CB9 Reelects Six Officers, Stalemate on Treasurer

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CB9M Reelects Six Officers, Stalemate on Treasurer
By Erin Durkin
Issue date: 12/22/06 Section: News

Community Board 9 re-elected six of its seven officers Thursday night, failing after four votes to reach a majority for the office of treasurer, which will be filled in January.

Incumbent treasurer Barbara Marshall and challenger Michael Palma each received 15 votes in the initial round of balloting. After a second vote returned another tie, the floor was opened up for new nominations to the office of treasurer, but all of the nominated individuals declined to run. Two more rounds of voting failed to return a majority for either candidate. The meeting lost a quorum as many members exited before a fifth vote could take place.

The treasurer's race will be decided at CB9's next General Board meeting in January.

Jordi Reyes-Montblanc, who ran unopposed, was re-elected as chair of the board. Also unopposed were First Vice Chair Carolyn Thompson, Assistant Secretary Ramona Jennett, and Assistant Treasurer Yvonne Stennett. Secretary Ted Kovaleff defeated Martha Norrick, BC '07, by a margin of 26 to 13. Second Vice Chair Pat Jones won re-election with 26 votes, defeating Theo Chino, with nine votes, and Dr. Vicky Gholson, with two votes.

Three City College students spoke about the controversy over the naming of a student community center on CCNY's campus after radical activists Guillermo Morales and Assata Shakur. Student Lydia Shestopalova said that at a forum held to discuss the issue, intended for students and neighborhood residents, "Security measures were stepped up to such an extent that�many people were turned away because they lacked proper City College ID. Not only that, but they were verbally harassed and physically intimidated."

"City College is a reprehensible administrative entity," Reyes-Montblanc said, "You telling us this is only one more example of abuse that City College perpetrates."

The Board also passed several resolutions dealing with Columbia's proposed Manhattanville expansion. One resolution called on the Department of City Planning to ensure that all 197-c applications pending to rezone the Manhattanville area are considered simultaneously. In addition to Columbia's effort to rezone the area, two applications have been filed by local business owners who have refused to sell to the University.

Another resolution asked City Planning to ensure that the 197-a plan, the board's framework for development in West Harlem, be fully considered as an alternative in the Environmental Impact Statement for Columbia's plan, and that the EIS evaluate the impact of potential use of eminent domain to acquire property in the area.

The Board also passed resolutions opposing the temporary location of the Columbia Secondary School for Math, Science, and Engineering at P.S. 36, an early childhood school on Morningside Drive, and called on Columbia to stop what the resolution described as the purposeful neglect of its properties in Manhattanville, citing broken windows and piles of trash.