At CB1, New Leadership and New Membership Are Poised to Push Local Priorities
As Community Board 1 (the official voice of Lower Manhattan whose advisory opinions all other government agencies are legally obliged to consider) resumes meetings in September after its annual summer break, new leadership and a phalanx of new members will help drive the Board’s decision-making process.
Taking over as Board Chair in September will be longtime Vice Chair Alice Blank, who is succeeding Tammy Meltzer after a six-year term. (Ms. Meltzer will remain on CB1’s leadership team as Treasurer.)
Ms. Blank, an architect and urban planner, has chaired CB1’s Environmental Protection Committee for a decade. She also serves on the board of the Governors Island Trust, the executive committee of the Downtown Independent Democrats, and chairs the Friends of Barnett Newman Triangle, a Tribeca nonprofit that seeks to beautify a vest-pocket park at the convergence of Church Street, Sixth Avenue, and White Street.
Ms. Blank says, “climate resilience will remain a critical priority, given Lower Manhattan’s unique geography as a peninsula. We need a comprehensive approach to protecting all of Lower Manhattan and its waterfront from the growing impacts of climate change, including the still-vulnerable West Side. And major development projects must be evaluated not only for what they add, but for their environmental and community impacts.”
“We also need to think much more ambitiously about public space and green infrastructure,” she adds. “Lower Manhattan is exceptionally dense and has very little green infrastructure. Protecting what we have is essential, but it is not enough. We should be looking at every opportunity to create more parks, plazas, greener streetscapes and accessible waterfront spaces.”
“Just as important, Lower Manhattan must remain a vibrant and welcoming neighborhood,” she says. “That means advocating for more housing and making affordable housing an essential component of development throughout Lower Manhattan. City-owned sites present a particular opportunity to achieve a greater level of affordability.”
Joining CB1 this year will be Elyse Buxbaum, who moved to the Financial District eight years ago. For six years, she served on the leadership team at Lower Manhattan’s Museum of Jewish Heritage, most recently as Chief Operating Officer.
Ms. Buxbaum has joined two CB1 panels: the Youth and Education Committee; and the Waterfront, Parks, and Cultural Committee. She says, “as a mom with two teenage sons, I am focused on how we can support infrastructure for youth, such as schools, parks, and recreational activities. The influence of parks is so important. Space is at such a premium in Lower Manhattan that having opportunities to be outside, to experience fresh air and greenery makes a huge difference in the lives of kids.”
She adds, “there seems to be room for improvement in the community’s dialog with the Department of Education. Families here didn’t want the artificial intelligence academy that DOE was planning for 26 Broadway, but by the time they found out about it, it was almost too late to stop the project.”
Ms. Buxbaum cites that episode as an example of “how we need to get ahead of issues and problems, so that we can manage the community’s response proactively, rather than reactively. We need a comprehensive urban plan. If we don’t take this approach, projects are announced and move ahead so quickly that we can be presented with a fait accompli.”
“With so many former office buildings being converted to residential use,” she adds, “affordable housing is a huge issue. The people who built this neighborhood are being priced out. We can’t let Lower Manhattan become a community for the highest bidders.”
Also being forced out, Ms. Buxbaum worries, “are small business owners, who are sometimes being displaced because resiliency work — while necessary — can be very disruptive. We have an obligation to protect and advocate for them.”
Other new members joining CB1 are Cindy Espinosa (a former co-Vice President of the P.S. 150 Parent-Teacher Association), Pamela Friedl (a former manager of the Grand Banks floating restaurant at Pier 25), Ruth Hubbard (a director at Fiserv, a digital payments company with offices at One Broadway), Lin Tyrpien (co-founder and Artistic Director of the Lyle Gallery, a nomadic curatorial art studio), Shawn Ware (co-founder of the Yacht NYC charter service and previously an executive for City Cruises), and Kelly Washburn (Chief Operating Officer at Manhattan Youth since 2023, who previously served as Executive Director at Lower Manhattan’s Institute for Career Development, a non-profit that assists individuals with disabilities).