FULL BOARD MEETING MINUTES Wednesday, March 14, 2007 NYU MEDICAL CENTER 550 FIRST AVENUE
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FULL BOARD MEETING MINUTES Wednesday, March 14, 2007 NYU MEDICAL CENTER 550 FIRST AVENUE Hon. Lyle Frank, Chair ATTENDANCE Members answering first roll call: Barrett, Cervera, Curtis, Disman, Frank, Garland, Garodnick, Haile, Imbimbo, Judge, Knowles, Lynn, McGuire, McIntosh, Monterossa, Moses, Oddo, Papush, Parker, Parrish, Peveri, Rosenthal, Rubin, Scala, Schachter, Schaeffer, Schoor, Sepersky, Sherrod, Steinberg, Talbot, Thompson, Tu, Ursillo, West, Williams Members answering second roll call: Barrett, Bloch, Cervera, Curtis, Disman, Frank, Garland, Garodnick, Haile, Imbimbo, Judge, Knowles, Lynn, McGuire, McIntosh, Monterossa, Moses, Oddo, Papush, Parker, Parrish, Peveri, Rosenthal, Rubin, Scala, Schachter, Schaeffer, Schoor, Sepersky, Sherrod, Steinberg, Talbot, Thompson, Tu, Ursillo, West, Williams Excused: Buchwald, Collins, Greenspan, Lilien, Reiss, Ross, Simon Absent: Arcaro, Hollister, Russo, Winfield Member attendance: Present: 37 Absent: 7 Excused: 4 Guests signed in: Fredda Mantell, Leah Del Percio representing C/M Lappin, Ronnit Bendavid Val, Greg Geller representing C/M Mendez, Jay Charles, Minna Charles, Amy MartinezMiller representing BP Stringer, Louise Dankberg, Karen Weis, Gretchen Kruesi representing C/M Garodnick, Douglas McGrath, Kit Barton INDEX Meeting Called to Order 3 Agenda Changes 3 Adoption of the Agenda 3 Public Session 3 Roll Call 5 Business Session 5 Adoption of the Minutes for January 10, 2007 5 Report from the Chair 5 District Manager’s Report 6 Treasurer’s Report 7 Borough President’s Report 7 Committee Reports 7 Youth & Education 7 ByLaws Select 7 Land Use 7 Housing & Homeless Services 8 Health, Senior & Disability Issues 8 Budget & Governmental Affairs 8 Transportation 8 Parks, Landmarks & Cultural Affairs 10 Business Affairs & Street Activities 11 Public Safety, Environment & Human Rights 16 Old/New Business 16 Second Roll Call 16 Adjournment 16 Appendix A: FULL BOARD ATTENDANCE RECORD 17 Appendix B: ROLL CALL VOTES ON RESOLUTIONS 18 2 Meeting Called to Order Lyle Frank, Chair, called the meeting to order. Agenda Changes The Deputy Borough President’s Presentation was held over to a later date. Adoption of the agenda Agenda adopted by a voice vote. PUBLIC SESSION Minna Elias, representing Cg/M Maloney, reported that the City is currently shopping a proposal to have legislation passed at the State level to alienate Robert Moses Park. The park would be alienated now, but a project would not be built for 15 years, and a replacement park would be built some time in the future. The new park should be built before the old space is taken away. Minna stated that the United Nations is not pushing this project, but it is the City that wants to sell off its assets, not necessarily in the best interests of the community. Pat McCandless, representing Sen. Krueger, reported that the Senator had a meeting the previous Friday to discuss Robert Moses Park with other elected officials. They all agreed that what is on the table so far is not adequate. Sen. Krueger is planning to attend the Community Board Six Parks Committee meeting on the subject in April. Pat reported that Sen. Krueger, as the ranking minority member on the Housing Committee, she will be holding a number of forums around the state, to address any and all housing issues across New York. Sen. Krueger will be holding a Senior Resources Fair on April 26 th from 1pm to 5pm at Temple Emmanuel, 1 East 65 th St. Various social service representatives and government agencies representatives will be in attendance. Laura Morrison, representing Sen. Duane, reported that there is a possibility that the Gristedes on First Avenue and E. 20 th St. may be closing. At this moment, it is only a rumor, but Sen. Duane has written a letter, and hopes to contact the owner of Gristedes. Legislatively, there is nothing that the Senator can do, but he can help organize people and the community to show how valuable the supermarket is. C/M Garodnick reported that he has emailed and spoken to the owner at Gristedes. His office has put together a postcard to notify of the community of the possible sale with information on how to get in touch with Gristedes to voice community concerns. C/M Garodnick hosted a “Know Your Rights” forum along with the Stuyvesant Town Tenants’ Association. 600700 residents showed up to address issues about private investigators and what the effect might be on any individual that may be pursued by the new ownership. C/M Garodnick said he met with the Municipal Art Society today to discuss the Con Ed site. Plans are moving forward for a charrette, trying to encourage landscape architects to give their vision for what a new and improved site would look like from the perspective of open public space and access to the river. 3 On key card legislation, putting in privacy protections for tenants, there is a tentative hearing date for June 13 th A bicycle safety bill was passed by the City Council today, requiring restaurant owners to provide helmets to delivery men, and posters displayed in several languages that show safety procedures and bicycle laws. C/M Garodnick was part of a Cultural Education Forum last week, where he brought the local public schools of this community district together with the 22 cultural organizations of this district so they could talk to one another. He believes both sides will benefit each other, and important information was passed on. C/M Garodnick answered questions from the community on bike paths on 20 th and 21 st Streets, EDC’s draft RFP for the Old Psychiatric Building, his conversation with Gristedes owner, the City Council Parks Committee, and the new bicycle safety laws. Leah Del Percio, representing C/M Lappin, reported that the C/M gave birth to a baby boy on March 4 th. She has still been quite active behind the scenes. She is cosponsoring a bill with C/Ms Mendez, Garodnick, and Brewer that will help alleviate discrepancies between the Department of Buildings and the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The bill will allow DOB to revoke building permits on designated properties. Greg Geller, representing C/M Mendez, reported that the C/M is cosponsoring, along with Board’s 6, 3, and 5, a Quality of Life forum on March 29 th. C/M Mendez wrote a letter to the owner of Gristedes stating that she will be working with C/M Garodnick on this issue, spoke of the value of the supermarket to the community, and urged him to keep the store open. C/M Mendez partnered with the Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood Association to address the rat population in Stuyvesant Square Park. The Parks Department bought new lids for the trash cans, and there has been a noticeable reduction of rats in the park. Greg reported that owners of rent stabilized units have taken them off the market and are now renting them to visitors at exorbitant rates. C/M Mendez is working to have the fines increased of these illegal hotels. Barry Klein, representing A/M Bing, reported that the Assembly just passed its budget resolutions, which will now go to the Senate. It is hopeful that the budget will be passed on time. Karen Weiss of the Epiphany Library reported that the Children’s Room at the library will be undergoing renovations starting in early April. The library believes the renovations will take about three months. She reported that the library may need to close on certain days, but it will give advance notice. She also reported that New York’s average library hours are lagging behind other major cities. They are open on average 5 days, or 39 hours per week. These hours are not adequate to serve local communities. 4 Joy Garland invited everyone to an Illustrated Bird Slide Talk on Thursday, March 15 th at 7PM, at Solar One, East 23 rd Street & the East River. The talk will be given by one of the best known bird experts in the city, Starr Saphir. Roll Call – Carol Schachter BUSINESS SESSION Adoption of the February 21 st Full Board minutes. Minutes were adopted by voice vote. Chair’s Report – Lyle Frank Lyle reported that there will be a Quality of Life Forum on March 29 th cosponsored by C/M Mendez and Board’s 3, 5 and 6. The SLA, the local precincts, and other city agencies will be on hand to discuss any and all quality of life issues. CB6’s response on the Mayor’s Preliminary Budget was sent. Lyle reported that is one of the most outstanding documents he has seen since he has been on the Board, and he thanked Dan Williams and a Budget Committee for a job well done. There has been followup via email between the BP’s office, NYU, and Lyle dealing with Emergency Preparedness. Lyle spoke at the Public Safety Committee meeting. Things are still in the preliminary stages at this point. C/M Garodnick had a meeting with Board’s 5, 6, and 8 about street fairs. Each individual Board is very good about setting its own guidelines, but there is no coordination between the Boards. Hopefully, this is something that can be coordinated better next year. Gary Papush, Claude Winfield, Mark Thompson, and Lyle met with Tishman Speyer to introduce themselves. The Board will be forwarding them resolutions passed recently on Stuyvesant Town issues so they know where CB6 stands. Lyle reported that the Robert Moses Playground situation is worse than he had had been hearing. The site was going to go through ULURP because the UN wanted the property, and that has now changed completely. We need to advocate for truer placement of active place.