QUEENS — Community Board 9 decided not to hold a second vote about ousting a member accused of making anti-Semitic comments.
In November, the board backed its longtime member, Sam Esposito, by a vote of 34-10, but the chairman, Jim Coccovillo, challenged the legality of the vote because it had been carried out without necessary discussion. He said last month the vote would be taken again in December.
But on Tuesday night, he said that the item was not taken up, because the new vote would cause “turmoil.”
“It would not change the outcome,” he also noted.
He acknowledged that he made a mistake in asking for a second vote.
“I did make a bad call,” he said.
The vote to remove Esposito was prompted by complaints from three board members, Wallace Bock, Jan Fenster and Evelyn Baron, who said the meal Esposito bought for the board before their meeting in June was not kosher enough.
Esposito later sent them an email criticizing their behavior.
After the November vote, Bock resigned from the board. Fenster and Baron did not show up for Tuesday’s meeting.
Esposito said Tuesday that he believes the matter was no longer an issue.
