Helen Rosenthal steps down as CB7 chair

Democracy is messy.

This is one thing Helen Rosenthal learned as chair of Community Board 7 for the last two years.

This month, she stepped down from her two-year position as chair of the Upper West Side’s community board—the most local form of city politics and community advocacy. “If it is a good democratic process, it is messy,” she said of her time as the chair.

Reflecting on the energetic meetings, ongoing zoning wars, the fights for school space and affordable housing, piles of resolutions passed and rejected, and the ongoing struggle to figure out what a community board actually is, Rosenthal said recently in interview, “I worked hard.”

Rosenthal—who recently formed “CB21, the Task Force to Empower Community Boards for the 21st Century,”—said that one of her biggest successes was redefining the actual role of CB7 in the diverse Upper West Side neighborhood.

“It is easy for this group to be a pretty reactive body,” she said. “Demands for resolutions come to us, and we can sit back and field whatever comes through our door.” But Rosenthal said it was important to her from her first day on the job in 2007 to change that passive attitude.

“The community board is in a better place to do more outreach into the community,” she said, adding that she has opened lines of communication with local newspapers, PTA groups, neighborhood tenants group, and many other interested parties.

As chair, Rosenthal also realized that it was time to go back to basics. With her new taskforce, she said she plans to take a close look at the citywide charter for community boards. “Is it appropriate now? Does it get the best out of the community board? There have been changes in technology, changes in the world,” she said. Rosenthal and her task force will be meeting with the mayor soon to address this issue.

Community Boards fall under the purview of the borough president’s office and pass resolutions mandated on the local level. But, “At the end of the day, we are an advisory agency. We are not Gail Brewer [City Council member for the Upper West Side] who ultimately has the final vote.”

But speaking of the process, she said, “If it is done right, it works very, very well.”

And to do it right, she quickly learned that research and statistics make all the difference. Rosenthal formed the Strategy & Budget committee and, immediately after assuming her position, she sat down with district manager Penny Ryan and did a thorough investigation of exactly how much residential growth has occurred in the neighborhood.

“How can we convince the city to pay for the things we need? We have to be able to show them,” she said. The fight for extra school space has been successful thus far, she added, largely because of the statistics they compiled.

Along with resolutions protecting access to abortion clinics, fighting for stricter gun control, and supporting a new green age movement, Rosenthal said that one of her proudest moments was the successful preservation of housing for Stern Residence tenants with landlord Jewish Home Lifecare on 106th Street.

Tenants of the Stern Residence—which houses many Jewish Home staff—were going to be completely displaced, but after lengthy negotiations, with CB7 as one of the arbiters, they worked out a deal by which tenants were given the opportunity to move into another JHL property. “It was the big miracle that turned into a reality,” she said.

At her final CB7 meeting, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, said, “Helen has been a really focal point in making sure the community board stays in commission. I want to say thank you.”
And at the first meeting with the new chair, Mel Wymore, in charge one member offered praise to Rosenthal, saying, “I don’t think there is a single meeting that happened on the Upper West Side that she did not attend.”

In an interview, Rosenthal agreed that it has been a big time commitment, saying, “It became a running joke in my family. My youngest says, ‘Home by 9—that means you will be home at 10:30.’’” But speaking of her two teenage daughters, she added, “They pretty quickly got the drill.”