The Villager & The New York Times: You be the judge.

March 23, 2003, Sunday

THE CITY WEEKLY DESK

NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: GREENWICH VILLAGE;
Along The Waterfront, Politics And a Purge

By KELLY CROW (NYT) 522 words

Arguments and alliances come easy in the politically mucky world of community boards. Even so, Edward Gold, a 30-year member of Community Board 2 in Greenwich Village, was shocked to receive a dismissal letter by e-mail on March 5.

The letter from the board chairwoman, Aubrey Lees, ordered Mr. Gold and six others to step down from the board's waterfront committee. Only two committee members were spared.

''In all my years with the board,'' Mr. Gold said, ''I've never seen a committee massacred in one afternoon.

Ms. Lees, whose second one-year term ends in June, said she had purged the committee after learning that several members were said to have ties to one of four developers vying for Pier 40, the 15-acre site at Houston Street being redeveloped by the Hudson River Park Trust. She accused four members, including Arthur Schwartz, the longtime committee chairman, of having a conflict of interest because they also belonged to the Friends of Hudson River Park, a group that has recently endorsed a controversial plan, by the Durst Organization and C&K Properties, for a big-box retail store on the site.

Douglas Durst, a co-president of his family's company, and Ben Korman, a principal partner of C&K, sit on the Friends' board. The committee informally endorsed the Durst and C&K plan last month.

Ms. Lees also dismissed Tobi Bergman, another committee member, because he is president of the Pier Park and Playground Association, a nonprofit sports center on the pier that is financed partly by C&K. The other ousted members, including Mr. Gold, have no apparent affiliations with Pier 40 and were not given specific reasons for their removal.

''I'm not saying these people are criminals,'' Ms. Lees said, ''but I think people on community boards shouldn't be lobbying for a plan that may generate income for a fellow member of another group.''

Mr. Schwartz did not return calls seeking comment. Mr. Bergman said his group received a $5,000 monthly stipend from C&K, but added that the money was a result of a separate legal settlement and had not influenced his vote. He also said it is not uncommon for residents to join several neighborhood groups with overlapping interests.

Mr. Bergman has asked the city's Conflicts of Interest Board to investigate the dismissals. A spokesman for the board declined to comment, citing board policy.

Although Ms. Lees has already appointed new members to the committee, much of Board 2 is still talking about the ouster.

In the eyes of Assemblywoman Deborah J. Glick, who last year created an advisory group called the Pier 40 Working Group, Ms. Lees has gone too far. ''We're at a critical point in the negotiations for this pier,'' Assemblywoman Glick said, ''and this has set us all back.'' KELLY CROW

Correction: March 30, 2003, Sunday An article in the Neighborhood Report pages last Sunday about the dismissal of members of the waterfront committee of Community Board 2 by the board chairwoman, Aubrey Lees, misstated the number. It was eight, not seven, of the members. The article also referred incorrectly to policies of the Friends of Hudson River Park, a group that includes four dismissed committee members. The organization has not endorsed a plan for a big-box retail store at Pier 40 on the Hudson; it has taken no position.

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