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Community Board 2 Member Fined for Accepting Free Soho House Membership

By Danielle Tcholakian | November 24, 2014 5:50pm
 Jo Hamilton must pay the city's ethics board more than $10,000 for accepting a free membership to Soho House, pictured here, while she was a member of Community Board 2.
Jo Hamilton must pay the city's ethics board more than $10,000 for accepting a free membership to Soho House, pictured here, while she was a member of Community Board 2.
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Facebook/SoHo House NY

CIVIC CENTER — A Community Board 2 member was fined nearly $11,000 by the city's Conflicts of Interest Board after officials discovered that she had received a free membership at the exclusive Soho House for 10 years, according to a decision released Monday.

Jo Hamilton served on the community board from 1999 until this year, during which time the exclusive Meatpacking District club appeared before CB2 five times for applications related to its liquor license. Hamilton was one of 50 board members who voted on those issues.

When Soho House opened in 2003, its proprietors gave Hamilton a free membership, which they renewed annually for a full decade, until 2013.

The free membership saved Hamilton $8,160 in club dues. (The discounted rate for founding members of Soho House is $816 per year.)

Hamilton told city investigators she thought the membership was given to her because she had a personal relationship with people at Soho House, not as a bribe related to her work with CB2.

"I never asked for or sought a complimentary membership from Soho House," Hamilton attested in city documents released Monday. "I understood their offer to be predicated upon our personal friendship, not my status as a member of CB2."

But the Conflicts of Interest Board had information showing that the freebie Hamilton received was given to her "for reasons related to [her] position on CB2," according to the board's documents.

The Conflicts of Interest Board could not immediately be reached for comment.

Hamilton also could not immediately be reached.

The city's charter bars public servants from accepting or receiving "any gratuity from any person whose interests may be affected by the public servant's official action."

The Conflicts of Interest Board found no evidence that Soho House received preferential treatment after giving Hamilton a free membership, officials said. 

Still, Hamilton was ordered to pay a fine of $10,660 to the Conflicts of Interest Board: the $8,160 she saved by not paying dues to the club for 10 years, plus a $2,500 penalty.

Community Board 2 chairman David Gruber declined to comment.

The decision was first reported by Gothamist and Capital New York.