We have seen our neighborhood change markedly over the last 25 years, during most of which I have served as a member of Community Board 2. We have gone from a reasonably priced neighborhood of artists, actors, and progressive-minded professionals to a hub of real estate development, overpriced apartments, designer boutiques, and $35-per-meal restaurants. There was a time when Community Board 2 was the hub of protection for the community, a first line of defense, so to speak, joined, for the most part, by an activist City Council Member, either Miriam Friedlander or Carol Grietzer, from East Village to West.
We have had memorable fights in the West Village. In the 1960s a cross-Manhattan freeway was stopped and the fight resulted in the affordably priced West Village Houses. Even as late as 2005, we defeated a plan to build a mega-entertainment complex on Pier 42, and CB2 worked hand in hand with the community activists mobilized to beat Related and its grand scheme.
But over the last 10 years that has changed. We lost St. Vincent’s. It was replaced by a mega-development with barely a whimper by CB2 or the local elected officials, which included City Council Speaker Chris Quinn. NYU expanded and expanded, and had no hesitation planning to build 40 story towers right next to Washington Square Park. The Meat Market was landmarked but turned into a mecca of nightclubs and super high-end clothing stores. And CB2 turned out to be a cheerleader.
On November 25, 2014, we got news that Jo Hamilton, who was Chair, or First Vice Chair, of CB2 for six years (she rotated back and forth in a prearranged deal with our now-Senator Brad Hoylman,) was fined over $10,000 by the Conflicts of Interest Board because, while Chair of CB2, she had a free membership in the Vertical Club, with pool and private bar and dining areas, frequented by wealthy New York employers. The technical offense was that CB2 voted on the club’s liquor license while Ms. Hamilton was a member. But the larger-than-that issue this raises is how this “mistake,” and this association, was reflective of Jo Hamilton’s actions while she was CB2 Chair. Jo was Chair when St. Vincent’s closed. Jo raised a lot of money for Christine Quinn, and Christine was an early proponent of an Urgent Care Center to replace the St. Vincent’s emergency room, and a big recipient of real estate lobbying contributions, including contributions from the Rudins. The Rudins’ ULURP process to build a project which will bring them over $2 billion in profits sailed through rather easily, despite an elaborate resolution from CB2 (which was ignored) calling for affordable housing. Major leaders of the real estate industry with whom I have spoken were amazed at how little the Rudins had to give up to get their project approved: they gave the O’Toole Building to North Shore LFJ to create the Urgent Care Center and they agreed to spend $10 million to build a park across the street, but both amenities increase the value of the apartments they are selling.
Someone, maybe Senator Brad Hoylman, needs to look into this sordid mess and both unravel the extent to which Jo Hamilton’s connections influenced her work on CB2, and to recommend safeguards to prevent this from ever happening again.
The Board itself just took a good first step by electing Tobi Bergman as its new Chair and Teri Cude as First Vice Chair over a slate which was put together by Assembly Member Glick and outgoing Chair David Gruber. I know both of them well: there couldn’t be two people with more integrity and independence from the “powers that be.”
Arthur Schwartz is the Democratic District Leader for Greenwich Village and a Member of CB2 since 1991.
I assumed this was a news article until I saw that it had been written by Arthur Schwartz who has long borne an animus towards Ms. Hamilton.
If you wanted to be taken seriously you might consider a bit more objectivity. In addition, he even has the basic facts wrong, i.e., the name of the club to which she belonged.