Insults & Intrigue at Community Board 8 Meeting
John Jay Park. Photo by Adam Piontek via Flickr.
Even after the two candidates for chairperson called for civility and a return to rule-following for Community Board 8, last night’s meeting devolved into a tense and emotional shouting match over the intentions of the Parks Committee versus the wants of the community in calling for improvements to John Jay Park. Read more
Community Board Puts Brakes on License Law
By Megan Finnegan
The Upper East Side’s Community Board 8 often grapples with how best to share their crowded streets among pedestrians, bicyclists and vehicles, and the board doesn’t shy away from declaring its ideas in strongly worded resolutions. At last week’s meeting, however, the full board declined to adopt a resolution that would ask the city and state to mandate licenses for bike riders.
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What is Community Board 8?
Community Board 8 encompasses the area from East 59th to East 96th streets from Central Park to the East River. Community boards have 50 unpaid members, who vote on issues like land use, liquor licenses and landmarking in an advisory capacity. All board members are appointed by the borough president to two-year terms, but half of them are recommended by local city council members. For Board 8, City Council Member Jessica Lappin recommends 15 of the members and Council Member Dan Garodnick recommends 10.
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Looking for Youth to Help Change Community Boards
To read the sidebar, please go to What is Community Board 8?
Anyone who’s ever crossed into hour four of a community board meeting can attest to two things: it is a gritty, tedious, absolutely necessary place where the first scraps of democracy are woven into something resembling a fabric and it’s not for the faint of heart—or those who didn’t have the foresight to pack snacks and aspirin.
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Our Town Editor on CB 8 Speaks
Our editor Allen Houston joined host David Rosenstein on Community Board 8 Speaks to talk about the paper in its 40th anniversary year:
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CB 8 Gives Emphatic “No” to Sharing Park Paths
Last week Community Board 8′s Parks & Environment committee voted on (and defeated) a resolution to support sharing select pedestrian paths with cyclists in Central Park. Last night, the full board took their disproval a step further and approved a resolution specifically against sharing the paths.
Board member Elizabeth Ashby introduced a lengthy resolution laying out the opposition to sharing the crosstown paths. Other members spoke up to support it and reiterated many of the points made at the committee meeting, stating that the path is too narrow to share and that bikers are too dangerous to ride in close proximity to pedestrians. The resolution passed by a relatively narrow margin, however, making it clear that the debate on where and how to allow cyclists in the park will continue to rage on the Upper East Side.
Community Board 8 New Members
Borough President Scott Stringer announced the new appointees to Manhattan’s community boards today. Community Board 8 welcomes three new members: Hattie Quarnstrom, nominated by BP Stringer; Jeffrey Escobar, nominated by City Council Member Jessica Lappin, and Edward Hartzog, nominated by City Council Member Dan Garodnick.
Gourmet Food Vendors Shot Down by CB8
Community Board 8’s taste buds aren’t tingling over the prospect of gourmet foodstuffs in Central Park. The board voted Feb. 16 against a Parks Department proposal to install specialty food carts at two locations in Central Park—one proposed for 72nd Street and Fifth Avenue, and another for 80th Street and Central Park West.
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CB8 MEETS THE EDITOR
More than 60 people turned out at the Community Board 8 “Meet the Editor” night Jan. 19 at the Ramaz School, 129 E. 85th St.
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Bike Wars
Electric bikes have been blamed, but are they the real reason citizens want to crack down on two-wheelers?
Simmering Bike Resentment
East Siders may have grown used to delivery guys on bicycles hopping sidewalks and dangerously whizzing in and out of pedestrians as they rush to drop off Chinese food or pizza. But they seem to have finally reached a breaking point. The debate over whether to restrict bicyclists may not only be about these riders and alleged misdemeanors; rather, it could be part of a growing hostility toward the increasingly bike-friendly city that New York is becoming.
