education at CCNY. Ydanis helped in founding Gregorio Luperón High School in 1992, where he taught or 14 years. After an unsuccessful attempts to run for City Council in 2001 and 2003, Ydanis ran a successful election campaign in 2009. September 2009 he won the Democratic primary election against seven other candidates. In November 2009, Rodriguez defeated Ruben Dario Vargas of the Independence Party by a substantial margin. Ydanis filled the vacant council seat of former councilmember Miguel Martinez.