By Beth Mellow

In a crowded upstairs room at Council House on West 72nd Street last Thursday evening, six Democratic candidates, and one Green party candidate for City Council, debated and discussed hotbed issues ranging from affordable housing to city taxes. The candidates are vying for an opportunity to secure the District 6 City Council seat vacated by Gale Brewer when she announced that she would run for Manhattan Borough President earlier this year. The Democratic primary for City Council will take place in September.
Candidates participating in last week’s meeting included (in alphabetical order) Ken Biberiaj, Debra Cooper, Noah Gotbaum, Marc Landis, Helen Rosenthal, Tom Siracuse, who is a Green Party member, and Mel Wymore. Although there were many nuanced differences, and a few larger divides, in the way candidates viewed topics, a belief that the community needed to secure more control over its destiny emerged as the central thesis of the evening. Time and time again, in regards to various municipal issues including education and housing, the candidates declared that the state government, or mayoral appointees, hold too much of the power in policy making.

In addition, each of the candidates also debated issues not only relevant to the Upper West Side community, but also the city at large, including Hurricane Sandy recovery. As one candidate, Debra Cooper, stated, “The Upper West Side is a specific geographic space but we have always been the leader on progressive issues affecting the rest of the city, state, and country.”

Last week’s event was hosted by the Social Action Committee of the National Council of Jewish Women, New York, West Side Federation of Neighborhood & Block Associations, and the Committee for Environmentally Sound Development. Here is a summary of how candidates weighed in on various topics.

Housing
While all seven candidates expressed concerned over rising rents on the Upper West Side and throughout New York City, each came to the topic with varying opinions on how to cap increasing housing costs. Some of the candidates mentioned problems surrounding the Urstadt law, which enables state government, instead of New York City, to set parameters for rent regulation, while others talked about the need to bring Mitchell-Lama style housing back for the middle class. See their opinions below:

Tom Siracuse: “I live in a rent control apartment, and if it weren’t for rent control, I wouldn’t be here today. Rent regulated apartments form the bedrock of working class and middle class people living in the city.”

Debra Cooper: “We need to repeal the Urstadt law. We can’t accomplish this without getting the Republicans out of control of the state senate. That will require some political organizing.”

Helen Rosenthal: “We have to work harder to connect with the community [on housing issues]. I worked with residents of Trinity House (a Mitchell-Lama building located on West 92nd street) to fend off a purchaser. They are now hoping to have a tenant buyout.”

Ken Biberiaj: “We have to support the young families that are living here and we have to hold HPD accountable to make sure that rent stabilized units are not deregulated.”

Mel Wymore: “Housing is a broken system in New York City because there are so many different programs between the city and the state working at odds with each other.”

Education
From overcrowded classrooms to free tuition at CUNY, all the candidates felt passionately about the state of education on the Upper West Side and throughout the city. Many of the candidates had personal experience with the New York City public school system, including Siracuse, who spent 29 years as a high school teacher; Landis, who helped establish Frank McCourt High School; and Gotbaum, who has been part of school boards and parent organizations over the past several years. Read what some of the candidates had to say about the current school system and how to improve it.

Marc Landis: “We need to give families options that don’t cost $40,000 a year.” He also stated, “I want to make sure the city council has more of a say on educational policies. It shouldn’t be only up to mayoral appointees.”

Noah Gotbaum: “I have fought against charter schools, high stakes testing, and demonizing teachers. The DOE right now doesn’t listen to parents and communities and are out to privatize our schools.”

Tom Siracuse: “We must restore free tuition at CUNY for students who graduate from New York City public schools.”

Debra Cooper: “We need to improve access to early childhood education. When you prepare kids as preschoolers, they do better once they get to grade school.” She added, “We need to work on classroom overcrowding too. The current elementary school bulge, will become a middle school bulge, which will in turn become a high school bulge.”

Ken Biberiaj: He believes it’s important to provide children with access to their local schools rather than sending them to other neighborhoods. “We’re zoned for P.S. 87 and we only have a four percent chance of getting our child into preschool there. When a school is right there, it doesn’t make sense that they won’t enroll your child.”

Mel Wymore: “We need to make sure that our resources are shared more effectively. There are some PTAs with million dollar budgets, while others have only $20,000.”

City Council and the Mayor’s Office
All seven candidates agreed that there was a need for reform, or at least some improvement, in the functioning of City Hall and City Council. In fact, certain candidates believed that Speaker Christine Quinn’s relationship with Mayor Bloomberg had become too friendly, and as a result, is affecting proceedings at City Council. Additionally, others felt that Quinn’s leadership is skewed, claiming that she favors districts where council members are most helpful in pushing forth her agenda.

Noah Gotbaum: “City Council has become a lap dog. Christine Quinn and Bloomberg have gone together like this (shows crossed fingers to the audience). We need a strong City Council.”

Ken Biberiaj: “While I don’t agree with Bloomberg on everything that he has done, I believe that we have made progress on many fronts over the past few years.”

Marc Landis: “We need to break ties that bind in the council. I will only support a next speaker who will work on creating those reforms.”

Debra Cooper: She believes that Quinn favors some council members, and by extension, their communities, based on their loyalty to her. Cooper explained, “You shouldn’t have the power to punish those who do not support you.”

Tom Siracuse: “We need a city council that is not dominated by one party.”

City Taxation
The candidates also weighed in on city income tax. All believed that there were issues with the current system, with many citing the fact that the current tax laws impose the same percentage on all residents who earn more than $60,000 annually.
Ken Biberiaj: “We don’t have control of our destiny. We have a 70 billion dollar budget in New York City, but so much, including taxation, lies beyond our control.”

Marc Landis: “As a member of the Democratic party, I have been a proponent of the progressive tax through and through.”

Noah Gotbaum: “It was our own Democratic party that took a pass on the millionaire’s tax.”

Recovery from Super Storm Sandy
Although District 6 was minimally affected by the hurricane, recovery and future preparation was still important to many of the candidates.

Mel Wymore: “We need to re-design our drainage system because currently our drainage system and sewage system are connected [which creates a whole host of problems during and after a major storm].”

Helen Rosenthal: “We need to demand from the government that they issue bonds [to help with the recovery].”

Noah Gotbaum: “There was a shortsightedness in excluding the community from preparation. We had 20,000 New York Cares volunteers interested in helping out, but no way to get involved.”

While the neighborhood, part of Community Education Council District 3, enjoys some top-notch public schools, overcrowding and budget tightening are constantly threatening the balance.

The biggest concern in the district is the lack of middle school space for future classes. All last year, parents pushed to get the Department of Education to look at projections that show severe middle school overcrowding in just a few years, adding 1,500 names to a petition asking for a middle school in the district, but so far the DOE has no plans to create one.

“District 3 needs middle school space to meet the needs of the growing numbers of students entering middle school starting from the class of 2013, and the increased need for schools that have a curriculum to meet the growing needs of students who are scoring at proficient levels,” said Christine Annechino, president of the district’s CEC, which encompasses the Upper West Side as well as parts of West and Central Harlem.

Council Member Gale Brewer also said middle school space is the biggest concern for Upper West Side parents.

“There are so many kids that there’s going to be no place for them,” said Brewer. “The school at Riverside is not going to be able to handle all of them, and it’s not going to be ready in time. People worry.”

The new K-8 school will be P.S. 342, slated to be built over the next several years at the Extell Riverside Center development on West 61st Street and West End Avenue. It is expected to teach 600 elementary and middle school students when it reaches its full capacity, but that will also be accounting for the influx of children moving into the new development, and won’t necessarily solve in the overcrowding problem. Still, it will help, and advocates agree that a new school is a positive step.

“It was an incredible process that led to an incredibly valuable asset for the community,” said Mel Wymore, who was the chairperson of Community Board 7 when the board negotiated with Extell to agree to build the school. “From here, we as a community should continue to work with the DOE, the [School Construction Authority] and the developer to ensure that the school built best serves the community as a whole.”

But while the prospect of a new school is a bright spot for parents, there are still more immediate realities to contend with. Many Upper West Siders still feel they are pitted against charter schools in the district, and that the placement of charters within traditional school buildings is adding to overcrowding problems.

Charters are public schools that are privately run.

“When the DOE cheers for schools like Success Charter, don’t they see that they are not cheering for any public schools? Is this fair if they don’t work with the schools who are not charter schools and try to make them better?” said Annechino. “The disparity within the public, free school system is alarming, and District 3, which has been assaulted by this disparity, will continue to correct it. And it doesn’t mean that we are fighting against charters, we are fighting for all of these kids who are not getting the education they need in the schools they attend.”

Noah Gotbaum, an outspoken critic of charter school co-location and a member of the CEC, also said that it’s an increasingly severe problem for traditional public schools.

“Charters basically get the run of the building and the public schools are the stepchildren. It really is separate but unequal,” said Gotbaum. “It’s overtaxing not just the public school but the entire system.”

Gotbaum added that a lack of resources and budget cuts are making it more difficult for teachers and principals to do their jobs. “We’ve had 15 to 20 percent cuts to the classroom over the past five years, and our schools have had to make do with less, and they’re basically cut to the bone,” he said.

“The DOE is spending more and more on testing, assessment, charter schools, large scale tech projects, but parents don’t want that. We want our kids to have teachers in the classrooms, gym, special programs.”

One special program that was recently cut but quickly reinstated, giving parents a small victory, is the Wellness in the Schools program, which pairs professional chefs with public school cafeterias to create healthy, scratch-made menus for the kids. Earlier this week, DOE officials said that they would have to cut the program to ensure that all schools would be able to meet more stringent federal school lunch regulations or risk losing federal money.

Thanks to an immediate outcry from parents and elected officials, including Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Brewer, the DOE announced that it would keep the program and work with the schools and chefs on keeping the menus within guidelines.

For the Upper West Side community, all agree that despite some seemingly uphill battles between parents and the DOE, it’s a good thing to have such an involved community.

“The ray of light is that we have amazing parents in this district, involved and active parents, and we have phenomenal educators, principals and teachers who really, really care,” said Gotbaum. “They are making do and they’re picking up the slack where administrators are putting roadblocks in the way.”

According to the Department of Homeless Services (DHS), New York City’s homeless population has exploded to overwhelming proportions. This unexpected surge purportedly justifies the creation of disruptive fly-by-night shelters, including two buildings on West 95th Street scheduled to receive 200 adult families by the end of this month.

Surprise, surprise … not really. Since 2008, homeless numbers have been trending upward almost without exception, growing an average of 0.5 percent per month, and approaching a whopping 30 percent increase over the past five years. Nevertheless, West Siders have been dealing with homeless “emergencies” for decades—no time to find or build appropriate locations, to hire and train qualified staff, to safeguard existing tenants, to prepare neighbors, or even to properly assess the needs of clients before they are placed. Most importantly, no time to keep people at home in the first place.

Honestly, though, it’s not all on DHS. The cause of this situation runs deeper than poor forecasting. City, state and federal policies on homelessness, housing, social services, zoning and commerce—all crafted with good intentions—often work at cross-purposes. We want more affordable housing, but have meager tools to address powerful counter-incentives. We want to create jobs, but foreclose opportunities to attract visitors and fuel local commerce. We want to prevent homelessness, but cut programs that keep families from losing their homes. We use safety violations to enforce zoning regulations. We let emergency shelters preempt long-term housing solutions. We have enough “pop up” problems to keep us busy for decades, but it’s time to do better.

Policies, like people, are interconnected. We need to look at the whole system, collect data and analyze trends, consider long-term consequences and work together to develop policies that make sense. Tenant leaders, landlords, developers, business owners, service agencies and policy makers on all levels are part of the system, and therefore, critically important to developing workable solutions. It will take unwavering commitment, meaningful collaboration and concerted effort to bring it all together, but anything is possible in the face of emergency. Let’s get to it.

is a systems engineer, entrepreneur and former Chairman of Manhattan Community Board 7. He is also a candidate for New York City Council representing the Upper West Side.

While Brewer is widely rumored to be preparing for a run for borough president, four candidates are hoping to succeed her in representing the 6th District, which covers the Upper West Side from West 55th to 96th streets. All four candidates jumped into the race months ago, and now recent campaign filings give residents a sneak peek at who might be a serious contender come next September.

At this point, however, all four candidates are fairly close when it comes to the numbers. The front runner in total dollar amount filed is Helen Rosenthal, one-time chair of Community Board 7 and a former city employee in the Office of Management and Budget, who brought in $152,981 with 709 contributions.

“This early in the election, campaign filings matter primarily to the extent they reflect a campaign’s organizational strength and in-district support, and it allows us to focus more on talking to voters and building grassroots support,” Rosenthal said in an email. Her assessment could easily apply to the other three candidates in the race, who are also well-positioned financially.

Ken Biberaj, vice president of the Russian Tea Room, who made headlines for fully funding his campaign in only four months, registered a total of $131,020 from 982 contributions. “It is very exciting to be done fundraising and now have the ability to focus on having a conversation with Upper West Siders and the issues that matter most to our community,” Biberaj said in an email.

Both Marc Landis, an attorney, who reported $111,143 from 446 contributions, and Mel Wymore, a former community board chair, who reported $111,863 from 303 contributions, echoed that sentiment. “I look forward to focusing on the critical issues of the campaign: improving our education system, expanding our affordable housing options, improving our quality of live and reforming how our government works,” said Landis in an email.

“Everyone involved in the race now either has made or will shortly make the full budget,” said Jordan Jacobs, Wymore’s campaign manager. “Who raised more actually has no meaning to the race.”

Insiders agree that at this point in the race, having the least—or the most—money in a campaign account is no indication of where a candidate will fall on the ballot.

“Because of New York City’s extraordinarily generous and almost universally participated in campaign finance program, everybody will have the same amount of money, so the money has less meaning,” said political consultant Hank Sheinkopf.

Sheinkopf’s consulting firm has been hired by Biberaj’s campaign, but he spoke in general about City Council elections and not as a representative for the campaign.

The matching program gives candidates $6 for every $1 raised from New York City residents, for up to $175 per person. The program was intended to level the playing field and give candidates without access to big money a chance to compete, although the West Side candidates are all neck and neck at this point.

Sheinkopf said that it’s way too early to make predictions on front runners based solely on fundraising totals.

“Unlike most people in my business, I got rid of my crystal ball a long time ago; it didn’t fit in my wallet,” Sheinkopf said. “Early money helps define the race for people in the media business and for local community activists. But the general public, they don’t care.”

Tap Dancer Marshall Davis Jr. joins Savion Glover on stage for a special performance at the newly renovated Bernie Wohl Center inside the Goddard Riverside Community Center on April 19.

Changes Proposed to UWS Retail Rezoning

Earlier this week, the Department of City Planning proposed several modifications to the Upper West Side retail rezoning plan that is currently making its way through the Uniform Land Use Review Process. The proposal will limit the frontages of banks and restrict other retail spaces along parts of Amsterdam, Columbus and Broadway on the Upper West Side.

Many small business owners and residents as well as Community Board 7 and City Council Member Gale Brewer have praised the plan as a way to preserve mom-and-pop shops and keep big-box retailers out, while real estate groups and some BIDs have criticized the plan for limiting business and development.

The proposed changes are intended to help maintain retail diversity and give building and business owners more flexibility, streamline expansion and grant concessions to existing businesses according to a City Planning spokesperson. One of the biggest changes is the introduction of a faster certification process that would let existing businesses apply to expand frontages to 60 feet without submitting an environmental review. It would also increase the maximum residential lobby frontage from 15 feet to 25, a recommendation made by Borough President Scott Stringer, and permanently grandfather stores larger than the proposed allowable frontage, where previously they would be forced to revert to smaller spaces if vacant for two years. Also, construction projects scheduled to be completed within six months will be exempt from any new regulations passed.

Mel Wymore, a Community Board 7 member who has been supportive of the rezoning measure, said that the modifications seem fair and provide “real flexibility and accommodation for local businesses and landlords.” He said that City Planning has been “extremely responsive” to the community’s feedback. The City Planning Commission will be voting on the modifications within the next few weeks.

UWS School Goes Green

Last week, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Department of Environmental Protection announced the winners of $4.6 million in grants to community-based green infrastructure projects that aim to improve the water quality of New York Harbor by reducing combined sewer overflows. The Ascension School, at 220 W. 108th St., was awarded $245,213 to create an educational green roof and vegetable garden. The garden will not only provide a learning environment for the students but will help reduce the amount of runoff that flows into the East River watershed by absorbing rainwater.

“The Ascension School will now be able to house a state-of-the-art new green roof, reusing rainwater for growing fruits, vegetables and native plants, all while teaching our schoolchildren about local, sustainable agriculture,” said project manager Will Travers.

Each of the 11 projects that were awarded grants will help keep sewage runoff out of the harbor. When heavy storms hit the city and the sewer system exceeds its capacity, wastewater is released into the rivers in order to prevent it from backing up into buildings. The more water that is absorbed into the ground and permeable surfaces, the less overloaded the sewer systems will be, reducing the quantity and frequency of sewer overflows.

Take a Saunter Around Manhattan

Next Saturday, May 5, the Shorewalkers will hold their 27th annual Great Saunter, a 32-mile walk around the perimeter of Manhattan. Pre-registration is closed, but participants can register in person on May 5. The cost is $20 for non-members; the walk is free for members.

Registration will begin at Heartland Brewery, 93 South St. (at Fulton Street) at 7 a.m. The walk starts at 7:30 a.m. The route will take the group up the West Side, clockwise around the island, arriving back at the brewery at approximately 7 p.m. to rest weary leg muscles and toast the day’s achievement. The tour will meander through 20 parks and provide views of the Statue of Liberty, New Jersey, the Palisades, each of the outer boroughs and all kinds of river sights.

There is a stop for lunch in Inwood Park around 1 p.m, with a mid-morning break at River Bank State Park at West 138th Street and a mid-afternoon break at Carl Schurz Park at East 84th Street. Participants are advised to wear comfortable shoes and clothes and bring extra socks, water, snacks and blister treatment. The walk will take place as scheduled rain or shine. Visit shorewalkers.org for information and registration forms.

‘Today’ Host Raises Funds for Breast Cancer

Last week, Today show co-host and breast cancer survivor Hoda Kotb delivered the keynote address at Beth Israel Medical Center & St. Luke’s and Roosevelt Hospital’s Breast Service Luncheon at the Pierre Hotel on the Upper East Side. Her speech was followed by an exclusive fashion show by designer Zang Toi. The event, now in its 21st year, raised $600,000 to benefit breast cancer programs.

Music to Stop Violence Against Women

Classical pianist and composer Emir Gamsizoglu will give a benefit concert this Saturday, April 28, at 7:30 p.m. at the Fourth Universalist Society’s Gothic Church, 160 Central Park West. Proceeds from the performance will go to the anti-violence groups Men Can Stop Rape, the Center Against Domestic Violence and VDay’s campaign to stop violence against women in Haiti.

Gamsizoglu, who was born in Turkey, was a basketball player until an injury forced him to change his focus to music. His mother, a ballet teacher, taught him to play Chopin’s Waltz in C Sharp Minor on the piano at age 20, and he continued to study piano in Istanbul and Paris. He will be performing selections from Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and Prokofiev, as well as his own compositions. Tickets are $20 or $15 for students and seniors, available at the door.

Tennis players, park goers, environmental groups and preservation organizations strongly rebuked the department for charging an hourly rate to use enclosed courts during the winter.  Many residents were concerned with the high costs to play in the off-season and the pollution emitted from generators to keep the bubbles inflated.

The Parks Department yanked a proposal to erect bubbles over 24 clay tennis courts in Central Park. Photo by Andrew Schwartz.

The Parks Department proposed putting a bubble over 24 of Central Park’s 26 clay courts. The idea was to raise money from new fees in the winter and provide additional recreation in the park. The cost to tennis buffs could have range from $30 to $100 per hour.

“The public outcry was loud and clear,” said Mel Wymore, chair of Community Board 7. “Really, the public spoke the department listened and that’s the way it should go.”

Liz Krueger, an East Side state senator whose district covers the entire park,issued a letter in opposition to the plan. Krueger said she was disturbed that the Parks Department would propose such an idea.

“[The plan] violates the entire commitment of Parks Department to keep Central Park the crown jewel,” Krueger said.

State Sen. Tom Duane, who signed the letter in opposition to the plan, said that the bubbles would look out of place in Central Park.

“I think that tennis bubbles are best left to the private sector and not on public space,” he said. “Tennis courts—fine. But bubbles—no good.”

Landmark West, a preservation group, helped organize opposition to the bubbles and hailed the department’s decision.

“We’re incredibly grateful to everyone who came together on this issue,” said Cristiana Peña, director of community outreach at Landmark West.  “A lot of people were concerned about Central Park in terms of preservation, the environment, or people who just like playing tennis. We came together.”

This is the second time that the Parks Department’s plans for tennis bubbles have been popped. In late April, the city backed out of a year-round permit for the Sutton East Tennis Club to operate at the Queensboro Oval during the summer months.

Updated.

Questions and concerns have only grown since Hess announced a March 2 compromise that killed plans for a full, 135-bed shelter for homeless women, but allows as many as 80 individuals to stay until November.

The meeting will be held Thursday, 7 p.m. at Church of the Ascension on 221 W. 107th St. between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway.

Help USA, a nonprofit that has been administering services to department clients staying there since February, will continue to work at the site. Currently Mark Hersh, the building owner, is in charge of building security and maintenance. But West 107th Street residents and civic leaders want the nonprofit to take over those responsibilities because of Hersh’s history of building violations and allegations of tenant harassment.

The hostel also has a number of open violations from Housing Preservation and Development and the Department of Buildings.

“We’re asking that [Department of Homeless Services] work something out with Help USA to run the place fully until the end of November,” said Rev. John Duffell, pastor at neighboring Church of the Ascension and frequent critic of the proposal. “Basically, we’re concerned with women who are there, and during their time there, are treated with dignity and respect.”

The meeting is likely to include details on a neighborhood advisory board that would play a role in planning for local homeless services. Mel Wymore, chair of Community Board 7, envisions a 15- to 20-member board to represent neighborhood stakeholders, such as block associations, businesses, elected officials and local service providers.

“We need to examine that process [of emergency homeless housing] and put in systems that work for everyone,” Wymore said. “Set up a system where we really prevent homelessness as much as we can and handle it effectively when it happens.”

Meanwhile, two bills were introduced in the City Council that would have an impact on transitional homeless housing, if they become law.

Earlier in March, a bill was introduced that would force the Department of Homeless Services to notify the community when transitional housing for clients is established. When such a site is created or expanded, the department commissioner would be required to inform the Council member who represents the neighborhood, the Council speaker and the local community board. The notification would have to include the number of people being housed, the name of the person or entity that would be operating the transitional housing and any service providers.
This legislation, currently in the General Welfare Committee, has 14 sponsors, including West Side Council members Melissa Mark-Viverito and Gale Brewer.

Mark-Viverito, who represents the neighborhood with the West 107th Street shelter, is also planning on reintroducing a 2009 bill that bars building owners with at least three tenant-harassment violations from receiving city funds, or from having people placed in their property by city agencies.

Updated March 24.

Wymore likely made a bit a civic history by becoming the first transgender chair of a community board.

The Arizona native, who moved to the Upper West Side in 1988, has been on the board for 13 years. She said her proudest accomplishment has been the revitalization of the 59th Street Recreation Center.

As chair, Wymore wants to broaden the board’s agenda beyond zoning applications and permits.

“There’s a whole plethora of issues out there in the community around which there are no application processes, such as healthcare, senior citizens or housing,” Wymore said. “The community board has an opportunity to engage on these issues and make a difference.”

Rosenthal, who planned to run for City Council before term limits were extended, will stay on the board she has served on for more than 10 years.

Rosenthal said she is most proud of her push to provide detailed analysis of new developments in the neighborhood, increased meeting transparency and community outreach.

Rosenthal was also appointed co-chair of a mayoral task force on the future of community boards.