BY SCOTT STIFFLER | It was night of fond farewells and new beginnings, at this year’s final full board meeting of Manhattan Community Board 4 (CB4). Held on Wed., Dec. 4 at the Hudson Guild Elliott Center (441 W. 26th St.), the board elected a slate of new officers, causing outgoing CB4 Chair Burt Lazarin to reflect.

“I very much enjoyed being Chair,” recalled Lazarin, who dispensed this essential life hack: “You don’t want a position unless you’re having fun.”

Lazarin, who will continue to serve as a board member, noted that his time as CB4 Chair, although fun, was not without conflict. Advising civility, he emphasized that while board members may disagree, they can “still respect one another.”

After the full board voted (a formality, as all officers were running unopposed), new leadership was confirmed: Lowell Kern for Chair, Jeffrey LeFrancois for 1st Vice Chair, Jessica Chait for 2nd Vice Chair, and Michael Noble and Maria Ortiz for Co-Secretary.

That slate represents some notable shifts within CB4’s leadership: Kern and LeFrancois formerly served as 1st and 2nd Vice Chair, respectively; Chait had been serving alongside Noble as Co-Secretary.

The newly elected officers will take over the reigns when the New Year’s Eve ball drops in Times Square, and make their public debut at 2020’s first full board meeting: Thurs., Jan. 2 (such gatherings normally take place on the first Wed. of the month, but New Year’s Day put the kibosh on that).

Those aspiring to have seat at the CB4 table, or on any NYC community board, were encouraged to throw their hat in the ring. Manhattan Borough President (BP) Gale Brewer, who makes those appointments at her discretion, is currently accepting applications for returning members and new prospects.

Speaking on behalf of BP Brewer was Brian Lewis, her community liaison to CB3 and CB4. Lewis advised prospective community board members to apply online, via Brewer’s website (click here to be taken to that link).

Applications are being accepted through Tues., Jan. 21, 2020. The process must be completed in one session, so it’s advised that you prepare your essay in advance, along with a resume or a brief bio. The essay section is four-fold, asking applicants for two issues they believe their board should address in 2020, relevant skills an knowledge you have to offer, what two committees best match your experience, and what current or past groups you’ve played an active role in (parent, block, and tenant associations, church groups, and political clubs are among the examples cited).

Prior to his ascension into the role of Chair, dogged timekeeper Lowell Kern presided over CB4’s Public Session, in which members of the community get two minutes at the podium to speak their minds.

Although the Session saw its usual share of people promoting upcoming events and ongoing causes, most who signed up to speak were affiliated with the Street Vendor Project (SVP)—part of the Urban Justice Center, a non-profit organization providing legal representation and advocacy to “various marginalized groups of New Yorkers,” according to the SVP website, which can be accessed by clicking here.

SVP organizer Emily Rosenzweig laid out the case for passage of 1116-A, which seeks to amend the New York City Charter and the administrative code of the City of New York by expanding “the availability of food vendor permits, creating an office of street vendor enforcement, and establishing a street vendor advisory board.” For details on the bill’s origins and 29 City Councilmember sponsors, click here.

“There are as many as 20,000 street vendors in New York City,” SVP says, whose wares include flowers, T-shirts, street art, and food. “Most are immigrants and people of color. Some are US military veterans who served their country. They work long hours under harsh conditions, asking for nothing more than a chance to sell their goods on the public sidewalk”—a job made harder in recent years, they assert, by “exorbitant tickets for minor violations like vending too close to a crosswalk.”

Street vendors who spoke at CB4 told of police harassment, overly aggressive inspections by the Health Department, and an increasingly unwelcoming atmosphere in and around Hudson Yards, where they are seen as a liability amidst gleaming towers and high-end retailers (even though their presence was welcome during the neighborhood’s construction phase).

Speaking with the aid of an interpreter, Eliana Hammino noted, “As workers, we need this permit to support our families, our children, our houses… We don’t hurt this country. We pay our taxes.” Other vendors spoke about the need for more permits as a way to employ immigrants, the disabled, and others whose circumstances currently limit their career choices.

Queens College CUNY Associate Professor of Philosophy Sari Kisilevsky arrived with copies of “Designing Fair and Effective Street Vendor Policy,” a paper authored by the University of New Mexico’s Renia Ehrenfeucht. Referencing that paper as well as complimentary SVP talking points, Kisilevsky argued that street vendors do not constitute a threat to nearby brick and mortar small businesses, because they “add foot traffic, especially to underserved areas.” Regarding the matter of sidewalk congestion, Kisilevsky asserted, “Vendors tend to operate in natural alcoves, where people don’t walk.”

The abovementioned matters are frequently cited as compelling reasons to deny 1116-A, at least as currently written.

Incoming CB4 1st Vice Chair Jeffrey LeFrancois also serves as Executive Director of the Meatpacking District, a business improvement district on the bordered by Chelsea to the north and the West Village to the south. In that capacity, LeFrancois issued an April 11, 2019 press statement imploring the City Council to “get creative and consider space beyond the sidewalk for vending.”

We cannot, he went on to note, “attempt to reform a system that has never been enforced, while further giving away precious public space on our already crowded streets.” LeFrancois, who admitted he was “a regular at an illegally located coffee cart where the guy knows my order,” acknowledged the vending laws as antiquated, but asserted that effective reform via legislation cannot happen until a “comprehensive, city-sponsored, five-borough study of the entire vending landscape” be used as the basis with which to provide “proposals that would modernize the permitting and enforcement process, institute land use siting and placement guidelines, environmental standards, and if necessary, recommend a number of vending licenses.”

On that matter, SVP’s Rosenzweig had a hard number in mind. Noting there are 20,000 people on the waiting list, she called for 2,400 new licenses per year, and emphasized that as written, 1116-A “almost passed in 2016,” but has since stalled. Rosenzweig, along with many of the food truck and street cart vendors who spoke, appealed to New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson. A former CB4 Chair, Johnson lives in Chelsea and serves as the neighborhood’s councilmember.

“Corey Johnson hasn’t’ put it up for a vote,” said Rosenzweig, “even though we have majority support [in the Council].”

In an email request for comment, Speaker Johnson’s Communications Director, Jennifer Fermino, noted, “Speaker Johnson supports expanding opportunities for street vendors while balancing the needs of communities with increased effective enforcement of street vending rules.” Regarding current efforts, Fermino said Johnson “is working with his colleagues in the Council and with the administration to get this bill done.”

After listening to the public’s testimony, CB4 Business License & Permits Committee (BLP) member Christine Berthet reiterated the board’s position, which remains unchanged from its stance three years ago.

In an Oct. 24, 2016 letter to then-NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, still-serving councilmember Rafael Espinal, councilmember Corey Johnson, and BP Brewer, CB4 noted the legislation’s doubling the number of street vendors on NYC sidewalks, “combined with LinkNYC installations, tour bus stop queues, long distance bus stop queues, sidewalk cafes, and encroachment from the non-enforcement of A-frame rules, shows a complete disregard for public space and pedestrian safety. ” CB4 maintained they would remain opposed until the legislation reflected a number of recommendations, including further public engagement, guidelines for street vendor locations, and a doubling (at least) of the number of licenses given to US veterans.

To read the letter in its entirety, click here.

After listening to testimony during Dec. 4’s Public Session period, Berthet reiterated that until CB4 sees meaningful changes in the proposed bill, it will not have their support. Berthet did, however, commit to further conversation on the matter, and invited professor Kisilevsky to speak with her, and then appear before the BLP next year.

Chelsea Community News will continue to follow this story.

Also speaking during the Public Session was Miriam Fisher, a representative of the Elevator Action Group (EAG), who describe themselves as “a coalition of concerned New Yorkers and activists moving to push wheelchair accessibility in the subways to the top of the MTA agenda.” (EAG is part of Rise and Resist.)

Fisher spoke about EAG’s Elevators are for Everyone campaign, which “demands MTA reform.” To that end, she came with a thick stack of stamped post cards. Addressed to Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, c/o the State Capital Building in Albany, the card carries a message from EAG calling on the MTA to “comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act now,” and support “efforts to make our transit system work for all.” The card also provides ample space to fill in the blank, after the phrase “I need subway elevators because…”

Citing Manhattan’s 23rd St. as an example, Fisher noted there are no stations with elevator access from its westernmost tip until Park Ave., creating hardship for seniors, mothers, those with disabilities or injuries, and anyone who’s ever lugged a full bag of luggage up and down the stairs.

Realizing it’s a very long-term goal, the group envisions a time when all stations have working elevators. EAG’s own analysis cites 90 out of 445 subway and rail stations as accessible to all (the MTA, they note, says that number is actually 118 stations out of 472). To understand how EAG crunched their numbers, click here.

Bobby Ribina, of the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), touted the Dec. 12 opening of Power Mode: The Force of Fashion, an exhibition running through May 9, 2020, in the Fashion & Textile History Gallery at the Museum at FIT (Seventh Ave. at W. 27th St.). Museum admission is always free—and on Feb. 3, from 6-7pm, local residents will be given a private, curator-led tour.

Michael Prichinello of Classic Car Club Manhattan invited one and all to Gears on the Piers VI: Rennsport. Held from 10am-1pm on Sat., Dec. 14, it’s a “showcase of excellence” displaying “racing sport machines and Audubon bombers.” The event, free and open to the public, takes place on Pier 76, at Hudson River Park. For info on the Car Club, click here.

During the portion of the meeting devoted to updates from elected officials, BP Brewer’s Brian Lewis encouraged those in attendance to participate in the fourth annual Holiday Diaper Drive, held in partnership with the Food Bank for New York City, and the Girl Scouts of Greater New York.

“For many low-income working parents,” notes Brewer’s website, “getting diapers for their children is a struggle. Day care centers often require parents to supply diapers when they drop of their kids, so if the parents don’t have diapers to bring every day, they can’t work… We’ll distribute the diapers we collect to emergency food pantries.”

To donate, bring new, sealed boxes of diapers in sizes 3 to 6 (sizes 4 and 5 are needed most) to either of the BP’s offices: 1 Centre St. (19th Fl. South) or 431 W. 125th St. (storefront). Amazon customers can order from the Food Bank’s Amazon Wishlist, for delivery straight to their warehouse. To be taken to the applicable page on Brewer’s website, click here.

Lewis also noted that the BP’s office was “concerned with the City’s commitment to the Working Group,” a reference to the public meetings currently being held for New York Public Housing (NYCHA) residents concerned about the ramifications, and ultimate implementation, of the City’s proposed entry into a public/private partnership as a means to pay for long-overdue improvements at NYCHA properties in Chelsea (the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea houses). For a recent article about the Nov. 20 Working Group meeting, click here.

NOTE: Chelsea Community News will be adding to this article in the coming days, with details on other agenda items covered, and reports from the reps of elected officials.

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